"Do you normally make-out with the people you're hired to kill? It doesn't strike me as very professional."
"Put the gun down," Gabriel panted, not answering her.
"Why on earth would I do that?"
"Because you're not going to shoot me," Gabriel rep...
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Ash hung up the phone silently, staring straight ahead.
He had Kyle. How did he have Kyle? He couldn't have traced the burner phone...
It didn't matter. He had Kyle and she would do whatever it took to get him back. She would sacrifice herself in a heartbeat for him. And it looked like that was what she was going to have to do.
Unless...she thought back to the Art of War, one of her favorite books growing up. To win she had to avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak.
Gabriel was strong when he was in control. Willingly going with his plan was playing to his strengths, and she would almost surely lose.
But what was his weakness? Her? No, she dismissed the thought. It wasn't that he cared for her, he was just intrigued by her and kept underestimating her. So arrogance, she thought. That was helpful actually. He would assume he had beaten her and that she would come to him willingly. He wouldn't be expecting her to strike back at him.
But she needed more than that. What else? She pulled out her laptop and connected to the hotel's wifi. Glancing at the hotel room clock, she was frustrated when she saw that it was already 1 p.m. Did she have enough time to find out who he was and what he cared about? She only had his first name. And his employer, she reminded herself. She had broken into his company's system before, but they had certainly patched the hole by now. That would mean having to find yet another way in.
Sighing, she went to work.
***
Four years ago
"Hey, I really enjoyed tonight," the guy told Ash. Ash snorted. Of course he did. They both knew she was way out of his league
They pulled up outside of her Aunt Lisa's house. Well, technically her aunt's fiancé's house. Robert Elliott. Former VP of her father's company. Now the CEO. And her father's closest friend.
Ash didn't like coincidences, but Robert had been out of town on a business trip the week her parents died. He was also far too boring to be mixed up in a murder scheme. So she had quickly taken him off the suspect list.
"Holy shit. You live here?" the guy asked.
Ash didn't respond. It wasn't the first time she had gotten that reaction. Robert's house was huge, but as the new CEO of her dad's company, he could easily afford it. She unbuckled her seatbelt and started to get out of the guy's busted pick-up truck.
"Wait," the guy said, grabbing her hand. "You're not going to invite me in?"
"No. And don't call me either," she replied coolly, leaving his truck and walking up to the front door of the house.
"Bitch," he yelled at her, speeding away.
Ash walked inside the house. She was sure she looked like a mess – eyeliner smeared, hair disheveled, tights torn – but she didn't care.
