Deliver Us From Evil (A. Shaw 2)

She froze with her fist only a few inches from his chin. She lowered her hand. “Okay.” But her tone was one of bewilderment rather than conciliation.

Shaw seemed to sense what she was thinking. “Look, I didn’t want you to come on this thing. I just thought it was too risky. Kuchin almost got you once.”

“I volunteered. But if you didn’t want me to come, why am I here?”

“You heard Mallory. You don’t come then he goes public.”

“Oh come off it, there’s no way you believed that. He was bluffing.” She watched him closely. “But you knew that, didn’t you? You knew it was an empty threat. You just didn’t want me to get hurt.”

“People around me tend to get hurt, Reggie. Really hurt.”

“Then, again, why am I here?”

“I guess Frank took the threat seriously. He insisted that you come along.”

She eyed the plans on the table. “I won’t be dead weight, Shaw. I’ll do everything I can to be an asset.”

“I appreciate that. But—”

“You see, I don’t want you to get hurt either.”

“My safety shouldn’t be your concern.”

“But it is. I’ve got your back. Do you have mine?”

“Yes.”

“Then please understand this. If it comes down to me living or Kuchin dying, tell the monster I’ll see him in hell. Do not miss him, Shaw. Do not. Even if it means I don’t make it back. Will you promise me that?”

Shaw didn’t answer.

CHAPTER

86

THE TRUCK backed into the loading dock behind the high-rise building. Work orders were duly scanned and proper signatures obtained. The two big boxes were offloaded and placed inside the dock’s storage area. The manifest said that inside were some antiques belonging to a resident in the building who was away for the summer. The crates were to be stored and opened only when the owner returned.

A few hours later the loading dock was locked up and the supervisor and his crew left. Thirty more minutes passed before a side of one of the crates collapsed outward and Shaw emerged. Using a small focused beam light he went over to the second crate and helped Reggie out of her hiding place.

They were both dressed in black and had various pieces of equipment hanging off their belts.

“You ready to hit it?” Shaw whispered.

She nodded.

He clipped on a headset, powered it up, and said, “You there, Frank?”

“Copy that. Have your partner give us the video feed.”

Frank had flown in separately from England to set up the support they needed to break into Kuchin’s penthouse.

Shaw nodded at Reggie and she slipped a strap around her chest at the center of which was a round dial roughly three inches across with a glass lens. She flipped a switch on its side and a red light popped on.

Shaw said into the headset, “You good?”

“Roger that. Video is live. Proceed to target area.”

The elevator security was defeated by a cloned card Shaw inserted in the slot.