In Her Sights (28 page)

Or had been. By the footsteps, she wasn’t laying down
anymore. He headed to the living room and found her on the couch. She curled
her legs up and tucked her feet under her. He hadn’t thought. At her house she
was always in house shoes. “Are you cold?”

“Just my feet, but I’m okay.”

Right. He reached into the ottoman and pulled out a small
blanket. She took it with thanks. He still didn’t know what to ask so he stared
at the empty glass on the table next to her. “Something to drink?”

She shook her head. “I’m okay.” She gave him a shrug. “Ask
what you want.”

“What is it that you do exactly?”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Figures he’d start with a hard one. “If I was to have a job
title on paper, it would say something like contract killer.” His eyes widened
and she hurried with the rest before she lost him. “But it’s not that black and
white. I’m not mailed a random folder with all the information of my next
target. I mean I am, but it’s not that simple. The people I get are generally
the type who make everyone else’s life a living hell.”

He stretched his fingers out and took a breath. “So you
justify your actions by deciding that they deserve it.”

That sounded a little cold put that way. She’s never had to
explain herself before. “In a way. It’s more about giving peace to the victims.”

“How did you get started in this?”

Another tough question that left her empty with an answer. “I
discovered someone I knew who is involved in the business.”

He frowned. “Who?”

“I can’t say.”

He sat forward. “I’m trying to understand, but I can’t if
you don’t answer.”

She rested her head against the couch. “I’ll answer what I
can when it comes to questions about just me. That question involves other
people in the business. Talking about that is a good way to get us both killed.”

He winced. “You’re calling it a business. How does it work?”

“Someone pays for the contract. I have an agent that sends
me the information, and I fulfill it.”

A long breath seeped out of him, and he leaned back in his
chair. “Am I in danger for knowing about you?”

“Only if you tell someone.”

He blinked and met her gaze. “Are you threatening me?”

Maybe thinking before answering would be a better idea. “Yes
and no. You tell, and I become wanted by the police. I have to disappear, not
only from them, but from the business because I know secrets. Information that
can’t just be taken from me such as the location to my agent who is the liaison
to all of this. They can’t afford for me to be caught and enter WITSEC as a get-out-of-jail-free
card. It’s a risk to the whole business. So if I’m arrested and it becomes
known that you know, then yeah, you’re in danger. This network is larger than
you would imagine, probably larger than I realize. An organization of computer
hackers and employees who can reach deep secrets. I wouldn’t be surprised if
there’s government involvement and private sector.”

His gaze met hers. “I know I’m not today, but will I ever be
in danger from you?”

Her heart cracked in two again. If he was saying it, no
telling how many times he’d thought it and worried over it. “No, because I have
no interest in killing you.” She hugged the blanket to her chest. “To further
settle your mind, you’re frankly too high risk. You know a lot of people who
would care if you turned up missing. The people you know, know more people who
would care. All these people know how to investigate and dig up dirt. Killing
you would be more difficult to get away with. Especially now that those cops
saw us at your house in the morning and I’m here in pajamas. A personal
relationship has definitely been established.”

“And you would likely be high on the suspect list.” His eyes
were wide in his face, and he dropped his head into his hand. “Why do you do
this?”

Her palms had gotten sweaty again, and she stroked them down
her side. She never had an issue of sweaty hands before, but they were
constantly getting damp when he was close. “Because I can.”

He turned, a bit slack-jawed. “That’s the only reason you
have?”

It didn’t sound like much of a reason, but it was true. “Sometimes,
dirty work needs to be done. I’m in a position where I can do it.”

“Do you get paid?”

“Sometimes.”

He frowned at her. “Do you have to…take care of a few people
before getting paid?”

“Sometimes I read something in the paper, and I do that on
my own. The ones I’m paid for come through my agent. He knows what I like, and
sends me those. When I complete the contract, I’m paid.”

He dropped his head back. “So you launder money through
Olympia too.”

She smiled at him. “No. I use the money on expenses.
Replacing….” Weapons, but she didn’t want to say that. He was dancing around
the harder words, and she wanted to keep this as easy as possible. “Replacing
things I need, upkeep on stuff like my car. Money to pay for needed travel when
I need to go under an alias. Anything else I donate to charity.”

Again with the slack-jawed look. “You donate blood money to
charity?”

“They don’t know where it comes from. I send it anonymously.
All they know is they can continue to operate. Afford to feed people in the soup
kitchens and pets in the shelters. In the end, that’s really all that matters.
Money to send cake mix for foster kids’ birthday parties.”

He stared toward his hands and steepled his fingers. “When
you read something in the paper, how do you know you’re taking care of the
right person?”

Always a hard decision to make. “I know people. And no, don’t
ask me who. It protects their identity as much as mine.”

“Do these people know you’re Lexie Olympia?”

“Some of them do.” People like Samantha, who helped with
medical things when Lexie needed it. Then there were others. Random people she’d
collected over the years in some way or another. Their paths might cross on a
dark night. Some were shady. Some weren’t. They all had reasons to keep their mouths
shut.

“How do you pick who to take care of?”

“I can’t do every sad story in the paper, if that’s what you’re
asking. The media spins too much to find it all trustworthy. But things like a
mother buckling her kids and the neighbor’s kids in car seats and pushing the
car into a pond because they wouldn’t stop crying to go swimming is no sweat
off my back.” Lexie shook her head and swallowed back the bile rising up her
throat.

“Do you have any guilt? How do you sleep at night? How do
you pull the trigger or slit their throats?”

She rubbed her thighs and dropped her head back again. It
was easier to answer these questions when she didn’t look at him. It was hard
putting words to something she never talked about. “Different cases bring out
different feelings. I think about the victims. They’re the ones who matter
most.”

