Read Online True Conviction by James P. Sumner - Free Book Online Page B

over it, you pussy.”
    I sigh. What is it with this woman? I don’t particularly want to shoot her, but she’s testing the restraint of my trigger finger while pitching her tent on my last nerve.
    “Enough,” I say. “You’re going to answer my questions or I’m going to shoot you in the face. Understand?”
    She says nothing, but raises a quizzical eyebrow—either to show she understands, or to silently call my bluff. I assume it was the former, because I don’t bluff.
    “What’s your name?” I begin.
    “Does it matter?” she replies.
    “Yes.”
    She holds my gaze for a moment. “Fine, my name is Clara Fox.”
    “Thank you. Okay, Clara, who do you work for?”
    “Right now?” She motions with her head to Jackson, who’s still slumped in his chair next to her. “Him.”
    “So, what, are you freelance?” I ask.
    “I go where I’m told to. I don’t ask questions.”
    “That’s a weird answer to a perfectly straightforward question.”
    “Take it or leave it, I don’t care.”
    “Do you know why you’re protecting him?”
    “Yes.”
    “Would you care to elaborate?”
    She sighs. I don’t think she’s losing patience, as such, I think she’s just unhappy because she doesn’t strike me as being comfortable when she’s not the one asking the questions. I don’t know what it is about her, but I actually kind of like her. Not in that way. I just think she’s a… kindred spirit.
    “My assignment was to protect Jackson while he closed a business deal between our respective employers for the sale of a plot of land in Heaven’s Valley. We knew that the local mafia had been involved in a previous deal to buy up the land, so we assumed there would be some comeback. I was assigned to Jackson to make sure he remained safe while he finalized the deal.”
    “Would this deal be with Dark Rain, by any chance?”
    She frowns for a split second, looking both surprised and confused. She clearly wasn’t expecting me to know that and I can see her trying to figure out how I do. But she quickly composes herself again and merely shrugs, as if it’s not important information.
    “Yes,” she replies.
    “And you don’t know why the original deal was cancelled by Jackson?”
    “Don’t know, don’t care. I do what I'm ordered to do. If I need to know something, I'll be told.”
    “You’re the consummate Army brat, aren’t you? Tell me, where are you from? Your accent’s very... multicultural.”
    She smiles, like she’s flattered that I’d noticed. “I was born in Russia. My father was a soldier and died when I was a little girl. My mother was a Swedish nurse and we moved to America when I was seven.”
    “Well, you sound great. You should work in a call center or something.”
    “I’d kill my boss within minutes.”
    I can’t help but smile. “I don’t doubt it,” I say.
    There’s a moment’s silence, which is interrupted by the groans of a man regaining consciousness after being shot for the second time in the last hour.
    Jackson looks groggy and he gazes around the room slowly like a man with a bad hangover. He looks at Clara, who’s staring at him curiously. He turns to me. I’m also staring at him, but I have a gun aimed at his head.
    I turn to Clara. “Be right with you, honey,” I say.
    She rolls her eyes and sighs heavily.
    I smile, satisfied I’ve wound her up enough, and turn back to Jackson. “Teddy, so nice of you to join us. Clara and I are just getting acquainted. She’s lovely, don’t you think?”
    He groans, clearly in pain. “What do you want from me?” he asks, sounding fatigued and beaten.
    “I want you to answer a few questions, completely and honestly.”
    “P-please don’t sh-shoot me again,” he begs.
    “I can’t promise anything, Ted, because you’re an asshole. But, if you do as I ask, you’ll be giving yourself the best chance you can of avoiding a third bullet.”
    He takes a moment and I can see him weighing up his options in his head,