Eventually, he pulled out his phone and told someone to “Come on up.”
Within two minutes, two men entered the apartment. It took me a second to realize they were the same men who’d led me into Posner’s office when he introduced me to Alan.
“Keep an eye on her. I’m going to go shower,” Posner ordered and left me in their hands.
One of the men stood near me and the other stood near the door.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said.
“We know,” the man nearest to me said.
It was a tense thirty minutes while Posner was absent. When he came back, he’d changed clothes and his hair was still wet. He had his phone to his ear and walked directly toward me.
“One moment,” he said into the phone and held it out for me to take.
I reached for it and he grabbed my wrist with his other hand. He wrenched and twisted, making me turn in my seat.
“It’s DeLange,” he said and handed the phone to the goon still standing near me.
“Put it on speaker,” he said then grabbed me by my hair to make me stand up.
“DeLange?”
“Yes, Posner,” Colin’s voice was icy as it came through the speaker.
Posner slugged me in the gut, making me groan and fall to my knees.
“I’m just getting started,” Posner said.
“Even if I had Alan, I can’t trade with terrorists,” Colin said.
Posner grabbed me by my hair again and punched me hard in the face. I felt the initial impact but didn’t feel anything more until my head hit the cream colored tile.
“Alex?” Colin’s voice ached with anxiety.
I couldn’t catch my breath enough to speak.
Posner kicked me.
“Speak to your master, bitch,” he said.
I managed a light groan.
“Give her a second. I hit her pretty hard. She’ll come around in a second or two,” Posner told Colin.
“I’ve heard enough,” Colin said. “I told you I don’t have Alan. Do what you have to.”
He was trying to sound resolute, but I’d heard Colin try to hide his emotion over the phone before and knew that’s what he was doing. He was already mourning my death. I should have known better than to come here unarmed.
Mark’s voice sounded far away when he said, “I guess you don’t have the respect of your own men, then. I’ll be calling them next.”
I WOKE UP TO A cool feeling. It took me a few seconds to remember what had happened and realize the cool feeling was the cool tile of the floor. I tried to move, but I hurt all over. I couldn’t stop the groan that escaped as I tried to push myself up with my hands. I could see a dried pool of blood on the floor in front of me. It must be mine because my face was stuck to the floor.
It hurt like hell, but I managed to lift myself.
“Ah. There you are. Did you have a nice nap?” Posner asked from the couch.
“Kiss my ass,” I managed to say.
It sounded funny because my cheek was swollen.
“That’s a good girl. Don’t ever give up,” Posner said.
“I should have never trusted you,” I said and spit more blood on his floor.
“You’re going to have to clean up your mess,” he said.
“It’s your mess,” I said.
He laughed.
“I guess you’re right. But you’re wrong about trusting me. I’m the only one you can trust. You might have to take a couple for the team, but I won’t kill you. Mr. DeLange left you hanging. We’ll get Alan back and things will be as they should be. If DeLange can’t be controlled, you can take him out like you did your father.”
I’d almost forgotten he still thought I’d killed my father.
“Where are your bodyguards?” I asked.
“They went out to get us some lunch. Don’t worry. They’ll bring back something soft for you.”
He turned his head back to the television.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
I’d arrived in Rio in the early evening and he was sending his guys out for lunch already.
“Several hours. I thought I’d let you sleep. You’re going to need your strength,” he said.
“Why? You going to beat on me some more?”
“No. You need to heal up, but I will want some pictures of that beautiful bruise on your face before the swelling goes down,” he said over his shoulder.
I looked around for the pistol he’d had. It didn’t seem to be near him anymore. I had to have it. It was the only way I was going to kill him and I had to find it before his buddies came back.
“I’m going to go clean up,” I said and moved toward the bathroom.
“Make it quick,” he said.
The bathroom was only accessible through the bedroom and this was where he’d recovered the weapon so I searched the room for another.
“I don’t hear any water running. What are you doing in there?” he called from the couch.
“I’m looking for a weapon,” I said.
“None in there. Get cleaned up and we’ll talk about rearming you when you get out.”
What the hell was up with this guy? Maybe Alan came by his insanity honestly. Didn’t Posner know that if I got my hands on a weapon, he was dead?
I went into the bathroom and was horrified by my reflection. The entire left side of my face was swollen and covered with blood.
I found a washcloth and turned the cold water on.
“You sure you don’t want a picture with me covered in blood?” I said loud enough for Posner to hear me over the running water and his television.
“That’s actually a great idea. Get out here,” he said.
“You’re kidding me? I wasn’t serious,” I said.
“I am. Get out here. And bring a cool washcloth out with you.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t win. Maybe I was meant to live the rest of my life under his thumb. No matter what I did, no matter how I threatened him, he took it all in stride and turned it to his own advantage.
Still, I did as he said and brought out a cool, damp washcloth.
He stood from the couch with his phone.
