Tell Me No Spies (37 page)

He bent closer,
snarling. “I have money and respect and power, and I damn well
deserve it. I can crush you like a bug, little brother.”

Arnie spat in his
face.

I saw the kick coming,
and heaved my uncoordinated body in James’s direction.

His foot struck a
glancing blow to the same shoulder he’d kicked before, and the pain
lanced through my bones. I clenched my teeth on a cry that jerked
out anyway.

James smiled down at
me. “Well. You’re back with us, I see. On your knees, then.” He
hauled me up by the shoulders, and I managed to balance
precariously. “So you’re fond of him, are you?” he asked.

He turned to Arnie.
“What is it with you? All you have to do is cry, and women give
their lives for you. Aren’t you getting tired of hiding behind
pussy yet?”

Arnie’s eyes burned
holes in him and his shoulders strained his jacket while he fought
the ties on his wrists.

James returned his
gaze to me. “Didn’t he tell you, sweetheart? That’s how our mother
died, too. Trying to protect little Arnie.”

He snapped a glare
back at Arnie. “Poor little Arnie. He cried and cried. Why couldn’t
you just shut up and take it like a man? Like I did. Like Don and
Cathy did. She wouldn’t have died if you hadn’t been such a
snivelling little shit.”

“He was five!” I burst
out. “Half the bones in his face were broken! How can you expect
-”

I tried to duck the
blow, and partially succeeded. Instead of hitting me in the face,
his fist struck above my temple with such force that the floor
rushed up dizzyingly and the breath slammed out of my body when I
landed.

I blinked tear-blurred
eyes as Arnie lunged awkwardly to his feet, bellowing. I heard an
impact and a hoarse grunt, and Arnie crashed to the floor beside
me. Blood spattered across me and the floor, and terror clutched
me.

An instant later, he
was struggling up again. He had made it to his knees when James
planted his hands on Arnie’s shoulders and pushed his face up
close.

“Look at her,” he
said, and the edge in his voice turned my spine to ice. “Lying
there. Suffering. You did that. Just like you killed our mother.
Remember her lying there, bleeding out? Remember that, baby
Arnie?”

He slapped Arnie
viciously in the face, sending another shower of blood flying. “Why
aren’t you crying, baby Arnie?”

“Stop!” I knew it
wouldn’t help, but I couldn’t prevent the word from jerking out of
me.

James smiled down at
me. “He’s not worth it, you know. He’s just a pathetic loser.”

“You’re a pathetic
loser. Arnie is twice the man you’ll ever be.”

His face twisted, and
Arnie threw his body in front of the kick that was meant for
me.

James kicked him
savagely again, grinning. “That’s more like it, little brother.
Show some guts for a change.”

He straightened and
took a deep breath. “Well.” He shook out his arms and shoulders
before stooping to wipe his blood-smeared hands on Arnie’s shirt.
“I feel so much better now. Those prison shrinks knew what they
were talking about after all. That was quite cathartic.”

He grabbed my
shoulders and hauled me onto my shaking knees again. Arnie lay
unmoving, but I could still see the rise and fall of his chest.
Despair bowed my shoulders. There was no way James would let us
live. Dave was already dead. I wondered why James was wasting time.
Why not just shoot us and have done with it?

What the hell. Get
this over with.

“Arnie said you were
smart, but I guess he was wrong.” I tried to hold my voice steady
without much success. My heart thudded violently in my chest. “Your
hit man couldn’t get the job done, so why not just kill us now and
get on with life?”

James laughed. “Little
brother thinks I’m smart. Isn’t that nice. He doesn’t have a clue
how smart I really am.” He stooped and patted my cheek. “Aydan
Kelly.”

He straightened and
crossed his arms, smiling down at me. “Yes, about the hit man. Do
you have any idea how few professional hit men there really are?
It’s not like you can just look them up in the Yellow Pages.”

He shrugged. “Of
course, you can always find some stupid little thug who’ll kill
somebody for you if you offer enough money, but the true
professionals? Almost nonexistent. You have to have
connections.”

“Which I do.” He
smiled. “But do you know, all my connections have connections, too.
And when I let the contract out, I discovered something very, very
interesting.”

He stooped again and
stroked my cheek, his touch repulsively gentle. “Remember Fuzzy
Bunny?”

