Page 51 of Convict's Game

“Close but no cigar.”

“Security?”

He lowered his gaze, not dignifying that with an answer.

“A merc,” Tyler supplied. He said it like a dirty word.

Kane inclined his head.

“For who?” I asked.

“Whoever’s paying.”

“What was your role with Mila? Backup only?”

Kane didn’t answer me. Clearly he had a share-little mentality.

Tyler continued. “Let’s try this another way. How did a gun-for-hire get nabbed by a flesh merchant like Salter? Embarrassing, no?”

Kane exhaled, a small change in his upright stature telling me how little he liked the fact he’d been captured. “Like I said, I was distracted. Mila asked me to come in to extract some girl, and I was annoyed at the change in our plan. It made me sloppy, and I got jumped. They took me out with a Taser of all fucking things.”

Mila covered her mouth. She’d drifted closer to me, and I had the urge to run my arm around her but resisted for fear of her shrugging me off.

She shook her head. “I hate that I got you caught because of me.”

A muscle in Kane’s jaw ticked. “I never said that. It was my mistake.” He gestured with his chin to the room. “That why you’re with these fuckers?”

“Watch your mouth,” I snapped.

Snake-like, Kane focused on me. “Watch yours, lover boy.”

I stood taller. His gaze darkened.

To Mila, I said, “This guy always this charming or did he save all the dickhead for me?”

Mila sighed. “Can I have a minute to talk to my brother alone, please?”

Shade and Tyler watched me for their cue. They’d gone to any amount of trouble to get this man back, and though I wasn’t convinced he was on Mila’s side, I believed her when she named their relationship. Strange how strong that conviction was.

“We’ll be outside.” I gestured for my crew to follow.

We held up the walls of the corridor, a restock crew rattling through the open doors to the nightclub. I liked this time of night, when dawn was still a couple of hours off but most good people were tucked up in bed. It made me feel alive.

I tipped my head at the office door. “We’re recording that conversation, right?”

Shade slid a blade from his belt and examined it. “Course. Wouldn’t have called him for a brother.”

Exactly as I’d thought. “Do me a favour and keep hold of him for a while.”

“Think he’s a threat?”

“I don’t know what he is yet.”

His blade flashed in the light. “Want me to disappear him?”

“Tempting, but let’s play nice for now.”

Tyler briefed me on the extraction, a simple enough smash and grab where they took out a lone guard while anothertwo investigated a distraction. Our distraction, of course. A car blown up on the far side of their industrial building.