Free Spy to Die For (Assassins Guild) by Kris DeLake Page B

knew how.
    “It surprises me,” she said. “You don’t seem like the type.”
    His smile was thin. “What type is that?”
    “The kind who kills for a living,” she said, wondering what kind of answer he had expected from her.
    “People who kill for a living usually aren’t obvious about it,” he said. “Most folks can’t recognize them. That’s why assassins are so good at what they do.”
    “I suppose,” she said flatly. She had always recognized them before. Maybe not as actual assassins, but she could see the tendency. She couldn’t see it in him.
    “Who are you, really?” he asked.
    She took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth. She didn’t even know how to lie to him. How could she lie away her reaction? This room? Why she was here? How could she convince him that she was an average person when she clearly was not?
    “I investigate people for a living,” she said.
    He started, as if the answer surprised him deeply.
    “I usually can tell what a person is, even if I don’t know who he is,” she said. “Everything about this is surprising me.”
    “Even Heller?” Jack asked.
    “No,” she said. “I knew what he was. I just didn’t know who he worked for.”
    “You were surprised he was a Rover,” Jack said. “You thought he was from the Assassins Guild?”
    When he asked it so plainly, she saw that the assumption made no sense. If Heller had been from the Guild, she would have known him, right?
    She hadn’t thought that through. Although she might not have known him if he had been a wash-out or a relatively new recruit.
    Except that he hadn’t looked new.
    “You haven’t answered me,” Jack said. “Who are you?”
    He was relying on her. And honestly, she wanted to help him. She couldn’t remember the last time she wanted to help anyone.
    Maybe it was selfish. Maybe she wanted to think about his rangy six-foot-six frame hunching its way through the sector. Maybe she wanted the possibility of seeing him again, even if she knew realistically that it would never ever happen.
    He wouldn’t be able to save himself. Even if he was a Rover. An unarmed Rover. Which was just plain strange.
    She had investigated his body closely last night. He didn’t have the muscles for a man who killed barehanded. And he didn’t have the enhancements that some in the Guild used to make their own bodies into weapons.
    He should have been armed. That detail bothered her.
    A lot.
    If she was going to help him, she would have to reveal a lot about herself just to get him off Krell.
    “My official name is Skylight Jones.” It felt strange to hear herself say that. Had she ever said that to anyone outside of the Guild? She wasn’t sure. Not since she had become an adult, anyway. She couldn’t call herself a spy. That was too much. She was going to hedge just a little. “I’m an investigator for the Assassins Guild.”
    He let out a small laugh. Then he shook his head, and laughed again. His gaze didn’t meet hers. His laugh grew, until it sounded almost panicked.
    “God damn,” he said after he managed to collect himself. “What are the odds?”
    His reaction was strange.
    “The odds?” she asked.
    Instead of answering directly, he said, “I didn’t lie to you about my name. I’m Jack Hunter. And, until recently, I was an investigator for the Rovers.”

Chapter 14
    At first, Skye thought he was joking with her. Unlike the Guild, which had rules and regulations, the Rovers didn’t. They weren’t a real organization, not one with bylaws and meetings. They didn’t even have a real headquarters.
    She had investigated a number of Rovers, especially lately, and they didn’t even seem to have a code of ethics like some groups that skirted the edge of the law did.
    Jack didn’t belong to the Rovers, not in the way that she had initially thought. It did explain, at least, why he didn’t have a weapon, why one man would say he’s one of us and another man would deny it.
    “You can look me