“Go sit next to the blood on the floor,” he said as he pointed to the putrid mess.
I gave him an evil look as I sat near the grotesque scene.
“Perfect,” he said as he snapped a picture. “Now come here and I’ll help you out.”
“I really don’t want you to touch me,” I said.
“Of course, you don’t. I’m the one who inflicted the pain. Now you have to let me be the one to soothe the pain so we can rebuild our trust.”
“You’ve never trusted me,” I said as I handed him the washcloth.
“Sit down, Alex.”
He indicated the chair I’d been sitting in last night.
“And I never will trust you,” he said. “I don’t trust Alan, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have the confidence that he’ll do what’s right. So will you, Alex. You were trained to do what’s right.”
I winced as he started to wipe away the blood.
“If you didn’t question my authority I’d be disappointed. It’s in your nature to question things. If you hadn’t questioned what was right, you’d still be with White and Associates. You proved to me that you have what it takes to be a part of my family. I don’t trust, but I have faith and conviction. I don’t think you have faith yet, but you certainly have conviction.”
“You have no idea how I was trained,” I said.
“Yes, I do. The same men who trained you trained with me. Slade, your father, they trained beside me. They learned their methods the same place I learned mine. I know how you were trained. Your father didn’t let up until you got it right. Slade pushed you past your limits until you could keep up and then he pushed even harder. I know how it works. That’s how Alan was trained. Some of us excel and some are just as good as they want to be. They don’t keep pushing themselves. You’re not one of those people. You
never accept anything for being the best it could be. You push for better.”
“I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed in me, Mark,” I said.
“That’s why I have faith. You want to please me,” he said.
I smiled as best I could and pulled the pistol from Posner’s belt. I stood from the chair and put some distance between us.
“Does this please you?” I asked as I pointed the weapon at his face. “A Beretta, just like mine.”
Just then the apartment door opened and the two guards walked in, arms filled with brown paper bags.
Posner lunged for me, but I hit him hard on the side of the head and then shot both men before they could pull their weapons.
I had the Beretta trained on Posner again before he could recover from the pistol-whipping.
I pulled the trigger and shot him in the knee.
He screamed as he fell into the puddle of blood I’d left earlier.
“Shut up,” I said with hate, but it sounded stupid because of my swollen face.
He continued to scream so I threatened to shoot his other knee.
The threat got him to be quiet as I walked to the front door and shut it.
“We’re going to have a little conversation before I kill you, Posner. I just want you to know what you’ve been dealing with all this time and why you should have never had faith, conviction, hopes or expectations for anything but this outcome.”
He nodded while he shot his own hateful looks at me. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face and it pissed me off.
“You’re a disgusting pig,” I said. “I don’t know what you told your son, but he’s a raving lunatic. He needs to be put down.”
Posner’s lip curled up in a remarkably similar way to Alan’s expression I’d seen back at White and Associates.
“I probably shouldn’t give you a long monologue. The bad guy always gets caught while delivering his monologue. But, I’m okay with that. If I’m really a bad guy and I get caught, so be it. But, if I’m still a good guy, I figure I can get away with it.”
I put my foot on top of his hands holding his knee and pressed down.
“Don’t scream,” I said. “You know what? I did learn something from you. I learned how to put aside my feelings while doing a job, and not just before I pull the trigger, but in times like these. I don’t think I could have done this before I met you. Thanks for that,” I said.
I lifted my foot off his knee.
“Here’s the deal. There’s a contract out on you and has been since before you paid me to kill my own father. I’m the only one with the contract, but I always get my man.”
I walked to the table and grabbed a napkin. Then I walked over to Posner and stuck my finger into his wound.
He groaned and I reminded him that I’d shoot him in his other knee if he made any noise. Another bead of sweat trickled down his cheek.
I wrote one word on the napkin and waved it in the air to dry the blood.
“While you were training Alan to be the biggest madman on the planet my father was busy training me to kill people like Alan and you. You have no clue what you stumbled across do you?”
I waited for him to answer. Finally, he realized it wasn’t a rhetorical question and started talking.
“I know who you are. You’re Stanton’s girl. I should have killed you. You’re right. I shouldn’t have had faith in you. You were too good to be true, you’re a Stanton, through and through.”
I laughed.
“Still no clue, Mark,” I said and shook my head sadly.
“I blame my father for what happened to White, but I blame you more. If White hadn’t been working for you, trying to recover your cracked offspring, he would never have been in the position for my father’s troops to take him out. So, you deserve this more than my father did. And, just so you know, I didn’t kill the Admiral. It was a setup. He’s alive and well sitting quietly at White and Associates until I fulfill my latest contract.”
“So you were a spy from the beginning,” Posner spit at me.
