Jack insisted on driving them back to Ma.r.s.eille because she couldn't wait a second longer than necessary to be reunited with * 363 *

Ca.s.s. The paramedic had tried to rea.s.sure her that Ca.s.sady would fully recover, but she'd looked so weak and frail Jack had to be with her to be certain. Chase didn't protest as she zipped between cars with the accelerator to the floor, and they were back at the hotel in record time.

"They're in 305," Chase told her as they scaled the steps to the lobby. She handed Jack the duffel with Dario's money. "Go ahead.

I'll check us out."

"Are you flying back tonight?" Jack asked.

"I'm sure Heather can't wait to see her brother."

"And I bet you can't wait to see her."

"I won't bet against that." Chase grinned. "What are your plans?"

"I'm taking Ca.s.s back to Colorado to her place."

"And you?"

"I'm moving in and not letting her out of my sight."

"That's not going to be easy with her job," Chase said.

"Yeah, I know. But we'll figure it out."

"Are you coming back to the organization?" Jack stared at her, mouth agape. "You're kidding, right?"

"I didn't think so. I'm sure Pierce wants you back, especially after this job. You really were born for this."

"Maybe I was," Jack replied. "But I can tell you what I wasn't born for. Someone controlling my life."

"It doesn't have to be that way. You could arrange something with him. With all due respect, you're too good an op to spend your life counseling runaways. Plenty of other people out there can do that, but only one can get any job done by any means necessary." Jack knew that much was true, and that if she had to spend the rest of her life counseling she'd go stir-crazy. Could she really stick to counseling until Ca.s.s got out of the organization so they could retire to her dream house on the beach? Would she eventually come to envy Ca.s.s for going on a job? She didn't have those answers right now. "I'll see you upstairs." She rode the elevator to the third floor and knocked on 305.

* 364 *

"Come in," someone responded, but it wasn't Heather, as she expected, but Dario.

Alarmed, Jack opened the door and found Dario, uncuffed, in his wheelchair, with a smug smile. When she looked around and didn't see Heather, she pulled her gun. "Where's Heather?"

"Where is my money?"

Jack dropped the duffel on the floor at her feet. "Where is she?" she repeated.

A man came out of the bathroom, holding Heather roughly from behind. He had a 9mm semi-automatic pointed at her head.

"Throw your gun on the floor."

Jack saw the look of terror in Heather's eyes and dropped her Glock.

The goon pushed Heather forward. "Both of you sit on the bed." She sat next to Heather. "What's going on?"

"I wanted to make sure you kept your promise," Dario replied.

"Where's your friend?"

"Still talking with police about Rozsa's capture." She was sure Dario had been informed.

"You are with the FBI, after all."

"Yeah," she lied.

"Then why are the police not breaking down that door for me?" Dario asked placidly.

"We made a deal. You give us Rozsa, and we let you go."

"Since when does the FBI make deals?"

"All the time," she said. "Don't be naive. It's all we do." She hoped Chase would catch the conversation through the door before she walked into this. "Now take your goon and money and let us go," she said loudly.

"I don't think so," Dario replied. "You see, Heather and the two of you know too much. And frankly, although I thought you were with the FBI in the beginning, I have strong doubts now."

"And why is that?"

"Because one of my men had both your faces sent to someone who has access to a lot of information."

* 365 *

"Your sister," she said.

"And although we can't match... Brett to anything, we did find you. It would appear you have been very active."

"I don't have police records."

"No, you don't. But you have left quite an impression with others. The underworld, mainly."

"And of course you'd know them," she said.

"One hand rubs the other." Dario smiled.

"So what do you want, creep?"

He folded his hands in his lap. "We're going to wait for your friend to come back from her fake interview with the fake police, and then we're all going for a ride. And my sister thought I couldn't do this." He snickered.

Chase had her hand on the doork.n.o.b and was about to go in when she heard Jack from inside; she was telling Dario to leave with his goon and money and let them go. She pulled her Glock and quietly stuck her ear to the door. Dario said something, but she couldn't make out what it was.

