“I’m not stupid, Casimir. I—” Jane ducked and threw the throwing knife that had been tucked at her back.
The blade stuck in Casimir’s cheek. With a shriek, he dropped the gun and clutched his face.
He ripped the blade out as Jane rushed him, tackling him to the floor.
They rolled, but Jane had no intention of letting the larger threat subdue her.
She jammed her thumbs in his eyes. When he tried to strangle her, she ripped his hands back by his thumbs, encouraged by his cries of pain.
So much death. Matthew, all those families, the poor maid, the senator’s aide. And Casimir knew what he was doing. Victor was crazy and had “needs.” But Casimir allowed all of it.
She broke his thumbs, stood in a hurry, then heel stomped his face, breaking his nose.
His breath whistled as he feebly clutched his gun. He must have found it while she’d been hurting him.
She fought him for it, shocked to find him still so strong.
Rage and skill fueled her. She ripped the gun from him and pumped a round into him before he could stab her with a hidden blade.
“Stay down,” she ordered. “FBI, you’re under arrest.”
The knife clattered to the floor, and she shoved it away.
“Too…late…” His breathing rasped, and she realized he had a punctured lung, the round to his gut higher than she’d thought.
Behind her, the front door opened. “You got him? About time.” Raine popped a bubble and continued chewing her gum. “I’ll call the cops.”
“Thanks.”
Jane had tasked her cousin to watch her house, having anticipated that Casimir would want to kill her in her private, safe space. So much more satisfying and personal to bleed her out at home.
While Raine called 9-1-1, Jane leaned in to hear Casimir murmuring.
One of his eyes had swelled, but the other remained clear. “Better than I expected, Jane Cannon. A true queen. I’m impressed.”
His chest rattled. He closed his eyes and died.
Jane stood, not sure how to feel.
Victor’s victims had finally been avenged.
Yet the job felt incomplete.
Shefelt incomplete.
She stared at Casimir. What a waste of a brilliant mind, lost to hate and envy.
Anger faded, as did her satisfaction.
All that remained was a growing numbness that only the next job could fill.
Chapter 56
Two weeks later,Jane sat at her desk, moving through a list of subpoenas she needed to file.
Her days had been getting better, full of paperwork and investigations, though her nights had become torture, with sleep next to impossible.
At least the shooting had been justified, as the mandatory investigation had concluded.
