I looked at the bodies, at the evidence in my camera bag, at Lori standing there like death dressed in designer boots and utterly unbothered by the carnage she'd just produced.
“We should go,” I said.
We walked. Different streets, moving fast but not fast enough to draw attention, putting distance between ourselves and the crime scene. Sirens started up somewhere in the distance — someone had heard the screaming, which meant the bodies would be found before they could be disappeared.
“You're not what you seemed at Eden,” I said.
“Neither are you.” She glanced at me, amused. “Though I suppose neither of us was exactly being honest that night.”
She paused at a corner and checked our surroundings with professional efficiency before stepping out. “What's your interest in Harrow?”
“Justice. Revenge. The usual motivations.” I studied her. “What's yours?”
“A contract. Someone wants him investigated and I'm investigating. What I find will determine whether he lives or dies.” She started walking again. “I'm an assassin, among other things. Thief when it pays well. Information broker when it doesn't. Spy when the work is interesting enough. Whatever doesn't bore me.” She glanced over. “Tonight I'm apparentlyyour guardian angel. Tomorrow I might be your competitor. That's how this works.”
“And Eden? You were gathering information there too.”
“Obviously. Harrow's careless in places like that — he thinks consent makes him safe, doesn't realise that people watch even when they're participating.” She smiled at something I couldn't see. “Though I'll admit I didn't expect him to add a third person that night. That was improvisation on his part.”
The memory of that night made my stomach pull tight. “About that. I'm sorry. I didn't know he was going to?—”
“Involve me?” She laughed. “Darling, I've done worse things for far less useful intelligence. That was nothing. Part of the job.” She stopped walking and turned to face me fully. “Though I do appreciate the guilt. It's sweet. Misplaced, but sweet.”
“I still shouldn't have?—”
“You did what was necessary to maintain cover. Same as I did. Same as anyone working undercover does.” Something in her expression shifted slightly, losing its edge. “Harrow is the predator in that room, Cal. Not you, not me. Don't carry guilt that belongs to him.”
I wanted to argue. Wanted to explain that it felt different regardless, that using people's bodies as instruments of investigation crossed lines that bothered me even when I crossed them. But she was already walking again, dismissing the conversation with the efficient finality of someone who'd long since made her peace with far worse things.
“Who are you working for?” I asked.
“Can't tell you that.”
“Can't or won't?”
“Both. Some contracts require discretion and this is one of them. All you need to know is that we're after the same target for different reasons, and sometimes our methods will align and sometimes they won't. Tonight they did.” She stopped outsidea black motorcycle parked against the kerb — sleek, expensive, built for speed and manoeuvrability. She swung her leg over it and settled into the seat with the ease of someone who'd done it a thousand times. “Go home, Cal. Clean yourself up. Let the courts destroy Dole's career the way civilised people are supposed to.”
“What about the organisation? The one that sent those men after me?”
“I'll handle it. That's what I'm being paid for.” She pulled on a black helmet. “And Harrow is a longer game — patience, planning, the right moment. But he'll fall. They always do eventually.”
“We could work together. Share intelligence.”
“We already are. Just not officially.” She smiled at me through the visor. “I help you stay alive. You help me by being visible when I need a distraction. Everyone wins.”
“Except the people you kill.”
“They made their choices. I'm just the consequence.” She revved the engine once — a low, dangerous purr that carried across the empty street. “Take care of yourself. Try not to get jumped by hired muscle again. I won't always be in a position to save you.”
“I had it handled.”
She laughed, clear and sharp and entirely unconvinced. “Sure you did.”
Before I could find an answer to that she was already gone, accelerating down the street and disappearing around a corner in a sound like controlled thunder, leaving me standing there with blood drying on my face and considerably more questions than I'd had an hour ago.
