Gotcha.
One part of the mystery was solved. Bishop wanted to expose Black Knights Inc. to the world.
But why? Did he have a vendetta against the president? Was he simply tired of the Knights showing up at inopportune times to throw a wrench in his works?
Also…Sabrina slit the big guy’s throat?
Well, what’d’ya know, Graham thought. Our resident social media pro has more gumption than I gave her credit for. Good for her.
The blonde blinked when she realized all she’d revealed. He could see her wheels spinning, looking for ways to turn her confession to her advantage.
“So maybe I didn’t fail after all, huh?” She was back to projecting bravado. “That chopper you shoved me into was surely picked up on radar. The authorities are bound to find my men’s bodies. Will ballistics lead them here, I wonder?”
“Come on,” Boss snorted. “Our chopper’s got no tail numbers, no transponder. We flew completely dark.” He let that shoe hang in the air for a beat before dropping the second one. “And your men’s bodies? Two FBI agents have already disposed of them.”
Graham saw the shock that flashed through Black Widow’s eyes.
He latched onto it.
“Ah.” He pasted on a sympathetic expression. “Another of Bishop’s omissions, huh? He didn’t tell ya we have an in with the local feds? He really did send you into the seventh circle of hell without any warnin’, didn’t he? Your assignment was pretty much doomed from the get-go.”
Hunter and Britt had drawn the short straws when it came to doing the dirty work of corpse cleanup back at the bottling plant. Their partners, Grace and Julia, had run cover for them. So Boss had only fudged a little when he’d said two FBI agents had handled the problem.
All four of the Black Widow’s henchmen were now food for the fish at the bottom of Lake Michigan.
“Tell us who he is.” Boss’s tone shifted. It was almost…gentle now. “You don’t owe him anything. Hell, him holding back on you is what got your crew killed and what got you into this mess.” He waved a big hand around at the shadows undulating on the weeping walls.
She bared her teeth. “You don’t know who he is? You seem to know every other goddamned thing.”
Graham stepped in, exploring that chink in her armor. Looking for just the right leverage to split it wide open. “We can protect ya from him, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
She laughed, sharp and humorless. “I can protect myself.”
But he saw it then. The subtle eye-twitch. The tiniest hesitation.
She feared Bishop. And fear—real fear—was just the crowbar he needed.
“Then how’s about, once we find him, we make sure he can’t do to anyone else what he did to you and yours?”
That got her attention.
Her eyes fired like silver bullets. Cold. Fast. Straight into him. “What did you have in mind?”
He smirked. “Use your imagination.”
“I can imagine some very unpleasant things,” she assured him.
“Multiply that by ten and you’ll begin to scratch the surface of what we’re capable of.”
Boss leaned in. “Who is he? Can we use this to contact him?” Boss pulled from his pocket the cheap plastic flip phone they’d taken off her when they first apprehended her. “There are only two phone numbers on this thing. One is BKI’s. Is the other one his, Vivian?”
He’d used her given name on purpose to create a sense of intimacy, of shared intention.
Damned if it didn’t work. Her eyes softened. Just a hair. But it was enough.
There was no more bluster in her tone when she said, “If I tell you what I know, you have to promise to go after him. The only way he won’t come for me is if you get to him first.”
“We’ve been anxious to expose Bishop for what he is for years now,” Boss admitted. “Believe you me, our number one priority from here on out is to find the fucker and deal with him the only way traitors can be dealt with.”
