“I make it a point not to get shot, Uilleam.”
Sure, he’d been winged a few times, but he had managed to kill those that attempted to kill him.
Grimacing in pain as he shifted to get a better look at Kit, Uilleam asked, “What are you doing here anyway, brother? It almost feels as though you care.”
“Despite what you lead yourself to believe, Uilleam, you’re my brother and I love you—even when you’re attempting to get a rise out of me.”
“Your love is due to obligation and nothing more.”
“Is that how you look at it?” Kit asked. “Who am I obligated to exactly?”
Their father was dead.
Their sister a distant memory.
And their mother … no one hated Abigail Runehart more than Kit.
“I won’t pretend to understand what goes on in your head,” Uilleam said with a slight shrug and wince. “But you wouldn’t have come here if you didn’t have any information.”
“Luna tells me that the shooter rode a motorcycle and shot you from a considerable distance. Did you get a look at him—particularly, the jacket he wore?”
Uilleam narrowed his eyes, as though in thought. “No, I was too busy getting shot to pay attention to whatever the fuck he was wearing. Your point?”
Kit’s lips quirked in a corner. “They call him the Jackal.” When Uilleam didn’t comment, Kit went on. “He’s been quite prolific over the last five years. He was also the one responsible for what happened to your mercenary last year.”
Uilleam frowned. “And you’re only telling me this now?”
“I don’t involve myself in your affairs unless I need to.”
Kit didn’t care about the mercenaries under his control, and had it not been Uilleam that had felt the unforgiving hand of the Jackal, he wouldn’t have gotten involved now.
“Who’s his handler?”
“No one knows.”
“That’s not good enough.”
Kit arched a brow. “You must be mistaking me with one of your mercenaries, brother.”
“Then how do you find the Jackal?”
“You don’t,” Kit said, a truth that he wished he didn’t have to share. “He finds you. Whoever he is, he’s very good—and whoever he works for, they’re more paranoid about their anonymity than even you.”
Uilleam shook his head. “Ghosts can’t stay hidden forever.”
“My resources are at your disposal should you need them.”
“Duly noted.”
“Don’t give the nurses too much trouble,” Kit said as he got to his feet. “Take it easy over the next few days.”
Uilleam scoffed. “My work is never done.”
“Then take a break. You were shot five times for God’s sake—you’re lucky to be alive.”
“I don’t think luck had anything to do with it,” he said. “He missed every major organ, and if we ignore the sheer number of bullets, it wouldn’t have been life threatening.”
Even Kit couldn’t hide his surprise then.
He’d heard the assassin was good, but that was far beyond anything he had expected.
“I wasn’t meant to die today,” Uilleam said, gazing off at something across the room. “Of that much I’m sure.”
“I’ll ask around,” Kit offered after a beat of silence, “see what I can find.”
“Give my thanks to Luna, would you?”
Kit nodded, excusing himself once the nurse came to check on Uilleam. As he was leaving, and spotted Skorpion on his way out, he was reminded of the other reason why he had come here.
But it wasn’t to Skorpion that Kit directed his question.
Instead, he called the one man that might have had the answer, and was willing to share it with him.
“Uncle,” Kit greeted once he was secure in his car and the bluetooth was turned on. “Is this a good time?”
“It’s never a good time,” came his disgruntled reply. “What can I do for you?”
“Uilleam contracted Luna for a job in California and—”
“He did what?”
Since Zachariah had agreed to take on the job as wrangler for the mercenaries, it was rare that the man didn’t know what assignment belonged to whom—he was their handler after all.
What was Uilleam hiding?
“Perhaps he was intending to meet you.”
Then why hadn’t he mentioned it?
And why involve Luna?
Curious that he would ask Luna on an assignment that he didn’t tell anyone else about, especially knowing that Kit would be in California at the time—more curious considering who he’d met with at the time.
Whatever Uilleam’s intentions, it had something to do with Luna—he just had to find out what.
Chapter Eighteen
Kit could remember almost to the exact moment when he knew everything wasn’t all what it seemed with his younger brother.