A faint tightening of Henry’s lips. Still, he said nothing. Koss had something on him—a lot of things, I presume, making this partnership more like a hostage situation.
“So you feed those compulsions and obsessions,” I said. “Poor Henry here goes to Contrapasso for redemption, and you drag him deeper into the pit with you.”
Henry finally spoke. “I don’t see how this is any—”
“Oh, relax,” Koss said. “We’re all just getting to know each other better. We can’t expect Nadia and her friend to listen to our proposal if they don’t know us.”
“Proposal?” Jack said.
“The man speaks, his tongue loosened by the potential for profit. That’s the trick with your kind, isn’t it? Anything for money.”
I glanced back as Jack shrugged. “Willing to listen.”
A smug smile. “Of course you are. But it seems your girlfriend has some compunctions about Henry here. She doesn’t quite trust him.”
“Do you?” I asked. “I thought you’d have learned a lesson from Drew Aldrich. That particular partnership was more trouble than it was worth, wasn’t it? An albatross around your neck, having Aldrich out there, knowing your secrets. I bet it feels good to have finally gotten rid of him.”
Henry shifted. He was thinking of Aldrich. Thinking of Koss’s obvious contempt for him.
Keep thinking, Henry. Of how much you’d like to be free of him. Free of what he offers. Free of temptation. Free of blackmail. Do you really want to trust—?
Koss turned and shot Henry. Right through the heart. And I sat there, gaping like an idiot.
Before Henry even hit the floor, Jack lunged and yanked the gun from my holster. Koss spun and there was a brief flash of surprise on his face as he realized he’d left his flank open. Surely the very shock of his action should have stunned us into immobility. And it did—for me, at least.
Jack shot Koss in the right shoulder. The blow sent him spinning, gun flying from his hand. I dove for that gun and grabbed it before it hit the floor, then twisted and managed to land on my ass, gun pointed at Koss, before he recovered from his stumble. It was a sweet move, and Jack nodded his approval, which was nice, though I would have preferred to have been the one who’d actually had the presence of mind to shoot Koss. Moves, I’ve got. Nerves of steel? Aluminum more like.
Once Jack trained his gun on Koss, I disarmed Henry. He was still alive. Dying, though, lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, mouth working. I watched him in his final moments, and all I thought was, What has he done? What crimes has he committed? That shouldn’t matter. A man was dying. If I could comfort him, even briefly, I should. But I couldn’t.
So I took his gun and patted him down, and I found Jack’s weapons, and took them, too.
“Four guns and a knife,” I said, holding them up. “We have an arsenal.”
“Got another gun under my pant leg.”
I grinned. “Of course you do.” I looked at Koss. “You winged him? Seriously?”
As I joked, Koss’s scowl grew. Clearly he did not appreciate the casual response to the situation. Too bad.
“He winged me because he won’t kill me,” Koss said, struggling to find his smirk. “He knows you want me alive, and he wouldn’t do anything that might cut him off. That’s how you emasculate a hitman, Nadia. You fuck him and then—”
“He likes to talk,” I said to Jack.
“Noticed.”
“So I’m guessing there’s a real reason why you kept him alive. Something to do with why you let yourself be captured?”
“Let himself?” Koss snorted. “You’re as moonstruck as he is. He screwed up and got caught; he just managed to reverse the situation. A half-assed reversal because he needs to keep me alive so you—”
“Are we keeping him alive for someone else?” I said. “Because if not, I’d like him to stop talking now.”
“So would I,” said a voice from the doorway. “Unfortunately, we need him alive.”
I turned and got my umpteenth shock of the night when I saw who was standing there. Quinn.
CHAPTER 50
Quinn walked in, followed by two men I didn’t recognize. Both were armed, but they trained their guns on Henry and Koss. One lifted a radio.
“Bryant is still alive,” the man said, meaning Henry, presumably. “Get Hayes up here and we might be able to keep him that way.”
“Are you sure you want to?” I asked.
The man looked up at me and for a second I thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he dipped his chin and said, “I’m afraid we do. At least long enough to find out what he knows. And what he’s done.”
I nodded back and turned to Quinn and Jack. “Contrapasso?”
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Cut a deal.”
“They get to question Koss,” Quinn said. He moved closer to me, lowering his voice so Koss wouldn’t hear. “They want to know what he’s done, so they can investigate any other partners. And so they can give the families closure if possible. We’ll interrogate him together. Then they’ll hand him back to you.” He looked me in the eye. “Is that okay?”
“That’s fine,” I said.
He nodded, pulling away, any softness in his face vanishing as he straightened. A woman arrived then, with a medical kit, and hurried over to Henry. I looked at Koss, standing there, his shoulder bleeding, his gaze fixed on the wall. Figuring out how to spin this. How to use that keen brain to get himself out of this mess.
The Contrapasso team hadn’t asked us to put away our weapons, but theirs were holstered, so Jack and I did the same.
“So how do we do this?” I said. “The interrogation?”
“We’ll take Sebastian,” one of the men said. “His injuries aren’t life threatening. We’ll patch him up at our destination.”
“We aren’t doing it here? The building is empty.”
“It won’t be in a few hours. This could take a while.”
The other man took Koss by the arm. “You have a car, don’t you?”
I nodded.
“Meet us around front. We’re in a dark van. You can follow us.”
“Actually, I’d rather go with you.”
“I’ll take the car,” Jack said.
A look passed between the two men.
“Sure,” the first one said. “Bring her down right after us. We’ll do this in stages.”
I thought he was talking to his partner. Then I noticed two other men right outside the door. They came in as the first two led Koss out.
I stepped toward the door. “I’m not letting him out of my—”
The men blocked the exit. I wheeled just in time to see Jack going for his gun. Quinn went for his, too, spinning on Jack. It should have been an easy victory for Jack. He had the jump on Quinn. He was a faster draw than anyone I knew. But he fumbled, just for a brief second, as Quinn pulled his gun and I pulled mine and—
And then Quinn’s gun was pointed at Jack’s head.
“Hands up,” Quinn said. “Dee? Gun on the table.”
When I didn’t move, Quinn’s finger twitched. “You really think I won’t do it?”
I put my gun down.
“You set us up,” Jack said.
Quinn gave a short laugh. “And you’re shocked? Really?”
Jack lifted his gaze to Quinn’s. “Thought you cared about her. No matter what happened. That doesn’t change. Not that fast.”
“That depends on whether there’s anything to change,” Quinn said. “Your mistake was thinking I gave a shit in the first place. I just thought she was a really good lay.”
Jack dove at Quinn. There was, once again, that split second of “what the hell?” confusion. Jumping a guy holding a gun on you? An amateur move.