Page 44 of Cuckoo (Kindred)

“You can tell your master to go fuck himself,” Kahlil spat out, and for a man wearing nothing but underwear, he showed a surprising amount of gumption.

This pair had been on Kahlil’s protective detail when she’d met them. Seeing that they were on opposing sides now corroborated Kahlil’s story that he’d been cast out by his former employer.

The goon didn’t appreciate being disrespected, and he threw his fist into Kahlil’s face making her yelp and Kahlil fall on his ass. “Get dressed. We’re going on a trip,” he barked.

Throwing the headphones from her ears, she scrambled off the couch and ran to the bathroom. This wasn’t news that could wait. Bursting through the door, she saw that Brodie was bent over the sink splashing water on his face. It ran down his neck and onto his bare chest when he stood to clock her reflection to the left of his.

“He’s leaving,” she said, holding the door in one hand and the frame in the other.

He snagged the towel from the rail and rubbed his face as he came out. She walked backward in front of him as he dried off and moved into the room. “Two guys showed up, said they’re taking him on a trip. They’re the guys from the parking garage. The ones that attacked us. Except they’re not protecting him anymore.” Brodie bent to pull a tee shirt from the supplies bag. He pulled it on then went over to grab his jacket from the desk.

“Why do you think that?” he asked, bending over the back of the couch to look through the sight. “He’s getting dressed.”

“The bigger guy punched him in the face,” she said.

Brodie leaped over the couch and began to take Maverick apart. He pulled out the case and put all the pieces inside but left the case and took a handgun from the same bag.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“I’m gonna follow them,” he said, standing up and checking the clip of his gun before digging it into the waistband at the back of his jeans.

“Is that smart?” she asked, again walking backward in front of him as he came around the couch with the door in his sights. “You haven’t slept. There’s three of them. And if they have a vehicle—”

“They will. Kahlil’s vehicle is the silver coupe parked down the street. But they’ll probably have their own transportation. My bike is parked around the corner. I’ll tail them.”

Pushing her aside, he opened the door but paused long enough to tip her chin up with a curled finger to kiss her. “Stay here. Swift will be back in a minute.”

“Be careful,” she said, but he was already out of the room.

Closing the door, she paused then rushed over to the window, but there was nothing to aid her view now. The original scope they’d used was still in the bag. Rooting around until she found it, she picked it out and propped it on the tripod they’d used for Maverick. Kahlil was putting on his watch and picking up a cellphone. He lifted the cellphone to his mouth, and she put on the headphones to listen to what he was saying.

“Possible final recording,” Kahlil said into the device. “GPS activated. TTX poison secreted in timepiece. If I get close enough, I will eliminate the enemy.”

Enemy. Poison. Damn, she wished that Brodie had stuck around long enough to hear those facts. Kahlil tucked the phone into his side pocket then touched the watch on his wrist. Zara stood up with the scope and tried to see if Brodie was on the street, but she couldn’t see him.

Kahlil went through his apartment to the door where his chaperones were waiting. When the door closed, she lost her view, so dropped the scope to the couch, and grabbed her cellphone. Ringing Brodie, she closed her eyes and begged for him to answer. He didn’t. Kahlil was packing a deadly toxin. A gun wouldn’t keep Brodie safe from an attack like that.

Prevention was out, so the next option was cure. Hanging up on Brodie’s line, she pressed Thad’s speed dial. It went to voicemail, but at least he had voicemail. He was probably still on a plane, but she needed him working as soon as he landed. This situation needed a hasty response.

She waited for the beep. “It’s Swallow, nothing to worry about, but I need an antidote for TTX poison on hand.” Didn’t that sound ridiculous, keeping her voice breezy and telling him not to worry while asking for a cure to a deadly poison that she’d never heard of before. “Can you put something together for us on the down low? Call me back.”

She hung up and tried to see any of the players through the window. She spotted the trio of men from the apartment emerge onto the street. Kahlil was bundled into the back of a black car near the building entrance. One of the goons got in the front, the other pushed in beside him.

The car was moving a breath later and as the sound of the car engine faded, the engine of a motorbike revved as it shot past the hotel. He gunned the engine when toying with her, but as she flopped onto the couch, she didn’t feel like smiling.

Brodie was out there following people who could kill him in any number of ways. He might be lucky and get a bullet through and through, or he could die a painful death all alone languishing in the effects of a toxic substance. All she could do was sit here and wait for coffee and for Tuck.

She wished that she’d been the one to go for the drinks. Pushing the balls of her fists into her eyes, she cursed herself for not taking Tuck’s place. The two men should be together, looking out for each other. Her cellphone chirped, and she sat upright to snatch it to her ear. “Rave?”

“Having some trouble locating your boyfriend, are you?” Cuckoo drawled down the line.

Like she wasn’t having a bad enough day, now she had to deal with the ex-girlfriend too. “We’re just fine,” she said and sighed. “What do you want?”

“I had an interesting meeting last night.”

“If you’ve called to tell me about how Rave just couldn’t stay away, it’s fine, I know all about it, ok?”

“I doubt that,” Cuckoo said with her accent so thick even Zara had to admit it was sexy. “But I wasn’t talking about our mutual lover.”

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