Page 100 of End Game

“I believe you.”

“If you didn’t kill her,” Ash said, “why was your blood found at the crime scene?”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t in the Krowne’s garden.”

“Mason, what’s going on?” Kayla asked. “Why were you there?”

“To fulfill a contract.”

“Someone hired you to kill Vicky?”

Silence.

“Me?” she whispered.

“No, Kayla,” he said in a rough voice. His first sign of emotion. “I would never hurt you. Not for any amount of money.”

“Why Victoria?”

“I can’t answer why.”

“If you didn’t shoot the governor,” Ash said, still searching for the Ranger, “who did?”

“Seb Grimball.”

The ex-con with a compulsive need to announce his intentions with carefully placed jewelry stolen from his victims.

“Did you murder him?” Kayla asked.

More silence.

“My God, Mason. You nearly killed us.”

“If I’d wanted you dead, you’d be cold and rotting now.”

“You hit the gas line!”

“Regrettable, but as good a distraction as any to keep your agent from following me.”

“Who ordered the hit on Governor Stokes?” Ash asked.

Preparing for the evening crowd, the decibel level of the music inside the bar seemed to have ramped up a good 10dbh.

“Have you told Blackwell about Service yet?”

What little color was left in Kayla’s face drained away. “How do you know about Service?”

“Drivers are like domestic servants.” Wade’s voice rose as he fought to outloud the background noise swelling around him. “After a while, they disappear from their employer’s landscape. Become air. Necessary, but unseen.”

Unease forced Ash’s attention toward the bar. He peered into the large window and scanned the clutch of tourists, locals, and bleary-eyed suits. “Who ordered the hit, Wade?”

“Someone very close to Kayla. Watch her back.”

“Already done. Give me a name.”

A shadowed figure inside the bar moved closer to the window. Tall, broad-shouldered, predatory stride. His left hand held a phone up to his ear.

Ash’s feet carried him closer to the window until he was staring into Mason Wade’s hard eyes.

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