“Why the arrows? You’re leaving a calling card to link you
if you’re caught.”

“The arrows are a threat, not bragging rights. I don’t
always use them. It depends on the message I want to send. Sometimes I leave
one without hurting anyone as a simple reminder that I’m there and I’m
watching. Like last night. I put an arrow about three inches away from Joe’s
head to remind him who he was talking to.”

“What if you would have hit him in the head instead?”

She frowned. “I don’t miss.”

“I didn’t mean to say you would, but—” He cleared his
throat. “Nevermind. Livingston said the police had three of Artemis’s arrows
before this morning.”

She smiled. “I’ve put out far more than three. Dozens of
them. People find them and keep them. Sometimes I’ve shot one and somebody will
pick it up within a few minutes.”

He chuckled. “That doesn’t surprise me. Why Artemis?”

Now that they were talking, it was nice talking about this.
It had taken time to cultivate Artemis and the years of work put into it, and
she never got to talk about it. She was always stuck harping on politics instead.
“She was protective and was fiercely vindictive if crossed. Her image is the
message I wanted to send. She carried silver arrows, so that’s why it’s
specifically those.”

“Do I want to know how you’re supplied with those things?”

“Probably not.” She wasn’t even certain where they came
from. Kyle had put her in contact with a weapons supplier under a false
identity.

He nodded. “How do you move in and out of the house?”

“Something I can’t discuss.” Because well…she frankly wasn’t
sure she wanted him to know. If he knew, she feared he’d ask to see it. That
was out of the question.

“Is it because of what happened to your parents? Is that why
you do this?”

“No.” She lifted a shoulder. “I’m the victim left behind
with the killer still on the loose. For a long time, I was terrified he would
come back and slaughter me next. That’s why I started training heavily in
martial arts and weapons. It started so I could protect myself if something
happened, but learning to fight off an attacker gave me my life back.” She didn’t
know if it was him, the moments with punching bag, or just after all the years,
it wasn’t so hard thinking back to that scared little girl this time.

“I’ll be honest and say we have some of the case details on
your parents.”

She shook. She knew he’d pulled a lot of stuff on her
history. Her parents were part of it. “Did you find the killer?”

“I’m sure you’ve been through them and know there were next
to no leads.”

The case. Like a rock dropped in a bottomless well. It just
fell and fell and never stopped. “I’ve read the details and listened to the
adults talk when they thought I wasn’t listening. Walk around with a pair of
headphones on and the music off, and adults will talk all day long.” In some
ways, that’s when she learned to do things like hide being shocked and
surprised. “The crime scene photos are the only things I haven’t looked at.”

“With your skill and inside knowledge, you could see
something someone else missed.”

She looked down as a shake poured over her back. “When I
close my eyes, I can still see it. The blood. The vacant look of Mom’s eyes.
Dad on the floor.” Chills swept over her neck. She knew it all with a simple
closing of her eyes. All except that bracelet. That, she’d never remembered. “There
was nothing in the files that stood out to me. They had the best working that
case. Local, state. Dad had a friend from college in the FBI who even took
leave to come down and lend a hand. There were no leads. Nothing. I know
enough. I saw enough. I don’t want to relive it all again by looking at the
crime scene.”

Lord knows she was reliving it enough on her own without
going out and looking for more.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She shook her head. “It’s me. Not what you said. It’s
frustrating.”

He left his recliner and sat next to her on the couch. Put
his arm over her shoulder and pulled her against him. “I think I understand
more.”

She softened into his side, but was careful not to put
weight because of the bruises. “Are you okay with it, or are we walking away
from each other after today?”

His hand curled around her shoulder and his knuckles rubbed
against her arm. “I’m not sure how I feel yet. But I’m not walking away today.”

Silence filled the room, but then not. There was his
breathing. The rain on the roof. And her beating heart. Something had happened
in the past twelve or so hours. She had gained someone in her life who knew
nearly everything there was to know about her. No one knew this much.

Gen, Uncle Gabe, and Uncle Sammy knew of her as a little girl
turning into a teenager. They offered love and support, but were ignorant to
the rest. Alex and Julia were connected to her as deeply as parents and knew of
her nighttime life, but they were still her parents, in a sense. She wouldn’t
turn to them for a Friday night movie.

Clayton, though, knew her in a way no one else did. He knew
of her public life and accepted her personal one. Or, at least, accepted her
for now.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Lexie glanced over her shoulder as Clayton circled around her
driveway and left for a few hours of work through the late afternoon. Feeling
heavy, she headed directly upstairs.

She slid into her chair and turned on her computer. She needed
to try and figure out something about the name she had gotten last night.
Clayton had Livingston on it, but the truth was, Kyle could dig up things they
couldn’t since Kyle did things completely illegally. With the scant information
they had on this Janet, they needed to use all avenues possible. She sent her
message out, asking for a background check on a Janet Parker, and hoped this
information wasn’t going to cost her too much.

Her computer dinged ten seconds later with Kyle’s response on
the screen in an instant message window.
No can do. I’m backed up here. With
no help from you.

Shit. That was code for he needed her to do something but
knew if he asked, she’d turn him down. She crouched over the keyboard.
Give
me the details.

Alaska. Two weeks. I’ve done a lot of the legwork,
mapping the area, hoping someone can squeeze it in. Which is why I’m behind.

“Alaska!”
I can’t take off on that right now. Do you know
what I’m in the middle of? I thought it was something close.

Are you taking it? It’ll be a breeze for you. Take a
cruise through Alaska. Get on a train tour and skip off to take care of things,
be back on your train before the next morning.

I can’t deal with that on my timeline right now. If this dagger
business wraps up soon, I’ll take care of it for you, but I can’t guarantee
that will happen within two weeks.