Jennifer Estep - Spider's Bite

“You know exactly who this is. You and your boys have been hunting for me for days now.”

“I want to hear you say it.”

I drew in a breath. “I’m the Spider, the assassin you hired, then double-crossed.”

Donovan Caine flinched at the words the Spider . They reminded him once again of who and what I was, even if he’d let himself forget for an hour. His face hardened, and the guilt flickered in his eyes. Caine was thinking about Cliff Ingles, his partner, and how he’d just betrayed him by fucking me — and enjoying the hell out of it. The detective’s lips, the ones that had been so hot and open against mine, pressed into a tight, closed line. Damn and double damn. Now was not the time for Caine to start hating me again and vowing to bring me to justice no matter what.

“What do you want, Alexis?” I asked.

“The flash drive and any copies you might have made of it,” she said.

“In return?”

“You get your friends — in more or less one piece.”

A series of slap-slap-slap s sounded, followed by a low groan. Finn, getting the shit beat out of him for the second time in less than a week, probably by Captain Wayne Stephenson. A painful, dubious achievement. A final slap rang out, followed by a high-pitched, stifled scream. Roslyn. The giant had hit Roslyn hard enough for the vamp to feel it.

My free hand clenched into a tight fist. “Listen up, bitch. I don’t pay for damaged goods. You tell Stephenson to quit beating up my man right fucking now. And if he or your other two goons even think about touching the woman in any way, I’ll hand-deliver the flash drive to Mab Monroe myself and let her track you down. Hell, she’ll probably have the mayor give me a medal for bringing you to her attention.”

Silence. A calculated gamble. Alexis James might not be afraid of Mab Monroe’s magic, but she had to real ize getting the other woman involved would only make matters worse for her. That’s why Alexis had hired and double-crossed me in the first place — to smooth her path to usurping glory. Alexis still needed the flash drive to disappear, hopefully more than she wanted to hurt Finn and Roslyn or call my bluff. But I wasn’t bluffing. I’d do exactly what I promised — except I’d find a way to get to Alexis James long before Mab Monroe did.

“Agreed.” A reluctant promise, wrapped in uncertainty.

“Where do you want to make the exchange?” I asked.

“The old rock quarry on the outskirts of town. Do you know it?”

I closed my eyes. Memories and images flashed through my mind. Playing there with Bria as a child. Cowering underneath the rocky outcroppings after the Fire elemental had murdered my family. Jo-Jo sitting with me among the rocks, showing me how to master my elemental magic. Fletcher hunched on a seatlike slab of stone reading a book while I ran lap after lap around the quarry, circling my way from the bottom to the top and back down again.

“I know it.”

“Two hours. Be there with the flash drive, or your friends die. Slowly.”

Alexis hung up. I hit a button, doing the same, then stared at Donovan Caine. The detective looked back at me, his hard cop stare tightening the planes of his face.

I sighed. “Go ahead and say it.”

“This is your fault. Alexis James has hostages because of you.” His eyes frosted over. “Because you were too busy fucking me to watch her.”

“There was no way of knowing Roslyn would call out to Finn, and that Alexis would grab them both,” I said. “I’ll admit leaving Finn at the bar was a miscalculation on my part.”

Disgust filled Donovan’s amber eyes. “A miscalculation?”

His disgust, his anger, knifed into me, piercing my heart. But I pushed the feeling aside. Now was not the time for emotion. Now was the time to be as cold and hard as the Ice and Stone magic that flowed through my veins.

“You’re not angry about Finn and Roslyn. You know that was a fluke, something that would only happen one time out of a hundred,” I snapped. “No, you’re angry because you didn’t push me away in that closet. Face it. You were a willing participant, detective, and you thoroughly enjoyed yourself. So don’t place all the blame for this mishap on me.”

Caine’s hands clenched into fists. He looked like he wanted to punch something — me.

“You can blame me and hate me and call me all the nasty names you want — later,” I said. “Finn and Roslyn are in danger. You saw that photo of my handler, what Alexis James did to him. She’ll torture the two of them exactly the same way. You can help me save them, or you can stay the hell out of my way. Your choice, detective.”

Donovan Caine stared at me, hate and disgust shimmering like gold fire in his eyes. “I’ll help you — for Roslyn’s sake. Because she has a niece she loves. Because she’s the type of person I’ve sworn to protect. But I’m not doing this for Finn and sure as hell not for you. I couldn’t care less about you . Are we clear?”

His words ripped into me, but I kept my face neutral. Impassive. Hard. Cold.

“Crystal,” I replied. “Now let’s move.”

Using a circuitous route, I drove the car back to my apartment. I glanced in the rearview mirror, but no one appeared to be following us. One less thing to deal with. Then again, Alexis James had no reason to follow me now. She already had her leverage.

Donovan Caine stared straight ahead, eyes fixed, body tense. He didn’t say anything on the drive over, but I could feel the self-loathing and rage seething off him. If he got any hotter under the collar, he’d spontaneously combust.

Fifteen minutes later, we hit the downtown district. I parked the car in a garage three blocks away from my apartment building. We walked the rest of the way. I got out of the elevator before the detective and went to my apartment door. While I fiddled with the key, I let my fingers touch the stone. The same low, steady murmur sounded back to me. Finn hadn’t given up the location of my apartment. I smiled. Good for him. Too bad for Alexis James. Because part of me had wanted someone to be waiting inside. I would have enjoyed taking the edge off my anger by killing some of Alexis James’s minions.

I opened the door and went into my bedroom, not bothering to wait for Donovan Caine to follow me inside. I stripped off my dress and stilettos, and put on my usual assassin clothes. Black pants, long-sleeved T-shirt, socks, boots. I crumpled up the fancy cocktail dress and ripped panties and threw them in the trash can beside the bed. They both smelled like Donovan, and I didn’t need any distractions right now.

Not with Finn and Roslyn’s lives hanging in the balance.

I went over to my dresser and opened the top drawer. A thin vest lay inside, not unlike the ones I usually wore on assignments. I put it on, then opened the second drawer down. A row of knives encased in black foam glinted up at me. I stuffed two in my boots. Two more went up my sleeves. A fifth knife got tucked against the small of my back. I was already wearing the silver watch with the garrote wire inside, so I double-checked it, making sure the wire could be easily pulled out of the timepiece. I could do more damage with the knives, but if the opportunity presented itself, I’d strangle Alexis James with the wire.

Oh, I wanted her to suffer for what she’d done to Fletcher, for how her men had beaten Finn and Donovan Caine, for daring to frame me in the first place. But the most important thing now was rescuing Finn and Roslyn. I had a better chance of doing that if I killed Alexis the first chance I got. Dead was dead. As long as everyone else was still breathing and she wasn’t in the end, well, I’d just have to be happy with that. Fletcher would understand. He’d rather Finn be alive than his murderer tortured.