One
Darcy
BOOM!
The windows of the penthouse apartment shatter above me as fire shoots out in a glorious explosion that paints the rainy night sky golden. Glancing up from my phone, I revel in the sight for an instant before returning to my screen and wiping away the rain splattering it. I love explosions, but I have work to do. Thankfully, I have a drone filming everything, so I can rewatch the footage later.
Tommy
babe you got a sec?
I dismiss the message with a sigh of impatience. Tommy has been getting more and more clingy lately, and I can’t deal with him mid-mission. I have a few minutes at most to move the funds from my mark’s accounts before his people catch wind of what’s happening.
Swiping down, I check the upload status of my calling card… almost there. God, I wish this rain would just stop. I’m soaked through.
Sirens pierce the air—that was fast—and I grimace at the reminder of how little time I have.
Months went into planning this, but it always comes down to these final few minutes.
Tommy
I just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry, but this ain’t working for me anymore.
What?
Dismissing his irritating messages again, I flip between apps. Bingo. The funds from that corrupt senator’s little nest egg are now sitting pretty in one of my shell accounts. I’ll give it a few days, then begin the process of wiring it to the dude’s victims—minus my cut, of course.
Tommy
I want to break up. You’re gorgeous, and the sex is great, but you’re just not into me, and it’s not fair to keep stringing me along like this.
I pause, but only because I’m waiting for the notification—there.
Upload complete. Every single device the senator owns is now wiped. His money and his data are mine, and all the cops will get off any of his tech is a new little screensaver that readsGame Over.
Satisfaction curls my lips into a tiny smile as I disconnect from the server and—
“Put your hands up!”
Oh, great.I remove my glasses with one hand and pull up the messaging app with Tommy’s latest break up text. Mustering a sob, I turn to face the officer. His gun is shaking in front of me.
“He broke up with me!” I wail, inconspicuously dropping my glasses into my handbag as I brandish my phone in the cop’s face. “Bytext! Why would he do that?”
The poor, fat, balding man sweats as he tries to figure out if I’m a threat or just really as stupid as I appear. I can’t blame him. No sane person would stand calmly below a building that’s just exploded, in the pouring rain, ranting about a break up text. Eventually, he must figure that I’m just an airhead—thank you blonde stereotypes—because he lowers his weapon.
“Miss, you need to get to safety. There’s been an incident—”
“I thought he loved me.” I pinch my brows together, thrusting the phone at him again. “He said he did, and now look! I planned our life together. I even had a Pinterest board! And he just…” I manage a huge, hiccupping sob, allowing practised tears to fall freely. “Why do they always leave me?”
His expression hardens, and despite my poor vision, I can practically read the words “dumb, emotional bimbo” as they flit through his mind. No sympathy from this dude, sheesh.
“Miss. This isn’t the time or place. I’m going to have to insist you get behind the safety cordon, immediately.”
I wipe my hand across my eyes, sacrificing my mascara to the cause with an embarrassing sniffle. The cop just sighs and grabs my elbow, dragging me out of the dark side street and over to where his colleagues are already ushering civilians away. The moment I’m among the crowd, I stop my fake tears and start making my way around the block. Pulling a hat out of my bag, I tug it over my distinctive hair, flipping the collar of my trench coat up to hide the rest, before heading for the metro.
Just another face in the crowd. Nothing to see here…
Once I’m seated and the train is rattling along the tracks, I fish my large black-framed glasses out of my bag and send a quick text confirming the mission was a success back to Man. Then I take a deep breath and open Tommy’s chat.
