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He scooped up the boy, ignoring the woman’s escalated pleas as he walked to the hall table and grabbed her designer purse. Forgoing what he knew would be a time consuming, blind and fruitless search, he dumped the contents onto the table and grabbed the cellphone from the pile of other useless shit women seemed to carry with them. He scrolled through her contacts, found Nadia’s name and tapped the call button before tossing the phone to her. “It’s ringing. Tell her you need her to take the boy for the night.” He tucked his gun under his arm and reached up to caress the little boy’s tears away, never taking his eyes from her. “Let’s make sure she doesn’t ask any questions, got it?” He didn’t have the stomach to hurt the kid, but she didn’t need to know that. She understood his warning loud andclear.
He had to hand it to her. Mistress of The Year was smooth under pressure. She had quite the acting ability, which played perfectly into his plan as they approached the gated entrance to Jauhar’s compound. “Remember,” he said as he pulled the driver’s cap down to better shield his eyes and turned into the drive. “One misstep and your sister will be coming home to plan her son’sfuneral.”
“You do not need to remind me,” she said, her tone dripping with venom and disdain. She held Grant’s stare in the rearview mirror a moment longer than he was comfortable with before she turned her head and stared silently out the passenger window into the surroundingdarkness.
As was customary through his earlier observations, she sat behind him in the back of the dark sedan. Normally he would have her sitting next to him where he could keep his eyes on her. That would have been too risky even considering her rebellious behavior. He needed everything to appear annoyingly normal for this to work, and that meant she sat behind him as he played the dutiful servantdriver.
Clearing her car of anything that could be used as a weapon and stripping her of all her clothes except for a scarlet red, silk robe he’d found lying across her bed only lowered his apprehension level a fraction of an inch. If she chose to try to escape or alert the guards he would have very little recourse to stop her. Other than her belief that he would kill the boy, he held very few other cards in this deadly game he was playing with her. It was the weakest part of his plan, and the sooner this phase was completed thebetter.
As he’d expected, two of the three security guards ran from the guard shack and disappeared into the darkness as he approached. The third man tried desperately to mask his irritation and disbelief that he’d been abandoned by his comrades. Grant had to work hard not to smirk at how predictable the whole scene was. Leaving the car in drive, he stopped and rolled down the rear window, silently praying to a God he wasn’t sure existed that he wasn’t about to make a hugemistake.
The young security guard pasted on a fake smile and confidently approached the rear of the car. Grant held his breath, his face hidden from view by the dark tinted windows. “Miss Nadal. How nice to see you again this evening. What brings you here at such an unexpectedhour?”
“As usual it is none of your business, Nigel. Now please let methrough.”
“Miss Nadal, you cannot be here unannounced at this hour. Mr. Jauhar isnot….”
“Stuff it, Nigel.” She waved him off and casually pulled a mirrored compact from the small clutch he’d allowed her bring along, convincingly unconcerned as she checked her flawless lipstick. “Call him if you must, but it will ruin the surprise. And I am sure he will be unprepared to hear how you inappropriately ogled me after you ordered me todisrobe.”
Grant nearly blew his own cover as he watched her from the rear view mirror. She reluctantly lowered her shoulder, her silk robe falling to her waist, exposing her more than ample, naked breasts for all to see. The Oscar moment came when she cast a pleading, embarrassed glance toward the security camera mounted above Nigel’s head. The idiot looked as if he was about to forfeit what little dinner he may have had as he tripped over himself to open the ten foot tall iron securitygate.
“Well played.” Grant smirked as he slowly passed through the entrance and navigated the narrow, dimly lit drive to the mainhouse.
“You do not get to be in my position with a man like Kafeel Jauhar without possessing some elevated level of acting ability.” She shrugged back into her robe and flicked the compact into her small clutch. “It does not matter. We are both dead the minute we walk through that door. I only hope my sister will forgiveme.”
