Assassin Affairs (46 page)

“I'd like
that. Oh my God, I might have a kid, Samantha!”

“How do you
feel about that, sir?” asked Jess.

“You
mentioned 'black-ops, sort of'; perhaps a chip off the old block.
Care to elaborate, Jessica? And please call me Dex, not Mr. Douglas
or sir.”

“She has your
eyes, honey,” observed his wife.

“Suffice it
to say we knew Pepper,” said Jessie.

Sam began to feel
more uncomfortable with their new friends and whispered, “So
you knew the just-assassinated Vice President, you're sort of
black-ops, secrecy of your whereabouts is paramount, and you know
both my names. This is not a warm and fuzzy scenario.”

“I admit it's
not the best of timing. Perhaps we should come back another day,”
said Jessica, standing up to leave. “When I recently found out
about this possible connection, I became obsessed with learning the
truth. Maybe now isn't the time.”

“I can
understand that,” said Dex. “Now is good.”

Samantha looked
over at Renée. “And why do I feel a sense of familiarity
with you, too? What's your name?”

“Renée.”

“Are you
ashamed of your last name?”

“I never use
it.”

“Make an
exception,” Sam requested.

“McGillicuddy.”

Samantha leaned
closer, examining her facial features.

“What?”
asked Renée, not appreciating the violation of her personal
space.

“That's it,
that's why you look familiar! You're Sandy's kid, aren't you?”

Renée's
mouth dropped open in shock. “You know my dad?!”

“He was one
of my mentors twenty years ago when I first started with the company,
and then we lost touch. I owe him a lot.”

Jessie spent an
hour bringing Sam and Dex up to date on her life, minus the
incriminating details. She told them the horrors of the kidnapping,
about the rescue of Kacey, about how she had rescued teammates in
Thailand by flying them out in a chopper, and then embellished on
some of the other tales. Sam shared some stories of working with
Renée's dad.

“We're going
now,” said Jessie as she pulled out two baggies, each
containing a cotton swab. “We'd both love to stay, but it's
too risky for everybody.” She swabbed her mouth for DNA, then
had Dex do likewise. Each kept the other's swab for independent
tests.

“How can I
contact you?” asked Dex.

“You can't.
If these results come back as a match, may I contact you again?”
Jess asked.

“You'd
better! I'd like to hear from you regardless, Jessica. Here, I'm
writing down both of our cell numbers for you.”

A moment later they
were gone. Dex looked at Sam and said, “Someday I'd love to
hear all the parts she left out.”

Renée and
her dad had established a clandestine method of communicating.
Anytime he found even the hint of new information on the Ruling
Council, he passed it along. She let him know of her contact with
Samantha. He responded that he remembered her as a friend and felt
that she could be trusted. He also added an update on the one member
of the council that he had been tracking. He finally had an address.

“Jessie, my
dad's found the location of that council member! He goes by the code
name 'Samson' and he lives outside Los Angeles.”

“Cool, let's
go get him. Maybe we could stop by and pay Joanna and Danny a visit
since we'll be in the neighborhood.”

“Business
first, pleasure second, kid.” They caught the next flight out
to L.A.

“Geez, Renée,
are you sure we've got the right place?” Both had been
expecting to find Samson living in a palatial estate. What they found
was a modest rural home.

“No, this
can't be right. This is like finding that the great, mysterious
wizard behind the curtain is really not what he seems.”

“Yeah, or
like that multibillionaire who lives in a humble home in the boonies.
Life is full of surprises. That's what keeps it interesting, I
guess,” said Jessie. “Maybe it's a trap. Maybe we should
surveil it for a couple of days.”

“And maybe
we'd lose the element of surprise in the meantime, or maybe he'd
score a hit on one of our family members. Let's make our move.”

“Maybe they
don't even know who we are. Pepper always kept us off-book, played
everything pretty close to the vest, on a need-to-know basis.”

“She had the
sisters in her office regularly. Karlee and Kristie were pretty
famous at one time, so easy to track. They could find their parents.
Plus, when Pepper froze all our assets while in Thailand, there'd be
a paper trail there, Jess.”

Renée made
her move, Jessie followed. A moment later they were inside the house,
catching Samson off-guard. He was home alone and had been preoccupied
with a project on the laptop.

“Put your
hands where we can see them!” shouted one of them.

Startled, Samson
fumbled for the desk drawer, pulled out a pistol and prepared to
fire. Before he could get off a shot, both assassins double-tapped a
few rounds into his chest and he slumped over.

“Damn, I wish
he wouldn't have done that. I wanted to ask him a bunch of
questions,” said Renée.

“Things are
rarely that easy in this business. Let's see what we can find on his
laptop. Maybe there's a Delilah.”

Renée
pushed his body aside and got comfortable in his chair. “Look
at this, Jess! He was working on his banking page.”

“Holy smokes.
There's a billion dollars in this account! Why was he living like
this? And with no security?!”

“When someone
is poor and dumb, they're called stupid. When wealthy and dumb, it's
called eccentric. He was eccentric, hon. When I was working for Uncle
Chip, he had me set-up an offshore bank account. I thought it was a
silly idea at the time, but it came in handy when Pepper froze our
U.S. assets and when I was living off-the-grid in the South Pacific.
It's gonna come in really handy right now, Jessie!”

