Final Target: Six Assassins Book 6

by Heskett, Jim

  “You sure?”

  He breathed for a couple of seconds, lips pursed. “I should have helped this morning.”

  “You had a job to do, and you did it. It was exactly what you were supposed to do.”

  “But if I’d helped, it would have been four on four. Sitting in the car with a bulletproof vest over my head didn’t make me feel like one of the team, it made me feel like some corporate jerk who hired a security firm to take him through a bad part of town.”

  Ember knew he was venting and not to take any of this personally. She said nothing, only gave his leg a gentle caress.

  “You go on,” he said. “I need to empty my head for a little bit.”

  Gunshots, blood, life and death situations. Zach wasn’t used to these sorts of scenarios, because no untrained civilian was. Ember could understand how difficult it must be for him.

  “I hear you,” she said. “What we did up there on top of the parking garage will help. Maybe you didn’t jump off a skyscraper and take out a helicopter with an RPG, but you’re a part of the team. A real part.”

  He didn’t reply, so she leaned over to kiss him and then opened the car door. She hovered there a second, and he waved her off.

  “Go on,” he said. “I’m fine. Just need a couple more minutes to make my heart stop racing.”

  Ember gave him a nod and then turned away from the car. Serena and Layne both also left their cars, and they convened by the dumpster, each of them with swiveling heads, checking around for threats. Fortunately, there was no rancid stink coming from the trash.

  “That went about as good as could be expected,” Layne said.

  “The boss wasn’t there,” Ember said. “I don’t know where he was, but he wasn’t there. Thomas Milligan and Helmut. It’s not over, but we made it more painful for them.”

  “We’re happy to help,” Layne said.

  “Thank you both for coming.”

  Layne nodded, but Serena gave her a pained look.

  “What’s that all about?” Ember asked the other assassin.

  “I have some bad news. Tomorrow night, I have to fly to London, so this is it for me. I have to bow out of helping you get Marcus. Unlike Layne, I still have a boss, and she wants me in the UK for the foreseeable future.”

  “I see,” Ember said.

  “As far as we know, Marcus thinks I’m still working for him. So, if we need to meet with him, it has to be soon.”

  Ember glanced at Layne, who showed no change in his face. Maybe Layne already knew about this, or maybe this was his standard reaction. This outdoor catalog model had one of the most impenetrable poker faces Ember had ever seen. Almost as good as Serena’s.

  “I understand,” Ember said. “I appreciate what you’ve done so far. We should arrange one more meeting with you and Marcus, to see if we can at least get an idea of how much longer he’ll be in town.”

  Serena crossed her arms. “Of course, I’ll work on setting up a meeting as soon as I can. Also, Layne and I talked about it, and he’s agreed to stay on and help you see this through.”

  “I’ll take whatever I can get,” Ember said, and Layne responded with a single dip of the head as acknowledgment.

  “Couple things to pass on before we all split up,” Layne said. “I used some juice in Washington to look into Tyson Darby and Omar White. As far as I can tell, Omar was a simple foot soldier who worked for Tyson. Tyson deals in all the usual local angles, like guns and drugs and a network of gambling cells. A friend of mine has had a couple of run-ins with him before. There’s been nothing to suggest Omar or Tyson has or had any ties to the DAC, or personally to Marcus Lonsdale. At least, nothing I’ve been able to dig up. Sorry, Ember, but I don’t think you’re going to find a way to use Tyson to link the two of them.”

  “I see. Thanks for your help.”

  Ember wasn’t convinced about Tyson, though. Marcus had used Omar to kill Isabel Yang. Omar worked for Tyson. Therefore, there had to be some sort of paper trail or spider web that connected all three of them together. But, if Layne was right, Ember would only waste more time if she continued to look into it.

  In a manner of days, Marcus would leave town. Once he had finished whatever business he had here, the man would flee. Maybe he would go somewhere no one could ever find him.

