Chapter 3

• Chapter Three
• She chuckled, turning to her side to face him, “I think we’ll find each other again, like we always do.”
• He smiled, his eyes still closed, “Good. I’m not about to give up this high anytime soon. In our line of work, I think we deserve it. We are technically not breaking any rules.”
• She rolled back onto her back, her smile slipping, “I don’t have any rules to break, but I’m sure you do.”
• He patted her naked thigh, “Hey, I’m good at what I do. No one will find out.”
• “For your sake, I hope so.” She was sitting up when the sound of glass breaking filled the room. She went to reach for her knife, but Derek had already rolled on top of her, his gun pulled and pointed out the window.
• “Derek?”
• “Stay still. Someone just shot at us from your room.” His voice was hard, harsh. They were back to business. It was good to see his recovery time was mere seconds.
• She looked at the hole that was in the window and followed the trajectory to where the bullet must have ended up in the wall. Smoke was coming from the hole it made in the wall. Evaporating bullets. Ellsa.
• She pushed at Derek, he was heavy and she loved his weight on her but they’d run out of time. “That’s just my partner telling me it’s time to leave. Get off Derek.”
• He rolled away and sat on the floor, gun still in hand as he pulled his jeans closer to him. “Let me guess, the White Widow? She’s new, isn’t she?”
• Katarina stood and quickly began to get dressed. Ellsa wasn’t new she’d been in the game for a while and was an expert at hiding her identity. She had loved one’s to protect, more so now that she had recently changed her campaign, her nom de guerre with it. She’d been known as the Zodiac’s Widow for years. She used to be that thing that went bump in the middle of a moonless night before she put a hole in a target’s head and since she had the kid, she’d gotten even better at hiding her identity. Her killings were also different. They were now justified, no longer just a job. A few weeks ago she’d successfully turned Katarina. Now they hid the would-be victims of meaningless deaths and took out those who deserved to die. For all their sakes, Vladimir needed to keep believing that Katarina was the same old same Jackie the Ripper.
• “You could say that.” once fully dressed, she slipped her knife back into her boot and laughed at Derek’s stupid-me face.
• “Should have checked those,” dressed only in his jeans, he stood and approached her, “Next time I will.”
• She shook her head keeping a foot long distance between them. If she had any hope of leaving, he couldn’t touch her, “I don’t think there will be a need. We’re in agreement now.”
• One knowing brow went up, “Oh yeah? What if you were sent to kill me?”
• She shook her head. If he only knew the kind of firepower he had on his side, watching his back.
• “You have two very dangerous women watching your back. No one will ever come close enough.” Katarina hated that she sounded so sappy, but she meant every word. Hanging out with Ellsa was thawing out the ice bloke that was her heart.
• Raised brow he asked, “Two? I’m guessing you and the White Widow? Why because I’m—”
• His eyes widened and she knew it was time to go. She began to walk toward the door, but he caught her arm and pulled her back.
• “Damn it to hell! When did you do it? Before or after you came here?” he growled, his eyes glowing with rage.
• Katarina just smiled back, “I think it was while we were having sex. You really didn’t think you guys could keep Cornelius from us, did you?”
• He grumbled under his breath and swiped his hand across his face. He glared down at her, his jaw working overtime. The fact that he was mad about that animal’s death pissed her off.
• She yanked her arm out of his grip, “You better be pissed off about something else and not that fucker’s death or I may just rethink killing you.”
• “Katarina, he was my assignment. He had information-”
• “Keeping the devil that experimented and killed hundreds of kids alive was your assignment?” She yelled cutting him off, “That better be the CIA talking and not you.”
• He exhaled loudly, “My boss isn’t going to like this. But as me, I say he deserved much worse than a bullet to the head.”
• Katarina relaxed and smiled, “If I know my friend well, there was nothing quick about his death. Besides, losing your job at the CIA won’t be so bad. They are worse than terrorist as far as I’m concerned.” His eyes bore into her and Katarina knew his next question, “I’m sure your fellow spooks are okay.”
• He sighed and nodded. “Good, I like my job,” then he reached for her and pulled her into his arms, “Besides, I like the excitement of sleeping with the enemy. We’ll lose that if I get fired.”
• She shook her head, “You’re a junkie for danger Derek Silva.” She went on her tiptoes and gave him a quick—well what started as quick and was quickly escalating to a strong need to get naked again— kiss before she pulled away and quickly moved to the door. “See you soon spook.”
• “We are going to have loads of fun Kitty Kat. Don’t let anyone else touch that sexy body, I promise I’ll make the wait worth it.”
• She looked at him one final time and saw the promise in his eyes that made her tremble, “I don’t believe in promises but… I might make an exception for you.”
• ****
• Once the door was shut behind her, Derek quickly grabbed a long sleeved black shirt that clung to his solid frame. He slid on his gloves then his ski mask, but he didn’t pull it over his face. He opened the door wide enough to spy through. He had a room close to the elevators and stairway emergency exist just in case shit went down and he needed a quick exit. Katarina stopped at the furthest elevator. She pressed the down button. It was a few minutes wait before the doors opened and she stepped in. Immediately the doors closed, he ran for the stairway and ran down nine flights of stairs to the ground floor. He stopped at the door, hands on his hips and bent over his waist breathing heavily. He was hot and sweaty too, two more reasons why he hated running. Once he got his breathing under control, he stealthily made his way out of the building through the service entrance. He’d just stepped out the back door and stayed in the shadows of the alley when he spotted Katarina, sliding into a black 2009 Porsche 911 GT3. He whistled as he admired the luxury vehicle. It was Porsche’s latest model and not even released for delivery to the public. He was still waiting for his own. Company funded of course. Anything to keep him happy and loyal. That’s why he liked being the best agent available.
• How did Katarina get her hands on one of these babies so soon?
• He had a crush on Jackie the Ripper ever since their first crossing a year ago. She was sent to kill someone he was protecting in-transit to the home office to give the Company all his dirty little secrets, just like Cornelius. He’d managed to protect that shithead until they got to American soil. But just a day after Derek had handed his custody over to the CIA, they found him dead in his cell, a knife sitting pretty in his spinal column. It killed him slowly as he lay there paralyzed, helpless and afraid and Derek just knew it was her. Since then, if there was a mission that involved killing or protecting human scum like Cornelius, he always made sure to throw his hat in during selection. His crush on her had grown ten folds after their roll on the carpet a few minutes ago and now, seeing her slide into the driver seat of that beautiful creation, he was going to be in constant heat for her.
• The other woman who’d vacated the driver seat, dressed like Katarina in tight leather, came around the back of the car to get to the passenger’s side. He could only see part of her profile and the back of her head. Her hair was held in a thick long braid that stopped in the middle of her back. It actually added to her sex appeal.
• Is she the White Widow? And is it a requirement for the Black Widows to be so damn hot?
• She opened the door and slid in. Once her door was shut and her window wound down, she stuck her hand out and waved back at him.
• “Damn it!” Derek stepped out of the shadows and waved back.
• “Derek.” His team member’s voice came through his earpiece, “We have a problem.”
• “Don’t I know it,” he whispered to himself as he watched the Porsche’s taillights. Katarina made the car purr then accelerated and skidded onto the main road.