IF THERE WAS one thing I’d learned in the past few weeks, it was that monsters rarely looked like horrific creatures of the night. No, they could lurk right in front of you within a politician’s glossy smile or a mother’s desperate hug.
They could stare down at you from an impervious height, all craggy, chiseled face and sleek silver-blond hair, like the man who called himself the Hunter was doing to me right now.
The party carried on around us, music echoing through the nightclub alongside laughter and the clinking of champagne glasses. This celebration was for him, the guy who apparently was “boss” to all these people. And the sick sensation in my gut came from my growing suspicion about exactly what they were celebrating.
Just a couple of hours ago, the men of the Chaos Crew and I had murdered most of my birth family. It’d been for a good reason. The Maliks had been torturing and making bloody sacrifices of innocent children for generations. But the man in front of me had wanted to bring about the Maliks’ downfall. He’d given me clues and nudged me toward the discoveries I’d made. He somehow seemed to already know it’d happened.
How large a hand had he really had in pushing me toward this end?
But that wasn’t even the biggest question looming in my mind. At least one woman in the club had the same bisected teardrop tattoo that I bore on the back of my neck, the one that connected me to the household where I’d been held captive and trained as a deadly assassin for more than twenty years. The Hunter’s right-hand man appeared to be the same person who’d hired the Chaos Crew to slaughter everyone else in the household—who’d demanded they return me to him when I hadn’t turned up in the mansion.
Too many pieces were colliding all at once, but I couldn’t make them fit together into a picture I understood. My mind was spinning so fast it was dizzying me. What the hell was going on?
Moments ago, when I’d accused the Hunter of arranging the massacre at the household, he’d acted as if it was Damien Malik’s fault instead. I knew that was bullshit, and I wasn’t letting him get away with his non-answer.
I pushed a little closer, my muscles flexing with all the strength my combat training had given me, and glared up at him. His cool stare wasn’t going to intimidate me.
“I know you’re behind the killings at the household,” I said. “How were you connected to them? What did you have against them?”
Why did you want me? I thought but couldn’t quite bring myself to say.
The Hunter simply shrugged his broad shoulders and started to turn away, as if my questions didn’t even warrant his verbal acknowledgment. My teeth gritted. I snatched at his arm before he could dismiss me completely.
“Why were you after the Maliks too? Did they even really kill your daughter, or did you make that up like everything else you’ve apparently lied about?”
The Hunter’s attention snapped back to me with a brief flash of anger in his eyes. He wasn’t totally impervious.
That fact lent truth to the words he said next. “I’d never lie about my daughter. We should both be happy with the outcome we got. Go have a drink and enjoy yourself now that you’re here. Tonight I intend to celebrate, not submit myself to an interrogation.”
He turned his back and strode to the bar. A few toughs who I guessed were bodyguards fell in to flank him in tight formation. They stopped when he did and turned to watch me as if sensing this clash wasn’t finished yet.
It definitely wasn’t. The Hunter hadn’t bothered giving me a single answer. Typical.
I whirled around to face my men, frustration thrumming through me so violently they could probably see it in my stance. “This isn’t over,” I said to Julius, the leader of the crew.
His jaw was tight, his deep blue eyes coolly fierce. Having his substantial frame, which was even taller and brawnier than the Hunter’s, standing over me settled my nerves a little rather than rattling them, because I knew this man would do whatever he could for me with his power. He didn’t argue, simply nodded and motioned for all of us to pull back to the far end of the bar.
We tucked ourselves into a booth in the back corner, away from the noisiest parts of the party. I kicked at the table legs, my fingers curling toward my palms. “That fucking jackass,” I growled.
“Definitely not the most pleasant guy I’ve met in my life,” Garrison remarked with typical snarkiness, swiping his hand through his rumpled blond hair. “We’re not bowing out that easy, are we? This prick’s got to have every answer you’ve been looking for since the day we found you.”
Julius snorted. “She’s not planning on leaving.” He lifted his chin toward me. “What do you need us to do?”
The loyalty and dedication he showed in those seven words could have torn my heart into shreds. He didn’t ask to hash out my strategy first or for me to explain my reasons. He didn’t need to. He knew that this was my mission, and I’d call the right shots. And he intended to be right there with me when I did.
All four of my men did. A sharp-edged smile crossed Garrison’s lips, and Blaze shifted in his seat with typical restless eagerness. The hacker’s brown eyes gleamed bright beneath his shaggy red hair. Talon sat next to him as a still and solid presence, the amber lights gleaming off his shaved scalp, but I felt the weight of all his attention on me.
The Chaos Crew was ready for action, and right now I was the one directing them.
I was too tangled up about the situation to take much enjoyment out of my newfound authority. “We’ve got to get the Hunter away from his security,” I said. “As long as he can use them as a shield, we’re not getting anything from him. If we can drag him out of here, we can interrogate him properly. That’s clearly the only way he’s going to open his mouth.”
Even then, I wasn’t betting on cracking him open being an easy process.
Garrison glanced at the crowded room. “With the atmosphere and the amount of drinking going on, we’ve got more leeway than we might otherwise. It’ll still be tough to shake the muscle from their boss.”
Blaze grinned. “Sounds like we need a distraction.”
