Wallbanger (22 page)

“I told him to do it. You need your rest.” He
smiled at her pouting, and at the ridiculous notion she could flip
Phil. “You’re in Oman. At my place.”

“Your actual house?” Dark brows lifted.
“Isn’t it risky for me to know where you live?”

“
One
of my homes.” He motioned with a
hand toward her middle. “Can I…?”

When he leaned forward she hesitated, but
shifted her arms to give him access. He folded the cover back
slowly, revealing long, lithe legs extending from the black fabric.
Apart from a few scratches and a light bruise or two, they were
just as perfect as when he’d first seen them, but her left ankle
had a burn that matched her wrists.

He hooked his fingers in the hem of the shirt
and inched it up to expose her belly, cringing at what he saw. A
large, deep purple bruise surrounded a four-inch gash in her side,
the laceration held together by the string of stitches. From Phil’s
reports, the physician said the sutures took and the muscle would
heal, but two ribs in the area cracked. It looked painful.

“I…” He lightly fingered the injury and then
looked her in the eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“Hurts to laugh…and cough…and
move…breathing’s a little tough and sleeping’s a bitch. Bathing…”
she shrugged, “Just another day in this glamorous life.” A bright
smile crossed her face. “I’m out-freakin’-standing.”

Xander righted her clothes and pulled up the
cover, clearing his throat before he spoke again. “I’m glad you’re
doing better.”

She blinked once. Twice. “Wow…. ‘I’m glad
you’re doing better’?”

“I am.”

“Y’know, I took you for a lot of things,
Duquesne, but not a coward.”

“
Coward
?”

“Was that your version of an apology?”

His anger flared. “You knew exactly what…” he
began in a flurry.
The most stubborn, smart-mouthed little…
The raging went on in his head as he turned and stalked from her
bedroom.

“Coward!” she shouted after him, then moaned
at the exerted energy.

He laughed at her pain, and then entered the
closet in his suite across the hall, crouching to access the floor
safe. With angry jabs he punched in the combination and mashed his
thumb against the ID scanner. A soft
thunk
and he lifted
back the door, yanking a flash drive and a manila envelope from the
grotto. Passing back through his bedroom, he snatched a laptop from
the desk and marched into Kizzie’s room again.

“This is all the apology you get.” He held
the envelope and jump drive out to her. “The Intel I promised on
3-19. It’s yours.”

Brown eyes narrowed further.

“Dammit, Kizzie, just take it and we’re
square. I feel bad enough as it is.”

“A criminal with a guilt complex who picks up
strays,” she snorted, “That’s sure to kill your run for head
villain of the ICBG.”

His nostrils flared. “I’ll leave the laptop
if you want to start looking it over.” She continued the glowering
and his shoulders slumped. He responded mechanically, “I’m sorry,
Kizzie.”

“For?”

A slow breath—“I wasn’t thinking straight
when I gave you the water. Phil told me how you ended up in Sacha’s
playroom. My fault.”

“And?”

He clenched his teeth. “That Sacha didn’t
kill your stubborn ass, and that you’re too banged up to spank
right now. Don’t push it, kid.”

“Kid?” Kizzie’s frown dissolved into peals of
laughter, but returned with the pain that decision caused. “That
wasn’t so bad, was it? You’re kinda cute when you’re brooding.”

“And I’m sorry for whatever I stirred up in
you with that lashing.” Her smile faded, but Xander pressed on.
“‘Red would’ve been a blessing’. What’s that about?”

“I don’t remem—”

“Don’t bullshit me. What happened, Princess?
In your past, I mean. Who hurt you?”

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “You
want to talk about what happened to your last sub?” She paused a
beat and said, “Now, any more questions regarding this
mission?”

Xander took the hint and tried again with the
peace offering. “Mission’s over. Soon as you’re well enough to
travel, Phil will get you wherever you want to go—phones and toys
too. There’s cash in a duffel downstairs—call it guilt money for
compromising your place in Panama. For what it’s worth, you have my
word I won’t track you down.” He put the envelope and storage drive
on the bed beside her and bent over, placing a soft kiss on her
forehead. “Thank you, Princess.”

“Sit down.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your hearing going in your old age? Sit
down, Duquesne,” she commanded.