  “What do you need from me?” Layne asked.

  “The boss. The one who didn’t show up at the parking garage now. We need to find a way to take him out.”

  “Roger that,” Layne said. “Send me his info and I’ll make a plan.”

  “There’s one more thing,” Serena said. “Before I go, I managed to arrange some help for you.”

  “Friend of yours?”

  Serena and Layne both shook their heads. “This person is only an acquaintance, but I think you’ll appreciate it.”

  “Like I said, I’ll take whatever help I can get.”

  Serena and Layne shared a look, and Ember wondered if there was something romantic between them. Only for a second, then it passed. Ember liked the idea of beautiful people getting together, and these two were definitely in the upper echelon of hotness. Both of them looked like they would be equally comfortable crawling through a boot camp muck obstacle course or strutting down a runway in Milan. Most people couldn’t pull off either of those looks with any style.

  Serena reached out to Ember and gave her a firm shake. “Good luck, Ember. I hope you nail Marcus. I really do.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’ll get a phone call soon from my contact.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  ZACH

  Sweat dribbled down his forehead. His feet pushed hard, growing harder by the minute. His hands gripped the foam-covered bike handles. Zach had been pedaling for half an hour and he hadn’t moved from his spot. His heart bumped steadily, somewhere around 140 beats per minute. He knew how to get his heart there and keep it there, for optimal metabolic benefit.

  His eyes were glued to the TV screen in the fitness center of this motel. On a late-morning talk show, the host was interviewing a man who claimed to be in love with his best friend’s girlfriend. But, the man didn’t yet know that his best friend was ironically in love with him, and the best friend planned to confront the man about this when he came out. Based on the previews before the last commercial break, someone would take a punch to the nose in the upcoming segment. The studio audience chanted the host’s name as if he were a Roman emperor deciding the fate of gladiators.

  Zach wasn’t emotionally invested in the story, but he liked having something mindless to focus on while he exercised. And he was pushing himself at a breakneck pace, his hamstrings and quads already burning after going top speed for most of the half hour. Still, it didn’t feel like enough. He wanted to sweat more. He wanted to push harder.

  Only a couple hours before, Zach had watched Ember and her two colleagues kill four men on the top floor of an airport parking garage. Zach had seen people die before. He had seen violence. What bothered him about the conflict this morning was how little it all bothered him, after he’d settled down while watching Ember debrief with her spy buddies. Once the adrenaline had dissipated, he’d felt fine. He’d felt no lingering aftereffects of trauma. He’d felt no guilt in playing a part in the death of four men who might have families and might be good people who’d made a bad career choice.

  But wasn’t it black and white? They were coming to kill him and Ember. It was either them or him. It had to be done, hadn’t it?

  Maybe Zach was supposed to feel guilty about it, and maybe he wasn’t. The only bit of guilt he now felt was for staying in the car as bait while the action occurred around him. He wished he could have helped.

  Of course, that was ludicrous. No way Zach could have handled his own out there among the professionals, and he would have become a liability in seconds.

  Ember had promised him he’d done his part, but he wasn’t so sure. Of course, she would say something like that. But he wished he knew how to handle h
imself in a fight. He wished he knew how to do many of the amazing things Ember knew how to do, like all that spy stuff. Just the fact that Zach thought of Ember’s abilities only as “spy stuff” told him he had a long way to go.

  Smashing Helmut’s nose in the motel room doorway last week had been a good start. He didn’t know where that drive and impulse had come from, in the moment. He’d acted without any thought about the consequences.

  Zach slowed his pace on the stationary bike to cool his heart down. Thirty minutes of hard riding was enough, and he didn’t want his legs to be so sore later he couldn’t walk. Running? He could pound a trail for an hour and not feel much fatigue later. But the bike worked different muscles. He had to be careful not to overdo it.

