To Fool an Assassin (Women of Purgatory Book 1)

by Kells, India

  Indeed, Gabrielle knew too well. An addiction she would never let loose again.

  Putting his hands in his pockets, Simon stared outside. Gabrielle took a last look at her dead image and straightened up. Her mind had to be clear if she wanted to outwit this madman. She brushed Sully’s arm, but couldn’t make eye contact with him yet. She feared what she would see and it would hit her too hard.

  “So what’s the next step? You can clone people and transfer souls into their new bodies. What’s now?”

  Simon turned and smiled. “Ah, there you’re. I like your mind. We think alike, you and me. In fact, the possibilities are infinite. Duplicate the best and most skilled soldiers so they can return to the battlefield if mortally wounded. We’re experimenting with the possibility of transferring souls into new bodies. For example, if we take a fine specimen of a war machine like Captain Thorne and clone him, we can offer less well-endowed, but obedient soldiers the possibility of finding a body more suited to their missions. Why not in the near future take the very best SEAL and provide this incredible shell for other men, too?”

  Sully shifted. “I would never allow you to take my blood and clone me that way.”

  Simon angled his head. “Captain, you have to think of the greater good. And I must say, your blood makes exceptional specimens. Same as for Miss Gabrielle here.”

  The voice of Sully lost all intonation when he stated, “You duplicated me.”

  Simon laughed. “I told you, everything is possible. And your contribution helped us make headways in cloning without soul transfer. We were able to stabilize the mind enough for specimens to follow direct orders perfectly. A fantastic step forward.”

  “Crazy bastard,” Sully snarled, taking a step forward, barely containing his fury.

  Simon shook his head. “I suppose other great minds were given that name when they had a breakthrough. But history will show me quite differently.”

  “And what about them?” Gabrielle gestured toward James and Beatrice, who were still unmoving on their chairs, but not losing one syllable of the conversation.

  “Their contribution is twofold. First, as they’re the first fully functioning clones ever created, their bodies can still help finding other clues and tweak our existing program. Second, they’re leverage. I know you wouldn’t do anything foolish if I have them here. In fact, since you knew they had been taken away, finding them had been your sole focus, your only mission. And saving me, of course. Well, until you knew the truth. A real education to see you both in action, I dare say. I’ve never been an agent nor have I seen my old man that way, but following your escape from Pretoria to Prague has been very entertaining.”

  Gabrielle tried not to react and Sully took a deep breath. “You’ve followed us?”

  “For some time now I have kept an eye on you both. In fact, it’s no coincidence you’re here together, that you have met. I knew my father would be concerned when he heard about our organization. I knew about Captain Thorne’s mission. It was kid’s play to set him up and trap him. And what would my dear father do? Call his Beatrice for help. And who is Beatrice’s best agent? You see, everything was so simple, it was almost laughable. After that, I knew you would bond somehow, a common cause for you both. Without a doubt wasn’t as easy to keep track of your whereabouts, but there’s always a way. Well, not as closely or as detailed as I would have liked, but various agents on the terrain had kept me informed.”

  “Who? The rebels?”

  “Yeah, a classic. The rebels, the police force. Some of my agents went stateside to convince Purgatory people to let them use your material. When it didn’t quite work, they brought Beatrice and James here.”

  “If by convince Rickard and Ana, you mean killing them. You’re the one who ordered someone to kill Rickard.”

  “Oh, do I sense a lover scorned here, dear Gabrielle? And I thought you had your eyes set on Captain Thorne. I don’t kill for pleasure. I kill for a specific purpose only.”

  “You don’t kill, you ask people to do it for you, coward.” By the sound of his voice, she didn’t know for how long Sully would be able to restrain himself.

  Simon darkened. “Killing is only one of the many ways of reaching my goal.”

  “How many more have backstabbed us?” Gabrielle had to know who to trust.

  “Oh, not that many …”

  Gabrielle name dropped a couple of people to see if he would confirm some of them. “Who? Luke, Lance, Spider?”

  “Spider is a given, my dear, you should know that. I don’t think he’s been faithful to any handler in his whole life. Luke? The young doctor? His allegiance always was to Beatrice. No amount of money would have convinced him otherwise. Lance? Lance Sorenson? He became an unknowing traitor, thanks to sweet Alie. I let her escape, but we always had eyes on her. And when we lost her sight, we followed Captain Sorenson the best we could. He was a wealth of information. Indirectly, of course. Another interesting character in this story with Lance was Colette. That’s one you should have been more careful about. Too bad she died; she would have been useful in so many other ways.”

  “Why Alie? Why did you choose her?” Gabrielle couldn’t help but ask; the question poured out of her.

  Simon shook his head, incredulity on his face. “Her? I couldn’t say. When I arrived in Windhoek, I needed someone new to start a pet project. I sent my men out with some characteristics … requirements, and they came back with her.”

  “Simple as that? You kidnapped a young girl, only because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Only because she fit your requirements?”

