Hitman's Hookup: A Bad Boy Romance (18 page)

I pulled it away from my jeans, holding it into the sunlight. The light glinted off of it perfectly as if in a movie.

E.M.L. it said.

Just like I’d already known it would. I flipped it over and saw that there were dabs of black paint on the back in the shape of a black rose. I actually laughed.

“Unbelievable,” I said to no one.

This was a lighter that only Matthew had access to. It had been his dad’s. The black rose was Corina’s signature. They were working together.

My brain scrambled to put the pieces together. This lighter was a beacon, a sign, a symbol. Matthew had clearly dropped it on purpose. That meant he was on my side.

And so was Corina.

An hour later I was standing in the terminal of the Kansas City airport. My sunglasses were off, there was no hat on my head and no luggage in my hands. I gave the security cameras that were undoubtedly connected to facial recognition software a nod above me. It probably wasn’t necessary, but I needed every single signal that I could possibly get.

I walked confidently to the ticketing counter for Southwest Airlines, smiling broadly at the gorgeous ticketing agent. I pulled out my credit card and photo I.D.

“Mr. Cruz,” she said, taking my identification. “Do you have a ticket?”

“I need the next flight out. Anywhere,” I said, smiling broadly. “I don’t have any luggage to check, either.”

I knew this was the exact wrong thing to say in a post-9/11 world: a ticket to anywhere; me an Asian guy traveling alone with no luggage. But
wrong
was what I was going for. “Bad breakup. Just need a change of scenery,” I explained easily.

The agent smiled at me with a stiff, pasted-on grin. “Please wait here a moment.” She went into the back with my driver’s license. This was good. This was exactly what I wanted. She would make a phone call, the TSA would run my card, find nothing, book me a flight, and then I would go sit in the front of the airport to wait for Corina to come collect me.

She was back in ten minutes. “Sorry about that wait,” she said breathlessly. She typed on her keyboard, the keys clacking a relaxing rhythm beneath her long, acrylic fingernails. “The next flight I’m able to get you on board doesn’t leave for another five hours. It’s to Orlando.”

I smiled broadly and handed over the credit card. “Perfect,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to go to Disney World.” She printed out my ticket and handed back my ID and credit card along with the white piece of paper.

I wandered over to the Starbucks before the security checkpoint and ordered an enormous iced green tea. I took it out front, ripping off the paper wrapper around the straw with my teeth and tossing it in the trash. The little ball of paper reminded me of Lily at the diner.

I sighed and sat down on the hard wooden bench, the smell of cigarettes and car exhaust filling my nose. I pushed a knob on my Tag Heuer to set the stopwatch function in motion.

I couldn’t wait to see how long it took Corina to get here.

***

“You beat your last record,” I said from my new position crouched on the curb. My legs were getting stiff from sitting on the bench and my pacing had been making the security guard nervous. Corina strolled across the walkway from the parking garage, her long hair flowing and her usual black clothing painted to her body.

“How quick was I?” she asked.

I checked my watch, pushing the button to stop the timer. “Just under three hours.”

She threw her hands up in mock celebration. “That beats my last record by a good forty-five minutes.”

“Which layer of security was it?” I asked her.

“Your smile-for-the-camera moment, naturally,” she said. “It was overkill to use the license
and
the credit card. Made you look desperate.” She held out her hand to pull me off of the curb. I hesitated. “Don’t worry, I left my good knife in your bicep. I haven’t had time to pick up another one.”

I laughed and took her hand. She lifted me off the ground. I grimaced as she grabbed the arm she’d injured. “Still feeling it?” she asked me, with a look of concern.

“I left my antibiotics in New York,” I replied, brushing off my jeans. I followed her lead to the parking garage. “I need to grab my bags from the back of my rental.”

“Whoa,” Corina replied, sounding impressed. “You walked up to a ticketing counter as a single guy with no baggage? You went full tilt. You’re usually subtler than that.”

We both hopped into the SUV. Leave it to Corina to manage a front-row space. I slid my seatbelt across my chest. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a little fucking desperate.”

Corina laughed and backed the SUV out of the parking space. “I still don’t know why you’re bothering bringing any luggage.”