  Zach stepped off the bike and grabbed a towel from the stack on the complimentary bottled water and granola bar table. He patted down the sweat on his neck and face as he walked over to the window overlooking the parking lot. Cars came and went. Trunks opened, and suitcases rolled along the snowy ground. Any one of those people out there could be one of Thomas’ men coming to kill him.

  Ember knew how to handle these situations. There had to be a way Zach could contribute to ending the struggle, but how?

  He needed a new plan. The ambush at the parking garage was supposed to eliminate Thomas and Helmut, but they hadn’t shown. Maybe they could set a second trap. At Zach’s apartment, maybe? Maybe at his advisor’s office on campus at CSU? They had found him there last week, so maybe that could work again. Except this time, Ember would be waiting nearby with a sniper rifle.

  Zach imagined standing across from Thomas and Helmut as long-distance bullets cascaded down on them. That thought didn’t bother him, either. Was any of this normal? Zach didn’t have much experience in the realm of fending off people intent on murdering him. Maybe the visualization of your enemies dying from bullets to the brain was supposed to feel like this.

  Zach finished drying the sweat from his head and neck, and then he tossed the towel into the hamper in the corner of the room. He eyed himself in the mirror one last time. An old and tired person looked back, worn out and weary. Thinking this made him smile. It wasn’t exactly the look he wanted as he embarked on a new romantic relationship with someone, in these crucial early stages where every day together felt like a week. She didn’t seem to mind the bags under his eyes, though.

  As he left, the chill in the air invaded every inch of his exposed and damp skin, so he quickened his pace across the room for a shower. As he pivoted, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A white guy, lanky and with big hands, hanging out by the motel office. Standing there with a Bluetooth device jutting out of his ear, he was staring off into space, cold breath pluming from his lips.

  Something was off about this guy. Zach could feel it. Did he have someone on the other end of that earpiece? Were more of Thomas’ underlings waiting nearby for a signal to come attack?

  Zach had no weapons on him, nothing to defend himself. If they were busted at this motel, what could he do? Ember was out running afternoon errands. His phone was back in the room.

  The guy turned to Zach, looking at him head on. He had a kind expression, but his eyes were like lasers sizzling the space between them.

  Zach froze. He balled his fists, unsure what to do. His feet seemed frozen in place.

  Those laser eyes still looking at him.

  But then the guy tapped a finger against his temple like a casual salute. He then looked away, eyes down on his phone. A moment later, a car pulled up, and the man smiled as he waved at the driver. He opened the rear passenger door and climbed in, then a few seconds later, the car drove off. Not an assassin coming to kill him.

  “Shit,” Zach muttered as his racing heart made his throat close up. “I need to get better at this stuff.”

  Because, if he didn’t, Zach might not spot a real threat before it was too late.

  Chapter Thirty

  EMBER

  Snow churned under the car’s tires as it exited the highway and turned into a neighborhood street. Ember flicked the headlights on as the sun set.

  Her hands ached on the steering wheel. Knowing she was both running out of time and unaware how much time remained was a terrible rock-and-hard-place to make plans.

  “I was thinking,” Zach said from the passenger seat of her car, “it doesn’t have to be complicated. We don’t need to have a fifteen-point plan to draw them out.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “Well, Thomas and Helmut found me once on campus. Seems like they would have eyes there again, you know? If I went to my advisor’s office, spent some time hanging around outside. They’ll come. All we have to do is be ready. There’s a parking garage across the street. Great place for a sniper to hang out and set up shop.”

  Ember grinned. “‘Set up shop,’ huh?”

  “Yeah, I dunno. Something like that. Whatever you guys call it. If I’m there, and we can bring them there, I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to get them out into the open and exposed.”