He frowned. “I think you’re forgetting
who’s—”

“Pretending to be your sub
still
doesn’t make you my Master, Xander.” She jerked her head toward the
chair. “Sit.”

Dropping into the seat, he set the laptop on
the floor.

“For starters, I don’t want your money. We
had a deal, “ Kizzie said. “I haven’t lived up to my end, and the
way I see it, you sorta saved my ass…twice. So, until you get
Harvey, I’m still on the team.”

Xander leaned to one side, working the smart
phone from his back pocket. “Job’s a bust.” Accessing the web, he
brought up the story he’d scoured during the long flight from
France and handed her the device.

“Massacre at Sokoviev Estate. Sacha Sokoviev
found dead…. Five others.... Overdose…
suicide?
” Kizzie
translated from the screen. Then she glanced accusingly at Xander.
“Did you kill him?”

“You said it yourself, the boss never gets
his hands dirty. And I had a meeting in Paris, remember? You can
check my passport if you want.” He held her penetrating gaze.
“Sacha didn’t have Harvey. He knew about it, but Nikolay didn’t
give it to him.”

“And you know this how?”

“There were things he couldn’t answer—things
he should have known. It started becoming clearer the more we
talked. His safes held nothing but cash; nothing on his
computer…I’m guessing he went back to Nikolay’s to find anything he
could about the bomb. So, the only other person with a hint of
knowledge on Harvey’s location is dead, which means it’s over. Go
home, Kizzie, wherever that’ll be.”

“Sacha knew nothing? Figures,” she said
absently, and then asked, “Are you familiar with the Japanese
concept of In-Yo?”

“That has to be the most random question at
the moment.”

Her brow knit thoughtfully. “Not so much.
Indulge me.”

“Let’s see…similar to Yin and Yang, except
the symbol is a small circle surrounded by a larger circle, said to
be the Sun-disc and the Crescent Moon. On the left is the
kanji
character ‘
tora
’—tiger—which represents nature
and earth. On the right is ‘
tatsu
’, the symbol for dragon,
representing the cosmos, and spirituality. Together they represent
dynamic balance.”

“Very good, young Padawan.”

“Thanks, Yoda. But that has nothing to do
with Harvey.”

Kizzie found a tone that mimicked his and
frowned. “Sounds like you’re questioning my method. Do I need to
take you over my knee, Master Duquesne?”

Xander barked a laugh, and then deadpanned,
“Not on your life. And you called me Master. I like that,
Princess.”

“It won’t happen again. Back to my point.
While you and all the other
big bad Masters
were off being…”
she waved her hand dismissively, “masterful, I was busy collecting
Intel.”

“Such as?” He braced his elbows on his
knees.

“For starters, Sumi, Sacha’s sub. Notice
anything odd about her?”

Xander shook his head. “Didn’t pay her much
attention.”

“Come on. A beautiful woman wearing skin and
ropes and you don’t pay her any attention?”

“I was busy ogling my own sub, if you must
know.” He smiled at the way her face flushed.

“Sumi is an interesting character, and much
more than she appears to be. Deceptively strong; like she was
trained in more than being a submissive. She managed to drug and
bind me, not something I’m proud of, but in my defense I had just
been lashed, and
you
gave me the water.” She winked at the
dig and continued. “She set the charges, knowing full-well that
Sacha was in the chamber. I was just bait—he was the fish. So who’s
the fisherman?”

Xander shrugged. “Million dollar
question.”

“I think I have an answer. Sumi has a couple
of tattoos, one of which is the In-Yo on her right shoulder blade.
In the position for tiger is the kanji character for mist. Know
what mist is in Japanese?”

“Kasumi…” Xander responded, unclear of her
point. He recovered the food and scooted the chair closer to her.
Settling the plate on his lap, he ignored the fork—sharp implements
were probably the last things Kizzie wanted to see—and broke off a
triangle of pita bread with his bare hands, using the kimaj to
scoop up the simple meal of lentils and rice. He held the morsel of
mujaddara to Kizzie’s mouth and she ate it without hesitation.

“That’s her real name—Kasumi. Now, in the
dragon position was a character that means...” she chewed the
mouthful, searching for the right word, “unbendable? No, more like
resistant to bending. A subtle difference.”

“Okay, that’s not really much to go on, Kiz.”
He repeated the ritual with the food, this time eating it
himself.