“She’s going to need her toothbrush.” The words were in the air before I could take them back. I knew I sounded like a lovesick puppy.

Corina gave me a piercing look. “You really fucking love her, don’t you?”

“Rina,” I said. “She dropped Mads like he was a junior high wrestler.”

“Sounds like a keeper,” she said lightly. “I might steal her away if you’re not careful.”

“She also doesn’t stick knives into my arm.”

“Fair enough,” Corina replied.

I directed her to my rental car, getting the bags out of it swiftly. Soon we were on the road. When the hum of the tires against the road met my ears, Corina spoke again.

“We’re going to a private airfield. The plane’s waiting already.” She glanced over at me after she changed lanes. “I take it you found the lighter.”

“I did indeed.”

“I was expecting you to have about a dozen questions for me, Cruz,” she said pointedly.

“I was waiting for an apology,” I replied.

“Seriously?” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine.
I’m sorry, Cruz
,” she intoned. “Sorry for tricking you into sex, tying you up, stabbing you, and stealing your money and your underwear.”

“Forgiven,” I replied.

“That’s it? That’s all you fucking wanted?”

I shrugged. “I’m a changed man, what can I say.” The truth was that I was delaying finding out the truth about how the lighter had ended up on the side of a Kansas highway. I already had theories, but a big part of me wanted those theories proven wrong. I didn’t want to take the pill that would send me into the Matrix. I wanted to live in the comforting embrace of ignorance a little while longer. But I knew that Corina wouldn’t let me get away with that.

“It was Matthew who dropped it for you. He left it behind.”

That was all it took to unblock the floodgates of my inquisitiveness. “How long have you been working together? How long has he been a part of this? For God’s sake, Corina, he’s
nineteen years old
. He’s supposed to be in college.”

“You really thought that after he learned about his father that he would go along quietly, living a normal life? With
you
as his godfather and primary role model? With
me
as his aunt?” Corina shook her head and scoffed. “For someone who loves details and information, you sure have your head up your ass, Cruz.”

“When did you tell him? Why did you let him become involved in all of this? These people we work for…they’re
dangerous
. You know that better than anyone else, or at least as well as I do. Don’t be so fucking naïve, Corina.”

She raised her voice. “
Me?
Naïve? You’re the one who can’t bear to know the names of your targets or ever watch them die. You’d rather keep your hands washed
just enough
so the ghosts don’t haunt you while you sleep. No, Cruz.
I
went into this eyes wide open. At least I’m honest with myself. With other people. With Matthew. He knows I’m a killer. I don’t pretend to be working in - what is it that you claim?
Corporate mergers?
” She spat the words out onto the dashboard, letting them shrivel up in the hot sun beating through the glass windshield.

She gripped the steering wheel even harder. “You’ve chosen to shove the conversation we had at the hotel under the bed, haven’t you? Have you even allowed yourself to think about why we were arguing? Come on, Cruz. Don’t play the amnesiac assassin card.”

I felt a burnt-electrical taste rising in the back of my throat. It was bile. And regret. I’d done everything I could to move that out of my memory, of the events that had led up to Corina stabbing me. “You wanted me to tell Matthew what it was that I did. And I said he wasn’t ready to know that. That it would put him at risk.” I stared out the window at the prairie scenery.
Why had she wanted me to tell Matthew? Why now?
The lights snapped on in my brain so quickly it was like I’d had the answer all along. “Because…you knew that they would be after me soon enough. Jesus Christ, Corina. The man they sent for Lily – they weren’t after her. They were after
me
?” My head was spinning at a million miles an hour. “You let me think that it was my missed kill; the old guy in the restaurant. You wanted me to think that the old man in the restaurant was why the boss was after me. But I was marked already. Because of Romano.”

She laughed bitterly. “Ironic that he’s the target you finally know the name of, considering he’s the reason that you’re going to die.”

I clenched my fists into the defensive position reflexively.

