Page 165 of Five Fingers of Death

“—he’s alive. The surgery was touch and go, but he’s strong. He’ll be out of it for a while, and the recovery will be hard, but he should pull through.”

Kate sagged in relief, tears spilling down her face. “Okay. I can deal with that. When can I see him?”

“We’ll get him settled and then get you, okay?”

He was going to live. That was all that mattered right now. I needed to let Izzy know and someone had to call Cap at Reed Security. Then we had to figure out transport and where the hell to take him. Kate would want him home. But we needed security. There was no telling if anyone was still looking for him.

The buzzing of my phone pulled me out of my thoughts. Glancing down, I saw a strange number and almost didn’t answer it. Stepping aside, I slid my finger across the screen.

“Yeah?”

“Is he alive?” Cash’s voice rumbled through the phone.

I glanced back at everyone, catching Jack’s eye. Johnny saw too. “Just got out of surgery.” I nodded to them, hoping they understood. “He’ll survive.”

“He needs to die.”

“Say that again?”

“He needs to die,” he said slowly.

“What the fuck is going on? Why the hell?—”

“I shot him,” Cash snapped, taking me by surprise.

My eyes locked on Jack’s. This was fucking bad. “Why would you shoot him?”

“I had no choice. You make sure he stays dead.”

A million things ran through my mind, and it took me a minute to understand what he was saying. He didn’t actually want him dead. He needed us to make it appear that he was dead.

“Do you really think that will work after what happened with Kavanaugh? They know he’s alive. They’ll suspect Knight isn’t dead.”

“Then you’d better make it really fucking good. He’s come back from the dead before. I have no doubt they know about it. You’ll have eyes on you the whole fucking time.”

“And what happens if he lives, Cash?”

“Then this will all be for nothing. I need to end this. Don’t fuck it up for me.”

The line went dead.

I jerked my head to the side, catching the attention of Kate, also. When we were far enough away from prying ears, I filled them in.

“Knight needs to be dead. Eyes are on the hospital right now.” I turned to Kate. “Cash said Knight has been declared dead before. This isn’t going to be easy. How the fuck do we get him out of here and move him to a safe location?”

“A hearse,” she responded immediately, the tears gone as she considered all our options.

“It won’t work,” Jack informed her. “That’s how we got Kavanaugh out. They know he’s alive now, so they’ll be looking for anything similar.”

“Then we need to leave.”

“No,” Kate said immediately.

“Kate, you have to play the grieving widow.”

“I’ve done that once before,” she snapped. “I won’t do it again.”

“If you don’t, Cash is dead. Is that what you want?” I argued.

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