Deadly Little Secrets Page 0,68

burning through the phone line, cold and dangerous. “Luck only, for her. I will not be missing again.”

“No, don’t kill her. I think we were about to make a strategic error there. Maybe this will work in our favor. She’s involved with Gianikopolis now, and his security expert, Bromley. Did you know someone took a shot at him the other night? After your miss this evening, and the attempt on him, they are quite distracted. I hear as well that there’s been gunfire up at Mr. G’s estate. With all these attempts, anything we do will be washed away in the larger effect. Also, I believe our former rivals weighed in yesterday.”

The surprised silence on the other end of the phone made him chuckle. Jurgens was far more manageable when he wasn’t furious. It was always a balancing act utilizing something like family history and college bonds to keep his hired killer leashed.

“Yes, yes, someone else took a shot at our girl.” He laughed when Jurgens responded with only a growl. “Now, now. We may have competed for the lovely works that we craved nine years ago, and we obviously had different methods of disposing of loose ends, but when it came down to the finale, our New York rival worked with us to avoid detection. Since Perkins hacked into Agent Burton’s files—” he began.

“Foolish,” Jurgens interrupted.

“Yes, it was, wasn’t it? However, stupid as it was, I’m grateful. It’s going to be useful when it comes to covering our tracks. So, as I said, it’s a nice cover that our rival shot at the lovely agent.”

“Hmmmmm.” The hum of interest and, perhaps, satisfaction erased the last of the fury he’d heard in Jurgens’s voice. “Possibly.”

“So, what we must do now is discover who is targeting Mr. G. Only by understanding that can we use it. I do believe we’re going to have to more carefully monitor our rival as well. Do you have someone who can take that task on? I’m not having much luck in that department, you know.” He grimaced in annoyance. “My last attempt in that area obviously was a serious fail.”

“Perkins.”

“Exactly,” he said on a sigh. “He wasn’t any use unraveling our New York rival’s new name or status. So, thoughts?”

“I have a man for one job. I’ll find another.”

“Excellent. Good work. I’ve put half the deposit in the account.”

“Neh, job isn’t done.”

“But it’s started. Consider it a good faith advance. I know you’ll find me what I need, so,” he shrugged, even though Jurgens couldn’t see it. “It’ll be there.”

“Ja, gut. Same number?”

“Sure. We don’t have to dispose of these phones quite yet. Tomorrow?”

“Next day.”

“That works. I don’t want too much time to pass before we finish this up; however, we do need to work our efforts into the overall scheme. It is nice of them to be so conveniently shooting at all our targets,” he said facetiously. “So thoughtful.”

Jurgens gave a short barking laugh and hung up.

Where was she?

Agent TJ Michaels paced the room. This wasn’t working the way he’d planned it. Nothing had. He’d really screwed up in Rome, and both Miller and Stanley had paid for it with their lives. Had he gotten what he wanted? Sure. He never expected the cost to be that high, though.

He was trying to make it right, wasn’t he? Trying to be sure that no one else took a dive for his stupidity. At the same time, he had to be sure that Ana continued to help him. She was his only hope of getting out of this tangle alive. She’d known something was wrong in Rome, but the data had said otherwise. She’d gone with the data, just like he knew she would. She trusted it more than her gut. It was her one flaw.

“Facts don’t lie, right, Ana?” he asked the computer screen, wishing he had an e-mail from her. “Where are you, gorgeous? Don’t let me down.”

He paced some more. It wasn’t like her not to return his e-mails promptly. He had to know what was going on, and these phrases were key to it. He had a hunch that there was more to the scenario than met the eye, but all this stuff, stuff that didn’t translate word for word, was making him crazy.

His inbox pinged, and he clicked it open immediately, sagging with relief when he saw that it was her.

Hey dude! she’d written. He could almost hear her saying it out loud, so he smiled.

You’ve got some doozies here. Context