Page 46 of Undertow

I stare out the window of the Premier Forester Hotel in downtown Toronto, watching the city lights flicker like urban fireflies in the night. Their ant counterparts scurry around the street below, invisible to the predators scheming high above them on the forty-seventh floor. Suite 4703 is impressive and will be my home for now. I must be preying on some elite targets if they’re setting me up in such an opulent space.

My theory is confirmed when Henchman 1 draws my attention to the closet in the bedroom.

“You don’t leave the room in anything less than a suit, got it?” he says.

I nod, moving away from the window to join him. The fabric is soft in my fingers, expensive. They know my measurements, so I have no doubt these suits are all perfectly tailored.

“You have the file?” I ask.

“Link is in your inbox. If you have any questions, you call Merrick direct this time.”

Merrick is overseeing this one? Must be big.

“Budget?” I ask.

Henchman 2 shakes his head. “Unlimited. Go nuts, kid,” he says with a smirk.

I return it. “Lobster and filet it is. You guys want to stay for dinner?” They exchange a look, and I smile when they do. “We’ll hit the steakhouse at eight.”

I’ve also learned bribery is a great way to make my imprisonment a little more bearable.

They leave me alone in the bedroom, and I pull out my laptop to investigate my latest job.

I used to wonder why they never told me what I would be doing ahead of time. Why wait until right before I transform to tell me what I have to become?

The answer came in Chicago. Knowledge is power. It’s also a distraction. What you don’t know literally can’t hurt you when your survival depends on your ability to focus and stay in character. There’s no future in my world, only blocks of the present that haven’t happened yet.

The clock reset for my new present, I pull up the folder with information on my assignment. The second I see the bold title, my stomach drops.

I stare at the one-line directive in disbelief.

This can’t be real.

Fear washes through me as I try to piece together any clues that would have led me here. I haven’t failed since they broke me after my escape attempt months ago. I’ve done everything they asked without even a hint of hesitation on the outside. They can’t be punishing me, which means…

A no-limit budget.

An extremely high-stakes job.

I click through a gallery of the car I’ll be driving, the clubs I’ll be frequenting, the elite people I’m supposed to surround myself with. All the evidence leads to one bittersweet conclusion:

I’m in.

I’m not a low-level pawn anymore. I’m an asset.

Congratulations, Shaw. Your prison cell is now gilded and caked in diamonds.

Too bad blood splashes the same on gold as it does on concrete.

I study the sentence that makes my blood go cold and hot at the same time.

ESTABLISH A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE RED LEAF CARTEL

9

RAZOR TO THE SOUL

I return to Julia’s house well after midnight. That’s how long it takes to clean up a bloody crime scene and put myself back together. None of it was new for me, but there are some things that break the subconscious no matter how numb you tune your controlled awareness.