Tempest - Kris Michaels Page 0,75

cuts are not enough to kill me," She sneered. "I will be missed. I will be found."

"By who? Your guards are dead. Your computer and all your electronics—” he extracted her phone from his pocket and waved it at her “—have been secured." At least he hoped Sierra team was in possession of the woman's computers.

"You will find nothing!"

"We already have access to your email server on the Darknet.”

"Which will be useless." Nadia spit at him. A red tinge to the spittle colored the cement floor.

Tempest meandered a few steps forward and examined the puddle of saliva. "It’s pink. You are already bleeding inside. Your cuts will continue to ooze a slow push of blood from your body. The IV contains Coumadin and Heparin. Your blood will not clot. You are going to die of exsanguination. I wonder if your tears will turn to blood before you're gone."

A nasty smile split the woman's face. "Killing a woman? How heroic of you."

"You are not a woman. You’d have to be human first. You have been found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death."

"By who?" She struggled against the bindings. The blood pulsed from her cuts. Red rivulets streaked down her legs and started to pool at her feet.

"Does it matter?" He walked back to his kit and grabbed a paintbrush.

"What do you want?"

He smiled. "I want you to die." He made his way to the blood on the floor and dabbed the brush in it. He moved in front of her and started lettering a message.

"You! Are you the one she held and toyed with for years?"

He stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. "I am." He resumed his work as if her words were inconsequential.

"The other... she said you died."

"She lied."

"Did she send you?"

He couldn’t avoid the temptation to fuck with her. Tempest chuckled. "Yes."

"That bitch! I can pay you more. I have resources she doesn't know about."

"There is nothing I can do for you now. The damage the chemicals are doing is fatal and irreversible." He continued his macabre lettering on the floor before her.

"Kill her for me."

"No." He'd kill the woman for himself.

"I can give you wealth beyond your comprehension."

"No." He only needed one thing to be rich beyond this woman's understanding and the one thing was Pilar.

There was silence for several minutes as he walked back and forth reloading his paintbrush and forming the message that would sign this as his work. His assassinations usually bore messages. His statements let the target's organization know who and what was coming for them.

"There is a hard drive. She has it. It has information about Guardian. I can get it for you."

"If she has it, she has it." He continued his work without looking up at her. A hard drive? Did Guardian lose a hard drive? He didn't think Bengal's wife would be sloppy. No, it had to be from an outside source.

"They've almost cracked the encryption, only the last layers remain. I can get it. I have people inside her inner circle."

Interesting. The Fates didn't trust each other. He didn't look up as he spoke, "She knows."

More time passed. He finished his work and dropped the paintbrush. It had no identifying marks or fingerprints. It was trash.

"You can kill me, but I have insurance."

"You will die; and I'm sure you do."

"He will remove whoever kills me."

"Ah, Francesca alluded to an assassin." Was it Lobo or Raven who had the contract?

"You killed her." A statement not a question.

"She begged and bargained, too."

"I have not begged." The vitriol of her original anger settled into resignation. "He will not get paid unless you are killed. There are controls. This, what you paint in my blood, it is your calling card, is it not?"

"It is."

"He will track you down."

"Lobo or Raven? I'm not worried."

"No, another."

"One who exists only in your imagination doesn't bother me." He crossed his arms and assessed his mark. She wasn't going to be conscious for much longer.

"He exists."

"If you believe so. You have no leverage anymore. No power. She will protect me."

The woman reared her head and glared at him. "She cannot protect you from Akuma. He will find you. He will collect his reward. She won't be able to stop him."

His smile spread, and he knew the moment she realized her mistake. She'd named her asset. One he'd never heard of, but it wasn't exactly a billboard moment. Assassins worked in the shadows. Most he knew by the way they killed, not by