HiT 149: Anna Brookes First Chapter Page 18

  “And you’re married to her?” It’s a question I think I already know the answer to but I need confirmation.

  “She’s an astounding, wonderful woman.” Sounds like confirmation to me. No employer would talk like that about one of their staff.

  “Well I must offer you my congratulations, Lincoln. Do you mind if I get my phone from the inside pocket in my jacket? I’m waiting for a very important call.” I wait for the go ahead from Lincoln and slowly reach into my pocket showing him I’m not a threat and it simply is my phone. Once I have it on the table I restart our conversation, “I’d like to discuss the issue of the bounty on my head.”

  “Well, if you come to work for me, I’d be happy to remove it. If you don’t, then unfortunately, the bounty will remain.” His face says nothing more, but his eyes are telling me that he has something planned. I have a feeling that Lincoln will be ending my life tonight no matter which way I decide to play this. Time for me to have some fun…

  “Dear Lincoln, I’m sure that the bounty will never be lifted, and you’ll leave it there no matter what happens here. You obviously enjoy people fussing over you and making sure you’re center of attention, so how about I hear those orders given right here, while I sit opposite you, to remove the bounty and my answer will be yes.”

  “Oh, but sweet, Anna, what stops you from getting up and leaving once the orders have been given?”

  I snort derisively. “Lincoln, do you think Natalia will let me get more than two steps outside before she blows my head off? She’s right across the road in the last window on the left, in prime position with a sniper rifle following my every move. What do you have to lose? Nothing. I, on the other hand, will probably die tonight so please humor me and lift the bounty to make me a happy woman before Natalia kills me, like she killed Ben.”

  “Yes, yes, I did want to pass on my condolences to you for your friend. I do believe you had a special kind of friendship with him.” He’s waiting to see my reaction.

  “You did what you were paid to do by Anthony Mancini. Ben was nothing more than a stepping stone for me to find out the truth. His death was unavoidable, so please refrain from false condolences.”

  “Of course, Anna I really shouldn’t insult your code or your intelligence. Now about this bounty…” He leans all the way back in his restaurant chair and brings his arms behind his head resting his hands on the back of his neck. “I think I can make a dying girl happy.” He stays in the same position for a few minutes watching me while I give him nothing with my expression. He reaches into his pocket and takes his phone out, he presses one key and brings it to his ear, “The bounty disappears and it’s not to be reintroduced,” he says, and with that he ends the call.

  I do look down at my phone and see I have a message from Agent. I’ve instructed him until he hears from me this is the only form of communication I want from him. The text reads ‘Brown’ which is our code word. I’m ready to work now. Agent’s been monitoring Lincoln’s phone and listening in to the call, he’s confirming that Lincoln really has revoked the bounty and Agent has now activated the next part of the plan.

  I smile at Lincoln and stand with force tipping my chair over. Lincoln’s face looks relieved, “Anna you killed my father and as grateful as I am that you did it and I didn’t have to, I still need to send a clear message to everyone that if you fuck with me, nothing goes unanswered. I need people to know I am at the top now, not you. So as much as I could use your talents, I need to end you more. I’m sorry about that.” He almost seems sincere that he doesn’t want to kill me but needs to make an example of me.

  “Lincoln, I’m at the top of this game for one reason…” I trail off.

  “Past tense, Anna not present.”

  “Oh no, Lincoln, I can assure you, it’s present, not past.”

  “I don’t understand.” Lincoln’s face falters.

  “Of course you don’t.” I take my jacket off and lift my blouse showing him the ribs on my left side. There’s a strip of adhesive on my skin.

  “Why are you showing me a bandage?”

