Unsure what to say, she started back down the street to the apartment building she’d been headed for. Like her, Bastien wore a cowled coat with the hood up, concealing his face. Luckily, they were both tall for humans and dressed in Andarion clothing. As such, even though it was the middle of the afternoon, the Andarions on the street ignored them.

That was the first law of assassin training – to blend and not stand out.

Since the apartment lobby was guarded by private security, Sumi headed to the back of the building. With a link in her ear that kept her in contact with Bastien, she handed him her coat and then scaled the side of the building to reach the apartment that housed her target.

Sumi jimmied the electronic lock, deactivated the alarm, and slid herself into the back bedroom. In the late-afternoon shadows, she took a moment to get her bearings.

Pera was in the living room, on a call. “Listen to me. It’s going to be all right. Don’t panic and don’t say anything. All they know is that you were so upset at having lost the bastard’s pledge, that you overreacted. Keep telling them that. You’re pregnant and your hormones are all over the place. They will believe you. I’ll take care of everything else. Just breathe and stay calm.” She hung up as Sumi skirted past her, unseen.

She didn’t bother to decloak until she had Pera’s link in her hand and the path to the door blocked. A strange calm permeated her as she watched the female who had planted the tracker in Dancer’s back and set loose the assassins on him.

That knowledge was what had led Sumi here.

Once she’d had Pera’s name and basic information from Darice, everything else had been easy to find in The League database that she’d hacked. The contracts Pera had placed for Dancer’s life. The deal she’d made with Kyr against the Hauks. And the one contract Sumi was sure no one knew about.

“Does Dariana know you put out a hit for her son?”

Gasping, Pera turned around and pinned her with a vicious glare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, human.”

“That would be ‘agent’ to you, bitch. Bet you never dreamed Kyr would want Dancer brought in for interrogation rather than death, huh?” Sumi moved closer to her. “That is why you went to The League before you paid for the private contracts, is it not?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sumi snorted. “Don’t worry. I’m not wired. I’m not recording this, in any way. I don’t want witnesses, any more than you do.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I’m here to kill you.”