Read Online Acquainted With the Night (9781101546000) by Piper Maitland - Free Book Online

can’t risk another botched assignment.”
    â€œI’ll use chloroform this time. And I’ll get your samples in half a tick.”
    â€œSorry, I can’t trust you.”
    â€œSure you can.” Moose opened his fists and tapped his fingers. Right to left. Left to right.
    â€œYou don’t get it, do you?” Wilkerson cried. “This murder is all over the news. I can’t afford another mistake. Mistakes lead to scandals. Scandals attract journalists. My company could end up on the BBC.”
    â€œSo?” Moose’s eyebrows went up. “I thought you liked publicity.”
    â€œA scandal would wreck my company. Worse, you and I could be locked up at Her Majesty’s pleasure.”
    â€œQuit borrowing trouble, mate.” Moose’s fingers moved in a blur, tapping against the mirror. Wilkerson was a chinless wonder with a knack for turning pills and face creams into money. Lots of money.
    Wilkerson pressed the intercom button. “Sandra?”
    â€œYes, Mr. Wilkerson?” answered a woman.
    â€œHave the Zuba brothers arrived?”
    â€œY-yes, sir,” the receptionist said, her voice quavering.
    Moose’s head jerked up. He knew about those blokes. They weren’t just assassins; they were sadists. Their victims didn’t plead for their lives, they begged for death.
    The door opened and two men walked into the room. They had cropped, platinum hair and icy blue eyes. One wore a tweed jacket over a pink T-shirt; the other wore a Burberry sweater and ragged jeans.
    They smiled.
    Moose jumped out of his chair and backed up against the window. Stone the bloody crows, those teeth. They’d been filed.
    â€œTake him,” Wilkerson said.
    The men’s reflections moved along the mirrored table. Moose grabbed the chair and shoved it through the window. The glass ruptured, clattering to the floor. He leaped through the jagged opening and plunged three stories. He landed feet first on an overhang. That was lucky for him. But it was also lucky for the Zubas.
    He bolted toward the fire escape. His right foot snagged on a metal pipe and he toppled over. He heard a crack and pain exploded in his leg. He pulled up his trouser—no protruding bones—and got to his feet. He limped to the fire escape. By the time he reached the ground, his ankle was throbbing. Above him, the fire escape rattled as the Zubas climbed down.
    Moose hobbled off into an alley. In the distance, he saw the Hungerford Bridge. He shambled to the Thames and jumped. The dark water clamped over his head like an iron lid. He couldn’t stop, couldn’t rest. Just keep going, mate. You had to play when you were wounded.

CHAPTER 9
    HOTEL USTRA
KARDZHALI, BULGARIA
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    After the meeting, Velikov insisted upon searching Caro’s room. His coat rippled as he strode to the window and flattened the curtains, presumably making sure no one was crouched behind them. He opened the closet and swept one hand over the coat hangers. His eyebrows quirked and he turned into the bathroom. Caro jumped when the shower curtain hooks scraped over the metal rod.
    He stepped back into the hall. “Make sure you bolt the door tonight.”
    â€œWhy?” She crossed her arms, trying to decide if she’d brought this on with her silliness over the man in the bar or if the extra security was related to Uncle Nigel’s murder.
    â€œI have four grown daughters,” Velikov said. “And the world is wicked.”
    The moment he left, Caro sat on the bed and rang Jude’s room. When he didn’t pick up, she felt a pinch of disappointment. She hung up and stretched bonelessly across the bed. Above her, the ceiling squeaked as someone paced back and forth, shouting in Russian.
    â€œZavali yebalo!” a man yelled.
    â€œNyet,” a female voice cried.
    Caro slid off the bed and turned on the television. The satellite weather channel showed a smiling sun over Bulgaria. An