Grant cut the lights as he approached the front of the main house and slowed to a stop under the architecturally overstated arched portico. He felt little pity for the woman. She knew what kind of man Kafeel Jauhar was, yet she still shared his bed for a small piece of his ill-gottengains.
“Weare not walking through that door, Miss Nadal.” He turned in his seat and raised his silenced pistol, taking precise aim as he began the next phase of his lethal plan. “Iam.”
Twenty-Two
“What in bloody hell…?”The middle-aged butler met them at the top of the short flight of stairs that led up to the frontdoor.
“Help, she’s been shot.” Grant shoved the bleeding but conscious brunette into the confused doorman’s arms before knocking him out cold with the butt of his gun. Swiftly and silently he moved down the hall toward the security command post where he knew the other ill-prepared guards on duty would be scrambling to get their shittogether.
A group of shadows preceded the muffled sounds of scuffling feet moving in Grant’s direction from an adjacent room at the end of the long hall. He darted into the nearest open door before they spilled into the hallway. The house had gone quiet, something that didn’t quite sit right in hisgut.
Crouched out of sight, he could make out three distinct sets of movements as they approached. One man on point as the other two followed a few steps behind. They didn’t pause to check the darkened rooms they passed before they moved beyond the doorway where Grant was hidden and turned towards the front entrance.Clumsybastards.
He closed his eyes, letting everything else fall away and counted the seconds, listening to their heavy footfalls as they moved away.One. Two. Three. Four.His blood raced through his veins with explosive velocity, giving him a taste of the high he once craved. The power of a calculated kill. It wasn’t something he’d ever been proud of, but he understood it. He harnessed the energy and used it to his advantage, the ability to do so making him one of the best in his field. This was his true nature, coming back to him with lethal ease. He could so easily let it take him over and kill everything with a pulse, but he kept the leash tight. He was in complete control as he rose from his position and stepped soundlessly into the hall. Three calm breaths later, two of the guards lay dead at his feet. The third wordlessly pleaded for his life as Grant dragged him back into the control room, the razor-sharp and bloody blade in his hand resting against the man’s throat with enough pressure to break theskin.
“Enter thecode.”
The guard gave a quick shake of his head in protest. A desperate groan hissed through his clenched teeth, the blade slicing deeper into his skin. With his free hand, Grant reached into the man’s pocket and withdrew his wallet. Holding it up, he flipped it open to reveal the guard’s identification and address, along with some other useful pictures. “You’re going to die tonight. Whether or not they join you is entirely up to you.” He stuffed the worn, leather wallet into his coat pocket and shoved the guard into the metal chair in front of the bank of computers. “You have three seconds to cut the surveillance and motionsensors.”
The guard’s nervous fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him. Grant watched as monitor after monitor blipped to blank screens until nothing was visible from the central control room. “Ple-please.” The guard swallowed and Grant could smell the blood as it ran red down the man’s neck, mixing with the mingled scents of sweat and fear that permeated the air inside the small room. “Please don’t kill me. Iwon’t—”
“The backup drive. Wipe it.” The guard wasted no time complying as Grant stood at his back, his hand steady at the guard’s throat. Within moments he’d disabled Jauhar’s entire security command. No one would be able to place himthere.
“How many are left?” The guard shrugged and Grant lunged at the man with viper speed. He didn’t have the time or the patience to deal with this kind of bullshit. The asswipe may not value his life, but he’d damn sure mourn the loss of his balls before he died. With a flick of his wrist the sharp point of the knife sliced through the crotch of the man’s pants. “How many guards areleft?”
“Fo-four! There are fourleft!”
“Four all together? Inside andout?”
The guard nodded frantically, his body strained against the back of the chair watching in horror as a trickle of his own blood pooled in the seat beneathhim.
There were only four guards left. Counting this loser and the two he’d taken out, it was less than half the total number he’d counted on duty the three nights before. If three of them were the fuck-ups from the front gate, that meant there was only one other man on post inside the house.Sonofabitch!He’d been right. Jauhar had been tippedoff.
