“I hate you.”
She shuddered.“I’m so damn distraught by that bit of information.”
He pulled the empty teacup she set down to himself by the handle, using a chopstick.“There’s plenty I can put on you.”
“You think I’m scared you have a cup with my print or DNA on it?Again, I don’t fucking exist.You can’t pin something on a shadow.”She rapped two knuckles on the table and rose.“I hope you can remember an address.”She rattled off an address and walked out, half expecting him to try to stop her.
No doubt he was on the phone the moment she turned her back to him.Had his hands not both been visible she would have assumed he’d pressed a panic button and sent out some sort of bat signal.But the man had been eating.And he was arrogant.
Didn’t matter, she wasn’t heading straight to her next destination.Instead she went and got lost in the crowd, doing as she’d been trained to—vanishing into thin air.Hours passed and she made her way carefully to her next destination.
More time passed, and she was about to give up, fearing her hunch hadn’t paid off, when a group of men looking like they were simply moving down the street to the building caught her eye.
They were good.She…was better.
Digging into the paper bag she held on her right side, she pulled out a carrot stick and munched on it as she weaved through the crowd and nudged her way between two of them, planting the bug on them.“Excuse me.”She moved on down the street, an extra sway in her hips.
A low whistle reached her and she grinned, turning around, holding another carrot in her hand and putting it up to her lips as she walked.With a waggle of her eyebrows and a wink, she pivoted again and sauntered off.
Once around the corner, she dropped the sack of food off at the feet of an unhoused young woman without slowing her gait and continued on, touching the earbud she wore.
“I heard he was here.That’s what the intel we were given was.Fourth floor.He’s injured but don’t underestimate him.”
Jasmine snarled at the deep, raspy voice.I knew it.I knew that bastard would sell him out.
“Why don’t we just let him die?”The door was squeaky but soon came the sound of men heading up stairs.“If he was that injured, shouldn’t he be succumbing to his injuries?He said she didn’t take him to a hospital.”
It took every ounce of the training that had been drilled into her to hold onto in any circumstance to keep moving in the same direction as opposed to spinning around and heading back there to take them all out.Slowing her breathing, she stopped at a small streetside café.She stood in line, continuing to listen.
“This floor.”The deepest of the voices she’d heard thus far spoke up.“Fifth door on the right.”A pause.“Don’t fuck this up or I will kill you myself.This is an easy in and out.”
Jasmine gestured to a strawberry Danish and set a bottle of cold water on the counter.She slid a ten over the counter and picked up her items before heading to an open table outside.
As she winked at a little girl with blonde pigtails and pink ribbons, she sat and picked at the Danish.The she uncapped the water for a swig.She heard the breach of the apartment door and seconds after that…
The explosion.
Chapter Eleven
Life always offers you a second chance—
it’s called tomorrow.
Lance winced at the pain moving through him as he shuffled over the smooth floor to the window.Outside the sky was resplendent in purples, oranges and muted golds.He rubbed his chest and squinted out of his one good eye.
He didn’t recognize the apartment he was in, and there was nothing to give the slightest hint of who lived here.Perhaps the man who’d been at the wheel?
But then, he thought he’d imagined seeing him with Jasmine.A snarl escaped and he gazed around once more.Where is that woman of mine?
His stomach growled and he pivoted away from the window.Lance slowly made his way to the small, neat kitchen.He opened the fridge and frowned.Some tan rectangular containers that were sealed with tin lids and had no writing on the outside to indicate what they may hold.
One in hand, he shut the door to the fridge and nearly dropped the container.Jasmine stood on the other side.
“What the fuck, woman!I could have shot you.”His gun was in the back of his waistband and not handy, but still.
The left side of her face quirked up.“Funny.”She jutted her chin at the container he held.“Get your food, we need to talk.”
While he longed to hold her and kiss her, he used his rapidly waning energy to make it to the microwave and pull the top off the container.Meatloaf and mashed potatoes with broccoli.His mouth watered.Holding onto the counter while it reheated, he watched her in his periphery as she got drinks for each of them.
