Page 106 of Blood Money

And I got shot. Rookie mistake.

As he struggled to sit, a stabbing pain shot to his arm—a fiery poker branding him from the inside out.

“Hey, partner.” With gentle pressure, Dom eased him back onto the mattress. “I got this.” The head of the mattress rose gradually as Dom pressed a button on the bed’s remote control. “Better?”

“Yeah.” Gray grimaced as he readjusted his position. “How’s Nicky?”

Dom sat in a chair against the wall. “Doc gave him his treatment, but he’s still running a high fever.”

“Who’d you talk to?” Another sharp pain arrowed up Gray’s arm as he tried to find a comfortable position and failed.

Dom snorted, looking uncomfortable. “Daisy.”

Despite the pain in his shoulder, Gray managed to smile. “She still pissed at you?”

“And then some.” Dom pulled his chair closer to the bed. “The only reason she talked to me at all was to find out if you were okay. If it was me that got shot, she’d be dancing her ass off. The woman hates me.”

“What did you expect?” Gray shifted again, gritting his teeth through the pain.

“I don’t know.” When Dom shook his head, Gray caught the strain evident in his friend’s eyes. “I just—hell, I don’t know.”

“She got to you.”

Dom shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. It’s in the past, and I ain’t goin’ there again.”

“If you say so.” But Gray didn’t believe Dom’s cavalier attitude for one second.

Dom whipped out his cell phone. “Care for an update on our slimeball friends in the Pyramid?”

“Always.” Gray nodded, glancing at the still-snoring lieutenant.

Dom scrolled through his messages. “Turns out Fatima was no run-of-the-mill Pyramid assassin. She was upper echelon.”

Gray cocked a brow. “Odd for a woman to be at the top of the Pyramid food chain. Doesn’t exactly fit with their predominately Arab culture.”

“True,” Dom agreed. “Word is, Fatima may have been right-hand man, er, woman to the head of the Pyramid.”

“Don’t suppose you know who that is?” Discovering the Pyramid leader’s identity would be a huge step in taking down the organization.

“Not yet, but I’m working on it.” Dom smiled slyly, and Gray didn’t doubt he really was working on it. “Right now the only thing I know is the leader founded and organized the Pyramid over a decade ago, then hand-selected his assassins.”

Gray shifted on the bed, grateful to find a position where the pain in his shoulder lessened to a dull throb. “The implications of what Fatima wanted from Alex on One PP,” he said, “combined with the intel on the recovered thumb drive, imply either an assassination or an outright terrorist attack. But everything we know says the Pyramid is not a group of terrorists.”

“Agreed.” Dom stopped talking when a hospital aide delivered Gray’s meal onto the bed’s rolling table. “They’re mercenaries, plain and simple,” Dom continued when the aide had gone. “Their goal is money, not specifically to kill Americans.”

“Then attacking One PP doesn’t fit their MO.” Gray rubbed his arm, still annoyed that he’d let his ass get shot. “We have to bring the JTTF in on this just in case. I’ll also notify the commissioner’s security team, along with the mayor’s and governor’s protection details.”

“Good idea.” Dom nodded. “Until we can decipher the meaning of what’s on that thumb drive, better safe than sorry.”

Gray glanced at Lt. Frye, whose snores were becoming loud enough to wake the dead. “That thumb drive intel is pure gold. Future marks, plus locations, schedules, it all reads like a carefully executed surveillance log for points all over the city. Arrivals and departures, but for who or what? There are no names attached to the schedules, but it looks like the Pyramid is breaking with tradition and using multiple assassins for whatever they’re planning. Hence, Fatima recruiting Abdullah to assist her. Whatever they have planned, maybe it’s too big for one assassin to take on alone. We need to dig deeper and figure this out before shit hits the fan.”

When Dom suddenly looked away, the hackles on the back of Gray’s neck stood at attention. He’d known for a while that his partner was hiding something from him, and he didn’t like it. What’s more, Gray had a bad feeling he knew what it was. “You have a way in, don’t you?” Dom didn’t answer. “Dammit, don’t bullshit me.”

Dom looked him square in the eyes. “It has to be done.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Gray stared fixedly at Dom, wishing he had the strength to throttle some sense into his partner. “It’s too dangerous. We’ll find another way.”

Dom sat back in his chair. “There is no other way.”