Page 118 of Lethal Game

His confidence made her stomach hurt. She looked around, but there was no one to help her. “Where are Connor and the others?”

Len’s expression was coldly calculating. “Somewhere nice and safe and out of sight, just in case I need them.”

“For what?”

He walked toward her slowly. “To make sure you do what you’re ordered to do.”

“By you?”

“No, sweetheart.” He reached out to grab a lock of her hair that had come loose.

She shied away, but that only seemed to make him happier. “I’m the muscle, my business partner is the one who needs you for your brain.”

Business partner? Understanding punched her in the stomach and lit her guts on fire.

Idiot.

“I knew you were stupid the moment I met you,” she said to him, letting disgust bleed into her words. “Stupid and, very soon, dead.”

“Who’s going to kill me,sweetheart?” Len asked stressing the name. “You?”

She grunted. “The person behind all this death. You’re only useful to a point, and when your usefulness ends, you’ll just be another one of those poor bastards over there.” She pointed in the direction of the mass grave. “Dumped in a hole.”

“That would be bad for business,” said a voice she’d never heard before.

A man emerged from her lab tent and walked toward her. He looked to be in his late forties, balding, and bearded. He stood about five foot ten at the most, and looked incredibly average.

“Mr. Akbar?” she asked.

The smile he showed her did nothing to warm his eyes. “Dr. Perry. I’m very happy to meet you at last.”

“Why would you want to meet me at all? I’m young, female, and in poor health. Hardly a threat.”

“Of all the people I consider a threat, you’re in the top three.”

Now she knew for certain he was nuts. “Why?”

“Your knowledge of the rabies virus, of course. I knew it wouldn’t stump you for long, and I see I am right.”

She deliberately slouched and rolled her shoulders forward. “You didn’t destroy anything in there, did you? That’s my favorite lab.”

“Certainly not. I need it and you.”

That didn’t sound good.

She glanced at the sleeping tent. “Or what, you’ll kill me like you killed them?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know why I wanted you?”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be worth setting fire to a hotel and killing those men in that tent. They were good men.”

Akbar’s insincere politeness disappeared like it had never been. In its wake was a very,veryangry man. “Yes, yes, good men who take orders and do what they’re told.”

He came closer and she had to force herself not to back away.

“It was good men like them who killed my family. My wife, children, and parents.” He came a little closer to her. “They were good people too, but there was no mercy for them. I have none for you or any other American soldier.”

“Dude,” she said, her lips twisted with irritation, “I think your elevator got stuck between floors.”

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