I nodded and tossed Bernie down. Went over to Raul and punched him, hard, in the gut. He doubled over. "Guess what, a.s.shole? I'm not going to give you that chance. You can tell us what we want to know and maybe we'll turn you over to the proper authorities, which would give you a fighting chance to get free, wouldn't it? Of course, not turning you over to the authorities and just taking our frustrations out on you is also appealing."

Chuckie put his hand on my shoulder. "There's an easier way. Much easier."

"Oh, tell me you have truth serum here!"

"We do." Reader was tapping a hypodermic. "Who do you want to hit first."

"Shoot up Bernie over there. I hate her a lot."

"All I did was offer your children some candy," she said peevishly. "Which you didn't let them take."

Go Other Me, for not trusting strangers with candy. She was, apparently, smarter than me in a whole variety of ways. "Yeah? You did that so you could get up close and kill us very personally on a 'play date.' I'm really against that kind of c.r.a.p, Bernie."

Bernie looked surprised, presumably that I knew her game plan. But she also looked a trifle smug. The thought occurred that she may have been trying to do to these kids exactly what she'd wanted to do with my Jamie-to kidnap them, not kill them.

Moved to where I could see all their expressions. "So," I asked casually, "why did you decide to change from kidnapping the kids to killing them?"

Bernie's eyes opened a bit wider and Lopez jerked just a little, but that was confirmation as far as I was concerned. But none of them spoke.

"Time for the Sodium Pentothal," Buchanan said.

Raul sneered. "That won't work on us." Sanchez nodded and added his sneer to Raul's. But Bernie didn't look nearly as convinced, and neither did Lopez.

"You have a lot of that?" I asked Reader. He nodded. Took the syringe from him and put it at Raul's neck.

"Don't!" Bernie shouted. "You could kill him or paralyze him if you don't know what you're doing!"

"Ah, now there's the thing, isn't it? Do I know what I'm doing? I'm getting seriously p.i.s.sed at the delay . . . I promise you, I can indeed ram this into your husband hard enough to kill him. And I don't want to bother untying him to find an arm vein. So . . . what's it going to be?"

"We work for the Corporation," Bernie said.

I pressed the needle against Raul's skin. "He twitches, this probably goes in. No freaking duh, Bernie. We know you're a.s.sa.s.sins for the Cuban Mob. What we don't know is who, exactly and precisely, told you to go kill us. Or why. We want to know both. There are four of you. If I screw up shooting the truth serum into Raul's neck, I can just try again with you. And then your other boys here."

"So," Buchanan said, falling nicely into the role of Badder Cop, "I guess the question is, who wants to die first? Or last?"

"You'll just kill us?" Lopez asked.

"Sure. You're a.s.sa.s.sins. If you're not going to tell us what's going on, then you're not going to tell the F.B.I. or the C.I.A. or anyone else what's going on. Meaning you have absolutely no value to us as people to hand over to our superiors."

"And the Corporation isn't going to want you back badly enough to make a deal with us," Reader added, sounding a little regretful. Was pretty sure it was faked-he was trying to be Good Cop, after all. "And what we want they won't give us anyway."

"So what?" Raul asked through gritted teeth. "You're just going to kill us anyway. Why should we make it easy for you?"

Of course, this was the issue. I knew without asking that Buchanan would kill all four of them if he was allowed to. For all I knew, Chuckie and Reader would, too. Frankly, so would I-I, more than the three men, really knew what these a.s.sa.s.sins were capable of.

Chuckie took the needle from me and grabbed Raul's arm. "Good point. You're the one in charge." And with that he slammed the needle into Raul's neck.

CHAPTER 28.

RAUL JERKED, went rigid, and Chuckie dropped him to the floor, so that Raul was facing away from the others. Bernie screamed and Lopez jerked, big time. Sanchez kept his cool, but I could see him sweating.

