Page 6 of Cruel Games

I was a shadow.

And to the shadows I sprang out of, I’d eventually return.

After I completed my vow on my father’s deathbed.

The dossier on their current open contract was very detailed, and for the first time since I’d accidentally stumbled across them, I found myself thankful for the intel they’d brought me. Figuring out their plans for the target would be easy. He had a strict schedule, and that left little window of opportunity for a hitman to sneak in and do the deed. If I was a betting woman–and I was–I’d put my money on the small window he allotted in his schedule for a private meal. He always got delivery, never daring to set foot outside his room if he could avoid it. It was likely the Guild wasn’t the only group of people gunning for his head.

That would make him a harder target. Guys who knew their days were numbered tended to travel with a large security team, and I was only one girl.

My roommate knocked on my door, and I scrambled to shovethe folder under my bedsheets as she swung the door open and peered inside, surprised to find me still awake, no doubt.

“You planning to get any sleep tonight?” she asked, glaring pointedly in my direction. “It’s like three in the fucking morning.”

“And?” I waved my hand around like I really cared what her justification was. In reality, I couldn’t give two fucks. Once I’d done what I set out to do, I’d be bouncing the fuck out of this place, leaving town and all the bad memories here behind me. “It’s not like my one light and lack of music is keeping you up.”

Her upturned nose would beg to differ, but she ignored my comeback, fiddling with the end of a lock of her hair. “So your fuckingpetscratched myboyfriendlast night when he came over. He had to go get a rabies shot. You’ve got to get rid of it—it’s practically feral.”

“I’ll look into it,” I replied, already dismissing her.

She had the gall to look at me like she expected me to argue as she continued. “Just like that, you’re gonna deal with him? After all these months of me complaining–”

“No.” I blinked at her audacity, then shook my head. “Actually, that’s ahell no,”I amended. “He’s a cat, bitch. Of course he’s going to be pissed when you bring strangers home. This ishisterritory. Maybe tell your boyfriend to man up or something, I dunno.”

She listened to my words but must not have heard them because the next thing out of her mouth was: “He’s a menace, and ifyoudon’t get rid of him,Iwill.”

So what if she was right?The little fucknugget was adorable, even if hedidbite the hand that fed him. Frequently. And very painfully, too. But I had yet to develop rabies, so I doubted her fucking boyfriend would, either.

“Fuck off, bitch. I pay rent here, too. Leave the cat alone, or I’ll be carvingyourhead this Halloween instead of a pumpkin.” I went back to ignoring her, pretending that the blank screen onmy laptop was loads more entertaining than her face. Which, okay, not really a pretense. She was as bland as a saltless saltine cracker and just as dumb. Hell, she was about one step away from being an NPC in her own storyline.

I gave zero fucks about her. I had enough on my plate without dealing with her shit, too. I rose from my bed and opened my window, sticking my hand out to wiggle it tauntingly. When the familiar meow of an alley cat echoed through the crack, I pulled my arm back and popped the top off his can of tuna, carefully sliding it out to my stray. When I turned around and sat back down, my roommate’s eyes were wide as saucers, and rightfully so. Hell, I’d be amazed if someone dared to feed the thing I was campaigning against, right under my fucken nose. But it was acat,for fuck’s sake. And furthermore, he wasn’t evenmine.I just took up feeding him when the little cat lady downstairs moved out and left him behind.

I couldn’t let him fuckingdie.

And he hated all of my roommate’s boyfriends, so he and I were kindred spirits, of a sort.

She huffed and stuck her nose higher in the air. Any higher, and she might be able to sniff the fucking ozone layer. “The mangy flea-ridden thing doesn’t evenlikeyou.”

“If that was all you came in for, you can go. The cat stays. Maybe get a new boyfriend instead. Or a new apartment.”

If looks could kill, hers would have tried me, but I’d seen better death glares in the past, and half of them actually meant it. As she stormed into the hallway, slamming my doorandhers in retaliation, I chuckled to myself, flipping open the folder once more, and began formulating a plan.

TWO

JACKAL

Blood-tintedspittle clung to a human face much better than the movies would have you believe.Blood, by nature, is a sticky thing, and so is spit. So naturally, when you blend the two, you’ll end up with a very sticky, nasty biological mess.

And now, mine was mixing in with what was left of the corpse I’d dragged for a mile and a half behind my bike.

To her credit, Maxine Wellsburn held on for a lot longer than I thought she would.

I didn’t discriminate between the genders when I took on contracts. A bad person was a bad person, no matter what they had between their legs. And they all bled the same when their bodies scraped across the gravel and pavement.

Miss Wellsburn had bled alottonight.

Dingo eyed the streak of blood leading to my bike tire with a hint of disgust, hands on his hips like my mother used to do when she was about to yell at one of her kids for simply existing. “Do you always have to be somessywith the bodies, Jackal?”

He knew why I did it. He knew my history and the suffering my sister had been through. He knew I picked up this gruesome habit in her honor. But he’d only recently started questioning me for my choices–especially with the women.

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