Whatever. It wouldn’t be her problem much longer.

She buzzed Ken and Reyes back into the office.

Konrad didn’t know Cade wasn’t dead, and there was no one who would tell him. She might still be able to pull this off.

As for Cade and Zach, she had her own blunt instruments to solve the problem right here, sitting in the chairs across from her.

“Cade will be coming here,” she told Ken and Reyes. “Tonight. I’m depending on you to eliminate him.”

Ken just nodded. Reyes’s face didn’t betray a single thing, but in his eyes Helen could see the panic. He wasn’t as dumb as he looked, she reminded herself.

“We have the tools,” she said. “You will be able to take him out.”

She took out the weapons she’d ordered made when Konrad first told her that she’d have to eliminate Cade. R&D said they might work. Maybe. During the day, with a lot of luck.

But Ken and Reyes didn’t need to know that.

She handed them across the desk to the men.

“Here’s how it will go down,” Helen said. “Ken, you will engage Cade first, with the holy water.”

She pointed to the plastic pump-spray in Ken’s hands now. It would shoot a jet of blessed water, taken directly from the font of a Catholic church. Vampire tear gas.

“While he’s distracted and in pain, Reyes, you will approach from behind and fire the punch into Cade’s back, staking his heart.”

Reyes’s weapon was only slightly more sophisticated. A blank shotgun shell would fire a bolt from the barrel. The bolt was tipped with a hardened graphite point—basically, it would be like stabbing Cade with a wooden stake moving at the speed of sound.

Reyes looked at the bolt-gun, then at Ken, then back at Helen. “Question?” Helen asked him.

“Yeah,” he said. “Are you fucking kidding me? You want us to go up against that thing with a squirt gun and a sharp stick?”

“You questioning my orders?” Helen’s voice was cold.

“Come on, Helen, this is just nuts—”

“Are you requesting reassignment, Agent Reyes?”

That shut him up. “No. No, Agent Holt.”

“Good. Get some rest. Cade will be here at sunset. You’ll want to be sharp.”

“How are we supposed to know when he’s here?” Reyes asked, still surly.

“Man the security cameras. Wait for the bodies to pile up,” Helen said. “Cade’s not particularly subtle.” She stood.

“Wait, what are you going to do?” Reyes demanded.

It was over the line, but Helen figured she’d already pushed him pretty far. “I’m going to deal with the problem in the cell downstairs. Ken? Come with me.”

Reyes sat in his chair and sulked. But Helen knew he’d follow orders. What the Company could do to him was scarier than Cade, at least for now.

Cade would kill Reyes and Ken tonight, she had no doubt. If, by some miracle, they got lucky and the weapons actually worked, it wouldn’t matter. Not to her anyway. Either she’d be long gone or her plan was blown anyway.

That only left Zach. The annoying little prick. Still in the interrogation room. On camera, and in the Company’s records now. No way to change that.

Fortunately, she had a much simpler answer for him: Ken.

Ken was strange. Even Helen could see that, and she was well aware of the kinks in her own personality. On the surface, he was perfect. Tall. Broad shoulders. Blue eyes. Good hair, white teeth, clear skin, the whole package.

But if you spent enough time with him, you’d swear you could hear an echo. There was an emptiness where the rest of a human being was supposed to be. He smiled at jokes, but you always wondered if that was just a learned reflex.

On paper, Ken was equally perfect. Upper-middle-class family, decent grades in college, accepted into CIA in a heartbeat. That’s where he met Helen.

He locked onto her the first day of training. She noticed him, too, but she could admit it was just animal lust for such a healthy specimen.

Ken was old-fashioned, like he’d learned to date from watching movies. He sent her flowers, for Christ’s sake.

Underneath that, there was something more robotic. He seemed to regard her as a missing component, and he was going down a checklist to procure her.

Helen figured out a way to use that, of course.

She spent most of the training course just out of his reach. Then, right before graduation, she stole into his dorm room at the facility and fucked his brains out.

He called, sent e-mails, even letters. She didn’t answer a single one.

But when she joined the Shadow Company and was given her own team, Ken was her first choice. She kept him at arm’s length, never explaining, never mentioning their history.

He’d follow her anywhere; do pretty much whatever she asked. When he got too frustrated, she would arrange for some relief—but only enough to keep him loyal.

She’d pretty much broken him. Whatever emotional deformity he had inside, Helen fit into it perfectly. Someday there would be a bill to pay for that, but for now, he was a good tool.

They stopped outside the interrogation room. She gave Ken a look.

“This is important to me,” she said. “Do you understand? I absolutely do not want him harmed. He’s special.”

Ken nodded, even though she could see the confusion in his eyes.

They entered the room together.

Zach lifted his head off the table but didn’t speak.

Ken took a position by the door. Helen walked around behind Zach.

“Zach, I have a few errands to run, so I’m going to leave you in the hands of Agent Blaylock. He’s going to ask you a few questions. I want you to cooperate with him.”

“I’ll have to check my schedule,” Zach said.

She laughed, and let her hand linger on Zach’s shoulder.

Ken focused on that, then his eyes flicked away.

Good.

“I know you’re going to do the right thing, Zach. There might even be a place for you on our team,” she said.

Zach glared. “I’m positively moist with anticipation.”

Anger clouded Ken’s chiseled features. Helen just laughed again and tousled Zach’s hair.

“Aren’t you cute?” she said. “Be smart, Zach. You want to be on the winning side.”

She walked back to the door. From the corner of her eye, she saw Ken’s attention was completely on Zach now.

She leaned in and whispered into Ken’s ear, just loud enough for the hidden mikes in the room to pick up, “Remember: do not harm him.”

Ken gave her a slight nod.

Helen walked out of the room and went to the security station down the hall.

Inside were monitors for all the cameras in the holding cells. She checked number four, Zach’s room.

She was just in time to see Ken unplug the camera from the wall. The screen went dark.

Helen smiled as she left the building. Ken would do just as she expected. God, what a big dumb animal.

Unfortunately, Konrad wouldn’t be as easy to fool. She just hoped Cade hadn’t gotten to him first.