The bottom dropped out
of my stomach.

“I see you do,” James
purred. “They were quite eager to find out whether you’re the same
Aydan Kelly whom they thought was dead. And it appears you
are.”

“I haven’t a clue what
you’re talking about,” I quavered. “Who or what is Fuzzy
Bunny?”

“Please don’t play
dumb. It’s unbecoming.”

I tried a derisive
snort. “Insults. I’m hurt.”

“Not yet, but you will
be.” He bent to pull Arnie onto his knees again. “Sit up and pay
attention, little brother.”

Arnie straightened
slowly, his eyes glittering dangerously through the mask of
blood.

James patted him
briskly on the shoulder. “Now that I’ve exorcised my demons, I’m
going to give you another chance. Your little Aydan here is a very
valuable commodity. She probably hasn’t told you exactly how
valuable. Let’s just say that Fuzzy Bunny was more than happy to
compensate me for the deposit I lost when I cancelled the contract
on her life. And in fact, I’ll make a handsome profit when I hand
her over.”

Arnie said nothing,
and James frowned at him before continuing. “You’re not being very
gracious about this, but I forgive you. After all, blood is thicker
than water, as they say.” His lips quirked up as he regarded
Arnie’s smashed face and the blood-spattered floor.

“Aydan is so valuable
they agreed instantly to the price I asked. Which is sad, really.”
He frowned and tapped his lips thoughtfully. “I must have left
quite a bit of money on the table. Most unfortunate. However.”

He squatted in front
of Arnie, out of range. “I’m prepared to offer you a generous
finder’s fee. In exchange for keeping your mouth shut.
Confidentiality is quite important to my contacts. And I’d hate to
have to kill my own brother.”

“Fuck off,” Arnie
growled.

James’s face hardened
and I thought he would hit Arnie again, but he stood instead,
staring down for a few moments.

“You’re really
beginning to irritate me with your holier-than-thou attitude,” he
said at last, his tone conversational. “I’ve tried and tried to
reach out to you, but you just keep pushing me away. That’s quite
hurtful, you know.”

“Prison shrinks teach
ya that touchy-feely shit, too?” Arnie grated.

“Touchy-feely shit.”
James sighed. “Aren’t you the tough man? Little Arnie takes a
beating and never sheds a tear. But I’m terribly hurt. And do you
know, despite what the shrinks say, I find vengeance is much more
healing than forgiveness.”

He leaned closer. “I
still know how to make you cry, little brother.”

Arnie glared back in
silence and my heart pounded into overdrive. He’d already taken so
much punishment. Rage and nausea climbed the back of my throat at
the thought of having to watch James beat him more.

“Leave him alone!” My
voice came out harshly between clenched teeth.

James turned a
beatific smile on me. “Oh, I will. You see, I already knew little
Arnie had grown up. He was the toughest kid in the whole school. It
didn’t matter how much of a beating he took, he’d never show pain
or back down. Then he hit puberty and started to pump iron, and
nobody ever messed with him again.”

He sneered at Arnie.
“Isn’t it ironic. You got bigger and stronger than your big
brother. But I found out how to really hurt you.” He paused, his
eyes measuring me. “Didn’t I, little brother?”

“Don’t.” Arnie’s rasp
held immeasurable pain.

James chuckled. “Oh,
don’t worry, I won’t kill her. She’s much too valuable. Not like
that little slut you knocked up in high school.”

He frowned down at
Arnie. “You never did thank me for solving that little problem for
you. If not for me, you’d have been saddled with a wife and kid at
eighteen. I really don’t know why I keep trying to help you when
you’re so ungrateful.”

He shrugged
philosophically. “At least she provided hours of entertainment
before I finally killed her.” He made his voice high and squeaky.
“Don’t hurt the baby, oh, don’t hurt the baby.”

His fine diction
slipped as he pushed his face close to Arnie and snarled. “By the
time me an’ the boys were done fuckin’ her, she was beggin’ to
die.”

Arnie roared and dove
at him, and James dodged sideways, lashing out with a kick that
dropped Arnie to the floor.

“Watch carefully,
little brother. Maybe you’ll learn some new techniques.” James
turned his feral smile on me. “It’ll be a treat for you to get
fucked by a real man for a change.”

