That made sense. If she grew up overseas, and had military parents, he assumed she’d have access to different experiences, more so than typical American children. She also spoke with no accent, not southern, nor northern. She was a puzzle, that was for sure. Her roommate seemed very loyal, Nobu. He was her techy and go to guy. He was the one that kept her operations running smoothly. He wished he had a techy. It would make his life a hell of a lot easier.
They were two different kinds of hitters. She had more at her disposal and the ability to go farther. And from the size of her apartment, she was doing damn good. He laughed and went to his easel, he felt the need to paint. He looked down at Jezebel and grinned. Perhaps he’d paint a two-legged cat.
SEVEN
Imani rounded a corner, she was sweating profusely, pushing herself. She was mad, goddamn spitting mad. A hit had been taken out on her and but for luck, she’d not been killed. She wanted to burn the fucking city down, she wanted to go on a rampage. Instead, she wore herself out with a hard run. She held four-inch-thick dowels in each hand. She gripped each hard, squeezing them. She kept these in her hand for protection. Running in Chicago was taking your life in your own hands and at this moment, she was looking for a fight. She was in a shady section of town, known drug activity there.
A grim smile slid across her face, her eyes burned bright as she approached a group of men. Please try to fuck with me, she thought. I want to beat the living dogshit out of someone. Please fuck with me. As she passed the group of men, she eyed them, looking into their eyes, hoping they would try to stop her. She felt almost let down when they stood back.
She didn’t know that her visage held such feral viciousness, that even they as predators saw something lethal coming their way. She was wanting to kill and it was stamped all over her face and her body, which had crouched slightly in an attack position, though she still moved and her speed had increased. She’d looked the men in their eyes and the men saw the ferocious wildness there. To a man, they’d all looked away.
Imani hissed in low anger, no takers here. She turned down another street, looking for more, but at each group she found, there were none that stopped her, nor interfered with her. She finally turned back home, disappointment weighing heavily in her heart. The two-hour run had helped, but her anger was now a simmer instead of a roiling boil.
She entered the apartment and went to her room. Stripping she walked into the shower and turned it on. She was hot and let the cool water wash the heat away from her. After ten minutes, she stepped from the shower, feeling a bit better. Her feelings were hurt she guessed. How could anyone put a hit on her? Wasn’t she the hitter? Wasn’t she above all that? Her ego had been kicked in the balls with a steel-toed boot. She now had to put her ego out of this equation, distancing her emotions from this.
Emotions got you killed or led you to stupid moves. With this, she could not afford to do so, but she assured herself, there would come a reckoning and when she got her capable hands on Lawbreaker, she’d tear him apart.
Ϫ
Imani stood in line to board her flight to Rome, she had another hit scheduled and it couldn’t have come at a better time. She needed a break from the Lawbreaker bullshit. Nobu was busting his ass and working his way through the muddled waters of the darknet and getting inside the white house, which is where this hunt was heading. It was someone inside the government or someone who had access to a government computer.
She had her Gwen Chance nom de plume, long brown hair, glasses and feminine. Her passport listed her as American. She was wearing a dress, with low heels. She had her faithful satchel, but it had a brown and blue cover over it. It looked more like a purse than a satchel. The ticket agent was smiling at the people ready to board, then Imani felt a hand touch her elbow, she looked around and her eyes widened behind the glasses.
“What are you doing here?” She hissed in a low voice, her eyes looking around her.
Haiden grinned at her, his light gray eyes crinkling with mischief.
“I stopped by earlier to see you, see what progress was made. Nobu said you were heading out to Rome. He suggested I might want to go along, to watch your back.” He sniggered softly.
“What?” She didn’t raise her voice, but those around her looked. She bit her lip and gave him a hateful look then turned her back on him. She could feel her face heating up and it pissed her off.
“He is really concerned for you, you know. You’re lucky to have someone like him.” Haiden said softly to the back of her head.
“You needn’t have come, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I don’t need a babysitter.” She turned and hissed, looking over the top of her glasses.
He shrugged and grinned, and she turned back around.
“I said I was sorry honey. I didn’t mean to be late. Please don’t be mad at me.” He whined loudly and she swung around, her face now