She couldn't open the door because she had no idea where anyone was positioned, and she couldn't very well start shooting without knowing that. She'd only have one chance to fire before whoever was in there took someone down. Somehow, she needed to get a look inside before she took that shot.

Spotting the cleaning lady with her cart down the hall, she fished her cell from her pocket and dialed the reception desk. "I want two salads and a bottle of white wine in room 305." If Jack was quick, she'd pick up on it and say she'd ordered it on her way up.

Room service arrived ten minutes later. Chase hid her gun behind her back when the young man approached with his tray. "Go ahead," she said, and stepped aside.

He knocked on the door.

"Who's there?" Dario asked loudly.

* 366 *

In a low voice, Chase told the delivery boy, "Tell him, Ms.

Jack's order."

He nodded and called out, "Room service. Ms. Jack ordered dinner."

"She changed her mind."

Chase told the young man, "Say, 'I'm sorry, but you still have to sign for the bill. It'll get charged anyway.'" He repeated exactly that, with enthusiasm. He seemed to be enjoying the game.

"Go away," Dario hollered.

"I will call my superior if you do not sign, sir," she instructed next, and the teenager repeated that as well.

She heard whispers and commotion inside the room, and Dario finally spoke again. "Just a moment."

The door opened a crack, and she saw Jack's hand stick out.

"Let me sign," she said.

Chase took the bill before the delivery boy had a chance to give it to her. She shooed him away and wrote, Where is he?

Jack took the bill and her hand disappeared inside. When she thrust it back through the door a few seconds later, she held it so Chase could immediately read to your right.

Chase crouched, pushed the door open, and, without hesitation, shot the goon under the chin.

Jack put her arm around Heather, who instinctively screamed.

"It's all right," Jack rea.s.sured her. "He's dead." Chase ran to Heather and pulled her up. "Thank G.o.d you're okay.""Call your sister," Jack told Dario.

"What?" Dario had a glazed expression, as though he couldn't register what had just happened.

"Call your sister," Jack repeated more forcefully, "or I'll f.u.c.king kill you."

"Why?"

"Because I want to tell her something."

"No." Dario tried to regain his composure, but he was obviously shaken. He'd gone white, and his hand trembled slightly.

* 367 *

Jack c.o.c.ked her gun.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Chase didn't like the look in Jack's eyes. She wasn't playing.

"Now." Jack pressed the Glock against his head.

Dario fumbled for his cell and dialed. When he hit the last digit, Jack grabbed the cell from his hand.

"Hi, b.i.t.c.h," Jack said, her voice oozing menace. "I want to introduce myself, since you seem to know a lot about me. My name is Jack." She paused to look at Dario for a moment before she shot him between the eyes. "And I just killed your f.u.c.king brother." Two feet away from Jack, Chase could hear Dario's sister scream something in reply, but she couldn't make out what it was.

"Not if I find you first, b.i.t.c.h," Jack said, and hung up.

* 368 *

ChaPter Forty.

The coroner's office removed the bodies of Dario and his goon while the French police tried to question Chase, Jack, and Heather about the shootings. Since they couldn't reveal much about themselves and their mission to the local cops, Chase contacted Interpol again to get the matter resolved quickly. Interpol had a direct line to Montgomery Pierce, so within an hour, the French police were ordered off the case and told to return Chase's and Jack's guns.

They all went back to Jack's room so she could retrieve her bag and head to the hospital, but as they were going in, Chase's cell rang with a call from headquarters.

She answered with her identification number, then immediately held out the phone to Jack.

Jack wasn't surprised that Pierce wanted to talk to her, since Interpol had filled him in on everything that had happened. She hated to defend herself to anyone, especially him, but considering the circ.u.mstances, she didn't have a choice.

"Was it really necessary to kill Dario?" Pierce asked.

"Yeah, it was necessary," she said, irritated. "He threatened both Heather and me with our lives."

"I understand he wasn't holding a gun."

"He planned to have his man do it,"

"Chase had eliminated him," Pierce pointed out.

* 369 *

"Why are you so uptight about the world being an organ trader down?" she asked angrily.