Page 50 of Insidious Threats

“Yeah? What’s that, honey?” He leered at her.

She reached over and grabbed his t-shirt collar, bunching the fabric into a tight knot at his throat. His face turned red and his eyes bulged. He wheezed indistinctly.

“The next time you pick up a woman—or God forbid, a girl—it’d be a good idea to keep your hands to yourself. You never know if the hitchhiker in your passenger seat has been trained to kill a man with one clean snap of his neck.”

His eyes grew wider still. She tightened her grip.

“Do you understand?”

He tried to nod.

She released his shirt, and he fell back against the seat, panting and choking. “Now, get the hell out of my sight before I do change my mind and put you out of your misery.”

He hit the gas, and the car lurched forward. She stepped back and watched him speed out of sight before she took out her phone and punched in Leith’s number.

He must have been waiting for her call, because he answered the line himself. “Hello?”

“It’s done.”

“How?”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“No,” he said quickly. “You’re right. Don’t tell me. Where are you?”

“I’m about a mile and a half from the airport, maybe two. I should be back there in half an hour or less.” She planned to avoid the roads and cut through the endless farmland to return to the airfield.

“Don’t file a return flight plan. There’s been another development. I may need you to handle something else.”

She blew out a long breath. Leith was lucky she was an adrenaline junkie—because neither his paltry salary nor his flaccid member was enough incentive for her to stay in this job. But the constant excitement made up for his cheapness and his impotence.

“What is it?”

“Rosen called me. The developer who debugged Mjölnir sent over the finished file and then apparently quit with no notice. Just left his lanyard on his desk and walked out.”

“This guy worked at Pinpoint Partners?”

“No, Rosen contracted the project out. According to Rosen, it’s probably nothing. Just some Gen Z douchebag who doesn’t want to work. But, I want you on standby while I have his background checked out. I’ll let you know later tonight.”

“Understood.”

He ended the call, and she stowed her phone in her pocket. A slight frisson of disappointment ran through her. If she’d known she was going to have time to kill, she would have toyed with Frank longer and taught him a proper lesson.

She loped across the field as the sun began to fade.

26

The sun was just beginning to set over the Hudson River when Sasha and Ellie neared the little town nestled along its banks.

“Pull over,” Sasha said.

Ellie eased the car off the narrow street and parked alongside the river. “Is here good?”

“Yes, hurry,” Sasha said, scrambling out of the passenger seat.

Ellie killed the engine and jogged around to join her. “Is something wrong?” she panted.

Sasha tugged on Ellie’s sleeve, pulling her toward the wooden walkway to the right. “No, but we’re going to miss it if we don’t hustle.”