Because I was enhanced, I could see things that were faster than the normal human eye could catch. Which was how I'd seen Chuckie switch the syringe with one that seemed like a prop-as far as I could tell, the needle didn't penetrate. However, Chuckie had squeezed a pressure point on Raul's arm at the same time he slammed the needle onto another pressure point in Raul's neck. Raul was still alive, but he was knocked out and temporarily paralyzed.

This wouldn't last long, but it didn't have to. Buchanan and Reader lifted Raul's deadweight and moved him into the wine cellar. I heard what sounded like something ripping and a.s.sumed they'd found some duct tape and were ensuring that Raul wouldn't be able to share when he woke up.

"Who's next?" Chuckie asked.

"The Corporation isn't run out of Cuba anymore," Lopez said, sounding freaked out. Clearly he was the rookie in the group. Good. "We're run by an American politician."

"Shut up," Sanchez snarled.

Reader came back in. "I say we burn the bodies. Less mess and no one's going to be looking for them anyway."

Lopez went pale. "Look, I don't wanna die. You let me cut a deal, I'll tell you everything."

"You'll tell us everything now," Chuckie said, "and then we'll decide if your information is worth us calling up our superiors."

"Some of your superiors are dead, just as ours are," Sanchez said.

I had him by the throat and up in the air in less than a second. Unlike Bernie, who was about my size, he was built more like Christopher. Did not matter. I had him up and off the floor. "Now I'm seriously p.i.s.sed. Are you saying that you're the ones who killed my mother?" My voice was a growl, not even on purpose.

"No," Bernie said, sounding freaked out. "No, we didn't. We wouldn't-"

Shut her up with an excellent side blade kick to her head. While still holding Sanchez off the floor. Well, at least this awesome move had witnesses. Not the ones that mattered, because Christopher would never believe it and Jeff probably wouldn't, either, but still, I had someone around to impress.

Not that I cared about that so much. What I cared about was getting some answers before I got so angry I ripped someone's throat out.

"One more chance," I growled at Sanchez. "And then you join your buddy Raul in the deader pile and I see how good old Julio here likes talking."

"I'll talk," Sanchez choked out. "Just put me down. Please."

"Wow, they teach the magic word in a.s.sa.s.sins school? I'm impressed." Put him down, not nicely at all. "Spill it."

He nodded. "When Seor Battle went to prison, control of the Corporation moved."

"Jose Miguel Battle, Sr.," Chuckie said quietly to me. "He worked with the C.I.A. originally during the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and then he became the G.o.dfather of the Cuban Mob."

"Fantastic. So, who did ownership pa.s.s to?"

Sanchez shook his head. "Doesn't matter. He was killed and then the next ones after him. Turf wars, you know how it is."

"Yeah. I'd still like names."

"I don't know the name of Seor Battle's first head man. But the one who took over was what Julio told you-an American politician from Florida."

Had a funny feeling. "And his name?"

"Leventhal Reid."

Managed not to totally freak out, though it took effort. "So, did you kill my mother on his order?"

"No. We didn't kill your mother. His right-hand man did that, in retribution for her shooting Reid. He's the one who hired us. He wanted everyone who ever worked with Angela Katt wiped off the face of the Earth. But he wanted her family to die last."

"Why?" Reader asked.

Sanchez shrugged. "So he could enjoy it, I guess."

"The government thinks the Corporation is basically shut down," Chuckie said, voice tight. "Angela didn't believe it. We were investigating them, and had proof that Reid was involved, but we didn't know he was the man in charge."

"So who is this 'he,' Reid's right-hand man?"

Sanchez didn't look willing to share.

"Look, you give us a name, one that we can believe, or else this is all BS and you've just tossed out the name of a dead politician to try to fool us." Put my hand on Sanchez's throat again. "And if that's the case . . ."

"We're not allowed to know his name," Sanchez said. "Or see his face. He wears a mask when he gives orders."

"Oh my G.o.d, pull the other one." My hand tightened on his throat.