  “Okay, so let’s think this through. What happens when this sniper takes a position at the parking garage and a couple of students stumble on her? Does she kill the civilians? Because, if she doesn’t, those civilians will call the cops to report suspicious activity and then squad cars will be on the scene within minutes, ruining the ambush. And what happens if the person looking out for you isn’t quick enough when Thomas shows up, and they snatch you? We could drop a GPS tracker in your pocket, but then what happens when they strip you naked and burn your clothes to get rid of anything like that?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Also, you have to consider the fact that we’ve fooled them before, so they’ll be looking for the hint of deception around every corner from now on. We have to be better prepared and more clever than last time. We caught them unaware once. Next time, we need either a totally unique plan, or for the stars to align and lady luck to bless us real good.”

  Zach’s face fell, his eyes pointed forward, and he gave a limp shrug. “I’m just trying to help.”

  Ember reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “I know. And I love how eager you are to pitch your ideas for an ambush. I love that you want to take an active role in all of this. But we need to be extra-careful now. We missed our chance to cut off the head of the snake this morning, and that means it’ll come back, stronger than before. We have to be ready for that.”

  Zach said nothing, but Ember could tell he was considering her words. He glanced down at his phone, nearing the blue dot along the road in the suburb of Lakewood. “There,” he said, pointing at a one-story ranch home with faded green siding and a one-car garage so tiny it looked like it might struggle to fit a compact car.

  Ember pulled along the curb and fished her phone out of her pocket after it chimed in her pocket.

  “Yes?” she said, then she listened as the voice on the other end spoke. Zach peered at her with a question in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Yes, I know who you are. I appreciate the call… no, that sounds perfect. Yes… yes, we can work on it when you arrive. Thanks again.”

  Zack shifted in his seat. “What was that?”

  “You know that super-hot Latina chick from this morning? Serena?”

  Zach shrugged. “Was she hot? I didn’t notice.”

  “Oh, come on,” Ember said, chuckling. “You know I don’t believe that for one second. I’m not the jealous type, so you don’t have to pretend like you’re blind to other women.”

  He gave a sheepish smile. “Okay, okay. Yeah, she’s smoking hot. But you, Ember Clarke, are much hotter. It’s not even close.”

  Ember kissed him. “That is the exact right answer, even though it is pretty close.”

  “Anyway, what about her?”

  “Serena arranged for me to have some help since she has some spy stuff to take care of in London. Help to handle Marcus, not Thomas, I mean. I’m running out of time here to connect Marcus
to his crimes.”

  “I have to remember that you have your own thing, too.”

  That “thing” was not only Marcus, but an army of disgruntled DAC members coming after her. She put a light hand on Zach’s cheek to point his face toward hers. “My thing and your thing are equally important to me. We’re going to solve all of our problems. Solving only one means one of us lives while the other one dies.”

  “I know. I’m not worried about playing second fiddle here.”

  She cleared her throat and pointed at the house. “This is the place?”

  “Looks like it. We’re at the dot.”

  “You want to come with me this time?”

  He considered it for a second, then nodded. Ember tilted her head toward the house, and they left the car. She led Zach up the stairs and knocked on the door. The porch light flicked on, making her have to shield her eyes for a moment. A few seconds later, a dark-skinned woman opened the door a crack and spied her with an eye a deep shade of brown.

  “Good evening,” she said in English accented heavily enough to make Ember think it wasn’t her first language. Pakistani, most likely. “Can I help you?”

  Ember pointed at Zach and then back at herself. “We’re friends of Kunjal’s.”

  “We do not want any trouble.”

  “I understand. He called me and told me to find him here. There won’t be any trouble, ma’am. He’s expecting us. I can tell you my name, if you want to check with him, but it’s probably better if you know less about us.”

  The woman chewed on her lower lip and then opened the door wider to allow them in. She lifted a finger down a hall, and Ember scooted Zach off in that direction. Thick carpet and orange paint on the walls. They found Kunjal Anand hunkered down in the second bedroom on the right. A tiny room with a single twin bed and pre-teen posters on the walls. Two of the posters were for boy bands Ember didn’t recognize, and the other two posters were of movies Ember didn’t recognize.