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Nik was tied securely and unconscious. At least he wasn’t dead. Yet. She looked from him to the man who squatted beside him.
He was dressed to perfection, as always. A gray pin-striped suit, well pressed. Wing-tipped shoes. And he had a limp. That was why he was late bringing his accounts to her.
She glanced at his foot, then back to his face.
“Yeah, the foot is still kind of stiff,” he chuckled. “I have to give your boyfriend credit, Risa. Even half-unconscious he was still a damned good shot. Then again, Mossad agents can almost shoot straight from the grave. Damned hard bastards to kill, you know.”
She shook her head. No, she didn’t know that.
“His mother was the one death I regret.” Orion straightened and stared down at Nik with a thoughtful expression before looking back up at her. “Her name was Ariela Abijah. She was married to a CIA agent and her son was one of the best Mossad agents I’ve ever known. For a while, I guess they were friends.” He shrugged his shoulders heavily as he sat down in the easy chair and watched her. He held Nik’s gun comfortably and acted as though they were simply visiting.
The man had to be insane.
“You killed your friends?” she whispered. She wouldn’t have a chance, then.
He nodded slowly. “Ariela was beautiful. I hated taking that job, but I had no choice. One of my employers knew a bit too much information about me.” He smiled, a wide, satisfied curve to his lips. “He doesn’t any longer, though, so that rather changes the state of my employment.” He leaned forward confidently. “I’ve wanted to retire for several years and he kept calling me back.”
“Heinrick,” she guessed. “He’s your employer.”
“One of them.” He shrugged. “He’s the scientist Ariela was searching for, and the man Jansen allowed to rape you.” He shook his head at that. “In all the years I’ve killed, I’ve never raped. Masturbated to death, maybe.” He grinned at her shudder. “But I never raped.”
He was crazy. Risa could feel the icy chill of his insanity reaching across the distance between them, threatening to freeze her with its cold.
“Heinrick’s dead.” He tilted his head to the side when she said nothing more. “Does that please you?”
She licked her lips nervously. “You killed him?”
He nodded like a little boy desperate for approval. “I found the evidence he had against me. I knew if I looked hard enough, I would. He was stupid. He kept it in his home safe.” He shook his head then. “I should have thought of that, but I assumed he was more intelligent than to keep it there.”
“Why are you here?” Her voice shook. She could feel the fear, and a burning fury churning inside her. “If you killed him, why didn’t you just leave? Just retire like you wanted to do?”
His smile was amused and much too friendly. That was how he tricked her. He was able to fake a warmth and sincerity in his eyes, in his whole expression, that most people couldn’t fake.
“Because you are a liability,” he sighed. “Not that I’m worried about you seeing my face. Cosmetic enhancements are so reliable nowadays, but your boyfriend isn’t going to let this go, is he?”
“You killed his mother. You were the reason his father died, and you tried to kill him. I somehow doubt he’s going to let it go.”
“But I left his cousin living,” he sighed. “I could have killed her as well. I should have, she was CIA, another liability, but I allowed her to live.”
“You believed he was dead,” she argued.
“Well, that’s true,” he admitted with a light laugh. “But still, I let her live to atone for the death of the family of Abijah. And now, he’s alive, and he still hunts me. What do you think it would take to make him stop?”
Risa shook her head. “He’ll never stop hunting you.”
He grimaced at that. “Ah well. I had hoped that by my allowing you to live, he would see the benefits in allowing me to finish my days as a retired assassin rather than prey. Oh well.” He shrugged. “If nothing will stop him, then I can complete my assignment here and retire with a clean record.” His eyes narrowed. “I’ve never failed to complete an assignment, you know.”
CHAPTER 25
MICAH DIDN’T bother with the elevator when they reached the apartment building. He slammed through the door to the stairs, took them two and three at a time as the others followed behind him.
He could feel his heart pounding in his throat, fear clawing at his mind. He’d left her. He’d walked away from her when she had begged him with her eyes not to leave her. And still, he had gone.
How had Orion gotten past Nik? How could Micah have allowed this to happen?
He could feel a curious sense of disbelief and unreality filling him. He remembered racing in a similar manner for the location where his mother’s body had been. Running around pedestrians and cars, his heart in his throat, adrenaline coursing through his body alongside his fear.
He had found her dead.