  Simon angled his head, as if he was trying to understand what she was saying. “What do you want me to say? I didn’t stalk her; I didn’t follow her. I’m not a creep, Gabrielle. The young girl was only a piece I needed, another piece of the puzzle. Don’t focus on the details. Never focus on the details.”

  Again, there was no way she could understand him and his motivations. It was not working and it never would. A better course of action was finding a way to stop him, to block him from now on. So, she continued to pump him for information. “So you have told us everything, shared everything. What’s your plan?”

  “Between both of you, you have incredible talents, a wealth of connection, and an invaluable network, legit and not. You could train, advise, and earn millions while improving this life. Beatrice and James are the past, but you two are the future.”

  Sully inched toward Simon. “You’re fucking nuts. You think we would even consider this madness. You’re the one who should be stopped and killed like a rabid dog.”

  Nodding, Simon turned to Sully. “I’m not surprised by your reaction. On the contrary. Your upbringing, your training, your attachment to my father … they’re all factors that made you unlikely to accept my proposal. In my humble opinion.”

  In a blur, Simon grabbed his gun and fired two rounds in Sully’s side. Someone screamed, and Gabrielle recognized her own voice. She grabbed Sully as he fell to the floor. Blood bloomed through his clothing. Two bullets, one through his upper hip, the other higher, closer to the organs. Not immediately fatal, but he could bleed to death. She looked up at Simon. His eyes were intent on her face, thinking, calculating.

  “You’re not against my ideas, I can see that. However, you have loose ends to take care of. I’ll give you forty-eight hours to tie them up. Say your good-byes, save Captain Thorne or let him bleed to death, I don’t care. No hospital, no clinic. You stay low and you come back here when your time is up. If you speak or disappear, I’ll make sure Beatrice and James suffer a long, painful death. Now grab your trash and go.” Smiling, Simon winked. “I’ll give you a head start, about five minutes. After that, my men will be allowed to finish what I started.”

  Simon glanced at his watch and began counting.

  Sully moaned, but Gabrielle had to shut down her worry for him at all costs. If they both wanted to live to kill that freak, they needed to get out now. Sully screamed as she successfully p
ulled him to his feet. He could barely stand and seconds ticked off at an alarming speed. She chose the fastest way to get them out.

  She ran to the wheeled cart and pushed the body of her clone off it. Sprinting back, she helped Sully sit on it and she pushed him away. She heard Simon and the Smileys laugh as she went to the elevator. The door opened and she pressed for the lobby. Sully sat up a bit. “On the right of the building, there is a street with two cars that we can easily take.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Leave me in the lobby and go get a car, honey. I’ll wait for you.”

  She caressed his hair as he grimaced in pain. Tears welled up, but she blinked them off. She had never been so frantic in her life and a single mistake—a single missed chance could make her lose him.

  The bell chimed and the doors opened in the lobby. The set of stairs made it impossible to use the cart. Sully got to his feet, but wavered.

  “Sorry, baby, but this is going to hurt.” She crouched and took him in a fireman’s hold. Her whole body screamed with the effort, but there wasn’t any choice. The pain must have been excruciating for him, but it couldn’t be helped. They needed out now. She was unable to run with this much a weight on her shoulders, but she could walk damn fast. And the fact that Sully didn’t object to the treatment told her she had a greater emergency than Simon’s men after them.

  Gabrielle kicked the glass doors opened and went to the side street. She found one dark car that shouldn’t be too much trouble to borrow. As softly as she possibly could, she put Sully down and leaned him against the car. He kept to his feet as she worked the locked door. In less than a minute, she opened the passenger door and helped Sully inside. Once behind the wheel, she pulled the wires under the dashboard and hoped for her skills to work on the first try. The engine coughed up and hummed. She pulled from the curb as she saw Simon’s men come running after them.

  One close call avoided. Now, the second one. Little by little, evening was setting over the city and it worked in her favor. She drove a couple of blocks, hoping to find what she needed quickly. She wished they could go farther away from Simon and company, but one look at Sully convinced her otherwise.

  She took another turn and saw it on the corner—a vet clinic. Precisely what she needed. It wasn’t a busy street and she parked fairly close to the door. Sully was going in and out of consciousness, mumbling restlessly. She went to the door and didn’t see any light inside. Easy to get in and bypass the basic security system. Once unlocked, she half dragged, half carried Sully in before locking the door again.

  “One last effort, baby. Almost there.” Sully moaned something indecipherable as they entered one of the exam rooms. She laid him down on the table and ran outside, opening all the doors until she found the supplies. In a locked cabinet, there was a painkiller that could work, and something against infection. As she went out, she saw surgery tools in the sterilizer. Arms full, she ran back to the examining room and closed the door. Only then she switched the lights on.

  One by one she opened the drawers, and finding a pair of scissors she started cutting his clothes away.

  “Oh, baby, you’re in a hurry to get me naked. That’s always the way I feel about you, too.”

