Page 26 of Poisoned Pawn

“My name is Carter. The rest isn’t important.”

“What the fuck do you mean the rest isn’t important?” She sits forward, gripping her bottle of water, the plastic crinkling under her firm hold. “You broke into my house and killed a man. Then you turn up at the same restaurant as me and my family and corner me in the toilets. And then, can you guess what comes next? Yeah, that’s right, we get attacked again. I’d say it’s very important because you seem to be the common element in all of this.”

“And how the fuck do you explain the shooting at Neon Flux and your boss getting offed, huh?” Her eyes widen with shock. She doesn’t need to know that I was at Neon Flux that night or that it was me who killed her boss. But I do need her to start talking. I also don’t dismiss the very slim chance there is an element of truth to her words.

“Neither of those things had anything to do with me.” She says the words, but she doesn’t believe them. And neither do I.

“So, they are just a coincidence then?” She has no answer. And I can see the guilt she feels in her eyes. “Look, someone wants you dead, princess—”

“Stop fucking calling me that.”

I’m up out of my seat and in her face in a second, forcing her back into the sofa as I lean over her. “Stop fucking acting like one then. A little gratitude wouldn’t go amiss. And don’t feel any guilt over that boss of yours. He’s not so squeaky fucking clean.” Her jaw clenches and nostrils flare. She knows more than she’s saying. “Something you want to tell me?”

“Yeah, get the hell out of my face.”

“I like your fire, but you don’t want to mess with me. You don’t know me remember.”

I know you. I remember every dip and curve of your body.

I’ve never been more grateful to hear my phone ringing as I am right now. This girl is doing things to me a man like me has no business entertaining. I push up and step back as I check who’s calling.

“Take the second room on the left and go get some sleep,” I tell her, pointing to the furthest corridor as I take the other, which leads to my office, and answer the phone.

“Evening, Carter.”

“Lennox, to what do I owe the pleasure,” I say casually as I enter my office. I check the bank of screens showing the security cameras and see that Star has disappeared. I find her in the bedroom I told her to use, and she’s currently checking every drawer and cupboard in there. She won’t find anything. I imagine she was hoping for a phone to call her sister or Aidan, but she’ll be shit out of luck.

“Oh, you know just the little matter of a pawn taken without fair game.”

“It’s been a while, but as I understand it any pawn is fair game if they are blocking my path to the queen.”

I bring my computer to life as I continue to watch Star, only now having given up the hope of finding anything of use in the room, she’s removedmygun and GPS tracker, which I’d forgotten she had, frommyhoodie and is now removing the hoodie. Lennox’s question forces me to look away just as Star flashes her bare stomach.

“Are you saying the game is double pawned?”

“Are you saying you didn’t fucking know? The board is littered with illegal pawns.” I wonder if he knows that Kavanagh is in town. “Please tell me you know who the queen is?”

“What kind of fucking fool do you take me for, Carter? Why is that a problem?”

Something in his voice has me treading carefully. I’d bet money on him knowing that Star and I hooked up. It’s probably why he thought I intervened.

He’s a little right.

“And why would you think that?” I ask, injecting a little venom to my tone.

“I don’t. I was simply making sure you remember the rules that’s all.”

“You mean rules that don’t apply to me anymore? I don’t work for the Shadow Guard, Lennox, or did you need the reminder?” I glance at the camera for Star’s room. But it’s empty. I quickly begin a scan of the rest of the camera’s, but Lennox’s threat halts my search.

“Hmmm, it seems you do need a little reminder about the conditions of your release.”

“The fuck I do. I haven’t broken our agreement. If I had, we wouldn’t be having this fucking conversation.” Because he’d be dead. But I don’t say it. We both know it’s true. Lennox may have trained me, but sometimes the student overtakes the teacher. And this is one of those times. I bet he’s kicking himself for training me too fucking well. Making me one of the most sort after commodities in our business.

I scan the rest of the cameras and still don’t see her. There are only two places in this house that don’t have any cameras: the bathrooms and this room. I know she hasn’t left because the alarm would have alerted me.

“I have to go,” I tell Lennox. “Call me when you have something worth my time.”

I’m just about to go back over the last couple of minutes footage when Star steps out of the bathroom opposite her room. Happy that she hasn’t tried to leave or go rooting around anywhere else in the house, I log into Tor and wait for the screen to load.

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