Washington, DC

  Catriona was sprawled on the bed, naked and smoking a cigarette.
 “Where is he?” she asked, yawning slightly. It was almost four a.m. but Solis was feeling anything but sleepy, even though Cat had exercised every muscle in his body for several hours.
 One muscle in particular was feeling unusually worn and Sol idly wondered what had gotten into her.
 She’s been a fucking horny maniac since we got back from Maryland, he thought, but his sex life was the least of his pressing issues at the moment and he reached for a pack of smokes on the desk.
 “He’s in Paris,” Sol replied, peering into the screen as he lit a Marlborough, the smoke dangling between his lips as he scanned the map. “Downtown.”
 “What did he say this morning?” Cat demanded. “Has he found her?”
 “Nothing. I told you he said nothing.”
 He tried to stifle his annoyance but she didn’t make it easy.
 She sighed and sat up, stretching like a cat as she crawled toward the foot of the bed, straining to see the GPS locator.
 “I still think this is a big mistake,” she sighed.
 Solis had had enough of her endless doubts.
 “What the hell do you have to be worried about? He’s got a tracker, he’s in Paris. It’s been three days. He’ll do what we want or we’ll take care of his sister.”
 “About that,” Catriona sighed. “Where is Sarah Van Hoyt?”
 Sol’s scowl deepened.
 “What do we need her for?” he retorted. “He’s doing what we want. Why are you being so negative? It’s becoming irritating, Cat.”
 It was irritating a long time ago. Now it’s just homicide inducing.
 “I am wondering why we can’t find the girl,” she snapped back. “It’s a legit question. If he decides to AWOL or – “
 “We will deal with that IF we come to that.”
 Solis eyed her and wished his dick wasn’t so sensitive. He would give her another good plowing just to shut her up.
 “You’re not looking at the big picture here,” she muttered, her curvy frame leaning over the wood footboard. “Zoom in on his location.”
 “What big picture? Van Hoyt is doing exactly what we asked of him. In the next few days, we’ll get word that the bitch is dead.”
 And I’ll get my payout from Jacques Renault.
 Catriona had no idea about the side deal he had concocted with Jacques. All she knew was that he had been contacted by the French to find Ashtyn Deveaux.
 The Unione Corse had known about the elusive blonde for half a decade, and while her reputation had been that of a sell-sword, the French knew better.
 She was a master of deception and employed only by the Turkish mobster, Khan Cerci. Francois LaPointe, leader of the notorious French gang had made it very clear that he wanted the woman captured and unharmed.
 “I want her on our side,” he said coldly. “She is devious and highly skilled. We could use a civilian like her in our fold. Bring her to me before we lose any more business to the Turks.”
 That had been the original plan and the only one which Catriona knew about.
 It was two weeks later when Jacques Renault contacted him, explaining that he had a very different idea in mind.
 “I understand you are looking for one of my people,” Khan Cerci’s right-hand man said.
 “How did you get this number?” Solis growled and Jacques laughed.
 “From the same person who told me that you are looking for one of my people,” he replied flatly.
 “I don’t know where you got this information – “
 “I want her dead. She is becoming a thorn in my side,” he told Solis without emotion and Sol stopped talking.
 “Who?” he asked dumbly, suddenly wondering if they were talking about the same person.
 “You know who!” Jacques snapped. “Ashtyn Deveaux.”
 “So kill her. She belongs to you anyway,” Sol replied, uncomprehendingly.
 Jacques snorted.
 “If only it were that simple,” he sighed. “I cannot have my fingerprints on this.”
 “You – you could have anyone do it – “
 “You already have a contract to find her. If you kill her, no one will think I have anything to do with it…least of all my boss. For some reason, he is very fond of her ways but I think she is growing into more of a hassle than she’s worth. It will only be a matter of time before he learns the French are trying to poach her anyway. If she was to turn up dead…”
 A sensation of dread washed over Sol.
 “I will make it worth your while, of course,” Jacques explained. “Thirty-five million euros.”
 Solis had almost dropped the phone.
 “What?” he gasped. “To kill one stupid girl?”
 Jacques chuckled.