  “It’s not a bandage Lincoln. I was busy this morning making some bombs that I’ve placed all around this restaurant and one on myself. The ones all around the restaurant are phone operated, so what that means is if anyone in this restaurant goes to make a call on their phone, the place blows up. My colleague activated it the moment you hung up from revoking the bounty. You can’t be sure where I’ve put them, but rest assured if you make a call right now, we all die. I may have placed others in or around places you frequent. You’ll never know, I suppose. Now the one strapped on me is my favorite. If Natalia takes the shot I’m positive you told her to take when I leave, once my body drops to the ground that’ll be enough of a jolt to activate not only this bomb but all the others I’ve placed as well. Now I know you would’ve given Natalia specific instructions or possibly she’s listening in anticipation, waiting for your go-ahead. Let’s hope she’s listening and lets me walk away. If not, we’ll both be involved in a very large barbeque, where we’ll be the guests of honor. By the way, you may have a small issue getting out the back door.”

  Lincoln’s face has gone white as he reaches for his phone. “Really Lincoln, you want to try it? Go ahead, I have nothing to lose.”

  He rethinks it and his feet seem cemented in the one spot. Suddenly he starts barking orders. “DON’T TOUCH YOUR FUCKING PHONES.”

  I turn and leave. I get two steps outside of the restaurant and as I look up at the window that I assume Natalia’s in, I can see her sniper rifle. I wave up at the building and see the sniper rifle retract. Yep, she was certainly listening. I turn and see Lincoln still stuck in the one spot and his guards furiously trying to find where I’ve left the bombs. I smile and I give Lincoln a small nod indicating that we’ll meet again. I get in my car and leave.

  Once I’m at the hotel I deactivate the bomb strapped to myself. Of course I didn’t have any other bombs, because I didn’t have the time to make them and get them into the restaurant, but Lincoln needed the illusion that they were there. My reputation must have been enough for Lincoln to believe every word I said.

  I call Agent, “Any changes to Lincoln’s itinerary for the next few days including today?”

  “Lincoln’s moved the meeting up with Y by two hours tomorrow but all else seems the same.”

  I get myself ready because I have one more stop tonight before I head back to Ben. I haven’t heard anything from Agent about Ben’s progress; I’ve given specific instructions that I’m not to be contacted in reference to him because I still need to work tonight.

  Time to end this.

  Eight-thirty and I’m on location and ready.

  Breathe.

  In and out. Breathe.

  Concentrate….. Breathe.

  I snap my eyes open and see them through the scope. I get the target on the woman first.

  I touch the Bluetooth attached to my ear and the man picks up the phone, I can see his agitation through the scope, too.

  “Whoever this is, I’m with my wife. This had better be good.” They’re sitting in a private box at the ballet together. She’s wearing a scarlet red strapless gown, her hair’s long and dark almost black but not quite. Beautiful, tanned skin and large, dark brown eyes. She has a hand on her husband’s thigh and they’re watching the stage intently.

  I hate this woman. She walked out on me and my father the day I was born. She put a bullet in Ben’s chest and she had a sniper rifle pointed to me. Goodbye Natalia.

  “Oh it’ll be better than good, it’ll be awesome.” I release the trigger and watch Natalia’s head jerk back.

  Lincoln whips his gaze around just in time to see Natalia die. He’s still holding the phone to his ear. I have him clearly on my scope and he’s panicking, looking around, trying to locate me.

  “I’m still at the top of this business.” And release the second bullet from the chamber letting Lincoln join his wife in the afterlife.

&nb
sp; Chapter 33

  15 months later

  I get my laptop out and play the news video I saved fourteen months ago.

  “Chief of Police Ben Pearson will now be making a statement. No questions,” Ben’s introduced by a stout-looking woman with short red hair. She steps away from the microphone and Ben steps up in his dress uniform. He looks beautiful.

  “We’ve been recently given a tip that an abandoned building here in the St. Cloud area was used as a processing plant for cocaine. Working on a joint project with other law enforcement agencies, we were able to synchronize a raid on the building and all the vehicles used in the transportation of the drug, along with the persons involved with these illegal activities, were captured. We had no casualties and are extremely proud to let the good people of America know that this haul had a street value of over seven million dollars. We were able to keep this drug from creating havoc on our streets. This is the biggest haul in the history of Minnesota. I thank everyone involved.” Ben looks straight in the camera when he says that last part; I know he’s referring to me.

