Page 15 of Toxic Vengeance

“I understand. I just wanted you to hear a familiar voice. Stay close to Trinity, she’ll get you out of there safely. We’ll talk soon. Bye.” She ended the call.

Eden handed the phone back to Trinity. A fire truck and two police cars roared past them. Eden bit the inside of her lip. Chris had been there for her when no one else had. They’d had good times and bad times, and even after the Program had been shut down, Chris had chosen to stay in contact, risking her safety to help Eden. Today she’d paid the ultimate price for it.

Pain expanded in Eden’s chest. She thought of Chris’s half-closed eyes staring sightlessly up at the sky.

I’m sorry, Chris. So, so sorry.

“How did you follow me here?” she finally asked Trinity.

“I didn’t. I was here for your handler. I wanted to see if she knew where you were.”

“Why?”

“We’ve been tracking you for months, trying to find you.” Trinity turned down another side alley, watching around them carefully. “I’m part of a taskforce responsible for locating and bringing in all remaining Valkyries. Kiyomi’s one of them. She’s back at our headquarters in the UK. We want you to come back there with me.”

Was this for real? “For what?”

“For your safety. We’re under threat, Eden. Being hunted by people within the Program. So we’re recovering all of us still out there, before it’s too late, and joining forces. We’re going to end the threat, and then we’ll all start over without the constant fear of having to look over our shoulders every minute.”

Eden stared at her, having a hard time processing everything Trinity had said when her mind was still full of Chris lying dead in the alley a few blocks away. “How many of us are left?”

“Nine, maybe ten. After you, there are only one or two more still alive.”

Holy shit. She’d never imagined anything like this happening.

“I know this all comes as a shock, especially after what just happened. But I’m hoping you’ll consider it.” Trinity glanced across at her. “Did Chris give you anything today? Any important intel?”

“A book.” It was in the backpack.

“What’s in it?”

“I don’t know, she told me not to open it—” She stiffened as Trinity hammered the brakes and brought them to a sudden stop.

Following Trinity’s gaze, she spotted the black car in the ditch across the road. Its right tires had slid off the road. Two bullet holes marked the windshield. In the driver’s seat, someone was slumped over the steering wheel.

“Shooter’s car.” Trinity threw the car into park and got out.

Eden was right behind her as they crossed the road, weapons up. Blood spattered the driver’s side window and dash. Then Eden got close enough and found herself staring down at Chris’s killer. “It’s him.”

“Yeah.” Trinity glanced up and down the road. Finding it deserted for the moment, she pulled on gloves, took out a small device and opened the driver’s door to take his fingerprints. Stepping back, she looked around them once more. “His killer’s long gone. Let’s get out of here.”

Jesus. Two hitters, different targets. Somebody had a specific hit list and wanted to keep things quiet. Butwho?

Eden hurried with her back to their car, her mind going a hundred miles an hour. She pulled the book Chris had given her from her bag and tore open the wrapping paper. It was a hardcover copy of a Robert Ludlum novel. Opening it, she found a niche carved into the pages containing a flash drive.

Trinity pulled a U-turn and sped back the way they’d come, reaching for her phone. “Hey,” she said to whoever answered. “I’ve got Eden, but there’s a situation. Chris is dead, and so is the hitter who killed her. A few blocks away, double tap to the head. I’m sending his fingerprints to you, and Eden’s got a thumb drive we’ll need analyzed asap.”

Eden listened to every word, her thoughts divided between their security and coping with the guilt of abandoning Chris’s body to strangers.

Trinity ended the call. “Do you remember Amber Brown?”

Eden blinked as a vague image came to mind. Thin, oval face. Brown hair, green eyes. Hacker? “The name’s familiar.”

“She’s our resident tech whiz. She’s going to analyze everything as soon as she gets it.” Trinity glanced over, hit her with that dark blue gaze. “I’ve got a flight chartered back to the UK. I want you to come with me. Will you?”

Eden was cautious by nature. Except with Zack, and except right now. Because while she rarely made knee-jerk decisions, there wasn’t time to sit and debate her options. She wanted answers and justice for Chris. Wanted to find out who had killed her and why, and for a chance to meet the others if what she’d been told was true. Someone was out to kill her. And Zack might be involved somehow.

We’re being hunted…

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