Page 44 of Agent vs. Assassin

“What does he expect from you after visiting me?”

“He wants me angry and in his face, demanding he honor the hands-off of our women rule when he follows no rules. But that’s a weak response he’ll obliterate me for.”

“What’s the strong response?”

“Killing him, which is what I’ve arranged. Outside of that, I need to do nothing. It sends a message that his interruption meant so little to us, we barely remember it. He is not a threat. He is not king.”

“Won’t that poke the bear?”

“Yes.”

“Yes? Just yes? Won’t he escalate if we don’t react?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I think we should play up how he wanted to get to know you, rather than the threat in his actions. I, we, could invite him to your father’s party,” he suggests.

I blink. “What? Are you serious?”

“He claims he and Pocher are tight, implying he’s talked to him, which I do not believe, but he showed himself in public. That means he intends to stay, and he’s feeling cocky as he’s aligned with someone powerful.”

“Like Pocher.”

“Exactly. We have to find out if that’s a real relationship. We look stupid and disposable, a gnat to be swatted, if we don’t know what is happening.”

“I can’t believe my father or Pocher would want a kingpin back from the dead at my father’s party.”

“They won’t, which sends a subtle message to my father. It will put him in his place in the shadows. We don’t even have to actually invite him. I can tell him we’ll see if we can clear his invitation with Pocher and your father. He’ll object. No matter what, he’ll know he’s not welcome, but we’ll make it clear we know, too.”

“Do we tell Pocher and my father you’re inviting him?”

“No. I can read my father. I’ll know if he’s talked to Pocher. When he declines, we’ll invite him to dinner.”

“Will he come?”

“He’ll come, if he’s alive to come.”

I down the contents of my wine glass, meant to be sipped, the rush of wine and the voice of my father in my head rushing over me.Let them believe they’re in control.The fact that they don’t know the truth is a weakness.Kane’s effectively using my father’s strategy against our enemies, but will my father see through it for that very reason?

Or is he perhaps using that very strategy againstus,and we’re the ones being played? It’s a horrible thought, and I grab a new slice and stuff my face with it, looking for comfort when I’m more likely to find a bellyache.

And another murder.

The room might smell of pizza, but murder is in the air.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Killers know killers.

Those words replay in my mind long after Kane falls asleep. I lay awake with Ghost on my mind, aware that his obsession with me is not normal, but neither am I, and that’s the point.

Ghost knows I’m not normal.

Ghost knows I’m a killer.

And while, for the most part, I’ve found a way to accept that part of me that can kill, justifying it as being part of my job, this is mostly to the credit of Kane, who still manages to see the balance of light in me to his dark. I often cannot any longer. But having Ghost see the dark, really see it, seems like something that should bother me.

But it doesn’t, and I tell myself that’s simply survival. I need Ghost to know what I’m capable of doing, who I can be, and how much control I have to be able to turn it off and on at will.

Mostly.

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