  Once I killed Lincoln and Natalia, Hunter, Inc. fell apart with no one left to run it.

  I didn’t return to Ben that night. Instead, I did what I had to do – I left. The Doctor was given instructions on what to do, and once Ben was strong enough the Doctor left, too.

  I did, however, keep an eye on Ben. I knew he was looking for me, but there’s no future for us. So I kept my distance on every trip back to St. Cloud. He never knew when I was there. I did check up on him and made sure he was safe. In the last fifteen months, I’d come back to St. Cloud every six to eight weeks, and as much as I knew that I wanted Ben to move forward in his personal life, I also held on to a little hope that he’d miss me as much as I missed him.

  There were times that I’m sure he sensed me close by and would stop dead in his tracks and look around to see where I was. He’d always shake his head and walk away.

  I am on my way out of St. Cloud and stop at a gas station to fill up my Lexus. I burnt the BMW shortly after I was done with Lincoln and Natalia, opting for another car with a different alias so Ben couldn’t find me.

  As I am filling the car up, a black Volvo SUV pulls up to the pump opposite me. A man gets out and stands on the other side of me to fill his car up. A nice-looking Asian man, possibly in his forties, dark hair, nice firm body. He’s wearing a very expensive-looking suit that looks tailored for his body; it fits him like a glove. I smile at him and he immediately starts talking to me.

  ”Hi there, how are you?” he asks.

  “I’m great. Are you on your way out of St. Cloud or into it?” I ask to make small talk.

  “I’m actually on my way in, you?”

  “I’m on my way out.”

  “What a pity I’d love to buy you a coffee.”

  “Well, I’m sure I can stop long enough for a coffee.” I smile at him. The electric pull I’ve always felt with Ben isn’t there with this man, but we can have a little fun seeing as Ben’s no longer an option. “There’s a café down the road that makes a great coffee. We can meet there if you like.”

  “Sure once we’re done here I’ll follow you there.”

  I finish filling my car up first and make my way inside to pay for the gas, then go back to my Lexus, waiting for this attractive, well-dressed man to finish gassing up. We drive down the road and I park out the front of a small café that brews a nice coffee and has mouth-watering cakes. Volvo man pulls up behind my car and gets out as I wait for him at the entrance to the café.

  “I’m so sorry, I really should introduce myself. I don’t ordinarily do this,” he says, chuckling to himself. “My name’s Katsu Vang.” He extends his hand out to me.

  “Anna Moore. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Katsu.” And I take his hand in mine.

  It happens the second my fingers make contact with his skin.

  That serpent bite. My hand gets cold and it travels all the way up my arm as my body is covered in goose bumps, and the hair on the back of my neck rises.

  Evil is here.

  St. Cloud is in trouble.

  Ben is in danger.

  Not nearly the end.

  But….

  Epilogue

  Ben Pearson First Chapter

  My damn phone hasn’t stopped ringing all morning. I came to Salt Lake City to get away from all the bullshit and stress back in St. Cloud. I just need to relax and not let my damn brother-in-law pressure me into anything I don’t want to do. But the fucking phone, I’m going to throw it up against the wall soon. As soon as it stops ringing it starts again. I groan and finally answer it, “What do you want Thomas? I’m here to relax, not hang with you and my sister all the time. I don’t want to come for lunch, I don’t want you to set me up and I certainly don’t want to come over. All I want to do is chill out today; you can certainly pass that fucking message onto Emily.”

  “Finished with your tantrum, Ben? We’re going out for dinner then we’re going to Bar X for a drink. You better be ready by 5:30, dinner reservations are at six. You can deal with your sister if you don’t want to come.” Thomas can be a pain the ass and so insistent all the time, but Emily’s just plain scary.

