I eyed my left arm, which had one of the two microchips the CDC had installed along with some fancy device that monitored for exposure to pixie dust and other nasty substances, a little add-on Sebastian had coerced me into accepting for a bribe to be revealed at a later date and time.
The other microchip had been installed in my back, disconcertingly close to my spine, a place most wouldn’t think to check for one if they checked. Most didn’t bother checking, as most sentients abhorred and loathed the idea of being microchipped.
In two or three weeks, all three devices would be checked, and if they impaired me, they would be removed. “If I have to stay microchipped, you have to be microchipped. And I will gloat over you while you have it done.”
“I wasn’t gloating over you. I was pleased you would be as absolutely safe as the CDC could make you on what could be a very dangerous job.” Sebastian shrugged. “Maybe I gloated a little, as you actually let me get away with that without making any demands. I won that one.”
“Only an idiot would refuse to be microchipped and monitored when taking out a serial killer. I have zero desire to end my life being a stupid idiot. But you promised a reward, and you have taught me I don’t need to tack on extra rewards to my rewards, so I best be getting a very nice reward.”
“Maybe I didn’t win that one after all.” Sebastian joined me on the couch, reached for his laptop, and typed away on it, bringing up a photo of a man with striking similarities to my target. “This is Kenard.” He pulled up a picture of a scarred woman, and while I had more scars, hers were almost as severe as mine. No wonder Stefan had stared at me so much.
I could have been her sister, right down to my breast size and general build. I whistled. “He must have felt like he’d seen a ghost. If my parents have more girls, one of them might look like her. Please tell me she’s not related to my mother.”
“We’re looking into that, because that level of resemblance is disturbing enough it’s worth a look. Perhaps a distant cousin? Or she’s one of your doppelgängers. I’d believe it. I’ve loved you for years, and I did a double-take when I first saw her picture. We have no idea what they’ll do, but the CDC and FBI are agreed this puts you at even more risk. They aren’t sure if this will encourage or discourage them from killing you.”
“They might want me to replace her.” I’d dealt with a lot of violent men over the years, but I’d never dealt with someone who might be suffering from such an extreme form of psychosis. “But why would Stefan participate?”
“He gets the perfect child out of it. My bet is they’ll have a wedding and the child will be ‘conceived’ during their wedding night. This would look good for him. Maybe Stefan hadn’t found the perfect woman for the plan—or Kenard wanted the children. We just don’t know.”
“Or they get married and ‘adopt’ one of the children. Adoption is a good way to solidify someone’s reputation. Then they could have more children later, and Stefan’s woman plays at being pregnant while the victim is the one actually pregnant.” I shuddered at the thought someone might try such a scheme—and that someone had murdered so many woman to do it. “How much proof do I need to acquire?”
“If they dose you with any grade of pixie dust and make a grab, your job is to survive, make sure you have your ‘prescriptions’ in your purse, and hope they actually want you alive. You’ll be tracked, and we’ll be able to see what they do to your purse, your clothes, and you. We have a backup team ready, and a helpful FBI agent wired your Corvette so I can run sirens and lights if needed.”
“You can do that?”
“When you’re issued a special permit, yes. There’s also a special radio in the car temporarily, and I’ve been taught how to monitor and use the channels if you are taken. That’ll hook me into the FBI network, and through them, the rest of law enforcement. And yes, your Corvette will be covered if it’s damaged during the operation.”
“Do you think the politician is involved?”
“No. He’d be a complete and total idiot to involve himself with a serial killer. But we’ll find out soon enough.”
“We will?”
“The instant you’re grabbed, if you’re grabbed, Federal investigators will be showing up at his door with a warrant for information on the woman and his relationship with her. If he’s smart, he’ll verify his innocence through an angel. And if he’s not? We’ll know there’s a reason why.”
“Possibly guilt—or that he was aware something was up.”
“Precisely.” Sebastian handed me his laptop. “Here’s everything we have on all three of them. If you change your initial plans, let me know so I can get word sent down the wire. With luck, this will be over within a week.”
“I’ll need you to feed me dinner. By hand. And bring me some of that catnip. I think I’m going to need it if I’m getting half my face scrubbed off tonight in the quest to feel like a goddess.”
“After the torture is over, those things do feel pretty good, don’t they?”
“We’re going to be spa-goers, Sebastian. We’re going to be going to a spa once a month, at a minimum, because we’re vain cats who need to be pampered, and I’m not sure we can afford litters of kittens and the spa lifestyle.”
“I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”
Fifteen
What a nice evening for my dirty, bloody work.
For three days, I played the perfect secretary hiding in a coffee shop, under the guise of my asshole boss not wanting anyone to see my scarred face. All three of those days, Stefan Loureni bought at least one coffee, and he made no effort to disguise his interest in me. Sebastian played the asshole boss perfectly, forcing me to play the part of a patience-worn but professional secretary stuck in a coffee shop to prevent his precious business partners and so on from witnessing the horrors of my visage.
Every night, he made up for his share of the work with attention. I didn’t understand his insistence on making up for anything.
It wasn’t his fault people flinched, and the paycheck headed my way once I finished the job would more than make up for the inconveniences the job lobbed my way.
The next day, Stefan Loureni purchased two drinks instead of one, and he came my way after a short detour to the lids, straws, and various spices. As that was outside of his usual habits, I made use of the necklace’s photography function, and at a tap of my phone’s screen, I set it up to continuously take one photo every twenty seconds until it ran out of storage space or lost connection with the CDC’s servers.
At most, it would last for twenty-four hours, although I doubted I needed that much time.
If Loureni was smart, he’d ditch my jewelry along with my purse shortly after making his move.
I texted Sebastian I had a bite, deleted the conversation in its entirety, and also removed all general evidence of my bounty hunting ways from the device. Once finished, I set the device aside and repeated the same with my laptop, doing as I’d done the entire time I’d been visiting the coffee shop, so my target would remain comfortable.