Page 25 of Chad's Chase

“An infrared was on my forehead, wasn’t there?” he asked JK, but it was more of a statement than a question.

“Death, man!” JK shouted, still sprawled on top of him, shielding him. “Fuckin’ death was on your head!”

With a grunt, Chad shoved JK off him and jumped to his feet.

“The fuck are you doin’, you sick fuckin’ lunatic? Stay down!”

But Chad disregarded the threat of danger and bolted over to the shattered floor-to-ceiling window just in time to spot the shooter on a skyscraper directly across from the building he was in.

In all black, the shooter was hotfooting it across the roof with a sniper rifle Drag Bag in hand, hurrying away. But Chad didn’t miss the long, black ponytail swaying behind, the wind whipping it around.

It was her.

Jhay.

Guess the kiss in the parking lot had meant nothing, then. She still wanted him dead.

The door to the conference room flung open, followed by a deep booming of an expletive. Ronnie.

Chad turned.

JK warily got up to his feet. “You got a fuckin’ death wish or something, man? Why’d you go there?”

Ronnie burned sulfurous eyes into Chad. “You saw the shooter. It was her, wasn’t it?”

Chad didn’t respond. He didn’t have to answer to anyone but himself.

“Her?” JK asked. “Hold up, you know your assassin this time?”

“It’s…complicated, JK.”

“Actually,” Ronnie said, seething, “it’s not. It’s pretty damn plain and straightforward.” He turned to JK. “The assassin who’s after him this time is a female. Who’s workinginhis clubunder the pretense of being a dollar hoe. She almostkilledhim in his parking lot three weeks ago, and when I finally got the chance to blow her head off, he ordered me not to. Thenhe lets her go. Scot-free. And now, here we are.”

Mouth hanging open, JK looked at Chad as if he had seven heads.

Sighing, Chad gave Ronnie the signal to leave. When Ronnie just stood there glowering, Chad voiced in his don’t-fuck-with-me tone, “Ronnie, leave. And make sure no one gets past you to this room.”

Ronnie had been with him for over a decade, loyal to the bone. But at times he could be a real pain in the ass. Although Chad knew the man’s leeriness was for his own benefit, to keep him alive, sometimes, like now, he had to remind the guy who was boss of whom.

With a disgruntled sniff, Ronnie pointed at JK and said, “You need to talk some sense into him,” before stomping out the door in a giant ball of anger.

“What the fuck, man?” JK asked, righting the upturned chairs around the table before sitting down. “You mind fillin’ me in?”

Blowing out a breath, Chad ambled over to the table and sat down across from JK. “Do you remember the family I told you I offed when I was eighteen?”

“Yeah, the Byrds. And you let the little girl live.”

Chad nodded. “Well, the shooter just now was that little girl.”

“No shit,” JK muttered, leaning back in the chair. “So this is a vendetta then. Not another assignment.”

Chad shook his head. “No idea. She’s a trained killer, so it seems like an assignment. But then, she’s the girl who survived, so…”

“Maybe it’s both.”

“Yeah,” Chad agreed. “Maybe.”

“Look, man,” JK said, resting his arms on the leather-covered chair handles. “I know you’ve suffered with the guilt of what you did to this family for a long time, and you’re probably thinkin’ there’s some way to make it up to this girl…but, dude, she just tried to blow your fuckin’ brains out.”