Trained To Kill (5 page)

She blinked her big green eyes at him
and said nothing, her face blank. The corner of his mouth twitched
slightly. He had no doubt she was not involved in the crimes at The
Inferno. But it was a sticky situation wanting to grab and kiss the
owner of the club he had busted. He would have to bide his time.
That was ok though, he would use that time wisely, planting the
seeds.

“
One last thing,” she said
as if she were the one that had been conducting the interview.
“Will Maggie be charged?”

“
The ADA will be
contacting both of you, all of you,” he corrected. “I haven’t been
instructed to charge her at this time. But it’s better for her and
all of you to cooperate.”

Isa nodded and thanked him, opening
the door.

Chapter 8

As soon as the door had closed, Isa’s
housekeeper, Renée, came out of the kitchen. Fanning herself with a
hand towel, she mimicked get her finger burned on something
sizzling. Isa laughed derisively and shook her head. “Renée, he’s a
cop who busted up The Inferno and thinks Ben may have had something
to do with it.”

“
That just makes it more
exciting,” Renée said. At Isa’s look, she held up her hands in
surrender and went back to her work. “We all have hormones child,”
Renée said from the relative safety of the kitchen.

“
If you don’t drop it,
I’ll pull your hormones out of your skin and make you eat them,”
Isa warned.

Renée just laughed. Isa never could
intimidate the older woman. Not even when she had put her boot up
the ass of Renée’s shithead ex-husband seconds after he backhanded
Renée across the room of their bar in New Orleans.

Isa had shown him what a true back
hand could do to the cartilage of a nose. Renée had simply looked
at her and sighed, “That’s no way for a young lady to behave, but
thank you.”

Isa had been dumbfounded by the
reprimand and the thanks. After that Renée had needed somewhere to
get away from him, so Isa had suggested moving with her to New York
to take care of her home. It did her good to have a little reminder
of home.

Renée was Cajun, the blood and soul of
New Orleans. Isa missed it a little, but as much as she was
thinking about leaving New York, she wouldn’t go back
there.

She did things on her own time at her
own pace. But the people around here always seemed to want
something faster which was why Isa didn’t interact with people if
she could help it.

Ben was a friend, her only friend
besides Renée. But she was perfectly fine with not having seen him
and only speaking a handful of times over the past five months on
her travels.

She had altered the records of her
travels and her emails only slightly for the Sergeant. She wasn’t
stupid enough to leave a paper trail in the first place but caution
never hurt.

She wandered back over to the glass
wall and picked up her coffee. Staring into it, she thought it
looked like the color of his eyes.

She was used to men’s attention good
and bad. She knew the Sergeant was interested. He wouldn’t push it,
not yet, not with the case open.

Isa wasn’t a relationship kind of
girl. She had never had one in fact. She hadn’t had time for that.
Her stepfather had seen to that when she was growing up.
Then…after…she’d been too busy planning her vengeance.

What had Isa frowning into her coffee
though was the fact that Alex, he said to call him Alex, made her
want to find out what it would be like with him. For some odd
reason she pictured herself on the couch in the front of the
fireplace with him, her feet up on his lap laughing,
flirting.

Where had that come from? She shook
her head in confusion. She was getting sick of herself. She hated
sentimental sloppy crap. She needed to get a hold of
herself.

Maybe talking to him again would work
it out of her system. He would inevitably say something or do
something to get on her nerves and she would forget about
him.

But first she needed to find Sergeant
Brown Eye’s (stop thinking about his eyes!) second inside man. If
he was looking at Ben he wouldn’t find the real one and it would
take that much longer.

Isa shut herself in her office as she
was prone to do and, calling up her list of employees, began to
study. She started alphabetically and began picking away at their
lives through electronic records.

It was amazing to her how much people
lived in wires and plugs and computer chips. She ran data, hacking
into private financial records like she was checking
emails.

She had no remorse, no twinge of
regret that this was what her purpose in life had become. She began
to tire after the L’s. There weren’t that many names but it took
time, looking, interpreting, guessing.

Who would need the money from someone
like Malone? Was it Jerry Lance with his credit card debt? John
Matthews with his kid’s medical bills?

She made a mental list of the ones to
look at deeper. She never left a trail, electronic or paper. Her
trainers had taught her how to compartmentalize her thoughts so
that she would remember. Almost like a photographic memory. Too bad
she hadn’t been born with that innate talent. It had taken her not
inconsiderable skills to master that technique.

She rotated her neck and stretched her
arms up and over her head. The tray Renée had brought in had sat
untouched. Now she was starving. She scarfed down the sandwich and
chased it with water.

She really needed a workout and she
should talk to Ben. Two birds, she thought. Ben would be at the
Dojo this time of day. She changed into workout gear and
shoes.

Ben would be a good sparring partner.
He was the only one at the Dojo that could keep up with her. He had
still never been able to take her down. But then no one had yet,
except of course her old martial arts instructor.

Master Yukimura was back in Japan now,
she remembered, with a mental bow. He had been a mean, old bastard
she remembered thoughtfully, teaching old-school martial arts. Isa
remembered running miles with buckets of water over her shoulders
and being forced to stay in hand stand for an hour if she spilled a
single drop of water. She didn’t miss him much.

Calling out to Renée, she ran out the
door and took the elevator to the garage. She climbed into her
Mustang and gunned it to the Dojo. Luckily it wasn’t far because it
was freakin’ freezing.