  “You’re not funny right now, Sullivan Thorne.”

  “Oh … You’re serious if you start using my full name. Have you ever used my full name before, honey?”

  Once she could see his side, she wiped some of the oozing blood away. No gushing, that’s good. Two clear paths, but not through. Not so good. So his delirium was mostly caused by blood loss, but what if a bullet had touched something vital? The kidneys were close by and whatever else. She knew basic emergency survival, not full biology.

  As blood still dripped steadily, she injected him with some painkillers. A low dose, just to numb.

  “Hang in there, baby. I’m gonna to find something for the bleeding.”

  She searched for the small bag she had grabbed in a rush—a chemical hemostat that would stop the bleeding for a while. With trembling fingers, she tore the bag open and removed one small syringe, which would push the blood clotting flakes inside the wound. She started with the one closer to the abdomen.

  “Stay with me, baby. It’s gonna sting a little.”

  Sully laughed. “I know how it works. It’s going to hurt like crazy and you’re a liar. But do it quick.”

  Gabrielle kept her hands steady as she pushed the tube inside the wound, and Sully bit back an agonizing scream. She took the other syringe and did the same for the second wound. Sully stayed silent that time, beads of sweat rolling down his pale face.

  In efficient silence, she bandaged him as tightly as she could. It would hold for now, but he needed the bullets out. How long until the bleeding started again, or worse? Regardless, she was encouraged to see him more alert, almost like his usual self again.

  “We didn’t get far away, Gabrielle. We need to find another ride and get out of Dodge.”

  Gabrielle nodded. She had to get him to safety and treated fast. After, she needed to take Simon down.

  Sully grabbed her hand. “I know that look of yours. Help me up.”

  “You should lie down for moment.” The stubborn man tried on his own, so she didn’t have any choice but to support him to a sitting position.

  Sully put a hand on his side before looking her in the eyes. “There is no way in hell you’re going inside that building with this psycho again.”

  “Sully.”

  With his free hand, he caressed her cheek and tangled his fingers in her hair, pulling her closer. She couldn’t help but kiss him. She needed the connection, she needed him.

  The kiss was slow, tender at first. Gabrielle touched his stubbly cheek and let her fingers trail in his short dark hair, and when he moaned, she smiled.

  “Can you blame me for taking care of you, worrying about you … trying to keep you alive?”

  Sully traced the contour of her face and winked. “Remember that sentence, honey. No true killer would care about someone enough to protect them. So you’re no longer on that side of the fence. And I may not look like it, but I’m too smart of guy to fall for the bad girl.”

  “So you say. It needs to be proven, sailor.”

  “Hey! You’re supposed to be all swoony and so worried about me that you say you believe every word I say.”

  Gabrielle was about to give him a snide reply when they heard something from the front of the clinic. After shutting off the light, she cracked the door open. Someone was whistling. She swore under her breath; some kind of cleaning man was starting unpacking his gear. Middle-eastern, slim as a whip, and dangerously unaware of the situation. He had some sort of earphones on. Maybe they could get out using the back door.

  As Gabrielle took a peek down the back corridor, she saw a moving shadow. Tall, wide, and wearing a long coat. Shit, shit, shit.

  Closing the door, she relayed the information. Sully got to his feet and seemed steadier—the color was back on his face.

  “We’re caught. It’s only a matter of time before the door is opened either by the concierge, or one of Simon’s men. Hell, I don’t know how many of them there are back there.”

  Discovering two steel bars under the exam table, Sully unhooked them. They weren’t quite long enough, but they would have to make the best of it. Behind the door, there was one long coat hanger. She unscrewed the bottom, but left the upper hooks. With the right amount of velocity, they could inflict enough damage to disable someone.

  Gabrielle didn’t want to be seen, but she couldn’t let an innocent be killed because Smiley thought they were inside. Through the door crack, she saw the shadow go past them. As she feared, there was Smiley, going straight for the cleaning man. She gestured for Sully to stand by, in case of a second intruder, and she exited the exam room. As Smiley raised his gun to kill the man sweeping the floor, Gabrielle swung her metal rod. She didn’t have enough space for a full swing, so she decided to use it as a pike and ram it in his upper
back. Smiley screamed and turned toward her. The hit didn’t hurt him enough, but she was ready. As he aimed, she used her smaller rod and hit him square on the wrist. The cracking sound confirmed that at least he was one handed from now on, and the gun had skidded out of his grasp.

  The cleaning man who gapped for an instant, made a move to flee, but Smiley cold-cocked him. “I’ll take care of you after the young lady.”

  “You wish.” Gabrielle braced for an impending attack.

  Smiley angled his head at her. “If you think you have an edge because I have a broken wrist, think again. I have been doing this work a little bit longer than you, girl. I have learned a few tricks.”

  “Of course you have, granddad.”

  Smiley circled her, which gave her a view of the corridor. The examination door was wide open and Sully was nowhere to be seen. Where is he?