St Kilda Consulting 02 - Innocent as Sin

Kayla said. “And don’t want to be.”
    Grace gave Kayla a considering look. “You’re not as innocent as you look.”
    “I might have been two days ago.” Kayla shrugged. “Even sin was innocent once. The rest is timing and opportunity.”
    Faroe’s surprisingly warm laughter rolled out of the kitchen area. “Innocent as sin, huh? McCree, you brought us a keeper.”
    Rand smiled and touched Kayla’s dark hair so lightly she wondered if she’d felt it at all. “She grows on you.”
    “So now I’m fungus,” Kayla said. “McCree, you really need to kiss the Blarney stone. Twice.”
    Faroe brought out plates of crackers, cold cuts, cheeses, and fruit from a high-end deli. “Start on this. I’ll bring some drinks.”
    “I’ll get them,” Grace said.
    “Amada,” Faroe said, “sit down. You’re on your feet too much.”
    “It’s a miracle I got through the first pregnancy without you,” Grace said under her breath. But she sat down, sighed with pleasure, and put her feet up on the coffee table.
    “Where’s the nondisclosure agreement, Judge?” Rand asked. “Or don’t you have it ready?”
    “It’s ready,” Grace said. “Is she?”
    They looked at Kayla.
    “I’ll know after I’ve read it,” she said. “Or do you expect me to sign something blind?”
    “St. Kilda wouldn’t want to work with anyone stupid enough to sign before reading,” Grace said.
    She picked a sheet of paper from the end table. Rand took the paper before she could give it to Kayla. He read it quickly, nodded, and handed it to Kayla.
    “This is legal lite,” Grace explained, “but it will give protection to you and St. Kilda Consulting if the feds come calling.”
    Kayla read the document quickly.
    I, Kayla Shaw, do agree to discuss certain matters involving myself and Andre Bertone, as well as other matters arising from an investigation by St. Kilda Consulting. I do so freely and without duress.
    I hereby promise not to disclose the nature of these discussions with subject Bertone or with any other persons not involved in St. Kilda Consulting’s investigation. I promise not to disclose St. Kilda Consulting’s proprietary information to any person not approved by one of the principals of the organization, namely James Steele, Joe Faroe, or Grace Silva Faroe.
    In return, St. Kilda Consulting and its representatives agree not to disclose my cooperation with them. Under terms of this agreement, I accept the payment of one United States silver dollar and other valuable considerations.
    Like saving my life? Kayla thought.
    There was a signature line across the bottom with her name and the date typed beneath.
    Faroe handed her a pen and waited while she signed. Then he gave her the silver dollar.
    The coin felt heavy in Kayla’s hand, solid, real. She worked with money all the time, but it didn’t have substance. Not like this. With an odd smile, she flipped the silver dollar into the air, caught it, and slapped it down on the back of her hand.
    Heads.
    Whatever that meant.
    “Now what?” she asked.
    “Tell us about your relationship with Andre Bertone,” Grace said.

31
    Outside Phoenix
Saturday
9:25 P.M. MST
    B LA-BLAM!
    Two shots rang out almost as one.
    A second later, BLA-BLAM again, the same deadly double-tap, a heavy auto-loading pistol, then again and, after a slightly longer interval, again.
    Steve Foley stood in a shooting stance, firing at four silhouette targets that were suspended from clips on wires at ranges from seven to twenty meters. The sharp reports of his gun were muffled. The Arizona Territorial Gun Club’s indoor shooting range had earth-buffered concrete block walls that swallowed up echoes and fed back dead air. The clearest sound was the hard metallic clicks as the shooter ejected the magazine and cleared the breech of his weapon.
    Even though the club was on the edge of one of America’s fastest-growing metro areas, no whisper of gunfire disturbed civilians beyond the building.
    Without moving from behind Foley, Andre Bertone inspected the two-shot patterns in the targets.
    “Very nice,” Bertone said.
    “I got a little loose on the long shots.” No longer shooting, Foley held his specially balanced and ported Model 1911A Colt pistol with the muzzle in the air. “It’s amazing how much a muzzle can wobble in the span between two bullets.”
    “It wobbles even more if the target has the chance to shoot back,” Bertone said. “Or even if the target is merely alive.