Page 41 of Kane

Malcolm laughed as he unzipped the bag and rifled through the small baggies inside. “Heh. Let ‘em wonder.” He held up one small baggie and shook it. “No one ever figured out we put the ungrateful prick in power. They’ll never know we took him down. But we will reap the benefits, boys.”

He refused to let the disgust show on his face. The memory of a young Sucre at the table the night of the fire was as fresh in his mind as if it happened yesterday.

“Call everyone in, Scott,” his father said as he returned the heroin to the black duffel. “It’s time to talk distribution.”

CHAPTER TEN

Amanda

Amanda itched to smooth her hands over the fabric of her black slacks, but her fingers were clutched around the copy of Joshua’s birth certificate Mike had given her the day before. Her palms were damp; God, she hated how her body betrayed her anxiety. Maybe Kane wouldn’t be able to tell.

Yeah right. The man had always been able to see right through her. Well, almost always.

She took a deep breath, trying to steady her pounding heart as she walked through the front door of the worksite.

Clipboard in hand, Xander’s assistant, Robby, made a beeline straight for her. “Miss Griffin, I didn’t realize you would be here today. Xander’s not on site.” His voice hardly wavered at all.

She steeled her expression, trying to mask her own nerves. “It’s not a scheduled visit. I have some papers for Kane Hale. Where can I find him?”

The hammering around her came to a stop, and suddenly the eyes of every man in the room were on her. The big guy, Kane’s friend Brick, one of the men who got shot, walked toward her. His eyes swept over her with the kind of judgment she saw from the nuns at her Catholic high school.

She returned his frank stare with a look fashioned to turn water into ice.

He seemed unimpressed. “Follow me.”

Brick led her out back where Kane was cutting a two-by-four with an electric saw. He turned back and left her there without a word.

Kane glanced up as if sensing her presence. He turned off the machine and removed the glasses he’d had on to protect his eyes. “I wasn’t sure you were going to come.”

“You didn’t give me much choice.” Her eyes darted around the back porch as she grasped for a calm she couldn’t quite reach. “I don’t want to do this here. Can you step out for lunch?”

He grunted. “You’re the boss.” He took off his hard hat, then ran his hand over his beard, knocking off the tiny bits of wood settled there.

Leave it to Kane to make it sound like an insult. “I assume you don’t want to share our personal history with the crew any more than I do.” Though judging by the way Brick looked at her, he already had some idea. “I passed a Panera on the way here.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Would you rather the Waffle House?” she huffed. “It doesn’t matter where we go, Kane.”

“Panera’s fine,” he growled. Giving her his back, he stalked around the side of the house. By the time she made it back out front, he and his bike were gone.

I guess I’m meeting him there.

It was probably for the best they weren’t riding together anyway. Kane would no doubt take up all the air in the car—and she absolutely was not riding on the back of his motorcycle.

It was a moot point anyway. The Panera was only a few miles away, and his bike was outside when she arrived. The packed lot and the fight for a parking spot only added to her growing tension. She tried to shake it off as she strode inside.

The Ice Queen mask wouldn’t work for this, but maybe something like it. Something brisk, but honest. He deserved whatever honesty she could give. She simply needed to control her rioting emotions.

Kane waited at a corner booth, his jaw clenched and fingers drumming on the table. There were two drinks in front of him.

She took the opposite seat and slid Joshua’s birth certificate toward his hand.

He picked it up and scanned it quickly, gripping the paper tightly enough to wrinkle the sides before he put it back down. “This could be doctored.”

She reached into her satchel and dug out a packet of family photos. Christmas pictures showing Mike and Charlie, smiling next to Mom with her growing belly. Then Mom by herself in her last trimester. One of Charlie on his knees, kissing her stomach. There were about a dozen in all.

Kane flipped through them, dispassionately at first, his face slowly morphing into a sad acceptance. “You’re not in any of these pictures.”