Page 99 of Ruthless

The same Franco Bass he’d zeroed in on during his research into the Wren Project. The Bass organization was apparently up to their eyeballs in this. That knowledge did not make him feel the least bit better. These people were well funded, which meant they would likely have scores of soldiers on hand, just waiting for an attack.

He had three things going for him. First, Alex and his friends likely thought he was dead. Second, he had the support of Option Zero operatives who were on a different level than most trained militia. And third and most important, Eve was still alive. The tracker he’d injected her with was monitoring her heart rate. It had increased significantly several times, but her heart was still beating, which meant she was not only very much alive, but she was also awake.

Those bastards had no idea who they had in their midst. She was a one-woman army on her own. He’d put his money on her anytime, any place, against anyone.

Now that they were aware that Alex was the traitor, the king had implemented safety measures for himself, his brother, his entire cabinet, as well as Parliament. Even if Alexandre somehow succeeded in killing off everyone who had a claim on the throne and evaded capture, he’d never be allowed to be king.

What happened to Eve’s brother in the end would be totally up to her. Gideon knew what he wanted to do, but this would be Eve’s call. She had the right to make it.

As far as Dirk Bennett was concerned, Gideon had made a mistake the first time by not taking the bastard out. He wouldn’t make the same one again.

He glanced down at his side and grimaced. That was, if he didn’t bleed out before he got to him. The bullet was still in there, and though he didn’t believe it had damaged anything vital, the wound was still oozing more blood than he’d like. He’d found one of the attackers’ duffel bag on the helicopter and had used a clean T-shirt to staunch the flow. Still, he was going to need some medical attention soon.

The blip on the screen tracking Eve sped up. She wasn’t moving, but her heartbeat had increased considerably. Whatever was going on, he prayed he was in time to help her deal with it.

* * *

The instant Dirk limped into the room, Eve burst out laughing. She couldn’t help herself. Karma was real, and it was a beautiful thing. Dirk’s nose was twice its normal size and skewed decidedly to the left. Both his eyes were rimmed with bruises, and his lips were swollen. In the midst of all the hurt and betrayal, she felt her spirits lift a little at seeing her handiwork up close and personal. And the limp he’d been left with from Gideon’s bullet? Icing on the cake.

“Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it, Bennett?”

The fury in the man’s dull green eyes might have made someone who didn’t know him want to run and hide. She knew this asshole. At heart, he was a coward. She would use that to bring him down.

“You’ll pay for what you’ve done,” he snarled.

“Now, Dirk. Even you, with your small, petty mind should be able to see the humor. Perhaps they’ll give you a new nose in prison.” She winked and added, “I can send you photo suggestions if you like.”

“I’ll never go back to prison.”

She took in the man who had once starred in her nightmares. She rarely thought about him anymore. Thinking about him would give him power over her, and there was no way in hell he’d ever have any kind of influence over her ever again.

Prison had not been kind to him. He looked twenty years older than he was, his hair was thinning drastically, and he had a slight paunch. He looked nothing like the handsome and charming man who had so maliciously deceived her and almost killed her years ago.

“How long did you actually serve?”

“Too long.”

“How did you get out?”

“Friends in high places.”

“My brother helped you?”

“But of course. We’ve been best friends for years.”

She was still coming to terms with Alexandre’s evilness. The unbelievable pain he had caused their family would never be eased. The only thing left to do was to get justice for those he’d killed. But first, she needed information. Alex had been eager to brag, and she felt she had a good handle on how everything had gone down. But there was one big thing she still needed to know. Who had funded this plan? It had taken some major money and influence to carry this off.

“Good job keeping that a secret.”

“Why, thank you.”

Ah, flattery. The surest way to a sociopath’s heart. “Alex said you set all of this in motion. Impressive.”

“Turns out, prison was a great place to network.”

“Who’s the guy who replaced you in prison?”

“Some guy. I never asked. Asshole’s dead now, so it doesn’t really matter.”