Kate Donovan - Exit Strategy

“Do you guys really want another round of this?” she demanded.

“Give her the injection,” the driver said to the doctor, ignoring her completely. “Then care for Gresley.”

“Be serious,” Miranda protested. “We both know you won’t shoot me. Dr. Feel-Good here signed on for some good old fashioned date rape, not a full-blown murder.”

The physician nodded. “We should just let her go. If she complains to the authorities, we’ll say she tried to rob Gresley. It will be her word against ours, and she’s a whore. An American whore.”

“Professional escort,” she corrected him with a wink. “And I will indeed walk right out of here. And we’ll all pretend this never happened, right? I won’t even send you a bill for ruining my favorite dress.”

The driver scowled but nodded. “Go on then. Be quick about it.”

“Put the gun on the floor and kick it under the sideboard first,” she told him.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? So you can get it and shoot us.”

“The last thing I want is my fingerprints anywhere, let alone on a gun. Which reminds me…” She walked over to the coffee table and upended the tray so that both of the glasses, along with the bottle of expensive Scotch, flew to the ground and shattered. “There. That’s better.” She sighed and suggested, “Give the gun to the doctor then. I’m pretty sure he won’t shoot me.”

The driver grimaced, then handed the weapon to the physician. “There. He has it. Now get out of here.”

Had the doctor seemed even the least bit comfortable with the gun, Miranda would have cut her losses and left, despite knowing Gresley would send the driver to hunt her down the instant he regained consciousness.

But the poor physician’s hand shook visibly as he pleaded with her, “Do as he says. And quickly!”

So she flashed a triumphant smile, and before the driver could reassess the situation, she had grabbed the doctor and wrenched the gun from his hand, then jumped back so that she had both men in her line of fire. “Okay, doc. Inject your buddy here, and be quick about it.”

“Pardon?”

“Either you shoot him with the needle or I shoot him with the gun. Your choice.” To the driver she added sweetly, “It won’t hurt a bit. It’ll just make you sleepy and cooperative. Right, doc?” Waving the pistol she added in a deadly serious tone, “Do it.”

The physician and driver exchanged glances, then the latter rolled up his sleeve, muttering, “Bitch.”

Miranda watched in amusement as his eyelids began to close within seconds of receiving the injection. As he slumped to the floor, she wished him, “Sweet dreams, a-hole.” Then she asked the doctor, “Do you have another dose in that bag for yourself?”

He nodded, completely cowed, and sat down on the floor next to his bag. “May I use a clean needle?”

“Be quick about it.”

A groan sounded from Gresley’s direction and she saw that he was struggling to sit up. “Hey! Get back in your fetal position,” she ordered him, and to her delight, he immediately complied.

Meanwhile, the doctor had prepared a second injection and was looking up at her as if awaiting instructions. She nodded, and he immediately plunged the needle into his arm.

“Nighty-night,” she said cheerfully as he slumped over in a heap.

“Okay, Gresley,” she murmured, double-checking the pistol’s chamber to be sure it was loaded. Then she walked over to him and stared down, announcing quietly, “Your turn.”

“My God, Miranda, you’re freaking me out!”

“I didn’t actually shoot him,” Miranda assured the spinner. “I just thought about it. You’ve gotta admit, he deserved it.”

“He was unconscious,” Kristie reminded her.

“That’s how he likes his women. I really wanted to give him a taste of that medicine.”

The spinner sighed. “Exactly how much of that Scotch did you drink?”

Miranda laughed. “I’m drunk on something else.”

“What?”

“Power. Ortega was right. There’s nothing as intoxicating.”

“Can I quote you?” Kristie asked dryly. Then she sighed again. “The important thing is, it’s over.”

“For the moment. But Gresley’ll try to track me. Can you lead him on a wild-goose chase?”

“No problem. I’ll make a fake Miranda Duncan trail for him to follow. You switch to Jennifer Aguilar’s passport. I’ll make your reservation under that name. The sooner you bring that new information about the Brigade home, the sooner we can work on it together.”

“Nice try, partner,” Miranda said, laughing. “But I’m headed for Kell country. I’ll send the Gresley intel to you electronically before I check out of here.”

“We don’t need Kell anymore!” The spinner’s tone was now panicked. “You succeeded! That was our deal.”

“We don’t know what we have yet. Our best strategy is for you to sift through the new intel while I try to get more in Switzerland. Also, you need to get Jennifer’s credentials in order. Make her a high-class call girl from Reno, okay?”

“Excuse me?”

Miranda laughed. “It was your idea, remember? You said we needed the connection with Ortega for Kell to trust me. So Jennifer can’t be an industrial spy. And I was thinking about Ortega’s monthly trips to Reno. I’m guessing he doesn’t want complications, so he probably uses professionals. So just give Jennifer the minimum credentials. In case Kell checks. An apartment near the casinos, for example. Credit cards. That sort of thing.”

“I’m sure Ray doesn’t use prostitutes.”

“Hey! Who are you calling a prostitute? I’m a professional girlfriend,” Miranda said, teasing. “Anyway, I’d better get going. Gresley probably won’t look for me tonight-he’ll be too busy rushing to the hospital. But I don’t want to take chances.”

“I didn’t think to send a disguise with you.”

“It’s cool. I’ve got my hair in a twist and covered mostly with a scarf. And I’m wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. A far cry from the copper outfit. Plus I’ve still got the chauffeur’s gun, although I’ll have to ditch it before I go through security at the airport. After that, Gresley will be expecting me to take a flight to the States, so I’ll be safer going to Switzerland. See what I mean?”

“This has gotten completely out of control. There wasn’t supposed to be any danger,” Kristie reminded her. Then she insisted unhappily, “I’m so, so sorry I didn’t catch the fact that Gresley was a freak.”

“It’s not your fault. He’s surrounded by enablers who protect his secret. I just wonder how he’s going to explain his busted jaw,” she added with pride.

“Like I said, this has gotten out of control.”

“Don’t worry. It’s fine. I’ll call you from the airport to get the new itinerary. And Kristie? Thanks. I couldn’t do this without you.”

“That’s the point, Miranda. You can’t do this without me, and you haven’t given me time to plan a new scenario.”

“There isn’t time for that. So we’ll just modify the old one. It’ll be fine, I promise.”

“I must be out of my mind.”

Miranda laughed at the mournful tone, then glanced at her watch and announced, “Gotta go. ’Bye!” before the spinner could make another try at convincing her to come home.

Four hours later, on a flight to Geneva, Miranda’s adrenaline-laced high had abandoned her, and she began to second-guess her decision to head for Kell’s fortress without a well-thought-out, spinner-approved plan. Did she really expect to waltz into the place and charm a crazy man into revealing the Brigadier’s identity to her?

Plus, to be totally honest with herself, she knew she intended to do much more than that. She wanted to find a way to bring the Brigade itself down. To prove once and for all that she was more than a pretty face and a good shot.