St Kilda Consulting 02 - Innocent as Sin

said.
    Kayla started to say something, realized he wasn’t talking to her, and shut up.
    “What?” Faroe asked.
    “He’s Bertone’s. I saw the pass-off when Bertone sent him after Kayla.”
    “What a sweet cluster this has become.”
    “Ya think?”
    The lights in the garden came on again.
    “It’s Hamm,” a voice called out. “I’m coming in.”
    Kayla flinched and opened her knife again.
    “Easy,” Rand said, grabbing her wrist. “Hamm is on the side of the angels.”
    “He works for Bertone.”
    She yanked back suddenly, trying to free her wrist. Rand didn’t let go. Kayla went still, waiting for a chance to run.
    Again.

24
    Castillo del Cielo
Saturday
7:09 P.M. MST
    M ove slow,” Rand said clearly. “Kayla’s still on edge. She thinks you’re one of the bad guys. But don’t get all teary about it. She doesn’t trust me either, and I just saved her life.” He looked at her, smiled slightly. “You can say ‘Thank you.’ Really, I won’t faint.”
    Kayla slanted him a glance that told him how not funny he was.
    “We’re on the same side,” Rand said. “What other proof do you need?”
    She looked at his hand clamped around her wrist. “I don’t trust either of you. I’m not sure I trust anybody in this.”
    “Finally, she understands,” Rand said. “Too late, but hey, better late than dead, right?”
    His eyes were as hard as his voice, as bitter as his words. Instantly her adrenaline flashed into anger.
    “How do I know the skinny dude wasn’t after you?” she shot back. “He didn’t say a word, didn’t call out to me, nothing. Hell, he might have just been smelling the flowers.”
    “With a seven-inch blade in his hand?” Rand made a disgusted sound. “I take back what I said about you understanding.”
    Hamm trotted up, dogged by motion sensor lights. “You okay, babe?” he asked Kayla.
    “I’m not a babe,” she said through clenched teeth.
    “Adrenaline,” Rand said to Hamm. “Never can tell how it will hit someone. Right now, Kayla is channeling her inner bitch.”
    “Quit yapping and get her the hell out of that garden trap,” Faroe said impatiently.
    He must have said the same to Hamm, because the guard touched his ear and looked hard at Rand. “The Man says to get moving. She’s not safe here anymore.”
    Kayla looked from Rand’s earpiece to Hamm’s. His wasn’t an iPod, but apparently they were talking to the same person. The Man, whoever that was.
    She was terrified that it was Bertone.
    “Let’s go,” Rand said.
    “I’m not going anyplace, not with you and not with him,” Kayla said. “For all I know it’s Bertone whispering in your ear.”
    Rand pulled out his earpiece and screwed it into Kayla’s ear. “Say hello, Joe. The lady thinks you’re Bertone.”
    “Christ Jesus, I should have left you painting flowers in the rain,” Faroe snarled. “Now get your ass out of there.”
    Kayla blinked. “He’s not a happy camper.”
    “That’s our Joe,” Rand said, taking back the earpiece.
    “You’re burning a lot of bridges, McCree. If she’s Bertone’s stalking horse, I’ll kill you myself.”
    “Oh, yeah, talk dirty to me, you know it turns me on,” Rand said. Then, to Kayla, “Have you ever seen our skinny pal before?”
    “No.”
    “Would you recognize him if you saw him again? As in a mug shot?”
    “Are you a cop?” Kayla asked, startled.
    “No. Would you?”
    “You’re the one who jacklighted him,” she said.
    “I kept my eyes closed so I wouldn’t lose night vision.”
    “Yes, I’d recognize him.” She shivered and stopped trying to free herself from Rand’s grasp. “I think he dropped something before he climbed the wall.”
    “He was carrying a small duffel when I saw him head for the garden,” Rand said. “He didn’t have it when he went over the top.”
    Hamm clicked on a flashlight and ran its beam along the base of the west wall. The spear of light picked out a dark, shapeless blob.
    “Get it,” Rand said to Hamm. Then, to Kayla, “What did the guy look like?”
    “He was dark, mestizo,” Kayla said, “not much taller than me, really thin but ropy, too, like he’d put on all the muscle he could. I’ve never seen him before.”
    “Bertone has. He sent him after you.”
    “There’s no reason for him to,” Kayla said bitterly. “He’s the blackmailer, not me.”
    Hamm trotted up with the small bag. “You’re gonna love this.”
    He tossed the bag to Rand, who caught it without