Page 54 of Tainted Love

“I just want to help you, Lucy.”

She chuckles darkly. “You’ve done a real bang-up job, Mr. Hitman. Why did they even come after me?”

“Because they found out I was in Snake Eyes.”

Lucy turns her head. “Is that it? Because you were exposed?”

“Yes, and…” I pause. “And I kinda shot Marty in the face.”

“When?”

“This morning. Right after you left, he showed up.”

“You mean right after you kicked me out.”

“Lucy—”

“Why would they even care about Snake Eyes anyway? Aren’t you all senseless fucking killers?”

“I’ve been undercover in the Zappia family for six months,” I explain. “That’s when we discovered our data leak. Our master file was taken. It’s a list of every member in Snake Eyes and it could potentially bring down the entire organization if the wrong hands got hold of it. The next thing we knew, the Russian mob started picking us off. One agent here, a few more there. It was obvious where they got that information, so my boss sent agents to infiltrate notable mob families to make sure no one else caught wind of it — and if they did, our job was to take care of it.”

She swallows hard. “And Spencer?”

“What about him?”

“Was he an agent, too?”

I bite my tongue, refusing the instinct to lie to her. “Yes.”

“Is that why he tried to kill me?”

“It was protocol.”

“Protocol?”

“It’s called a Code Zero,” I explain. “If we were ever compromised, we were trained to take out anyone who knew anything, abandon our posts, and await further instruction.”

“But I didn’t know anything!”

“You saw my tattoo,” I say. “That was enough for him.”

A hard laugh shakes her face. “So, if you’d never fucked me, this wouldn’t have happened to me?”

“Logically speaking, yes.”

“This is all your fault, then.”

“Lucy, I take full responsibility for what’s happened to you. I won’t debate that.”

She leans forward with hatred in her eyes. The setting sun shines through her window, casting a deep, orange light on her wet cheeks. “Why would you even get involved with me, then? Or anybody for that matter? You knew this was possible from the start—”

“The odds of Snake Eyes being exposed… it was one in a million.”

“But not impossible.”

“Statistically improbable.”

“Then, how did it even happen?”

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