Page 4 of Lady Death

“Oh, that’s good. I like that idea.” She tilted her head, fantasizing about what she could do to him while he was paralyzed. “What drug can do that?”

“There’s a drug called tetrodotoxin,” he replied. “It a paralytic produced by bacteria found in certain fish speciesand is about a thousand times more toxic to humans than cyanide. Shutseverything down, including the lungs. It’s usually fatal.”

“Then I’ll have to work quickly. Can you obtain it?”

“Silly question.” He winked at her. “Now, the best way to get it into his system would be ingesting, but winging it isn’t going to work. Compton and Seker were easy. They listened with their dicks instead of reasoning. Peterson is going to be cautious.”

“Then we’ll have to be clever.” She thought for a moment before the answer came to her. “Why don’t we go with something very clichéd? A drunk girl crashing him and I put it in his drink. How can he resist that?”

He thought for a moment, his eyes downcast. It looked like he mentally struggled with something. Then he looked at her, and she saw resolution. Acceptance. “And I have just the means to accomplish this. Wait here.”

He was gone for a few minutes and when he came back, he carried a small metal box, which he placed on the coffee table. When he opened it, she saw four rings, each with a different colored gem in the center of the chunky gold.

“Rings?” she asked. “How’s that going to help?”

“These rings are different.” He picked one up with an orange stone. “This one, for instance, has tetrodotoxin in it.”

“In it?”

He touched the stone, and a small compartment slid out, holding a white powder. Keres’s eyes widened.

“I thought those types of rings only existed in movies,” she said, smiling. “How did you open it?”

“Here,” he replied, pointing to a very small clasp on the side. “You just press it but be careful. Donottouch the toxin.”

“This is awesome.” Her mind raced with possibilities and looked at the other rings. “What’s in the rest?”

He pointed to each stone. “Red has sarin. Blue has GHB. Green has anthrax.” He closed the compartment and held outthe ring to her. Keres took it and slipped it on her index finger.

“I’m equal parts awed and horrified you have these. Where’d you get them?”

“Let’s just say somewhere in Russia.”

Which meant he wasn’t going to tell her, and she shouldn’t ask.

“Okay,” she said, creating a fist. “We have a plan.”

Chapter Three

“Can you hear me?” Keres asked as she made her way into the nightclub.

“Yep, you and that screeching noise that passes as music.”

She suppressed her smile.

“Remember the plan,” Darby continued. “If you can’t get him alone, walk away and we’ll figure out something for another day.”

Keres didn’t reply. No matter what, she was going to finish this. She was going to end the last man who had tried to end her. Dishon Peterson had stabbed her six times. Amazingly, he had missed all her vital organs. When he had gotten to Abigail, the first strike had punctured her heart, killing her instantly. Part of her was glad her friend hadn’t felt more pain. Part of her was envious. However, since she was still breathing it was up to her to avenge not only Abigail, but herself.

It didn’t take long for her to spot her target. He was just as she remembered him. Tall, disgusting … and a bad dancer to boot. For a moment, her resolve faltered. This man terrified her. She wanted to turn and run away. Wanted to hide. It made her wonder if she could follow through because for her plan to work, Peterson had to touch her.

“It’s okay to abandon the plan,” Darby said in her earpiece.

No. She had to do this.Neededto do this. Walking away wasn’t an option. Shaking off her trepidation, Keres went to the bar and ordered a whiskey sour. Then she took a deep breath and channeled her inner bitch.

She weaved through the dancers, giggling at everything. Toasting men and women. When she got close to Peterson, she pretended to stumble and practically knocked him down. While he was distracted, she discreetly opened her ring and slipped thetetrodotoxin into his drink.

“Oh! I am so, so, so, so, so whatever I was saying,” she said, ending on a high-pitched squeal.

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