There were five of them.

Briggs.

Three of his men.

Kaapo.

I studied him as he walked around me, dressed in an expensive suit not unlike the ones I preferred. This one was dark, a deep blue that was like the midnight sky. His shirt was red, his tie dark blue with red stripes. And his shoes were leather, with scrapes on the sides that spoke of age.

Not new like all mine were.

His hair was longer than the last time I saw him, combed back with enough pomade to leave it greasy and shiny. It curled a little like hers would do when the air was humid. He turned to look at me, and he had her eyes, too. I hated that. I hated that something I loved so much about her belonged to him, too.

My eyes narrowed when he turned to focus on me. My hatred was returned in his eyes, in the snarl of his lips.

He spit, his dirty saliva slapping my cheek and sliding slowly down over my chin.

“Qatal!”

I refused to drop my eyes. I stared him down until he finally backed away, moving behind Briggs and his men, hiding like the coward he was.

“Your friends didn’t bring Fuller,” Briggs informed me. “I guess they decided you were worth losing.”

“Or they decided you broke the deal when you took me from my hotel room.”

Briggs smiled slowly. “They don’t know I have you. We emptied your hotel room, packed your bags and brought them with us.” He gestured to the duffel one of his men suddenly dumped at his feet. “Thanks for the cash. It’ll go a long way toward supporting our cause.”

“No problem. Glad to help.”

Briggs frowned, clearly expecting a different reaction. He walked up to me, forcing my head to one side so that he could see the stitches his doctor had placed.

“Grayson does a great job. Too bad it was a waste of time in this instance.”

“Shouldn’t have wasted his time.”

“One thing we agree on.”

Briggs walked back to where he’d been, like a pastor returning to his pulpit. He nodded to someone behind me, and the door opened with an audible creak. I resisted the urge to turn around, convinced I’d learn quickly enough who was there. And I did.

Rachel came strolling into my line of sight, moving up against Briggs like they were lovers who preferred not to be apart longer than absolutely necessary. She nuzzled up against him, her lips brushing against his neck.

Lying bitch!

Briggs slipped his hand into her hair and gave her a passionate kiss that was clearly just for my benefit. The two men standing behind him, including Kaapo, turned away to avoid staring at the display. I didn’t. I wanted it seared in my memory so that I could stop aching for her.

A part of me suspected it wouldn’t work. But it certainly drove a cold knife through my chest.

“Beautiful, isn’t she, Moshe?”

I shrugged. “She was fun while it lasted.”

Briggs’s eyes darkened, once again clearly expecting another reaction. I knew I should leave it at that, but I couldn’t help myself.

“You do realize that whatever inspired her to give testimony in the Clark case, her testimony still stands even if she tries to retract it, right? The case will be reopened. And you will be taken down.”

Briggs’s face turned to thunder. He jerked away from Rachel and took two steps toward me, but Kaapo grabbed his arm and jerked him back.

“You’ve already done enough damage. You promised me I’d get him in one piece!”

“He’ll be in one piece,” Briggs said, pulling his arm free. “But that piece will be black and blue!”

He came toward me again, but Kaapo tripped him, causing him to fall flat on his fat face.

I laughed.

Not my finest moment.

Briggs’s man who stood behind me, the one who had opened the door for Rachel, slammed something long and heavy against my left arm. I heard the snap as well as felt it. My bone snapped right in half.

And it hurt like fucking hell!

“Stop!” Kaapo yelled. “He’s mine!”

Briggs jumped to his feet and pushed Kaapo back against the wall, slamming him hard enough that I could hear his joints crack.

“Touch me again, and you won’t leave this building alive!”

Kaapo’s face darkened, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

I watched all this through a veil of bright red pain. And then my head fell, the strength suddenly going out of me.

“Maybe you shouldn’t do this now, Briggs,” Rachel’s familiar voice said. “You’re angry. Maybe it would be better if you take a minute and—”

The sound of his hand slapping the side of her face cut through the pain. I jerked my head up just in time to see her head snap back, to see one of Briggs’s men catch her as she stumbled backward, her hand rising to touch the spot on her cheek that was quickly revealing an imprint of his hand.

“Takes a big man to hit a woman.”

“Takes an even bigger one to kill a woman.”

