The Final Cut

Mike stepped in. “Are you talking about William Mulvaney?”

Kitsune couldn’t believe this. Did everyone on the planet know about Mulvaney?

“Yes. His name is Mulvaney.”

“What’s he to you?”

“A friend.”

At Nicholas’s raised eyebrow, she added, “More than a friend. He is my mentor, my partner. He is a man I have known more than half my life.”

“You sound like you would give your life for him,” Mike said.

Kitsune said simply, “Yes.”

“Is he your friend? A man you would trust with your life? A man you would sacrifice yourself for? Is he really?” and Nicholas queued up the phone conversation they’d overheard on their way to the warehouse.

“Where is the bitch with the stone?”

“She’ll come. She wants her money too much to betray you. It’s all she ever cared about. Relax.”

Mike said, “Is this the voice of your friend Mulvaney?”

Kitsune rolled her eyes. “Please, I know how you work. You can manipulate anything, make Drummond here sound like the president of the United States.”

Mike said, “Yep, that’s certainly possible, but take a look at this. We couldn’t have screwed around with this. We took this from your car at the warehouse.”

She put Kitsune’s laptop on the table and opened the lid. The video camera feed from the warehouse was still ru

Mike backed the feed up, set the small computer in Kitsune’s lap.

“This was shot less than an hour ago.”

Kitsune looked down, saw the time stamp, and saw Mulvaney walk out of the warehouse, upright, unfettered, tossing off some remark at the man who stood nearest the door. He was by no means tied up, nor did he seem to be under duress. On the contrary, they were laughing.

What is going on here?

Nicholas said, “We have it all, Kitsune. Lanighan kept detailed records.”

“You’re lying.” She smiled. “I destroyed everything.”

Nicholas smiled back. “No, you didn’t. We got there before you. Remember Savich? He’s been on Lanighan for a day now, and guess what? Lanighan saved all your emails. All your pla

“You can’t trust Kitsune. Did I mention her name is Victoire? Her full name is Victoire Couverel. She was a careless little gutter snip, no more than sixteen, when I saved her from jail in Naples. I saw the potential in her and trained her myself. She has betrayed me and she will betray you as well if she has a chance. Use this information wisely. Watch your back around her. I will bring you Anatoly’s diamond. I will send the account number when I have secured the stone from America. Once she’s made delivery of the Koh-i-Noor, kill her. You need the blood of a woman to fulfill the promise of the stone. If you can’t do it yourself, I will do it for you.”

“Stop! Stop, now.”

“Betrayal tastes pretty rank, doesn’t it, Victoire?”

“Bloody bastard.” Her voice was flat, unemotional. Shock, Mike thought, the woman was in shock.

Kitsune’s head dropped. She was tired, so tired. She didn’t understand any of it. She hadn’t betrayed Mulvaney. She would cut off her own arm before she’d even consider betraying him. Why had he said that she had? What did he mean about needing her blood to fulfill the promise of the stone?

She wanted to weep. Why did the man she’d loved more than her own father hate her now? What was she going to do?

94

Paris safe house

Saturday night

Her world was crashing down around her ears, and yet here she was clearly plotting and assessing. Nicholas could practically hear her thinking.

He said to Mike, “Call Menard. Tell him to take the warehouse. We’ll transport Kitsune to the Préfecture de Police, let them start the paperwork to extradite her to America.”

Her voice rang out in the small kitchen. “No.”

He glanced back at her, but kept talking to Mike. “We’ll want a full assault, he has plenty of help. If we overwhelm them—”

“No!”

He stopped and gave her his full attention.

“What?”

She spoke through clenched teeth. “I will help you. I will give you everything you want, and more. But we must do it my way.”

She was taking a huge risk. But this was Mulvaney, and she had no choice. He had given her back her life—no, he’d done much more. He’d given her a life. Even if he hated her enough to betray her, she still owed him.

“You can’t take the warehouse by force. There are safeguards.”

“Explosives, you mean?”

“If Mulvaney is involved, yes. Many. He’ll have the entire place wired to blow.”

Mike paused before she hit send on her cell. “What exactly are you proposing?”

“You allow me to go as I’m supposed to. I’ll get the detonator from Mulvaney. When I signal, it will be safe for you to enter.”

“You’re joking, right?”

She said quietly, “I will give you information. Everything I know. About his crimes, and those of mine it is safe to reveal. You will get the biggest assassin in the world, close hundreds of open cases, both thefts and murders and espionage. Then I will give you back the Koh-i-Noor.”

Nicholas said, “What do you want in return?”

“I go free. No one looks for me. I’ll take my money from my accounts and the money Lanighan paid me, and I will disappear. This was my last job. I’m retiring. No one will ever hear from me again.”

Nicholas said, “What’s to make us believe you’ll honor your end of the bargain?”

Mike said, “Yes, I’d like to hear this.”

Kitsune said, “The truth? The one man I’ve ever trusted has betrayed me. I want to know why. He killed Elaine.” She met his eyes, and he saw the pain not hidden deep enough in hers. “The minute I heard about the cyanide, I knew he’d done it. He’s used it before; it’s a trademark. It was u

“And Grant—” She broke off, and was silent.

“What do you care for Elaine?”

“She was my friend, too. And she’s dead because of me, because of what I told her. I didn’t realize at first that she really wanted to believe the prophecy, but she did, she was so excited about the possibilities, the magical possibilities—Mulvaney didn’t need to kill her, she was harmless.”

Nicholas said, without expression, “Yet you were perfectly happy to let her take the fall for stealing the diamond. You were the one who told us she met with Kochen.”

She shrugged. “I was alive; she wasn’t. I had to save myself.”

Nicholas said, “Elaine told me about the prophecy. Three stones would heal the sick.”

Kitsune said, “It’s even more than that. Lanighan believes uniting the three stones will bestow immortality. His father believed it, too.”

Nicholas was fascinated. “You tried to steal the Koh-i-Noor for his father as well?”

“No. His father told me the prophecy and hired me to find the lost stone, the one Anatoly ended up with. But I didn’t find it in time for him.”

Nicholas said, “I want a listing of everything you’ve ever stolen so we can put it to rights.”

“You must know I can’t do that, Drummond. You’ll get me killed. It’s one thing to fail, but I’ve been in business for a very long time, and there’s no way I’m going to drop the dime on my other clients. I will tell you what I stole for Lanighan’s father, and everything Mulvaney did. He and I never shared clients. If my clients are dead, and there is no threat to me, I will share the information. Will that do?”

Nicholas saw Mike wasn’t happy. He said, “Come with me.”