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He chuckled. “Lies. And more delusions of grandeur. How do you know I didn’t lie to her and give her a false name? And how do you know that I don’t have another Beta in the FBI feeding me information? Don’t you believe that would be the crowning achievement for an Alpha? Imagine the power that would give me. How else would I have been able to subdue Barrett so easily? How else would I know he was going to betray me?” He paused. “How else would I have been able to research plans that would allow me to kill the maximum number of agents in that explosion?”
“And you could be lying to me now, trying to make a fool of me.”
He laughed. “Yes, I could. But you don’t know if I am. Am I willing to serve up a valuable FBI informant to try to fool you? I rather think I am.” He was no longer laughing. “You’ve been getting in my way, Kendra. I can’t tell you how angry I was when I was removing the nails from my flesh after our first encounter. And Jackie was almost willing to betray me when she ran into you. She knew what I could do to her, and yet she risked it. Now you’re considering taking away another death that would be very exciting for me? How can I allow that, Kendra?”
“You’re not going to have a choice,” she said hoarsely.“Not from the day you blew up those detectives in that crater, you bastard.”
He was chuckling again. “That’s what I wanted. I needed to get you aroused enough for you to be an intriguing adversary. I believe you’ve reached that point now. I’ll start picking off the people around you that you care about. Is Lynch listening?”
“Yes.”
“He’ll be included, of course. I’m looking forward to him. He’s the perfect example of the Omega. Do you realize I’ve found that an Omega is really a totally independent Alpha who cannot be controlled? And Tricia, the divine swimmer…I almost killed her when I was pointing my rifle at her as she knelt beside that dog tonight. But you were getting into my head even then. Next time I’ll kill herandthat mutt.”
Another stunning, terrifying revelation. Don’t let him know how it had affected her. “You’re not going to get the chance.”
“Watch me,” he whispered.
He cut the connection.
Kendra drew a shaky breath. “Son of abitch.”
“Yes,” Lynch said grimly as he pulled her out of the elevator on her floor and nudged her toward her condo door. “But I need to get you inside before I start adding any more obscene words to that chant.” He was unlocking the door. “And I have a couple of phone calls to make first.”
She pulled away from him. “I’ll get myself inside. Who are you calling?”
“Griffin. I want more guards at the condos.” He was talking on the phone a moment later.
She stopped listening and wandered across the room to the window and looked down at the street below.
Next time I’ll kill her and that mutt.
“Stop thinking about it. Griffin is sending two more agents to guard the condos.” Lynch was standing behind her, his hands on her shoulders. “I’ve alerted Sam at Olivia’s of the possible immediate threat. Everyone will be safe.”
“Will they?” She was still looking down at the street. “I thought we were safe on that walk this evening. I thought I was being so careful not letting her go to the dog park.” She shuddered. “And he was out there, sighting down at us with a rifle. I have to know where he was, Lynch.”
“We’ll find out,” Lynch said gently. “First thing tomorrow.”
“No.” She whirled to face him. “Now.I want to go down there right now and find out. I don’t want to be that vulnerable again. I remember the exact position where Tricia and Harley were standing when he was aiming that gun. We were down the block near the business section. You’ll be able to tell me where he was standing, won’t you?”
“Probably. Almost certainly.”
“Of course you will. You’re an expert.” She turned and headed for the door. “Let’s go.”
***
Milo stared at his phone a good five minutes after his call with Kendra Michaels ended. He felt a tingling, a charge, that left him wanting more. It felt good to be on the front lines again, rather than pulling strings in the background.
But that approach had its own rewards, and he’d been cultivating three new front men—and one frontwoman—for his next wave of killings. Two of the men were in Europe, one was in New York, and the woman was in Mexico. He hadn’t decided which one he’d trust with such responsibility, but he had high hopes for each of them.
But he’d also had high hopes for James Michael Barrett. The man had carried out his assignments well, skillfully executing the targets they had chosen together. Too bad he had eventually become so sloppy and gotten caught. Even then he kept his mouth shut for the better part of two years, telling the authorities nothing about their lethal partnership. But when Barrett struck a deal with the DA to reveal the location of Dayna Voyles’ corpse, the writing was on the wall. Milo knew he had to terminate Barrett before the idiot could expose everything.
That fool. Barrett started to get sloppy around the time he was researching Tricia Walton for the last of their planned kills. He’d fixated on her and become obsessed. Milo grimaced at the thought. He’d given Barrett the girl’s swim goggles as a reward for staying silent, but he knew he’d eventually have to kill him.
Milo smiled. He believed in meticulous planning, but that trigger bomb he planted in Dayna Voyles’ grave was a master stroke of improvisation. Still, in the end, it would go down as just an exciting diversion. After another few days, he’d return to his life’s work.
All in good time.
Why look to the future when he had such delicious loose ends to occupy him here?