  “Fine, I’ll be ready by 5:30. Swing by and pick me up. Emily and I have some things to discuss anyway.”

  “No business tonight. You and Emily are always talking family business. I just need you guys to relax. Anyway, Claire isn’t here and you know you can’t really talk without her.” Why the hell has Emily told Thomas as much as she has? But Thomas is good for Emily, he calms her down and he does take care of her.

  I groan my okay and we hang up.

  It’s just before noon and I’m hungry, but there’s still so much work to do. I don’t really want to go with Emily and Thomas, but I did come to Salt Lake City to relax and try to push my mountain of work to the side for a few days. I got here two days ago and Emily threw another problem at me. It’s hard enough doing what I do but thankfully we stick together and I know that no matter what happens, we’ll always have each other’s back. Claire, Emily and I are inseparable when it comes to dealing with family situations.

  I order some lunch from room service and turn the TV on; I purposely avoid any news channels and end up settling on cartoons. Road Runner, a classic. They don’t make cartoons like that anymore. I always felt sorry for the coyote trying to get the road runner.

  Lunch is delivered and I eat it heartily. By the time lunch is done, I lay on the bed and close my eyes. I try to push everything out of my mind because ordinarily, I don’t sleep well. Maybe three hours a night. It just feels like life’s consuming me sometimes and that I have the world on my shoulders. With everything going on, sometimes I don’t feel like I’m coping very well. But I have to; I need to keep going. With Mom and Dad gone in that damn accident, I’m now the head of the family. Emily, Claire, and I work closely together and I always consult them but I still am in charge and that carries its own pressures.

  As I lay on the bed, I start thinking about the last time I had a woman suck me off or fuck me. There was that one chick a few weeks back, what was her name, Janice or Jane…no, that’s right, Janet, but she wanted to stay the night. Ugh. No thank you. When was the last time before that?

  Oh my God, has it really been so long that I don’t remember? I can feel my cock going hard just thinking about Janet’s mouth on it. Sucking my shaft and swirling her tongue around the head, God I loved how she stroked me. Damn it, who the fuck’s calling me now? I lean over and look at the number, Thomas again. “What do you want now, Tom?” I don’t even try and hide my annoyance.

  “We’re just leaving now, we’ll be there shortly.”

  “You said 5:30, it’s…” I lean over and look at the hotel alarm clock on the night stand, shit, it’s 5:00, “Fine, I’ll be ready.”

  I hang up and throw the phone on the bed while I saunter over to the closet and get out an Armani suit. I’ll wear the pants and a shirt and leave the jacke
t here. It’s not so cold that I’ll need it. I’ll definitely be going home with a woman tonight, because it’s been too fucking long. I don’t want her to come back here because I’ll still be here for another ten days and I don’t want her banging on my door telling me she loves me blah, blah, blah. Stupid insta-love women.

  I’ll insist we go back to her place. I get a bit of a spring in my walk because I’m getting laid tonight. I need to de-stress and what better way than having a woman fucking me with her mouth? I make my way down to the lobby and get looks from a few women, but none of them catch my eye. I like blondes, big-busted blondes, so I keep walking.

  I’m outside and in an act of perfect timing, Thomas drives up. I get in the back and Emily immediately accosts me and starts talking about some shit I don’t give a damn about. What do I care if she and Thomas want to go on a vacation?

  I sit in the back and groan yes and no to questions I barely hear and don’t register. I hope I’m not agreeing to do something I wouldn’t usually do, but then again, there’s not much I don’t do.

  Dinner’s just as painful as the trip over, but at least I’m not stuck in a car listening to Emily rattle on and Thomas pretending he’s listening to her. There are some very nice-looking women here and a couple of them have looked over at me and smiled.

  “You’re not serious, Ben; you’re not considering sticking your dick in those?” Emily spits out.