Page 54 of Wired Target

Sophie studied the woman lying in the road on the other side of the tape.

Pim Wat had landed directly on her face and hadn’t moved a millimeter since the shooting.The bullet had entered her temple and exited on the other side; her blonde wig was soaked, forming a blood pool beneath the body.She wore a pretty sundress in patterned, layered silk, and the loose folds, cut like flower petals, fluttered in the wind.

Her feet had fallen so that the toes pointed inward toward each other, an awkward pose she never would have taken in life—but her shoes were distinctive gold Louboutin sandals, identifiable by their red soles.

Good shoes.Expensive shoes.

Pim Wat would have wanted to be wearing good shoes when she died.

Why was it so hard to accept that her mother was dead?

Was she grieving?Or just afraid of a person who could no longer hurt her?

“Okay.”Sophie stepped back from the barrier.“I guess that’s good enough.I didn’t recognize her when she looked at me.She’s probably had more work done since the last time I saw pictures of her.She looked like Halle Berry then.”

Lei turned to gaze at the body, too.“That’s consistent with what you’ve told me of hermodus operandi,” Lei said.“The Honolulu medical examiner is on her way.I’ll mention that you haven’t been able to make a one hundred percent visual identification of her as Pim Wat.We’ll fast-track a DNA match.”

Sophie dropped her head, suddenly exhausted.“Yes, please.I’ve got to make some phone calls.”

“I hope your dad and Connor are okay,” Lei said.“After I talk with the homicide detective assigned to your case, I’m going to get a ride to the airport.I might be in time to meet Torufu and intercept the albatross eggs as they’re being sold.”

“I understand.I really appreciate all you’ve done.”

The two women embraced for a long moment, then Sophie detached gently.“I’ve got to call the Secret Service and let them know about my father.They can help with the homicide investigation into Pim Wat’s death.Must notify the CIA about her death, too.”

“Get to it, then,sistah,” Lei said, giving Sophie a gentle punch to the shoulder.“The worst is over.That witch can’t hurt you or your babies ever again.”

Sophie walked inside her compound through the open gate, leaving the chaos of the burnt, destroyed cars and her mother’s body behind.

She wasn’t ready to go into the guesthouse and talk to her men and see Connor and his new acolyte, Feirn; she was too angry with Connor right now.

Why had he come here?He’d drawn her mother out of hiding and almost got himself and her father killed!Then, the lunkheaded son of a jackal wouldn’t go to the hospital, and now she had to hide him until Pim Wat’s death was confirmed.

“Arrogant son of a yak.Always thinking rules only apply to other people,” she muttered, stalking past the guesthouse.She walked the paving stones to the bench under thehalatree, where she’d talked with Lei mere hours before.

She sat down—more like collapsed—and took out her phone.First, she called Kate Smith, her father’s loyal Secret Service coordinator.Kate was no longer assigned to his protection detail, since he’d retired, but quickly grasped the repercussions of the situation and confirmed she’d be on the next plane out and would speak to the detective assigned the case on Frank’s behalf.

Next, Sophie called CIA agent Devin McDonald.“My mother’s dead,” she said baldly.“Shot outside my compound by my father, Frank Smithson.He’s been stabbed—likely poisoned.I just wanted to let you know so that, if you hear of Connor traveling outside of Thailand, his bargain with you is fulfilled.”

“Good news about Pim Wat, though I’d have liked another crack at interrogating her,” the man said.“And how is his bargain fulfilled, if your father killed Pim Wat?Connor was supposed to bring her in.”

Rage blurred Sophie’s vision.

She was trapped; she couldn’t tell McDonald how Connor had paid in blood to lure Pim Wat into the open, without revealing that he’d also violated his immunity agreement.

Connor’s instinct to hide from the CIA was justified.

“You low-down dirty gutter rat with pustulant hemorrhoids,” she snarled.

“Ah.The famous Sophie curses.I understand Thai, you know.”

“Then you understand how much I despise you and hope you fry in hell and make a juicy feast for the demons, fat pig that you are.”

“Tell me how you really feel, Sophie.”McDonald’s rich chuckle showed that he enjoyed the upper hand.“And tell your boyfriend in Thailand I still have work for him to do—overseas, where he belongs.I’ll send a contact from our office in Honolulu to confirm Pim Wat’s death.”

He hung up.

Sophie dropped her phone onto the bench beside her and covered her face with her hands.She was too weary to even stand right now; the aftermath of adrenaline overload had hit her hard.

---