Briggs got the reaction he wanted that time. Shame burned across my face as my eyes cut to Kaapo. My old nemesis was watching the show from the spot where Briggs had left him, his hands resting on the low shelves, holding him up. There was pain in his eyes. He’d hurt himself when Briggs slammed him into the shelf.

Good.

Briggs laughed. “You think he didn’t tell me? Your friend here told me everything.”

“I’m not surprised. Kaapo always had a big fucking mouth.”

Briggs nodded. “Another thing we agree on.”

“Isn’t that a scary thing.”

He turned from me, going to Rachel. He pulled her hand from her face and touched her lightly, his fingertips grazing the red mark that had made itself known there. “Sorry,” he muttered, kissing her cheek lightly. She flashed me a look as he did it, her eyes wide and desperate.

She didn’t want this. That was as clear as words written on a plain white page.

Then what was she doing here?

“As you’ve probably guessed by now,” Briggs said to me even as he continued to stare at Rachel’s injured cheek, “I’ve promised to hand you over to your friend here. He paid me quite generously to allow him sole access to you after we got the information we needed from Stone Security’s computer system. And he gave me insight into you that helped us put Rachel in your way.” He studied Rachel a moment longer. “She did a good job, didn’t she? She’ll be rewarded quite generously for her work.”

He turned away from her. “But, before I let you go, I need to ask a few questions.”

“What, up to this point, has suggested I’d be cooperative to such a thing?”

Briggs studied my face for a moment. “Because you’ve revealed yourself one too many times, my friend.” He made a gesture with his head. Immediately, the man standing behind Rachel grabbed her again, but this time it wasn’t to catch her as she stumbled. It was to hold her still for Briggs to do whatever he wanted.

And he clearly wanted to hurt her. Badly.

Briggs pulled a rather large knife from the belt of another of his men, holding it up where everyone could clearly see it. It was about ten inches long, three inches wide at its widest point. The blade was well-polished, the edges evenly sharpened on both sides. It was a lethal weapon, one that could inflict a hell of a lot of damage before it delivered the death blow.

He walked over to Rachel. She began shaking her head, her eyes wide, the fear bigger and darker than any expression she had ever shot in my direction. She couldn’t seem to take her eyes from that blade.

“Please, Briggs! I did everything you asked me to do!”

“You did,” he agreed. “You did much more than I imagined you would do.” He moved closer to her, the blade pressing against her chin. “You did more than I wanted you to do. How do you think it makes me feel to know you fucked him?”

Rachel reared her head, trying to pull away from the tip of the blade. But he only followed, pressing it hard against her tender flesh.

“Please!”

“Was she good, Patrick? Moshe? Whatever the fuck your name is?”

“You want me to describe it to you? Maybe you could pick up a few pointers.”

Briggs spun around, turning that knife in my direction just as I’d hoped he would.

“Shut the fuck up!” he screamed.

“Briggs,” the man behind me said somewhat uncertainly, “we’re in the church. Maybe we shouldn’t do this here? Maybe you shouldn’t talk like that.”

Briggs swung the knife. I ducked, afraid he was about to cut off the top of my head. Instead, blood splattered down over me as he sliced into the shoulder of the man behind me. I twisted my head, saw him fall back, the knife continuing to slice with his movement. He stumbled, his hand pressed to the wound. Blood gushed everywhere. Rachel screamed.

Chaos erupted. Another of Briggs’s men cried out, rushing around my chair to the man behind me. He grabbed him, pressing his own hands to the wound in a vain attempt to stop the flow of blood. Another man, the one who’d been wearing the knife, rushed toward Briggs, grabbing his arms and dragging him toward the door.

I couldn’t see what was happening behind me now, as they’d all moved out of my line of sight. But I could hear the trampling of their footsteps, hear the slam of the door as they left the room.

“You see the insanity you’ve gotten yourself involved with?” I asked Kaapo in Hebrew. “You see what you’ve done?”

His face was colorless. His eyes were open, but I wasn’t sure he was actually focusing on anything. And his mouth was open, but no words were coming out.

“You brought us all to hell for what? To get revenge on something you don’t even understand?”

“Murderer,” he whispered.

“Fuck you,” I groaned in English.

“He’s hurt,” Rachel said, drawing my attention to the fact that she was still in the room. She was alone, having been released in the chaos. She crossed the room, touching Kaapo’s shoulder. He flinched, the soft touch apparently causing him pain for reasons I wasn’t sure I understood. She tried to pull him forward, but it was clear it hurt far too much.