“Actually, I wasn’t. You know those outside jobs I told you about? The ones that White knew about and the rest of my partners had a problem with? That really happened. I was truly on the outside of White and Associates when I came to Mesa. I was also completely unaware of who you really were or what your company stood for. I was simply looking for work. I’d been blacklisted and my handler had turned on me. Mesa was my only hope for a job. My titles had been stripped. I still used the name from time to time, but I was no longer Ms. Grey. My father shut me out, so I was no longer a Stanton. I even lost this identity,” I said as I flicked the napkin at him.
It fluttered to the floor next to him and he picked it up with a bloody hand.
“Penumbra?”
His face was horrified for a split second then he started to laugh.
“You can’t be Penumbra. He was making kills before you were born.”
“I inherited the title. My mother was Penumbra before me. The one person in the world who has never let me down, besides White, is my mother. I won’t let her down by letting your contract slide. I already have several kills under my belt with that name and I have something else I need to thank you for. Penumbra went dormant for a long time, but you reawakened her with your training. If it weren’t for you, Penumbra would no longer exist. You are my ticket back into the job.”
“We can make a deal, Alex,” he said.
“No, we can’t. I don’t give in to terrorists either.” I raised the pistol and fired.
Chapter Thirty-One
I SAT AT THE TABLE for a few minutes before I took Mark’s phone from his pocket and snapped a picture of him with it. Then I sent it to Green’s phone with the text, “Job’s done. Tell the Admiral I want my access back.”
I walked over to the two dead men near the door and gathered up the bags they’d been carrying and set them on the kitchen counter. Most of the stuff was covered in blood, but the soft food Posner had promised me had remained unscathed. It was a container of, still warm, oatmeal. I took a few bites before my phone rang.
“Alex,” Green said after I’d said hello.
“Yes?”
“Did you just send me a picture of Posner?”
“Yep, that was me.”
“It didn’t come from your phone,” he said. “I couldn’t be sure.”
“Well, now you know. Do you have my access code?”
“You sound strange. Are you okay?” He ignored my question.
“I’m fine. Posner smacked me around a bit when he was talking to Colin. Now my face is a little swollen. It’ll be okay. My access?”
“Where are you? We’ll come get you. If your face is swollen, Blue should look at it.”
“Damn it, Green. Are you my handler or my babysitter? I want my damn access back. Go get it and then call me back,” I said.
“The Admiral’s right here. I’ll let you talk to him. He said he’ll only give it to you directly.”
“Good. Put him on.”
“Alex?” The Admiral said.
“Yes. My access as promised? And we need to discuss payment as well,” I said.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes. I already went through this with Green and I don’t want to do it again. Are you going to give me my access back or not?”
“Yes. I’ll give it to you, but I’m worried about you. I can’t give you any more jobs until you’ve sat down with Red. The things you said to Alan. Were they true?”
“Every bit,” I said. “But I don’t want you to worry about me. I just want my access back and then I plan to take a vacation from work.”
“I’m your father. It’s my job to worry about you,” he said.
“Admiral.”
I purposely used his title.
“It’s no longer your place to worry about me. Is that clear?”
“No. It’s not clear. I know you’re pissed off at me, but you have to get past it or it’ll eat you
alive. You have to sit down with Red.”
“The only thing eating me alive is the fact that I don’t have my access. You promised and I want it. And,” I added, “I damn well better get paid for the job I just completed. I got my ass kicked on this one and there’s no way it’s going to be a freebie. And one more thing, my handler gets ten percent of my fee. And you pay the ten percent, it doesn’t come out of my pay.”
I threw the last part in just because he was irritating me.
The line was quiet for a full fifteen seconds and then he rattled off a set of numbers.
“Thanks. Please put Green back on the line,” I said.
“I promised you a full recovery and that’s what you’ll have when you get home. Just get yourself back in one piece. Everything will be exactly as you hoped. I promise,” he said before getting off the line.
When Green came back on I told him of my new deal I’d made for him and told him I’d be in touch when I was ready. He tried to argue and ask more questions so I hung up on him.
I ate a couple more bites of the oatmeal as I turned on the computer sitting on the desk in the corner. Then my phone rang again. This time, it was Colin.
“What can I do for you, Colin?” I asked.
“I needed to hear your voice. I thought last night was the last time I’d ever talk to you. What did Posner do to you? It sounded brutal. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to stop it or that I was unable to promise Alan in exchange for you.”
“I’ll be fine, Colin. No need to worry. The bigger picture. Remember? Besides, I’ve had some good training. I can handle myself,” I said.
He let out a sigh.
“Your dad called and said you’d completed the job. You need to tell me where so we can send in our own team to do the cleaning and investigating. If there are any traces of you on this one it could be troublesome.”
I’d been busy typing in my new database access code as Colin talked and the information I’d been wanting loaded up on the screen.
The report on the attempted breach of Alan’s cell was right in front of me. Posner had been right. All of the men involved in the operation were identified and the name Rick Malone, A.K.A. Mr. White, was at the top of the list.
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