Page 47 of Herding Cat

The condemnation didn’t seem to faze them.

They didn’t drive for long through the snaking streets of Kowloon. When the car stopped, it was at an old warehouse in a part of town with which she was not familiar. The area was deserted and dilapidated.

The perfect place to commit a murder.

Which was what this was.

Catherine had no delusions.

These men would take her inside and kill her.

When they came for her, when they attempted to drag her bodily from the car, she fought.

She was hardly a match for them, but she was able to keep them busy trying to restrain her as, at her urging, Mae scampered away.

“Goddamn it,” the bigger one snarled. He lunged after the little mite as she passed...and missed. She bolted into the shadows of the yawning warehouse door and disappeared in the gloom.

Relief flooded Catherine’s chest. She hated that Mae had been dragged into this, that little girl who had no one to protect her, no one to care for her. But she was smart. Perhaps she could hide from these men and save herself.

“Go get her,” the other man snarled.

“Why? This is the one we were sent to take care of.”

“Idiot. The girl is a potential witness. Go get her.”

“All right.” He shot a nasty look at Catherine. “But don’t start without me.”

A snort. “Why do you care?”

The big stinky dolt rubbed his hands together. “We have time. I’d like to get a little back for all the trouble she’s caused us.”

His partner glowered. “That ain’t part of the deal.”

“Right.” The big man’s eyes glimmered as he leaned closer. The huff of his breath made her own eyes cross. “That’s a bonus. No charge.”

Oh, lovely. Now she had death and a fate worse than death to look forward to.

“Fine. We can wait. Just go get that girl.”

As the one man pulled out his weapon and headed off in search of Mae—which made the hairs on Catherine’s neck stand up—the other dragged her inside the warehouse, and when she refused to make it easy for him, he picked her up and carried her.

He dropped her onto a mangled folding chair that tipped to the side, and then he bound her hands and feet with duct tape.

“Don’t do this,” she said, staring at him with pleading eyes. “Whatever Steven is paying you, I’ll double it.”

He stilled and seemed to consider the offer, giving her a breath of hope, but then his brows lowered. “I always complete my contracts.”

“Always?”

“Yes.” He added another length of tape around her ankles, just to make his point.

“Nice to meet an assassin with standards,” she muttered. She shouldn’t have, because she was his prisoner and he was going to kill her and all, but she couldn’t help herself. She was in a foul mood.

Fortunately, she amused him. He barked a laugh.

She decided to try once more to appeal to his humanity. “Please let her go. She’s just a child.”

“She’s seen our faces.”