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her.
    She shot him a look over her shoulder. “What am I doing here, Gene? How can I help you if you never tell me anything? I haven’t even delivered anything for you for weeks.”
    Gene nodded, her hair brushing against his cheek as he did so. “That’s because you’re no longer a messenger, Grace.”
    “Well, then what am I?”
    “You’re a spy. A messenger spy.”
    She laughed, the sound lighting on the air’s stillness around them. “I’m an awful spy then. They’re the ones who are supposed to have all the answers.”
    “Well, answer my question, then,” Gene replied. “Can you speak Spanish?”
    “Yes. Why?”
    “No reason.” He took a deep breath. “I’m going to give you some background. It goes nowhere. Understand?”
    She nodded.
    “CableNette has hired us to protect Warren Bell and the information he’s procuring. They want that story, and they want it bad. You’ve heard of the IIB?” At her nod, he went on. “They’re the group Marco works for. They’ve offered protection, but the IIB wants Warren’s information before he breaks it through CableNette. That will cost CableNette a lot of money. Money they’d rather pay to me. Our job is to get that reporter’s findings on the news before Marco and the IIB take the evidence and secure it away.”
    Gene struggled with his next message. “I’m going to say this quickly, one time, and you are going to follow instructions, okay?”
    He waited, but she gave no response.
    He slipped a small pistol into her white clutch. “I’ve just put a gun in your bag. Do you know how to shoot one?”
    She shook her head no.
    “We’ll have to go over that at some point, then. It’s no matter. This one is simple. It’s not meant to kill, although it could if aimed correctly and shot at the right distance. It’s meant to wound. There’s a safety catch on it. Slide it back before pulling the trigger.”
    “Pulling the trigger?”
    “Marco is in the sitting room. I need you to go shoot him.”
    “What? No!”
    “Grace,” Gene sighed. “You have to trust me here. Unless you’re an amazing shot, you will not kill him. You will only injure him. I need him out of commission. I need you to take his place as Warren Bell’s sidekick.”
    Grace shook her head again. “I’m scared. What if the police are called? I can’t go to prison!”
    “Here’s where you either trust me, or you step aside,” Gene said. “No harm will come your way from this, in terms of the law. That I promise you.” His look was meant to be mysterious, testing her, daring her. “Do one thing at a time. Right now, all you have to worry about is getting rid of Marco. He’s in the sitting room right now. It’s soundproof. I checked. Go get him.”
    He smirked to himself as she walked away. Even though he had no intention of letting her shoot Marco—not that she had the personality to pull it off—he needed to see how loyal to him she really was.
    Grace felt curls of fear deep in her belly and nausea rolling over her, but she turned and left him. She’d at least go to the sitting room. She wouldn’t make promises after that.
    Her clutch was so heavy in her hands, even though the pistol couldn’t have weighed more than half a pound. Probably less. The knowledge that she was about to shoot someone, someone she liked, on the whim of her boss, shook her to her core. And to take over his job, his mission? Grace had always assumed Marco must be a spy, as well. Now that she knew he worked for the IIB, she was doubly reluctant to get involved. Who was she to go against a government operation?
    She approached the sitting room with slow, careful steps. Peering through the heavy wooden doors that were opened only enough for a person to squeeze through, she saw Warren Bell striding toward her. The tall, dashing television personality oozed confidence, his picture perfect features calm and collected, though his gait was quick, urgent.
    She had to twirl and duck away from the doors