   “As I said, she is becoming a royal pain in my ass, as you Americans say. The money is no issue.”
 Solis was quiet for a long moment, contemplating the dangers of what was being dangled before him.
 The payout was so high because if Khan Cerci ever learned the truth, he would be a dead man.
 Jacques took his silence for acceptance.
 “Then we have a deal,” he purred. “Payment on receipt.”
 Sol then told his lover that the plan had changed and that Ashtyn suddenly needed to die. He did not explain that they were working for a new boss.
 But there was the matter of double crossing the Unione Corse.
 If I kill the girl, I will be signing my own death warrant. But if someone else does it, I can collect and be gone before Francois ever finds me.
 Xander Van Hoyt was a name which had often tickled Solis’ ears over the years and with his connections in various law enforcement groups, he was able to secure identification and smuggle the man out from under the noses of guards without sounding any major alarms.
 “Where is he?”
 Catriona’s voice brought him back and he realized she was standing at his side, her eyes fixated on the screen.
 He patted her bare rump affectionately.
 “He is in Paris – are you purposely being difficult?” he asked, exasperated. “Look.”
 “No, where in Paris is he, Sol? Look!”
 She had zoomed in on the GPS and Sol felt his heart begin to speed up slightly as he realized what she was seeing.
 “That’s a hospital. What is he doing in a hospital?”
 He swallowed quickly.
 “Don’t jump to conclusions,” he warned. “There could be a million reasons he’s in a hospital.”
 “Such as?” she snapped. “He’s hurt? Or dead? Or – “
 “Maybe he has tracked Deveaux there. Maybe she’s hurt or dead.”
 “Call him!” she ordered. “Call him and find out what the hell he’s doing there!”
 There was a panic in her voice which Sol was sure he had never heard before.
 He stared at her strangely, his lips parting to ask her why she had been acting like a different person since the day they had met Xander Van Hoyt.
 “What the fuck are you waiting for?” she screamed. “Call him!”
 “Cat, you need to calm down,” he snapped. “Nothing has happened to Xander. Why are you acting like this?”
 She stared at him with wild eyes, shaking her head as if she was trying to make sense of her own thoughts.
 “He comes to me sometimes,” she whispered and Sol gaped at her.
 “What the fuck does that mean?” he demanded, a pang of jealously striking him. “You dream about him?”
 She shook her head and stared at him, grappling for the right words.
 “No,” she replied slowly. “It’s not a dream. It’s real and he’s…inside me.”
 Sol pushed himself out of the chair, butting out his cigarette filter before snatching up another.
 “I don’t need to hear about your sick fantasies,” he snapped. “Get yourself together.”
 “You don’t understand,” she said mournfully. “Something has happened to him. I can tell!”
 “How can you tell?” Sol retorted, flicking the lighter and inhaling sharply. “Did he whisper something in your ear while he came on your tits?”
 “No,” she whispered. “He didn’t come last night. It’s the first time since we met him that he didn’t appear to me while I slept.”
 Sol did not know how to respond to her words, his mind whirling with memories.
 The chatter that he could come and go without ever moving…the inmates who killed themselves…and Catriona acting like a weirdo. Is this connected?
 Again, he was seized with uncertainty, wondering if Cat’s instinct was warning them to back away while they were still unknown.
 He shook his head and scoffed.
 “You’re acting like a lunatic,” he snorted. “This is a contract, a job. If you can’t be professional, I suggest you go back California and wait for me.”
 Suddenly her face lost all its plaintiveness.
 “So you can take your share of the money and run?” she spat viciously. “No thank you. I am owed half of that hundred grand.”
 Sol swallowed a smile and turned his head.
 You can have the entire hundred grand, he thought. I’ll bury you with it in a pine box.
 “Fine,” he relented begrudgingly. “But I expect you to behave normally from now on. No more talk about visits from Van Hoyt.”
 Catriona’s mouth fell into a pout but she flopped back onto the double bed and picked up the remote control, flipping through the late-night channels.
 “Fine,” she said. “But know I’m going to say, ‘I told you so’ when this all over and done with.”
 Solis eyed her, a smidgen of doubt still taunting his mind.
 I’ll call him…after she falls asleep.