"It's true!" Lopez said. "He's loco, scary loco, but we don't get to see him."

"I don't buy it. You don't run an entire criminal organization wearing a mask as if it's Halloween every day. I mean, sure, they do that in the comics, but in real life?"

"He wears a mask," Sanchez insisted. "No one sees him."

"Someone does," Chuckie said. "Who?"

"His woman," Lopez said with a nervous giggle. "She sees him."

"And what's her name?" I asked, hoping it wouldn't be the name I was expecting and dreading at the same time.

Sanchez smirked. "Bernice."

I tightened my hold on his throat. "You get to go bye-bye now, Mister Liar." He struggled but I was stronger. Besides, Chuckie wasn't the only one who knew how to knock someone out. Sanchez pa.s.sed out and I tossed him toward Reader and therefore away from Lopez, who was looking freaked out.

"That's two down," I said as Reader dragged Sanchez off to be with Raul. "Let me be clear. I know that Raul was not the head man of the Corporation. I also know that you were trying to follow good old Luis' lead and try to lie to us." Put my hand on his throat. "Do you really want to see if I'm strong enough to strangle you while I have you up in the air? I am, by the way. But if you're, heh, dying to find out . . ."

"No," he choked out. "I don't want to die. I just don't want any of them to be able to say that I was the hutia."

"The what?"

"Big Cuban rat," Chuckie supplied. "Okay, fine, your only other witness is unconscious. Who's the man supposedly in the mask?"

"Not supposedly. Luis wasn't lying. He wears a mask, so no one can identify him. I think they're loco, both of them, but they're in charge. They have plans." He shuddered. "Killing people for a reason, that I understand. Killing babies for revenge? That's wrong."

"Oh, so good to know you have a moral standard. I note it didn't stop you from trying today, however. Tell us about his woman."

"I don't know her real name. She's tall and blonde. Everyone calls her Seora de Muerte. But, really, they both wear masks. Just the kind that cover half the face, not like Halloween. But enough so they're hard to identify."

Got a very bad feeling. I was far better with French than Spanish, but Lady of Death was a pretty close matchup to LaRue Demorte, languages-wise. "What's he look like? He's American, right?"

Lopez nodded. "Tall, built like him," he jerked his head toward Chuckie. "Dresses well, they both do. But nothing that stands out."

"And the dude's name? The new Head of the Corporation? What does he call himself?"

"Papa Patrn." Lopez shrugged. "I know, it's a stupid name."

The bad feeling cemented itself. Because this was easy to translate. "Father Boss."

CHAPTER 29.

CHUCKIE PULLED ME ASIDE. "You just went pale," he said quietly. "What did that ridiculous name mean to you?"

"It's a really long story, but the easiest explanation is that, in my world, we have a Sith Lord active. We call him the Mastermind. He's the third generation of Sith, by the way. For us, the first Sith was an alien, named Ronald Yates. But his apprentice and the second Sith Lord was Leventhal Reid."

"So that creep was in your world, too?"

"Creep would be the nicest thing I could say about him. He remains the most terrifying person I've ever dealt with. Jeff was only able to save me from him by about a second, and even then, even after Jeff killed him, Reid found a way to come back."

"What? Is your head hurting or something?"

"No. In our world, Herbert Gaultier and Antony Marling, among others, were able to create legitimate clones and androids. We're still finding out what else they created and who else is continuing on their sick and twisted work."

Chuckie jerked. "Who did you say?"

"Antony Marling and Herbert Gaultier."

"There's no way, Kitty. Herbert Gaultier is a successful businessman, yes, but he's focused on saving people and the planet. Very focused. Herbert and Solange keep in touch with us, even though you cut Amy out when we got married. He's a humanitarian, focused on curing cancer among other things. True, I think Marling's a quack, but he's considered the top doctor in the world for autistic children."

"Really? They're good guys?"

"Yes. Very much so."