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Chapter 1

Breaking into the building was easy

Too easy for an assassin like me

Hell, I didn't even really have to break in - I could have walked right through the front door, waved at the guard stationed behind the reception desk in the lobby, and taken the elevator up to the appropriate floor Stroll into an office building holding a vase of flowers, an oversize teddy bear, or a couple of pizza boxes srease, pepperoni, and melted mozzarella, and no one looks too closely at you Except to wish they were the ones who'd thought to order pizza

The delivery ruse was one I'd used countless tiain today - except uard, and everyone entering the building was being checked and double-checked for weapons and to see if they even had the right to be there in the first place

Besides, I preferred to be subtle about these things - to creep around in the shadows, leap out, take down et when he least expected it, and then vanish back into the darkness once more As the assassin the Spider, I had a reputation to uphold - that I could get to anyone, anywhere, anytime

So - no ht the security was

It had taken me the better part of a week to scout out locations where the hit o down Home, office, the route in between, restaurants he liked to frequent, even Northern Aggression, Ashland's htclub, where he spent some time after hours I'd eventually decided to do the job in his office, which was housed in one of the city's don skyscrapers He probably thought he was safe there, but he was going to learn exactly horong he was

It had taken another week, and been a bitout a way to get close to hied I wouldn't have been the Spider otherwise Besides, I always enjoyed a challenge

Noas into the third week of the operation, and it was finally time to put my plan into action, since the job had to be done before the end of the et knew about the loo for hihter and my job that much more difficult

I strolled into a don parking garage, wearing a black pantsuit andheels I'd pulled h, sleek ponytail, while black glasses with clear lenses covered ray eyes I looked like just another corporate office drone, right down to the enor I carried

This particular garage lay on the opposite side of the block from the front entrance to the skyscraper I wanted, but thanks to the blueprints I'd looked at, I'd discovered the tere connected by a series of o anywhere near the skyscraper lobby to actually get inside the building

Always take themy late mentor, Fletcher Lane, had told me more than once, and I expected it to work just as well this evening as it had so many other times

Still, I'd thought that e, hence my business attire, but I didn't see anyone as I walked down the ramp from the street to the basement level A few security cameras swiveled around in slow loops on the walls, their red lights blinking like h their blind spots Sloppy, sloppy of hie was covered, even if it was on the other side of the block This was Ashland, after all, the city that showcased greed, violence, corruption, and depravity in all their deep-fried, Southern glory

My heels cracked against the concrete as I headed toward the elevator, the harsh sound bouncing around like a Ping-Pong ball soe Despite the fact I was in the business district, s weren't unheard of here, and my eyes scanned the shadows, just in case there was anyone lurking around who shouldn't be Assassin or not, I had no desire to get blood on et I was the only one getting aith any violence tonight