She smiled. “When Sacha was working me over,
he was in a rage about something. Wasn’t even seeing
me
.”

“I hear that happens when you’re hopped up on
coke, which is why I told you the plan had changed in the first
place. I wouldn’t leave you with him knowing he was unstable.”

“Yeah, but this was different. He kept
calling me ‘syestra’—sister. Always in some variation, ‘my filthy
sister’, ‘my bitch of a sister’, ‘I will find you, sister!’ He was
very angry with his sister. And Nikolay—no doubt about it he killed
his father. Can you call Phil in here?”

Xander frowned, remembering how Sacha had
referred to Zlata when he hit her and trying to follow the
scattered trail Kizzie was on. “Phil!” then to her, “Nikolay didn’t
have a daughter.”

“I’m pretty sure he did.” Another bite of
food was held to her mouth and she paused to accept it. “In the
dossier you gave me, Nikolay travelled to Japan a lot before Sacha
was ever born.”

“To meet with the guy who altering the RDX
for him.”

“Hiro Ohayashi—sounds masculine enough,
right? Naturally we assumed it was a male engineer, females being
rare for the time period. But Hiro was a bit of a rebel, working
with a Russian when, politically, Russo-Japanese relations were
strained. Who would think to look there?” She glanced up when Phil
entered. “Where’s Zlata?”

“Shaking a cola bottle.” Phil looked between
the two of them. “She’ll be pleased to see you’re feeding
yourself.”

Kizzie rolled her eyes. “Before this one
stole my phone again, I was accessing a…nonexistent government
database you two are going to forget I slipped up and hinted at.”
She stared pointedly as both men motioned like they were zipping
their lips.

“I was able to track Hiro’s movements and,
whaddaya know, came across a single entry about her giving birth to
a baby girl 33 years ago.”

Xander’s heart sped. “Where is she now?”

“That trail dried up. No mention of a name,
and shortly after the girl was born Hiro left Japan for territory
unknown. Which is why I asked for Phil.” She angled her head. “How
far is the range on that necklace?” The two men exchanged a look
and Kizzie smirked. “I’m not a secret agent just because I make a
nice honey pot. And the boobies are a dead giveaway that I actually
have
a brain. I knew you had a chip planted in the collar.
Thought I was gonna bail, didn’t you, Xander?”

“You did say she was capable.” Phil chuckled.
“RFID chip embedded in the lock. Need to be within two miles or so
to track it.”

“Can’t we amplify the range using a
network?”

Xander rubbed his chin. “Yeah, but it would
take time, unless we had a specific area we were covering.”

“Do it anyway, because after Kasumi kissed
me—”

“She kissed you?” Xander and Phil asked in
unison, surprised. “Damn,” Phil continued, “I always miss the good
parts.”

“Yes, she kissed me. If you two are done
brain-fucking that mental pic—

“Hold on,” Phil shut his eyes tight, a huge
smile on his face. “Oh, yeah….”

“I tried real hard to chew her tongue from
her mouth.”

He sighed morosely. “Well, you just ruined
that for me.”

“Happy to help. Now,
after
the less
than unimportant kiss,” Kizzie went on, “she unlocked the collar
and took it with her.”

“Wondered how you got it off,” Xander
murmured.

“You think Sacha didn’t know anything,” she
said, “and that Nikolay called him ‘the Black Russian’ because of
the evil in him. Being in his presence for an hour, I can see why
you’d make that mistake. Crazy son of a bitch and the powder didn’t
help. But I think Niko called him that because Sacha was in the
dark.

“How’s this sound: Sacha kidnaps his father,
tries to force the info about Harvey from him. Niko doesn’t tell
him but accidentally slips up and mentions this sister Sacha never
knew about. But that sister always knew about him—plants Kasumi in
his camp to watch his moves, waiting for the right time to get rid
of him. Even better if Niko’s original buyer is there to bite it,
too—you being a general pain in the ass and all, Duquesne.”

“Basket-of-puppies cute,” he deadpanned.

She chuckled. “I think for Niko, his eldest
son and daughter are his own personal versions of In and Yo, Yin
and Yang, dynamic balance.”

“One in the know, the other oblivious.”

She nodded. “Right now I’d bet money Kasumi
is wearing my collar—”

“
Your
collar?” Xander interrupted,
brow raised.