Page 65 of Mile High Heist

“Olivia,” the man said with a sigh, like we were lovers reuniting. The familiarity of it shocked me. I was certain we’d never met before. I’d remember him and that thin, disconcerting smile.

“W-Who are you?” I demanded.

“You can call me Kuro.” He unbuttoned his suit jacket and crouched down, so we were eye-level. It didn’t even the playing field. His movements were graceful, yet predatory, in a way I’d only seen on one other person.

But I didn’t want to think about Madoc.

“You and your little Crows have made quite a mess,” Kuro said, clicking his tongue in disappointment. “I do not like messes.” He lifted his hand, flexing his fingers. My eyes zeroed in on the ring.

I’d seen that ring before.

Wait.

His eyes gleamed in wicked amusement as my mouth parted in disbelief. If it wasn’t so cold, I imagined steam would be billowing out of my ears.

Julie was a Viper?

“What do you want from me?” I bit out angrily. “Like I t-told Shrek over there, you’ve made a mistake.”

The man laughed. Then he reached into his jacket. My breath caught in my throat. When he withdrew, I caught a flash of silver.

A gimlet knife.

It was small but undeniably sharp. A tiny surgical instrument, ready to slice away my false bravado one cut at a time.

I flinched back, heart pounding in my throat. He struck quickly, precisely.

The zip tie snapped clean.

Confused, I looked down at my wrists, expecting a gush of blood. Or, like, a severed finger. There was nothing but my cold, blue hands, stinging as the nerves regained feeling.

Kuro looked amused at my reaction. “I’m not going to hurt you, Olivia. I want us to get along. It will make things far less complicated.”

Knotting my frozen fingers together, I watched him suspiciously. “What do you want?”

“The prototype.”

“I don’t have it.”

“No, you don’t,” he agreed, flipping the gimlet knife between his fingers. “You asked me what I wanted. I want many things. The prototype. And you. Ah.” He pressed a finger to my lips before I could interject. “As I told Jax, I cannot reveal all the secrets.”

I glared at him until he smirked and removed his finger.

“Can you give me one secret?” I muttered bitterly.

My eyes watched the knife hawkishly as it traded hands.

Then he paused, as if considering it. “One secret,” he mused. “I suppose I can give you that. In exchange for your cooperation.”

I scoffed. “No secret is worth me jumping out of this fucking plane.”

His smile widened. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

He stood suddenly, making me flinch in alarm. I also stood but more slowly, shooting a wary look at the big man standing guard behind him.

I couldn’t fight one Viper, much less two. And something told me Kuro was the one I should fear the most, even if he was proving to be a giant gossip.