“Leave him,” I said. “Come help me with these ropes. They’re loose, but my arm’s broken.”

She didn’t seem to hear me. She spoke to him, but if Kaapo understood, he didn’t answer. She moved to the side, slipping her hand behind him, searching for the source of his pain. When she withdrew her hand, it was covered in blood.

“Oh my God!” she gasped.

“What?”

“He’s got a long pair of scissors shoved in all the way to the handle in the center of his back!”

That was not what I’d been expecting. I grunted, closing my eyes as I wondered what else could possibly happen in this basement.

“Carefully pull him away from the shelf, but don’t move the scissors. Then lay him on the floor.”

She tried to urge him forward, but Kaapo refused to move.

“Let her help you, you fool,” I demanded in Hebrew.

He didn’t respond.

“It’s bad, Patrick,” she said, panic just under the surface, but clear in her tone. “I don’t know if he’s going to make it if we don’t get him out of here.”

“Good.”

She jerked around, her eyes wide as she stared at me. “What?”

“He’s a traitor! One Mossad agent does not betray another, even if he believes that other agent is responsible for his sister’s death.”

“Sister’s death…is this Kala’s brother?”

“The one and only.”

“That’s what he wants from you? Justice for a suicide?”

“Suicide?” Life suddenly flowed into Kaapo’s eyes. “Is that what he told you? He killed her. He gave her a syringe filled with poison and stepped out of the room, leaving her to do what any woman in her place might have done. But she could have healed. She could have survived!”

“It was what she wanted.”

“How do you know what she wanted?” Tears filled Kaapo’s eyes. “She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t communicate. Her eyes were swollen, her teeth all broken out. Her fingers were crushed. She couldn’t cry, she couldn’t scream. She couldn’t even move!”

We stared at each other across the room, his body stiff, his face still completely devoid of color. But there was fire in those eyes that were so much like Kala’s.

“You killed her.”

“I loved her.”

“I loved her, too. But you didn’t think of that, didn’t think to tell me, didn’t think to give me a chance to say goodbye!” Kaapo suddenly took a step forward, his body stiff, pain clear in each movement. “You stole her from us before we could even see her!”

“You didn’t want to see that. You wouldn’t have been able to remember her the way she was, only the way she looked at the end.”

“Don’t talk to me like it was a gift! You stole my sister from me!”

“I showed her mercy. I showed you mercy.”

“You killed her!”

“I killed the men who destroyed her.”

Silence fell between us. And then Kaapo took another step, his movements so stiff, the pain so clear, that it made my broken arm seem like a scratch.

Something shifted. I don’t know if it was the scissors or something inside of Kaapo that had already been injured. Whatever it was, his eyes rolled up into his head, and color flushed through his face before disappearing again. His hands clutched. It seemed a struggle, but his eyes rolled back down, and he focused on me. He was a walking ball of pain, everything about him screaming for relief.

“Your…only…saving…grace…”

And then he fell.

Rachel rushed to him, falling to her knees and slipping her hand over his throat.

“There’s so much blood!”

“Is there a pulse?”

She moved her fingertips over his throat, waiting a second and then moving them again, searching. It was clear what the answer was, but she kept searching, kept waiting to find a sign of life. There wasn’t one to be found.

“Rachel, come here!”

“He needs help! We need to—”

“He’s dead, Rachel. But we’re still alive.”

She jerked back, her eyes falling on Kaapo’s body, on the blood pooling under his body, spreading over the carpet, creeping up on her knees. I think that was what finally got her to her feet. She jumped up, her arms wrapping themselves around her chest.

“He killed him.”

“He did. And he’ll kill us if you don’t help me get out of this chair.”

I was tugging at the ropes again, not confident that she would pull herself together quickly enough to come help me. The pain in my arm was excruciating, but after what I’d just seen, I was pretty certain I didn’t want to end up like Kaapo. I could deal with the pain if it meant getting the hell out of here.

“Listen to me, Rachel,” I said, slightly out of breath from the effort and the pain, “they’ll be back, probably sooner rather than later. If my hands are still tied, I won’t be able to protect you. Do you understand?”

She was in a trance, staring down at Kaapo. She wasn’t going to be any help.

And I was pretty sure I could hear footsteps.