Page 92 of Death Wish

CHAPTER NINETEEN

SIMONE SCOWLED, TRYING to come up with an idea to get them out of this mess. Trevor, The Jerk, had screwed up the operation after all. “What about him?”

Sophie’s eyebrows winged upward. “You don’t deny knowing him?”

She snorted. “No. Why should I?”

“He says your name isn’t Simone Kenyon. It’s Simone Kent.”

“For once in his life, he told the truth.”

Sophie looked amused. “I guess there’s no love lost between the two of you.”

“Not a drop. That man has caused me nothing but grief since I’ve known him.”

“You lied to us about your identity,” Boudreax said. “Why should we believe you now?”

“What lie? I told you the truth. My name was Simone Kent. It’s now Simone Kenyon. There’s no crime in changing your name if you do it legally.”

“Why the change?”

“Two words. Trevor White. He’s also the reason I jumped at the chance to come to Mexico. The man is a menace, and I want nothing to do with him.”

“But you dated him.”

“Yeah, and I regret every minute I wasted on him.” She let the anger she felt over Trevor’s treatment boil over. “Do you know what he did to me? Good old Trevor beat me to within an inch of my life. I was in the hospital for more than a week.”

The other woman looked sympathetic. “How did you handle it?”

“How do you think? I reported him to the cops. He was arrested and convicted of assault and battery. As soon as the cops didn’t need me anymore, I left California and never looked back. Once he was free, he pursued me all over the country and now to Mexico.”

Boudreax snorted. “Quite a story, Simone. It’s not good enough to spare your boyfriend or you.”

Simone’s heart sank. She and Jesse needed a few more minutes for Fortress to make their move, then this mission would be over and they could go back home. But she feared that would never happen. “You think you can access the program without me, Boudreax? Go for it.” She folded her arms. “I dare you. One wrong move, and the program will destroy itself.”

At that moment, Simone’s watch vibrated. She glanced at the screen. Fortress was ready. Thank goodness.

“You don’t have a chance of accessing the program without my cooperation.” She rose from the chair and walked toward Boudreax. “Let Jesse go.”

“Or what?”

“No payday for either you or your lady friend. Jesse’s mine. I don’t need a partnership with either of you, but I need Jesse.” She held out a hand to the man of her dreams.

After a moment’s hesitation, Boudreax released Jesse and backed away, his attention shifting to Sophie. “What do you want to do, baby?”

Simone helped Jesse to his feet and steadied him when he swayed. His face was pale aside from the streak of blood down his cheek. “You okay?” she murmured.

He gave a slight nod.

Right. Why didn’t she believe him? Perhaps because he looked like death warmed over. This wasn’t good at all. If Jesse wasn’t up to handling these two, their chances of survival plummeted into the basement.

Oh, yeah. They were already in the basement. Guess their survival outlook was ten notches below lousy.

Simone slid her arm around his waist and hoped he didn’t go down. If he did, Jesse would take her with him.

“We might work something out,” Sophie said. “Simone, you have your money. You verified it’s in your account. Now, let’s talk about our partnership.”

“My price for continuing to work with you is Jesse. Nonnegotiable.”

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