Page 18 of Burn the World Down

Bastian’s gaze settled on me.

“You look like you need a drink, too,” he said.

I jerked my chin. “Won’t say no.”

In an elegant move, he rose and stalked to the black cabinet against the side wall. He pulled out a bottle of something that was no doubt expensive and poured. I took the crystal glass from him and sipped. Probably Pappy Van Winkle. It should have tasted smooth, sweet, and spicy. Instead, it tasted like nothing.

I walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows. It felt like standing on the edge of a cliff, with a bird’s eye view of everything. But tonight, it all blurred, my thoughts churning.

“The training went well?”

“Yeah.” I swirled the bourbon. “Couple of the new team members are good. They have leadership potential.”

“Excellent.” I heard his chair wheel back. “Nash, we have a problem.”

Turning, I raised an eyebrow. His tone was serious.

“What’s up?”

“There was a woman on the casino floor tonight. She was looking for you.”

Both my eyebrows winged up. “She asked for Nash Oakley?”

“No. She didn’t use your name. She had this.” He pulled a ratty, folded piece of paper from his pocket. He opened it and smoothed it on his desk.

It was an image of me walking in the casino. Thankfully, not a good picture.

“I thought with our alterations, facial rec wouldn’t register against any old images of us.”

Bastian shrugged a shoulder. “You’re standing in profile. It probably used other factors. I mean, the image isn’t great. It couldn’t have been more than a partial match and whoever matched it must have used a hell of an algorithm, and a lot of time and effort.”

Someone had come looking for me. My neck muscles tightened even more. “Who?”

“She said you’re a friend, and she was looking for you.”

Fuck. I felt a strange shiver. Whatever this was, I had a feeling it wasn’t going to go away. I scowled. “Who is she?”

“I don’t know.” Bastian rose and circled the desk. He tapped on his sleek, silver laptop, then turned it to face my direction.

I saw instantly that it was security footage. It was frozen to show a perfect view of the woman standing in the casino.

I stepped closer and pulled the laptop across the desk. She was medium height, fit, slim body, with a killer set of breasts hugged by a red top. Her straight, black hair brushed her jaw, and her lips were a deep red.

I didn’t know her.

My brow creased.

“No idea who she is?” Bastian asked.

“I’ve never seen her.” My gaze ran along her jaw line, and I felt a whisper of…something.

“She could be an assassin. Hired by someone with an axe to grind. Maybe she’s got her own axe to grind with you.”

“We covered our tracks, Bastian.” When we’d left our previous jobs, we’d taken steps. I’d been known as Nathaniel or Nate Hagen. Very few people knew I’d gone by Nash, and most of them were dead. “We have new identities. We did the work to kill off the men we’d been before.”

“Maybe someone’s cleverer than we thought.”

I touched the screen and wondered who the hell she was.