“Should I call Rob?”
“No,” she snapped. “I don’t trust him. Even if he had nothing to do with bringing that whore to San Antonio, there’s something strange about that whole situation. He screws her in D.C. and two months later she’s here? Either Rob is playing both sides, or he’s an idiot. No one can know what I’m planning. Don’t use any of my phones. I don’t trust the feds. Who do they think they are coming in here and treating me like a criminal? I’m an elected official! I’m their boss.”
She paced, angry and nervous and scared. “Have everything ready by tomorrow and we’ll leave, first thing in the morning.” She froze. “You will come with me, right?”
Joseph smiled and rose from his desk. He was a tall man, with a hardened expression, but still very handsome. He’d been with her for nearly five years, and was the only one she could truly depend on.
He put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her lightly. “I am honored that you want me to join you. I promise, I’ll make sure everything goes smoothly.”
“You always do,” she said, a bit breathless. They’d only slept together a couple of times, but each time had been a slice of heaven. “Do you want…?” She left the thought open.
“Yes,” he said, running his thumb over her lips. “But I have much work to do to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. In two nights, we’ll be in Andorra. And then … we’ll let nature take its inevitable course.”
He was right, of course. She was just feeling a bit lost right now. And scared. “The guards are still here, right?”
“Of course, Adeline. I’ll check in with them before I leave to take care of the business. They’ll make sure you’re safe. Don’t leave the house. I won’t be long.”
*
Rob Garza had spent all yesterday and last night making calls, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Elise Hansen was his contact. He’d been using her special services for the past nine months, had learned nasty bits of information about the people he worked with and for, in addition to having fun screwing the little whore. But who hired her to kill Harper? It had to have been Adeline … she must have found Elise after catching them in her office. She’d been so mad, but Rob ignored it because she was happy with the information Elise had uncovered. Yet … that was the one explanation. Adeline hired Elise to kill Harper because she no longer trusted Rob. Not only hired her to kill Harper, but frame him. It wouldn’t take the feds long to track Elise down to D.C., and back to him.
And Adeline had the audacity to imply that it was him who’d come up with this asinine plan? That he’d hired the whore to kill Harper?
The backstabbing bitch.
Unless it really was Tobias—then they were both dead.
Elise Hansen was certainly capable of killing someone. At times, she’d snuck up on him in his apartment in D.C. The way she’d looked at him, she’d seemed to be just as happy screwing him as stabbing him with a knife. But she’d always come through. Always.
How well do you really know her? You met her nine months ago when you called for a girl who liked it rough.
He’d seen that she was smart, and he’d convinced her to take photos with some of her clients. He’d read about a lobbyist who’d blackmailed members of Congress by making sex tapes with a prominent call girl. It was a great scam—the lobbyist was caught only because she had too many people in the know.
With Elise, it was just him and her.
Until Adeline walked in that day.
Except …
The service you originally called. Are you that stupid, Roberto?
He winced at the sound of his ex-wife’s voice bouncing around in his head. They’d only been married for a year, and while the sex had been amazing, Monica had enjoyed demoralizing him and squashing his ego.
He had enough money to disappear. Get a new ID, a new name, just … hide for a while. Someplace he wouldn’t stick out, like New York City. He’d get an apartment and wait it out until the dust settled.
“Flight five-five-five to New York City is in preboarding. Would our first class customers please come to the red carpet?”
Rob picked up his overnight bag from the seat next to him. He ran into a well-dressed man of about forty in a dark gray suit and matching fedora. He looked familiar.
“Garza, isn’t it?” the man said with a smile.
Play the game, play the game. He’d met thousands of people working for Adeline. That’s why he was flying out of Dallas, to avoid people knowing who he was, but even here people in business or politics might know him.
“Yes, how are you?” He’d met him, but couldn’t place him.
The man stuck out his hand. Rob took it, because not shaking it would be suspicious.
The familiar stranger put his other hand around Rob’s and held it there for a moment. A sharp sting on the back of his hand had him trying to pull it away, but the man was stronger than he looked and held on.