Page 116 of Long Past Deadly

Her shot hit the assassin center forehead.

His face sagged. He fell backward to the pavement, eyes open and a smile on his lips.

Bastard.

&&&&&&&&&&

Alanna dropped her arm and tensed against the throbbing vibration in her head. Holding her left ear, she stared at the body. “It’s finished.”

Armed personnel pushed in around her, keeping eyes on the dead man.

Quaid, still behind her, put a hand on her shoulder. “He wanted you to kill him. That’s what this was all about.”

She studied the monster from her memories, dead on the pavement, dark hair shot with gray, pale skin, and his knife still in his fingers. She didn’t move closer to confirm death. She let Frank and Ryker do that. Mac had Whit and was yelling for Cait.

“It was a game to get me to kill him? Why?”

Quaid stayed close and talked in her good ear. “You called it. He was coming apart, not able to control himself.”

“Needing more and more to satisfy the compulsion. It wasn’t satisfying him anymore,” she whispered.

“He didn’t want caught, didn’t want prison. And he knew you would do it. He had you pegged from his first attack.”

“What if I hadn’t?”

His arm slipped around her and pulled her against him. “Mac would have. Hunt would have. I would have. He had to know someone would because he came here. Not to the alley where he first met you.”

“But that gave him what he wanted, dammit. I had questions.” She firmed her lips, trapping a surge of anger.

“Doesn’t matter, Lani. He’s dead.”

Her mind refused to believe this was over.

Ryker came to her. “Good shot, Williams. Now give me your gun. We’ll do this by the book.” He held a plastic evidence bag.

She studied the bag for a few seconds, then released her grip on the weapon, ejected the clip, and slid both into the bag.

“Sign the tag here.” Ryker handed her a pen. “You’re on administrative leave until we finish the shoot investigation. No problems will come from this. I was here. The whole thing has a dozen witnesses, and they recorded it to boot. Go home and get some sleep.”

Quaid took her arm. “Let’s go upstairs. Let the teams do the cleanup. Mac has it.”

She looked to where activity continued. Cait was with Whit. He was in good hands. Again. Mac was directing the flow and wouldn’t quit until the job was complete.

Thank God for Mac.

Because she needed Quaid.

Chapter Twenty

QM International Situation Brief: 10:45:30 PST 01/07 – San Diego HQ. Main HQ power and communication systems temporarily offline for construction. Use alternate contact methods. Updates will follow as repairs are completed. Ϙ

Alanna scanned the mess of paperwork on her desk and let her mind wander. FBI Headquarters in LA was a hybrid. Cases running everywhere, priorities differed, but her corner was quiet this morning. Go to the division’s operational area and not so much.

The paperwork from Mercer’s death never ended. As authorities were notified, the requests for information increased. She shared the office space with Drew Jade. His desk sat opposite to hers and had an autographed baseball and a picture of his wife and child. Hers had empty coffee cups from the coffee shop across the street. She tested each one and threw them into the trash. She needed a desk mat, new pens, and to clean out her briefcase, but she gazed at the child’s photo. Something about his face steadied her.

She’d always been convinced she wasn’t the kind to put non-work stuff on her desk, but Quaid had handed her a pink rose bud from his garden this morning. There was a small vase tucked in her briefcase when she got to work. Niles had been in on the gift. There it was. By her desk phone.

She stroked the petals, then shoved away from her desk and took the last round of paperwork down the hall to Ryker’s office. His door was open, his own desk double as bad as hers. She stood in the doorway and waited for him to acknowledge her.