“What do you
mean?”

“I've
memorized my bank routing and account numbers. Let's try a little
experiment and see what happens.”

Renée
clicked on a few links, typed in some information, and clicked send.

“Holy shit,
Jessica! A billion dollars just disappeared from his account. I hope
it goes through. Being offshore, it'll take a while to show up in my
bank if it works.”

“Hey, don't
forget about your loyal and faithful partner!”

“Let's see
what else is on here,” said Renée as she excitedly
searched Samson's electronic files. “There are more bank
accounts! It looks like we'll need the passwords for them. There are
numerous emails from his associates. We need to get our two computer
aces out here. Maybe they can find them through IP address tracking.”

“Let's just
take the laptop to them,” suggested Jess. “Is there a
Delilah on there? Who are the other council members? How many are
there?”

They spent the next
few hours exploring for information, then stumbled onto a shocker.

“He has a
file on Briana! There's a transfer of a million dollars to an account
for her! That freaking bitch is a mole for the council! There's a new
email on here from her giving their location outside Philadelphia. Oh
my God, I bet it's for a hit!”

Renée
immediately pulled out her throw-away cell phone and promptly dialed
Kacey's emergency-only cell number.

“Hello?
Renée? What's up?” Kacey asked anxiously as she went
into the bathroom for quiet and privacy.

“Are you
outside Philadelphia?” She read off the address on Samson's
laptop.

“Yes, we were
there an hour ago. We've moved on. How did you know?!”

“Oh good, I'm
glad you guys are safely out of there.” She went on to explain
how she knew, then took a few minutes to reminisce about their last
experience together in the apartment. “Kacey, I was afraid I
was going to lose you. You are very special to me. I want you to know
how much you are appreciated. Sometimes I don't put things into words
very well. I loved the way you initiated the triple tasting party
back in Colorado, and the way you had sex with your sister's husband
for me, and the way you introduced me to the pleasures of the whip.”
Renée was in a particularly good mood having just transferred
a billion dollars to her offshore account. “Is there some way I
can express my gratitude?”

“Well, it
does look like I'm about to be out one sex slave. Briana has kind of
spoiled me, so there is one thing I would like to ask of you, Renée.”

“Name it and
it's yours.”

“I want
Julie. I want to have her permanently, not just on loan. I want to
own her outright and irrevocably. The way she and I have flip-flopped
between dom and sub has been fun, but I want you to give her to me
totally so that I can have her as my full-time slave like Briana was,
and I'd like to keep baby Juliette. What do you say to that?”

“Done and
done! As of now, you own both to do with as you please. Happy,
Kacey?”

“Totally, and
so looking forward to our next session together!”

“Me too.
We're bringing this fellow's laptop to you. I want you guys to do IP
tracking and see if you can hack into his bank accounts. Meeting
place alpha.”

This was their
secret code for meet at noon tomorrow at your main metro area
library.

“Roger that,”
said Kacey. “Anything else?”

“Interrogate
Briana. Ask her about the names Samson and Delilah. See what you can
get out of her. She's got a million dollars somewhere. If your group
can find it, you can have it. Other than that, you know what has to
be done with her. Give my best to Ashley.”

As soon as they
were done with the call, Renée and Jessie packed up Samson's
laptop and left.

Meanwhile, back in
suburban Philadelphia, the group was curious.

“Why did
Renée call? What's the emergency?” asked Ashley as the
foursome sat together in a motel room with baby Juliette.

She brought them up
to date, and they moved Briana into the bathroom for an
interrogation. It was easier to clean up blood there, and would spare
the baby from the unpleasantness. They began badgering her for
information on Samson, Delilah and the money.

Kacey bitch-slapped
her hard. “Tell us what we want to know, or we'll kill the
baby!” She didn't mean it and was looking forward to inheriting
the child, but wanted to intimidate her.

Briana couldn't
help them with the names. She had been approached anonymously, but
she did reveal where she had hidden the money.

“Do one of
you guys want to have the honors, or shall I?” asked Kacey,
attaching the silencer to her Glock pistol.

Both nodded the go
ahead and looked on with mixed emotions as she fired a bullet into
Briana's head. They moved the limp body into the tub and closed the
shower curtain. As they began to pack their suitcases, Kacey shared
the other details.

“Renée
was in a surprisingly good mood today, Jules. I'm not sure why she
was, but I took advantage of it. I got her to agree to let our
relationship be permanent! You're no longer merely on loan to me.”

A delighted Julie
beamed approvingly.

“We also get
to keep Juliette.”

“How did you
pull that off, Kace? You must have really made her happy that day in
the apartment.”

“I'm not
allowed to talk about that, but I sensed a moment of vulnerability in
her voice, so I went for the brass ring and got it. I told her I want
our relationship, yours and mine, to be permanent and complete. She
has totally relinquished her ownership of you and given it to me
instead. I hope you don't mind.”

“Why would I
mind?”

“Briana
spoiled both of us. I liked having a slave, Jules.”

“Me too.”

“This dom/sub
thing we've had going has been fun, but it's over as of now, hon.”

“Why?”