Page 33 of Agent vs. Assassin

“You don’t know that.”

He’s right. I don’t know much. And we’ve been at this way too long, with too many lives on the line, for me to feel like I’m the stupid one right now. “You need to take a deep breath, Tic Tac.I am not going to let anything happen to you.” Kane sits down in the chair next to me and makes a motion, encouraging me to add, “Neither is Kane.” Which reminds me of just how far I went to protect Tic Tac. “I called freaking Rich for you, Tic Tac. Do you know what hell that brought on me?”

“I’m sorry if hell rained down on you for saving my life, Lilah.”

I scowl. “What is going on with you? I think I need to meet this guy you’re dating. You’re just plain snarky these days.”

“I’m not dating anyone, remember? We broke up because he couldn’t take you calling me at all hours of the night. This job is going to kill me. I don’t want to die.”

“You’re not going to die, and when this is over, I’ll call your man and promise him to not call at all hours.”

“You’d be lying.”

“I’d mean it when I said it.” My phone buzzes with a call, and I glance at the caller ID and show it to Kane, who smirks. He knows what’s coming, and it’s not gentle. “Enrique is calling, Tic Tac. He’s with Pocher’s security guy. I’ll explain later, and you can continue being cranky when I do.” I disconnect and then hit the speaker button to answer Enrique with, “Is he on the chopper?”

“Yeah, and I made sure he was scared shitless.”

“Good,” I say. “Now do itagain.”

“What?”

“Go back to Lucas’ house and hold a fucking gun to his head until he does his job. He still hasn’t called Tic Tac. He’s supposed to be finding Elsa. Or Ghost. I don’t give two fucks. Find one. Find the other. And feel free to play cartel gangbanger. Shoot him in the foot or cut his damn finger off.”

“Does this mean I’m back on your good side?”

“No,” I say, meeting Kane’s stare. “It does not mean you’re back on my good side. It just means I’m not going to kill youtonight. I might tomorrow.” I disconnect and set my phone on the table between me and Kane. “He’s not off my shit list.”

“I’m aware,” he assures me.

I sigh and press my lips together. “There’s more going on that I don’t understand.”

“You mean with Ghost?”

“I mean with everyone and everything. Ghost is a part of this. Maybe more than we know. Maybe heisthe distraction. Maybe that’s what he’s being paid to do.”

“If that were the case, why would he kill Elsa’s brother?”

“Because someone on the hit list wants Mark and Elsa dead, is what I’m thinking. Ghost is just using the number one assassin thing as a cover story.”

“That computes to me. The question is, who’s pulling the strings?”

I push to my feet and turn to face him. “The president called me, which is not a big thing. I asked him to call to ensure the VP is protected. It’s the fact I told him Adams wasn’t communicating, and I’d barely hung up with him, and Adams called me.”

“That feels funny to you?” he asks. “Maybe it’s simply that his boss just got mad and he responded to that anger and contacted you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Adams is just an arrogant power play dick, and nothing more, but Adams also told me Ellis called him and told him if he didn’t contact him by a certain time to come for him. Why didn’t Ellis say that to me? He was with me when he left.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Whoever is in charge really wants me out of the way and in Maryland, which is why I’m not going to Maryland.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The sketch artist is about twelve—okay, maybe twenty—and sitting at our kitchen island eating pie, with milk in his glass.

“Have you lost your mind?” I murmur softly to Kane, both of us still standing in the archway.

“Why don’t you find out?” Amusement lights his otherwise dark eyes, telling me he’s oh so proud of himself right now. My husband is ridiculously arrogant. I should hate that about him, but I really don’t. Sometimes it even makes me hot, but I’ll keep that to myself.

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