Kim Baldwin - The Gemini Deception

“Do you know who I am, Jack?”

“A megalomaniac gone awry.” Jack looked around the room. “And this museum you call home proves it.”

TQ’s content expression evaporated. “That’s a crude way to phrase your perception of me.”

“Call ’em like I see ’em.”

“I rarely if ever let anyone in my home, so show respect.”

“To what do I owe the honor of being the chosen one?”

“You intrigue me.”

“I overwhelm you.” Jack smiled. “And you hope this vulgar display of wealth will exhibit your power and put me in my place. Show me how inferior I am.” She laughed. “Yup. Me-ga-lo-ma-ni-ac.”

“We’re going to have to work on your manners.”

“Speaking of which,” Jack replied, “are you going to offer me a beverage?”

“You’re absolutely right. What would you like?”

“Do you have whiskey in house?”

TQ clapped, and Jack heard a sound from behind her. She jumped up, in an efficiency of movement, and grabbed the person behind her by the throat before they could react.

“Nice.” TQ clapped.

As soon as Jack realized she was holding a young Asian woman with an eye patch, she let go. “I’m sorry,” she told the terrified girl.

The woman rubbed her throat and nodded.

“Tell her what you want,” TQ said.

“Johnnie Black,” Jack replied, and the girl disappeared into another room. “I hadn’t seen her.”

“I keep her next to the bookcase in the corner,” TQ explained, like she was talking about one of the antiquities on display.

“You must trust her a lot if she can be present during your conversations.”

TQ shrugged. “It’s not like she can run to anyone with information.”

“You keep her imprisoned.”

“For you, a prison. For her, a home. It was either this or a lifetime in a Chinese penitentiary.”

“And we all know what that means.” Many Chinese prisoners were executed for their organs.

“Indeed. So I kept two alive for myself and saved their lives in the process.”

“A true philanthropist.”

“I know,” TQ replied with a serious expression.

This woman was more disturbed than Jack even dared imagine.

The Asian girl came back with Jack’s drink in a heavy crystal glass and placed it on a coaster on the table in front of her.

“Thank you.”

The girl nodded.

“You don’t have to thank her,” TQ said, annoyed. “She’s doing her job.”

“Thank you,” Jack said again, and the young woman smiled.

“Remember what I did to your eye?” TQ glared at the girl. “You have only one left.”

The young woman quickly bowed her head, clearly horrified, and took her place next to the bookcase.

TQ kept staring at her with pure hate.

Jack cleared her throat. “So, why am I here?” she asked, to pull TQ’s attention away from the girl.

TQ turned her head slowly in Jack’s direction. “I’ve told you. I want you to work for me.”

“Do what?”

“Like I said, whatever I ask you to.”

“Steal organs?”

“You need medical expertise for that, and as talented as you are, I doubt you have the knowledge. For now, I want you to prove you can be an asset.”

“Explain.” Jack took a sip of whiskey.

“I need someone eradicated and I want you to do it.”

“If I refuse, then…?”

“Then I also refuse to let your beautiful girlfriend live.”

“Fair enough.” Jack tried to sound cool and businesslike.

TQ smiled a reptilian smile. “I’m always fair.”

“Who do you want me to off?”

“Two people. Ryden Wagner and Harper Kennedy. They have to be dealt with simultaneously.”

“Who are they?” In the past when Jack took jobs like this, she specifically refrained from asking anything about her targets because it made her job and objectifying easier. But that was then. She wasn’t about to go back to being a ruthless killer. If there was such a thing as a hell, Jack was certain she’d already bought a one-way ticket to it, but she wasn’t about to disappoint Cass and herself by returning to that life. She’d had to justify killing someone less than an hour ago by telling herself the guy deserved it.

“I don’t accept questions concerning my orders,” TQ replied, “but this warrants an exception.”

“Because?”

“One of your targets, Harper Kennedy, works for a privately contracted organization called the EOO. They have very capable and highly trained operatives. You will need all your skills to destroy that one.”

“The EOO,” Jack repeated, to make certain she’d heard right.

“You’ve heard of them.”

“Yeah, but all I know is what you’ve already mentioned.” Jack had never met this Harper Kennedy, but the name fit because of the distinctive surname. “I don’t know if I want to get involved with killing one of their people.”

“You can’t handle it?”

“I can handle a contractor,” Jack said. “I don’t want to deal with the wrath of the organization.”

“No one does. You’ll have to make sure they never find out who did it. Should they link you or me to Kennedy’s death, I will spare them the trouble of killing you.”

“Goes without saying.” Jack took another sip of whiskey. “Business is business, and any business must be protected.”

“Wise beyond your humble means.”

“Why is this Kennedy a problem for you?”

“She’s been hired to protect Wagner, who belongs to me.”

“Protect her from who?”

“Me,” TQ replied cryptically, “but Kennedy doesn’t know that.”

“Is Wagner a deserter? Is that why you want her dead?”

“Wagner is a means to end. She was hired for one specific purpose, and once her job is done, she is ineffectual.”

“I still don’t see why Kennedy is a problem.”

“I’ve invested a lot in Wagner, and it’s paid off,” TQ said. “She is doing a marvelous job. But she is getting increasingly emotionally unstable and too close to Kennedy—her security guard—who is already suspicious about certain affairs of mine.”

If an EOO op was hired to babysit someone, that individual was either a major threat who warranted constant surveillance or a VIP who needed constant protection. This Wagner was probably in the first category. She couldn’t imagine why any op would choose or accept to become a bodyguard. Personally, she couldn’t see throwing herself in front of a bullet to protect anyone besides Cass. “When?”

“Not long anymore. A few days.”

“What happens after this hit?” Jack asked.

“You wait until I need you again.”

“And in the meantime?”

“I’ve made arrangements for you.”

“How long do you want to keep me here?”

“Until I trust you to come to me when I call. And yes, of course you could entertain the idea of notifying Ms. Monroe or running away while out on this job. But you won’t be alone or have a cell phone. And should you upset me for any reason, I will—”

“Yeah, I get it.” Jack didn’t want to hear another threat on Cass’s life.

“Good. Now, I need to get my beauty sleep, and you need to leave me to it.” TQ clapped her hands and the Asian woman came to stand in front of her. “Take her to the men waiting outside.”

*

Southwestern Colorado

Montgomery Pierce sat in his well-used, comfortable armchair and looked out at the mountains, some of the highest peaks still dotted with snow. The secluded two-story brick home he’d purchased when he became chief administrator was just down the road from the EOO campus. At sixty-three, he was more content with life than he had ever been, and if it weren’t for the doctor’s orders to avoid exertion, stress, and most of the foods he loved, things would be damn near perfect. The woman he’d loved since his twenties was finally at his side, the organization was blooming both with profit and new talent, and Jaclyn was alive and happy with a wonderful woman.