Adrenaline hit my
bloodstream in a burning rush. As he stooped over me, I lunged out
of my kneeling position and head-butted him in the face. He rocked
backward and I stumbled for the door, jerking at the handcuffs
behind my back.

I spun to grapple
behind me for the doorknob and saw Arnie and James both struggling
to their feet. Arnie bellowed, “Run!” and dove clumsily to strike
James with his shoulder, already falling when his bound ankles left
him hopelessly off-balance. James staggered, but returned a
sweeping punch to Arnie’s face.

Arnie crashed to the
floor again and the knob finally turned under my slick, shaking
hands. I caught a glimpse of James turning in my direction as I
wheeled to run out the door.

I hadn’t even managed
a full step before I slammed into Mark Richardson.

Recognition and relief
made me light-headed and my knees threatened to give way as I
collapsed against him.

Richardson gave me a
hard shove that sent me staggering. He shot a look around as he
followed me into the room, gun in hand. “What the hell is this?” he
demanded.

James straightened,
holding his shoulder. “You’re early.”

“Looks like I’m right
on time,” Richardson countered. “What the hell’s going on?”

“A family dispute.
It’s been resolved. Nothing to concern you.”

“It concerns me if my
merchandise is disappearing out the door,” Richardson snapped.

James drew himself up.
“My merchandise. It’s not yours until it’s paid for.”

“It’s paid for.”
Richardson’s face was impassive. “I just finished the transfer to
your offshore account.”

“Check it with
Nichele.” James glanced past us to the gunman who had followed
Richardson in. I’d only gotten a confused glimpse of him earlier,
but I was pretty sure it was the same guy who’d gotten me out of
the car. I didn’t recognize his face, but the brass buttons on the
cuffs of his jacket were burned into my brain.

Brass-buttons nodded
and withdrew, and faint relief penetrated my brain. Nichele was
still alive. Thank God. I stood trembling in the middle of the
room, trying to grasp what was happening. My mind crawled at the
pace of a crippled snail.

As I gaped around me,
Arnie rolled over slowly and struggled back onto his knees.

Richardson’s gun
jerked up and he sidestepped to place his back against the wall
beside the door.

James shot Richardson
a scornful glance. “Don’t worry, he can’t hurt you.”

Arnie dragged his
drooping head up to glare at Richardson with the one eye he was
still capable of opening. He shook his head like a wounded bear,
crimson droplets pattering onto the floor.

“What the hell?” he
mumbled thickly.

“Howdy, Hellhound,”
Richardson said breezily. “You’re looking worse than usual.”

Arnie spat blood. “An’
you’re lookin’ more like a traitor than usual.”

Richardson shrugged.
“Loyalty isn’t very profitable. Fuzzy Bunny pays better.”

My knees gave way and
I hit the floor hard.

Richardson eyed me
coldly, his gun held unwaveringly between Arnie and me. “What are
you looking at?”

“I…” My voice
shrivelled to a whisper inside my dry mouth. “Mark, you’re
not…”

“Sorry,” he said.
“Nothing personal.”

Brass-buttons returned
to mutter into James’s ear. James turned an expansive smile on
Richardson. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you. The
merchandise is yours to do with as you please. I do hope you’ll
keep me in mind if you have any further needs.”

Richardson’s mouth
quirked up in a grim smile. “I certainly will.”

His gun jerked up, and
he fired two rapid shots. James and Brass-buttons both crumpled to
the floor.

Hellhound’s teeth
gleamed fiercely through the blood as he regarded James’s body.
“Asshole,” he grated. “Burn in-”

Richardson fired
again. Arnie’s body jerked, his face slackening into shock.
“…hell?” he finished faintly, and toppled to lie motionless on the
floor.

Time stopped. I
couldn’t draw a breath. The empty shell casing spiralled slowly
through the air. It struck the floor and arced gracefully up again,
turning end over end. The bell-like clink came to my ears long
seconds later. I watched, transfixed, while the casing bounced and
pirouetted across the concrete. Its silvery tinkle sounded like
fairy bells.

At last, it settled
into the deafening silence.

My heart beat once, a
sledgehammer blow that rocked my entire body.

Then again.

Thud.

Richardson was already
beside me.

I tried to move, to
speak, before realizing my mouth was already open and a
high-pitched, wordless keening was filling the room.