Page 82 of The Specialist

“I have everything you need in the van,” Julian assured me. “Including the two bags you asked me to bring.”

“Good.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Yes. I’m going to kill them all, walk away, and start my life with Sofia.”

Damien glanced over at Sofia. “She won’t like this.”

“She won’t know. I’ll be back before she wakes up.”

“You’re not going to tell her?”

“No. It will upset her, and she’ll worry herself sick while I’m gone. The painkillers will make her sleep, and when she wakes up, it’ll be over. She won’t have to think about it.”

He shook his head. “You’re playing with fire.”

“No. I’m protecting her.”

Before he could retort, my phone buzzed. Damien clicked some keys and nodded. “Stay calm,” he advised.

“Ivan,” I said tersely. “I want to talk to Sofia.”

“She is sleeping. Don’t worry, Egan.” A grainy picture appeared on the screen. An old one that he assumed I would accept as real. “We are taking good care of your girl.”

Liar. He thought she was dead and that I had no clue. He was going to pay for it soon enough.

“You hurt her, you’ll be sorry.”

“Do you have a plan?” he asked abruptly.

“Yes. I need to ask Alex a question, though.”

“What is it?”

“Does he have experience with infrared technology?”

Ivan spoke fast in Russian, and I heard Alex’s snort of disgust. “Yeah.”

“He does.”

“Fine. I’ll need him tomorrow,” I lied. Now that I knew he was there, we had the confirmation we needed.

“What is the plan? How will you get into the building?”

“I have connections.”

“I knew you would. The deadly ghost always had connections.”

I shut my eyes. I’d hated that name years ago, and I hated it even more now. “I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“I want to know now.”

“Too bad.”

I hung up and stood. I studied Sofia, my heart aching at the thought of leaving her. I wanted to stay and hold her, be there when she woke up. Hold her if she needed to cry again. But I had to go. I needed to take care of this tonight and end it.

“Let’s go.”