Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“So you knew he’d be working late.”
“I keep tabs on all of my future victims. I’d watched him for a while.” Long enough to gather evidence that he deserved death.
She blows out a breath, perhaps thinking of how long I’ve watched her. “You wore a suit.”
“Body armor. A prototype from Knight Corp. Not available on the market.”
“The security video I found?”
“Was of me. I own the building next door and had management release it.”
Her eyes flash with excitement or anger. The slanted light makes her irises look sea green. “The only evidence I have is what you allowed me to have.”
“I wanted you to know me. You and only you.”
She licks her lips, glancing away.
I take a small step forward. “Inara—”
Her features harden, and I stop my advance. “How did you break in?”
“The door to the fire escape was locked. I have a tool that unlocks things.”
“Another prototype.”
I incline my head. Most of the hunting supplies I use come from Knight Corp or another secret branch of Roy Industries. I invest heavily in R&D, and I get first dibs.
She shakes her head. “Why didn’t he fight or cry out? You stabbed him.”
“I incapacitated him first.”
How? They tested all the liquids and found nothing.
“A gas. Unscented. Untraceable. Developed in Roy Laboratories. There’s nothing like it. As soon as the team of researchers discovered the compound, I pulled the project and destroyed all official records of it. I have it developed in small batches in my own private lab.” I take another step forward. “Now, ask me why I killed him.”
For the first time since I’ve met her, fear flickers over her face. It takes her a moment before she moves her lips. “Why?”
“He wasn’t a random target. I’d met him several times at charitable events and been across the table from him in negotiations. It wasn’t until I took interest in buying his company that I dug deeper, and I found it.”
“What?”
“The testimony of a young woman. Iona Stipanov. She told a story about how she was tricked into leaving her home to travel to New Rome. A fake modeling agency promised her a job. Instead, Serbian gang members took her money and identification, drugged her and thirteen other women, and locked them in a shipping container for a dangerous trip across the ocean.”
Inara has her hand over her mouth. I hate telling her this, but she has to know.
“There was little water or food. One woman died. Iona and the others barely survived. I was on the docks when they were herded from the ship into a van. I was able to intercept it and free them. Iona was brave enough to want to testify. She came forward, but there was a jurisdictional scuffle between the Feds and the city, and in the end, the DA declined to press charges. You can guess the company who owned the shipping containers.”
“Martin Shipping.”
“Even if the case had gone forward, the only ones implicated would be the leaders of a Serbian gang. Not Gregory.”
“Was he responsible?”
“More than that. He collaborated with this gang for decades. Iona’s story was just one thread. I kept pulling and eventually unraveled a whole human trafficking operation. All made possible by Martin Shipping.”
“So you killed him.”
“He was careful. None of the evidence pointed directly to him. If I could, I would’ve brought proof of his crimes to the authorities. But you know there are limits to what the police can do. Innocents suffer. Criminals go free. Justice isn’t as blind to money and power as you want to believe. So, I tip the scales.”
She’s quiet, absorbed in her thoughts. I wish there were a way to monitor her mind. But I have to wait for her to share herself with me.
“That night. . . did he know what was going to happen? When you came into his office?”
She’s imagining the details of my hunt. I don’t know the extent of her gifts and abilities, but I do know she feels things deeply. She can sense the darkness in the world around her. It’s a testament to her goodness that she can descend into it and still remain pure.
“When the gas took hold and I appeared? I imagine he did. I didn’t pause to read him a litany of his sins, but he knew the consequences had come for him at last.”
“How could you do it? You were with me just hours before, and then you went and killed someone?”
“You hunt monsters. So do I.”
“No, I hunt monsters like you.”
“The only one who can stalk and kill a monster is. . . a bigger monster.”
“Do you think you’re the hero in this situation?” She shakes her head.
“Am I not? You clean up the streets in your own way. I do it in mine.”
“This is murder. You kill people without remorse.”