Corina cackled. “
Possibly
die, I mean. Relax, Cruz. I’m not here to kill you. I already saved your ass once. It’s not the boss who wants you; I cleaned up your mess with wheelchair guy. The boss doesn’t even know that you missed the kill. It’s Romano’s wife who wants your ass. I’m here to save you again.
And save Lily
.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

LILY

I was blindfolded when we landed. I had no idea where we were, and because I’d been passed out for an indeterminate amount of time, I couldn’t even guess if we were still in the States. It seemed impossible that any of this was happening at all. When they transferred me from the plane to a leather-smelling van, I thought I caught of whiff of salty, sea air. It was definitely warm wherever we were.

That didn’t exactly narrow down my list of possible locations to a more manageable number, unfortunately.

The ride over was slightly bumpy but fairly pleasant. I was lucky that I never got motion sick on car rides. No one spoke. When the van stopped, I was shoved out of it. Again: other than what sounded like seagulls and the fairly near crashing of ocean waves, I had no idea where I was. There was a stairwell behind a rusty-hinged door; concrete by the way the door echoed. No carpet. Then the sound of a button and the groaning and creaking of an industrial elevator.

“Get in,” the blonde kid grunted, shoving me into the elevator. My hands were tied up once again, and I nearly lost my balance. The hand that caught me was surprisingly gentle. I wondered again about who the young guy was.

I counted as the elevator climbed. It was easily sixty seconds before the doors opened. This space was carpeted; it smelled of coconuts and some sort of exotic flower. My blindfold was ripped off and my bindings were removed. I blinked rapidly as I took in the space around me.

I was standing in what seemed to be the top penthouse suite of a hotel. The windows showed a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree view of the turquoise ocean lapping gently against a white sand beach. The speckled, multi-colored dots milling around on the pristine surface were beachgoers enjoying the beauty. I actually gasped.

“Expecting a dingy, leaking sewer?” Victoria asked.

“I don’t really know,” I replied honestly. “I thought the odds were good you’d shoot me when I stepped out of the van.”

Victoria laughed. The sound sent chills down my spine. “We’re not
killing
you. You’re only here as bait for Cruz. That you’re also the doctor accused of murdering my husband was an unforeseen coincidence. But considering that you’re here, you might as well work.” Victoria threw down her purse and walked down a hallway. “Untie her and follow me,” Victoria intoned.

The young guy cut through my bindings easily and tossed them aside. I rubbed my wrists lightly and smiled at the guy. “Thanks,” I said.

My sneakers squeaked as I followed Victoria down the dark, hardwood-floor, shiny hallway. We passed half a dozen bedrooms that were pristine and unslept in except for the second-to-last bedroom whose twin bed covers were rumpled. Victoria didn’t knock as she opened the double doors of the last room, sweeping inside a grand suite that mirrored the first living room; it also overlooked the ocean. There was a smell that was familiar to me near here.

The smell was chemical, sterile. Victoria took me down another long corridor. A steady, low beep came out of the last room on the right confirmed my instincts. This was a hospital room. As I turned the corner and saw who was in the bed, I felt my knees buckle underneath me and I hit the floor hard before blacking out.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CRUZ

“You could have fucking warned me about Matthew infiltrating Romano’s people. You could have fucking told me there was a hit out on me not from the bosses but from Romano’s people,” I said angrily, feeling my temper rise. “See? This is why we never got married. You don’t communicate well.”

“You were on a need-to-know basis,” Corina retorted, spinning the steering wheel as she exited the highway.

“Need-to-know? You didn’t think it was important for me to know what was going on before I fucking scurried up Flea’s goddamned ductwork to get away from you?”

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t exactly expecting for you to end up fucking the doctor you framed,” Corina hissed. “And I couldn’t really give away what was happening, it would have put you even more at risk. Would you have even believed me? Would you have even trusted me?”

The wound on my arm burned again and I winced. I wiped a bead of sweat from my eyebrows. I knew I had a fever starting again. “Yeah, you have a good point there.”

“I knew that was the only way you’d believe that Matthew was in on it with me was if you saw the lighter. If you saw my black rose emblem on something that only Matthew could have access to, you’d know that it was safe for me to find you. Otherwise you wouldn’t have had any reason to trust me.”