Return of the Assassin (All the King's Men) by Donya Lynne Read Free Book Online

manage such an arrangement with the assassin's keepers?"
    "Part of my arrangement with Jacob and his partner, Haslet, was that their precious commodity never learn that they sold Maddox to me. Using Maddox is how they keep the assassin compliant. And the other part of the arrangement was that I be allowed to use their assassin's services any time I need them."
    Royce made a thoughtful noise. "And now we need them."
    Not "we," asshole. Me.
    "Yes." Bishop lifted his abandoned Sobranie and took a healthy drag, letting the exquisite smoke fill his lungs before exhaling through his nose.
    "When will this hit take place, Bishop? You know time is of the essence."
    Bishop rolled his eyes at his own reflection in the mirror. Nag, nag, nag. And bitch. That was all Royce did: bitch and nag. Royce needed to get out of Bishop's way…out of the way of progress.
    "Jacob is arriving tonight to personally claim the totems Apostle brings from their homes. Then it's just a matter of returning to West Virginia and giving them to the assassin."
    "Very well. Have them call you when the job is done, and then I want you to call me. I don't want any surprise inquiries from King Bain about how two of his dreck prisoners, who were implicated in his daughter's abduction, ended up dead while locked in his dungeon."
    Blah, blah, blah. Bishop flapped his fingers as if mimicking a puppet. "Of course. You'll be the first person I call."
    Bishop disconnected and settled his cigarette between his lips as he admired his reflection. True, the destruction of his Arizona lab had been a setback, and months of research and advances had been destroyed, but at least his personal experiments were coming along, and he still had his precious plaything, the petite, blond mixed-blood who captivated his thoughts even now, so all was not lost. Once he replenished his store of test subjects—which would be easier now that his new lab was so much closer to Chicago, as well as to several prime East Coast cities like New York—he could get his research back on track. And once he accomplished that, he could formulate his plan for taking Royce's place as the drecks' new ruler.
    Now…where was Apostle with those totems?
    * * *
    Apostle parked and got out of the car he had purchased with the money he'd finally hacked out of his old bank account. Being pronounced dead over two months ago had made accessing his funds a bit challenging, but not impossible.
    He locked the Mustang's door and tucked the felt bag that held Grotek's and Chane's badges inside his jacket, and then headed toward the entrance of the hotel. The local news had been running stories about the missing Chicago police officers for days, but they would never be found. Not with what Bishop had planned for them. Grotek and Chane would end up in the unsolved crimes file, and there they would remain for eternity.
    Grotek and Chane might have been dreck drug dealers, but they operated under the guise of CPD cops, like many in the underground dreck community did. If humans only knew the truth about the infiltration of their law enforcement, police corruption would make more sense to them.
    Apostle hated losing two of his dealers, but such was the casualty of doing business according to Bishop's rules. Rules Apostle questioned more and more every day.
    As he rounded the corner and entered the hotel's lobby, he scratched his chest through his shirt and jacket. The latest round of punishment by genetically altered scorpion stings still itched like a bitch and put Apostle in a foul mood. Too bad the vile creatures hadn't been lost in the destruction of Bishop's old lab. But noooo, Bishop just had to save his precious nasties so he could subject Apostle to their deadly stings and the horrid side effects.
    Apostle wasn't sure how much more he could take of his brother, his moods, and his whack-o experiments. The fucker was altering his own genetic makeup, for Chrissakes! Bishop couldn't hide the changes taking over his body.