Page 291 of The Black Trilogy

I carried on pressing until he lost consciousness, then I untied him. I no longer cared for my own life. I was on borrowed time, anyway.

Although in the great scheme of things, today had been a good day.

I should have known the peace wouldn’t last. Less than a week passed before my world turned dark again, in the control room at Blackwood this time.

The red blob of the tracking device on Louis Santos’s car moved slowly across the screen. I’d planted it last night while he ate dinner with his wife, an easy enough job since he’d left the Mercedes in a dark parking spot behind the restaurant. Green blobs followed him as Blackwood vehicles played a game of follow-my-leader. The map Nate had designed reminded me of Pacman, and I wanted the greens to gobble up the bad guy.

My red phone rang, flashing “Unknown caller” across the screen. Unusual, but it wasn’t unheard of for me to get a wrong number.

I didn’t take my eyes of the car-blobs as I picked it up. “Yeah?”

An electronically distorted voice came back at me, one I hadn’t heard in over six months.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Black. Or is it Ms. Black now?”

Mentally I was in a lot better shape than the last time this son of a biscuit called, so rather than acting dumb again, I hit a button to record the call and start a trace.

“What do you want?”

“Come now, is that any way to greet the man who holds the lives of your friends in his hands?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. How may I help you?”

“There’s no need for sarcasm. I heard you were back from your little sabbatical, so I thought I’d give you a friendly reminder to keep your nose out of my business.”

“Which I’ve been doing, you murdering freak.”

“Under different circumstances, I could enjoy you getting feisty.”

“And under different circumstances, I could enjoy peeling your skin off your body, piece by tiny piece, but circumstances are what they are, aren’t they?”

“I’m glad we’re seeing eye to eye on this.”

“We’ll never see eye to eye. Just keep out of my life, and I’ll keep out of yours.”

I hung up on him, exercising the only bit of control I had over the situation, then stared at the screen for a second before hurling the phone across the room like I was pitching in the World Series. It hit the wall with a crunch and dropped to the floor.

Silence spread as people turned to stare at me. I’d never lost my rag like that in front of anyone except Black before, so I suppose I deserved the shocked looks.

As time stood still, I felt something creeping through me, flooding my veins and seeping out of my pores. Rage. Pure, unmitigated fury. All the anger I’d been missing after Black’s death finally came.

How dare he?

Nate materialised beside me. “That was him, wasn’t it?” he murmured, too quietly for anyone else to hear. He didn’t have to elaborate on who “him” was.

“Yes. It was.”

“What’re you going to do?”

I looked at the faces around me. Nate. Nick, sitting at his desk, watching me closely. Dan, halfway across the room, carrying a cup of coffee. Behind her, Mack waited for instructions, mouse in hand.

Then I saw Black the last time he looked at me, his expression of confusion, soon to become death. I couldn’t face that again. I couldn’t watch the soul of another person I cared about leave this earth. I didn’t want their blood on my hands.

No more.

Decision made, I turned back to Nate.

“Nothing,” I replied through clenched teeth. “I’m going to do…nothing.”

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