She ran into the Dojo letting the door
slam behind her and pulled off her outer gear. She stood for a
minute taking it in.

She hadn’t been here since she had
left for London.

Walking over to the mat, she watched
Ben sparring with another man. It didn’t last long, Ben had him
down in a few seconds, but he got back up and started instructing
the man on his moves.

She watched for a minute thinking back
to when she had first met Ben and decided to open the Dojo with him
and then The Inferno. He was her business partner, although she was
a silent partner. He was her friend.

Ben had been there for her when no one
else had; dragging her up out of her despair long enough to make
something resembling a life.

With his red hair and blonde eyebrows
she often compared him to a leprechaun to make him mad. Ben had a
lovely girlfriend named Violet that she had yet to meet. They were
living together in the Bronx.

Ben and the man wrapped up their match
and Isa made her presence known. Ben smiled when he saw her, well
his version of smile, which was a bare twitching of his lips, it
was more in his eyes.

“
Hey Ben,” Isa said with a
smile. “You got any left?”

“
For you?” Ben asked.
“Always. I’ve been practicing since you’ve been gone just to kick
your ass.” He said, dead serious.

“
Alright, let’s see what
you got,” Isa said walking to the center of the mat after chucking
her shoes. They faced each other and bowed.

Twenty minutes later Ben was flat on
his back for the final time trying to relearn how to breathe. They
had a small audience now and a collective groan sounded in sympathy
when Ben landed.

He tapped the foot she had resting on
his chest in surrender and she took it off him offering a hand to
help him up. He held up a finger to give him a minute. She slapped
it away.

“
Quit being a baby,” and
hauled him up.

“
How do you do that?” Ben
asked leaning over his side.

“
Well,” Isa explained.
“First you must master your emotions, two practice good hygiene,
and C take off your high heels and tiara.”

Ben scowled in her direction and
grabbed a towel. He sat down heavily on the bench against the wall.
Isa joined him, passing the men that were looking at her with a
kind of awe reserved for Generals on horseback or space aliens. She
ignored them and sat beside Ben drinking her water.

“
So,” she
began.

“
So.”

Ben had never been very
loquacious.

“
The police are
investigating all of us,” Isa told him. “Maggie told you all of
what she did?”

Ben nodded again. Closing his eyes and
letting out a big sigh.

“
So to the police’s way of
thinking, where there’s one there’s more.”

“
Do they think it’s me, is
that why you’re here?” He didn’t sound insulted or concerned, just
curious.

“
Partly,” she said. “But I
wanted to see you too. I have been gone for awhile
remember?”

“
Right.” He said shaking
his head slightly. “Glad to back?”

“
Ecstatic,” she said
sarcastically.

Ben laughed a bit. They said their
goodbyes, Isa promising Ben to set up a meeting with her lawyer.
She went out, her thoughts lost on her next task.

Chapter 9

From his view through the window, Alex
watched as Isa took Axworthy to the mat in a perfect throw. He was
impressed. Where the hell had she learned that, he wondered. He had
never been more attracted to someone in his life. He should
probably think about that later, but for now he stepped back from
the window and walked back to his car waiting for Isa to come
out.

He ran the engine every now and then
to heat the car up. Isa walked out, well ran out, about 10 minutes
later. Alex slammed out of his car and ran to the Dojo, the wind
was fierce.

It was a small space in an older
building, but it had a good feel to it. He liked it immediately
wondering about joining up after this case was done and how the
pair of them would react.

Alex took in the details as he walked.
The floors were a shiny blonde wood with mirrors on one wall. It
had simple machines and training devices for a few different kinds
of martial arts lignin the walls, and there were two large areas
with giant blue mats for sparring. The locker rooms were in the
back and the office was next to them.

He stepped to the door and rapped on
the doorjamb of the open office.

Ben turned around. “Can I help
you?”

“
Let’s hope so. Sergeant
Alexander Jackson,” Alex said pulling out his badge and holding it
up. Ben glanced at it briefly.

“
You’re the one from The
Inferno. I recognize you.”

“
Yes, I was undercover
investigating illegal activities.”

“
Right,” Ben said. “What
can I do for you?” He asked gesturing for Alex to take a
seat.

“
Were you involved in the
illegal activities going on at The Inferno?” Alex waded right in;
he knew trying to dodge and cajole him was a waste of
time.

“
No, I wasn’t.”

“
Were you aware of any
illegal activities?”

“
No, I wasn’t.”

“
Were you aware of any
problems with your staff, your inventory, your profits?”

Ben sat back a little thinking.
Thinking of what he should say without a lawyer?

“
Not exactly,” Ben finally
said. “I had a thought a few weeks ago that I needed to talk to
Maggie but I never got around to it.”

“
Talk to her about
what?”

“
There had been some
complaints to the bartenders about private rooms being used that
were reserved for a more upscale clientele.”

“
You never asked
her?”

“
No, I haven’t had the
time. It’s too late now in any case.”

“
Is that all?”

“
All I can think
of.”

“
Alright,” Alex dug out a
business card and handed it over. “If you think of anything else,
call me. Thank you for your time. The Department will be in touch
with you regarding your property.” With that, Alex left.

He climbed into his car and cranked
the engine letting the heat soak in for a minute, thinking about
his next move. He got the car rolling driving mindlessly as he
tended to do when he was lost in thought. He wondered about what he
wanted to do career wise.