Black and Blue (Otherworld Assassin 2)

“John was kept, not sold,” Evie said. As a sex slave? The same fate he probably would have endured anyway. Oh, John. Don’t give up hope. We’re coming for you. “But where?”

Blue gripped the arms of the chair in an obvious bid to control his rising anger. “I will find him. Find them both.”

“We’ll go to Solo’s farm,” she suggested, “and chat up the girl. Maybe she knows more than she told Michael, maybe she doesn’t. I was always good at interrogation.” If good was the new word for mediocre. For some reason, people did not respond well to her. No matter how much force she used. “I’ll take a crack at her.”

He rested his elbows on his knees and dipped his head. She knew he was hurting deep, deep inside and knew he’d hoped to learn John and Solo were okay. She wanted to go to him and put her arms around him, to assure him everything would be all right.

The desire confused her. Yearning for his kisses she understood. Offering comfort? Not so much.

“I would stake my life on the fact that Vika was not involved,” Michael said.

“Would you stake John’s?” Evie asked.

A confident nod. “Trust me, this is all Gregory Star’s doing.”

Blue stiffened. “There’s no room for error in this. Doesn’t it strike you as odd that there’s so much evidence pointing to him, yet he’s been so careful to hide his tracks in the past?” He paused to ponder, as if the thoughts were only now coming to him. “This could be a setup, or a misdirection. We—”

“No setup, no misdirection. I saw him there, at the house,” Michael said. “I woke up, and saw all three of you on the ground, motionless. I fought my way free of the debris and stumbled toward you. Then I heard voices and wasn’t sure if they belonged to friend or foe. I hid under the rubble, intending to find out and strike if necessary—I still had a gun on me—and got a look at Star and another male, but passed out before I could do anything about it.”

A gleam of determination and hate darkened Blue’s eyes. “Okay, then.”

Definite target in sight now.

“He’s gotten cocky, I guess,” Michael said. “He messed up. It happens.”

Yes, it did.

“What was his motive?” Blue asked.

“That,” Michael replied, “I’m not sure about.”

“Why don’t we snatch Mr. Star, torture him for answers, and then kill him?” Evie suggested.

“Snatching him will be a problem,” Michael said. “He’s too well guarded. And if we failed and he retaliated . . . No, we’ll have better luck with stealth.”

She could do stealth. “He has two kids. Tyson and Tiffany. We can abduct one or both and offer a trade.” That was stealth, right?

Michael shook his head. “I’ve done business with him. He isn’t the type to cave to demands, even to save the lives of his children. He’s the kind to hurt John to prove a point.”

Blue lifted his head, his determination undaunted. “Do you have eyes and ears on him?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Michael said with a sigh. “That’s why I need you to go public, Blue. I have a plan.”

“Wait,” Evie said.

Michael held up one hand for silence. “I don’t think Star knows you work for me, Blue,” he continued. “I’ve taken down several of his guards in the past few days, and your name has never been mentioned. If I’m wrong, and he does, you’ll find out pretty quick.”

Meaning, he would be bait. “Are you sure that’s the wisest course of action?”

“Yes,” Blue said. “And I’m fine with that.”

“Well, I don’t agree,” she replied.

He shrugged his wide shoulders. “I’m still going to do it.”

“Michael,” she said.

“Danger is part of the business,” her father said. Supporting his boy. As always. Gaze on Blue, he added, “As soon as the world knows you’re in town, arrange an accidental meeting with the daughter. Star no longer goes out in public. He stays in his country estate, always surrounded by armed men, both human and otherworlder. Tiffany might be your ticket to a face-to-face with Daddy dearest.”

Blue nodded. “Consider it done.”

“Before we go that route,” Evie said, unsure why her body was now so tense, “we should break into that country estate and have a look around, plant a few bugs. We can get in and out without anyone realizing. B and E isn’t the same as trying to haul a body out, yeah.”

Her father met her stare, nodded. “All right. Break in. Snatch Star if you’ve got a green light. But don’t you dare get caught. Afterward, if Star isn’t in custody, you’ll move forward with my plan.”

A concession. She took it gratefully. “What about you?”

“I can’t go public yet. I’m not strong enough to defend myself from a full-on attack.”

“We can protect—”

“No,” he said, cutting her off. “I have something else in mind. I want you to take over Black Industries, sunbeam. That way you can set up a preseason exhibition game between the Invaders and Strikers to honor my precious memory. And that way you have a legitimate reason to contact Tyson Star to rent out the roof of the Star Light Hotel for a victory celebration.”

“I don’t know about that,” Blue spoke up. “I’ll have the Star kids covered with Tiffany.”

The competitive spirit she’d once hated peeked from the shadows, and Evie smirked at him. “Two is better than one.”

“No,” Blue said again, with more force this time.

“Yee-ess,” she replied in a singsong.

Michael looked from one to the other and frowned. “It’s your turn now. How did you two hook up?”

Hook up. A poor choice of words. Her cheeks flamed.

Blue gave nothing away. “After the explosion, Evie was the only person I could trust,” he said, his tone just as bland. “I snuck into her house and she patched me up. It was as simple as that.”

Smiling, Michael reached out to ruffle her hair, just as she’d always wanted him to do to her when she was a child. “Thank you for taking care of my boy.”

His boy.

And there was the jealousy she used to feel, a companion to the competitiveness; she tamped down both. Michael loved his “boys,” yes, but that didn’t preclude his loving Evie, too.