Dark Deceptions by Dee Davis Page B

while I was scoping out Dominico’s apartment.”
    “To kill him,” Tom said, his eyes flashing with disgust.
    “Obviously, I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that,” Annie replied. “But as I said before, nothing is more important than my
     son.”
    “Did they tell you where to stay?” Avery asked.
    “Initially, but I moved almost immediately after checking in. And then again last night. So far at least they haven’t made
     an effort to stop me. Which is why I figured the phone probably gave away my position.”
    “So Rivon asked you to kill Dominico when you were in D.C.?” Tom asked.
    “Yes. But not in the original meeting. He made it clear at that time that the people he worked for wanted me to take someone
     out, but he wouldn’t say who it was. And I refused to go along with any of it without first talking to Adam. The photograph
     was already old.”
    “And I’m assuming he agreed,” Nash said, “considering the fact that I interrupted your plans for Dominico.”
    “I told you, I wasn’t going to shoot him. At least not then. I was just trying to ascertain my options.”
    “Annie, that’s bullshit and you know it. I was there, remember?” Nash shook his head, still not comfortable with the idea
     that Annie could so easily have killed an innocent. Even to save her child.
    “You’re always so quick to believe the worst.” She shook her head, her mouth drawn tight. “Everything black and white. God,
     to think that I—”
    “It doesn’t matter now,” Tom said. “The point is, you’re here. And for the moment at least, that means Dominico is safe.”
    “But they still have Adam,” Annie said, her voice breaking on her son’s name. “And if I don’t contact them soon, they’ll think
     I’ve double-crossed them and gone for help. Which means my son’s life will be worth nothing.”
    “When did they tell you that Dominico was the target?” Avery asked.
    “Just before a video call with Adam.”
    “So you have talked to him.”
    “Yes.” Tears filled her eyes, and she angrily brushed them away. “They seemed to be treating him okay. He’d said he’d been
     playing video games.”
    “With Rivon?” Tyler asked, looking up from the computer.
    “No. At least I don’t think so. I talked with Rivon first—in a separate call. He told me the target was Dominico. Then a few
     minutes after he hung up, the phone rang again and this time it was Adam. If he’d been there, there wouldn’t have been a need
     to terminate the first call. And after I talked to Adam, there was another voice—electronically altered so that I couldn’t
     identify it. But I had the distinct feeling I was talking to whoever is really behind all of this.”
    “And there was nothing that gave you any clue to his identity?” Tom frowned, dropping down into the chair next to Avery.
    “I can’t even really be certain it was a man.” Annie shook her head. “As I said, the voice had been altered. It sounded like
     one of those really bad computer programs. Definitely seemed male, but that could have just been a trick. I did try to record
     the call. The phone they gave me is pretty high-tech.”
    “Smart move,” Nash said.
    “Just because I’ve been out of the game, doesn’t mean I’ve lost my edge,” Annie snapped, sounding just this side of losing
     it. Which wasn’t really all that surprising when one considered that her son was trapped out there somewhere while she was
     stuck in the brownstone rehashing the past couple of days with them. “Although in the end it didn’t work. I got nothing but
     static.”
    “We still need the phone,” Tyler said. “Hannah might be able to use the phone to triangulate a location.”
    “Hannah?” Annie repeated.
    “She handles our intel,” Avery explained. “We’ll need the picture, too. There’s a chance she could pull something from that,
     as well. Has she contacted Jason?”
    “Yeah.” Tyler nodded. “Per your instructions, he and Drake are on