I whip on a tie for the occasion. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. I walk in casually. “Why, hello,” I say. “Haven’t we met someplace?”
It’s every bit as rewarding as I imagined it would be. The color literally drains from her cheeks.
I snap my fingers. “Oh, don’t tell me, I have it—the insane asylum. You were trying to keep us from finding Kiro.”
She stands, eyes wide, as my guys crowd in. Her eyes go even wider when she sees Garrick. “What the fuck?”
“You didn’t want to do the job.” Garrick takes a few pictures. “Is this where he lived?”
“Garrick!”
“Where is he?” I ask.
She turns to me. “He’s gone. He’s not coming back.”
“Not buying it, sister.” I press the business end of my Ruger to her forehead and back her up to the cave wall.
“No need to hurt Ann,” Garrick says.
He couldn’t be more wrong. There is a great deal of need to hurt Ann. “Hands knit on your head, Ann.”
She complies, eyes wide.
My guys crowd in. They’ll have left a few in the bushes. Sharpshooters, but we want Kiro walking in alive. Walking out, not so much.
“Kiro’s not here.”
“No, but he’ll come for you. I’ve learned the Dragusha boys tend to come for their mates. I’ve learned that the hard way.”
“I’m not his mate.”
“Should we test that? Garrick, are you rolling?”
“I’m just here to get the Savage Adonis story. Ann should be kept out of this.”
I nod, and my guy puts his piece on Garrick.
I say, “The answer I was looking for, Garrick, is, ‘Yes, I’m rolling.’ You’re going to get this on film, and most of all, you’re going to get when Kiro comes through that opening. You are going to keep filming no matter what happens. We’re going to kill Kiro, and you’re going to record it.”
Garrick stiffens, looking affronted. “That’s not something I’m willing to do.”
“No? Do you want to guess what happens if you don’t get the footage I need? Do you want to take a guess on that?” I wait. Only serious footage will put the prophecy to rest once and for all. I need serious proof.
“Kiro! It’s a trap!” she calls.
One of my guys puts a light on her. Garrick apologizes to her and films.
“What the fuck, Garrick?”
“Call out to Kiro again,” I tell her.
“Fuck you,” she spits.
I slide a glance at Garrick, who’s holding his camera on her with a resigned look. He was a war correspondent. He knows how to film fucked-up things. Probably already running through his defense, too. Under duress and all that. It’ll hold up in a court of law. The legal system gives you a lot of leeway when your life is in danger.
I’ll edit myself out of it later.
“We can do this so many ways,” I say to her, backing up. “You call to him, or I kill you and guess what? He’d still come. When these brothers get emotional, they get stupid. It runs in the family.”