Page 72 of Goodnight, Sinners

Ayaan gave Saskia hope. If Ayaan could break free of her oppressive life, then so could Saskia.

The two women moved together in fluid unison, taking out targets as they made their way back across the range.

Chapter Thirty-One

Two weeks.

That was how long it took Dasha to get to Shaun. She’d had to be patient for two solid weeks as the other woman came and went, free as a bird. Dasha’s fantasies of murder and mayhem became bloodier and bloodier with each passing day.

Shaun killed her husband.

Shaun took her home.

Shaun twisted her nephew, turning him against his family.

It was all Shaun’s fault.

The mantra repeated itself in her mind over and over until she wanted to scream. She didn’t, of course. She kept it all in, the same as she kept everything in from the moment she realized, as a child, that watching, waiting and learning was the best way to get to what she wanted.

She wouldn’t fuck up this time. Everything had been timed down to the second. She wouldn’t wait for Shaun to get the upper hand, she would take her out quickly and walk away, like the ghost she’d become as she flitted around the hospital, avoiding cameras and guards.

Shaun walked confidently through the front doors of the hospital, her purse over her shoulder, her four bodyguards with her. One stopped in the conservatory, taking his usual post where he could see the front door. The others would patrol the hospital, checking in with each other and making sure no one got near their principal.

Cooper was the one Dasha would have to worry about most. He was diligent, sharp, and he never left Shaun’s side. He watched the woman like she was the baby chick to his mother hen.

Dasha had learned about him and the rest of Shaun’s detail from Nikolay. He despised the American bodyguard, taking every opportunity to badmouth the other man. Jealousy clouded his judgement though. Where he thought Cooper was lazy with slow-reflexes, Dasha soon discovered were simulated character traits used to lull those around him into a sense of calm. She suspected the bodyguard could strike with lightening efficiency and deadliness.

He was the one she’d have to get past.

She’d come up with plan after plan and discarded them all as impractical with a high chance of failure.

This wasn’t like the poisoning or the attack in the restaurant. She no longer had the element of surprise on her side. Shaun was well prepared for round three, surrounded by experts in security, working in a highly secure wing of the hospital.

Dasha had a plan though, one that would work.

Though Shaun’s security team did their best to make life as safe as possible for their charge, there were always loopholes. It was impossible to cover a person at all times.

Dasha had something else on her side. Her fatality meant nothing to her. If she had to die to reach her goal, then so be it. She had little to live for anymore. Even if she could reestablish relationships with her daughters, she would have to rely on them for handouts for the rest of her life. She would rather die than have to beg for every scrap of food.

It was time to enact her plan. She’d been perfecting it for long enough that it felt like clockwork. As Shaun passed Dasha in the hospital corridor, her head down, reading something from the file she was holding, Dasha waited three seconds for Cooper to pass before stepping out of her alcove and following them.

In her stolen lab coat, Dasha fit in perfectly. She held her head up and walked with confidence. She wore large, thick-framed glasses that helped obscure her face, which was scrubbed of makeup. She looked as far from her former self as she could get.

Turning the corner, she followed the two toward the imaging center, where Shaun would spend some time examining x-rays and carefully choosing her patients.

Dasha had considered taking Shaun out in her new office but had discarded the plan. The office was small with only one entrance. The door was locked and coded with a code specific to Shaun. If Dasha had managed to get hold of the code, then she would have gone with the office plan. She would have stood in the shadows and the second the younger woman entered she would have put a bullet in her head. Cooper would likely have taken Dasha out immediately after, but that didn’t matter.

Instead, she was forced to go with a more difficult plan that had a higher probability of success. Once Shaun and Cooper disappeared into imaging, Dasha flashed the identification card she’d stolen from a radiologist in the cafeteria that morning.

She’d had to be careful when stealing ID badges. So far, she’d gotten her hands on three. The first two were cancelled within 24 hours of their owner’s discovering them missing, which made Dasha realize she would have to work quickly.

She’d taken the first badge as an experiment. When it had been cancelled, she’d used the second badge to map out every section of the hospital Shaun frequented, deciding that imaging was the best place to launch her attack. The hallways were wide. Even if Cooper stepped through the door ahead of Shaun, she should be able to get past him quick enough to put a bullet in Shaun.

She’d stolen the third badge that morning, which meant she had to go through with her plan or risk having the badge become inactive. Eventually the hospital was going to catch on, making it more difficult for her to get her hands on more badges.

Her heart hammered in her chest as victory seeped into her veins, pumping excitement through her. She was so close, so very close.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, coming to peace with her own demise. She would join her husband in death. She would tell him of her victory. Tell him she had avenged the family. She would spend eternity with her lover.

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