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“You didn’t need me for this, Reed,” he murmured in annoyance.
“You have access that I don’t.”
And I don’t want the searches tracing back to me.
“How much time do I have? I’m already overloaded with a few jobs…”
“This is your priority. Search, now.” Carter lowered his eyes to Lynx. McKenna noticed him tense again and now understood how uneasy the guy was to have Carter in such close proximity. She also didn’t miss that something about Carter was different—detached, cold, callous.
“What else do you have? I’m likely not going to find anything with just the coin.”
“Then I suggest you use every resource accessible. This is all I have. Make sure what you do isn’t traceable.”
“Nothing I do is traceable. Don’t insult me,” Lynx muttered as his fingers began to dance across the keys. After a few minutes Lynx’s expression turned grim. He moved his fingers a few more times, mumbling something under his breath. After a few more minutes he stilled completely, releasing a hushed word. “Shit.”
“What?”
“Where’d you get that?”
“Not important. What the fuck did you find?” Carter demanded.
After a few seconds, the other screens illuminated. Several images of the same coin with different Roman numerals were visible. Carter released McKenna’s hand and edged closer, examining the handful of photos. Three coins, one mutilated body, and one word.
Mauti.
“What does that mean?”
“Death, demise,” Lynx said in an eerie tone. “I’ve heard that before but only in whispers. Malaika wa mauti. Angel of Death. It’s Swahili.”
“What the fuck do you mean by whispers?” Carter’s expression turned hard.
“No one knows who it is. They only know if you’re on their list, you’ve fucked up. Where’d you get that?”
“None of your fucking business,” Carter gritted. “What else do you know?”
Lynx shook his head, clearly put off and very disturbed. “Nothing and this doesn’t say anything more than what I know. The emblem represents them, whoever they are. The numbers on the back signify what number you are…” His eyes moved to the coin in Carter’s hand then to his computer screen. “Or, were, on the list…”
“I need to know who they are?”
“Then you’re gonna have to ask someone else.” Lynx pointed to the screen. “That’s all there is. I had to break into FBI files to get that. There’s nothing else out there and based on what little they have, they don’t know shit either.”
McKenna watched the exchange, growing increasingly uneasy. Coins, mutilated bodies, death angels. What the fuck was she in the middle of?
Carter nodded and slipped his hand into his pocket. “The search is untraceable?”
“Reed, don’t fucking insult me,” Lynx growled, then his eyes went wide and his hand moved to his neck. “What the hell, Reed? What did you just do?”
McKenna flinched when Carter moved with a quiet expertise and backed away from Lynx. She hadn’t realized what he’d done until he held up the empty syringe. It was compact, no more than three inches, and the needle was so slim it looked translucent. She’d never seen anything like it, not even at the hospital.
Seconds later, Lynx’s hand lifted from his neck and landed hard against his chest while he began gasping. “Wh-what…did you give me?”
“Succinylcholine but when they do the autopsy, they’ll assume you had a heart attack. A fatal one, which is rare given your age, but not unlikely.”
Lynx’s eyes went wide once more and he attempted to stand but didn’t get far. Instead he choked out, “Why?”
“The way you looked at her when we walked in. There was recognition and shouldn’t have been. How much did he pay you for information on her?”
Lynx continued gasping for air as his eyes darted over to McKenna then back to Carter who stared, head angled to the side in arrogance.
