Page 78 of Lethal Game

“There’s an advantage to being prepared for whatever horror he enacts on the world. Nothing is precious to him anymore.” Sophia looked at Con. “Nothing matters but revenge.”

He flinched, but the expression was only on his face for a fraction of a second. If she hadn’t been watching him she’d have missed it. “Is she well enough for the mission?”

Sophia answered before Max could. “That’s an unanswerable question. I’ve been asked to out-think a madman. No one is well enough for that.”

What had made him flinch? She thought back over what she’d said and realized Con hadn’t reacted until the last word she’d said.Revenge.

“She’s fit for duty,” Max told Con. “Though I agree, no one is well enough for what might be necessary on this mission.” He turned to her, and hesitated only a second before saying, “Be ready to leave in thirty minutes.”

“Yes, sir.”

Max left, but Con didn’t move.

“Are you going to bring some more of that stuff?” he asked with a nod at the empty bag of platelets.

“Yes, one.”

He tilted his head to one side. “What causes your platelets to stop working?”

“They work, mostly. Problem is, there aren’t enough of them.” She got up from the cot and disposed of the IV tubing and bags. “Stress, infection, sleep deprivation, any number of things can trigger ITP or make it worse.”

There was a pause of two or three seconds before he said, “I’m sorry I haven’t had time to teach you many self-defense tricks.”

She stopped and glanced at him. He stood in the center of the office, his face serious, almost glum. “Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault an insane man chose to target me. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably be not enjoying said wacko’s lack of hospitality.”

He shook his head.

“Or is this your way of sucking up?”

“I fully intend to teach you those tricks,” Con said.

He was watching her face so closely he probably knew how many eyelashes she had. The man was a champion worrier.

Was he also contemplating something else, like revenge?

She knew she was going to die. She’d have to make sure he didn’t join her.

She grabbed a duffel bag that had been sitting on the floor next to Max’s desk and stopped in front of him. “Shall we?”

She made it sound like they were going on a routine trip to somewhere safe.

Where they were going was about as unsafe as it got.

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