I smiled back at him. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking. We need to get the Hunter out the back door”—I tipped my head toward the hallway we’d entered through—’and knock him out so we can haul him away without him making a fuss. It’ll probably take three of us to manage that. The other two will create a little chaos to catch the bodyguards’ attention right when we want to strike. We’ll need him near the back hall to begin with so we don’t have to drag him far, but if we can manage that… I think we can pull the rest off.”
“I know we can,” Julius said firmly. “But let’s do this right. He might be getting on in years, but he can clearly pack a punch. Talon and I should stay with you for the hauling part. Distractions are more Garrison’s area anyway, and I’m sure Blaze can find his own special ways to be useful.”
Blaze had pulled out his phone and was tapping away on it. “Already two steps ahead of you.”
While he made periodic interjections, the rest of us spent several more minutes going over the finer details of the plan. Then we got up. Garrison and Blaze melded into the crowd in opposite directions, off to handle a few separate tasks before their paths converged. Julius, Talon, and I slipped into the short hall that led past the restrooms to the back door.
We stood with our backs against the wall, just far enough into the shadows there that we could only see the figures who passed right by the entrance to the hall. We’d know it was time to move when the Hunter entered our sphere of vision.
Talon rested his hand briefly on my shoulder. The man was rarely outright gentle, but there was a tenderness to his touch that brought a lump into my throat. He was saying without needing any words at all how much he supported me.
I’d had to put down the family that should have been mine, but my real family, the one I’d chosen, was right here all around me.
We knew something was happening because of the gradual shift in the sounds of the party. A particularly raucous round of laughter carried through the room. Then there was a chorus of little shrieks as if in dismay. Someone hollered at someone else, angry words that were mostly lost in the music. The celebratory air was starting to fragment.
My men did know how to sow their chaos well.
Right around now, Blaze would be dropping the digital bait and Garrison setting up the real-life evidence to draw the Hunter’s curiosity and then his actual self over to this end of the room. I could imagine him weaving through the crowd now, taking measured steps and skimming his gaze over his subjects.
His bodyguards would form a semi-circle around him, but their job was to protect him, after all. If they saw something that made them think there was a threat coming from a different direction, they’d have to divert their focus to deal with that.
My heart thumped in my chest, counting out the seconds. A grunt and a thump reached my ears from closer by than the earlier sounds. “Now, now,” the Hunter’s voice said. “You’d better get this all sorted out.”
“What about that?” someone demanded, and the man we were waiting for stepped into view.
Another shriek reverberated through the room at the same moment as someone shouted, “Yahtzee!” That was our cue, our signal that the Hunter’s guards were temporarily diverted.
The three of us sprang forward together. I ducked low to sweep my leg against the Hunter’s ankles and knock him off his feet. Julius and Talon charged in on either side to yank him back into the hall the second he was off balance. One of them would hit him across the head hard enough to daze him, and then—
But we never got that far.
I swung out my leg, sure, and Julius and Talon lunged—but just as my shin smacked into the Hunter’s calf, unexpected figures hurtled at us from both sides. Guns jammed against the men’s temples. Another guy tackled me to the floor.
The Hunter had even more bodyguards than we’d realized. This bunch must have been blending with the crowd, watching him from more of a distance so discreetly we hadn’t realized they weren’t merely more revelers. They were dressed in similar dressy but more relaxed clothes like the other partygoers rather than suits like the official guards.
I lashed out, catching my attacker with an elbow to the throat and a knee to the gut, but even as he flinched with a loosening of his grip, I knew our chance was gone. The Hunter had pulled away from us, the bodyguards we’d identified rushed back to his side. We’d lost all element of surprise.
My attacker tried to pin me again, and I jabbed my fingers into his eyes. While he groaned, I managed to scramble up. Julius was just shoving his opponent backward into the crowd, Talon knocking the gun from the other guy’s hand, but the other bodyguards were pressing toward us now.
Shit. We’d have to make a run for it.
My gut sinking, I reached for my men, about to tug them toward the hallway with me when the Hunter let out a low, rolling chuckle. The sound was dark enough to send a cold shiver down my spine.
My gaze jerked to meet his, and instead of the rage I’d expected, I saw only amusement in his expression. And maybe even a gleam of… appreciation?
“Leave them,” he said in a commanding tone. His men backed up a step, braced for further orders. I paused, torn between wanting to run to relative safety and my need to see this confrontation out to the end, wherever that might lead me.
The Hunter considered me with his head cocked at a predatory angle that unnerved me even more than his chuckle. He shook his head, still with a small smile playing across his lips.
“Interesting,” he said. “You got closer than I’d have expected. Maybe even I underestimated your skills and determination—and your choice in allies.”
“I wasn’t looking for compliments,” I informed him. “I want answers, and I’m going to get them one way or another.”
“Hmm.” He looked me up and down and rubbed his jaw. “You know, I think I can spare a few minutes to talk after all.”
Seriously? My spirits leapt. I motioned to Julius and Talon, not wanting to draw attention to the other two crew members wherever they’d ended up in the crowd. “We’re ready when you are.”
“Oh, no,” the Hunter said. “There’s no ‘we’ in this game. This is between you and me, Decima. I’ll talk to you and only you. That’s your offer—take it or leave it.”
