Page 74 of Kiss Kiss Bang
“Well, I think we have a conflict of interest, Mr. McGregor.”
“Why is that?”
“While you were doing your research on Hak Con, something that is usually underground and fairly unknown in the mainstream, you failed to check out who ICS’s latest client is. Specifically, my client.” Obviously it was confidential and other than pictures showing him in the background, there would be no way for him to know, but still . . . it felt good to fuck with him.
“I was very thorough with your credentials, Mr. Clad. Who could possibly pose a conflict?”
“I’m Olivia Russo’s bodyguard.”
The smugness left his McGregor’s immediately and he paled. “What?” He stood and placed his hands on his desk.
“Olivia Russo, your opponent?”
“I . . . Oh. Well, yes. That is a conflict.” But was it, really? What was he hiding that he didn’t want Olivia to know? Was it his campaign strategy, or was there more? He’d bet his Ferrari there was more. He should have dug deeper than just fucking with McGregor. Unfortunately, now that he was dating Olivia he wasn’t sure how much he should dig. If he found something and told Olivia, Olivia would be upset at the method he’d used to uncover it. And also, how would she explain how she’d found it? It would be information that couldn’t be used.
Harry stood abruptly. “What we’ve discussed, it’s confidential, correct?”
Joey was cool and calm and was very much enjoying watching McGregor sweat. “I never signed your NDA, and I’m no doctor or lawyer, so no . . . nothing you’ve told me is confidential. And if we’re being completely honest, I find you and everything you stand to be repulsive. Even if I wasn’t representing Ms. Russo, I’d never help you out.”
“I’ll double . . . no, triple whatever she’s paying you. You’ll get over your moral dilemma.”
“No can do,” Joey repeated. “As you know, I’m a very rich man. I don’t sell out for money.” McGregor stood, his chair scraping against the floor. “And since you’re here, I’d like to ask you a question. Ms. Russo was recently attacked. Any idea on who would do something like that? Or why?”
The man seemed flustered as he shook his head. “Politics is ugly business, Mr. Clad. I’ve received death threats on more than one occasion. Ms. Russo needs to be ready for it. I’ve been stuck in an elevator more than once, too.”
“But you haven’t had a knife pierce your skin, have you Governor?”
He shook his head and swallowed. “No. No, I haven’t.”
“You can see your way out, McGregor.” Joey stood, his arms crossed over his body.
“You’re a foolish man.”
“Why? Because I have a heart? Because I’m loyal? I think this conversation is finished.”
Joey sat back down, fidgeting with a pencil in his hand and spinning his chair slowly in circles. What the hell was this guy hiding? There was something off. He had the same bad feeling about McGregor that he had about Connor.
And then it hit him. He started searching over and over again and it came out blank, then he called Annie.
“Annie, was there any news or reports about the elevator getting stuck last week?”
“Not that I know of.” He sat back and looked up to the ceiling. “Why?”
“Nothing. I’ll call you back.”
How had McGregor known about the second elevator incident? That hadn’t made the news. Maybe somehow this was all connected. It had never occurred to him. He ran a new search changing the parameters, but this time he didn’t search Connor and Colin, this time he searched McGregor and he went deep. It wasn’t about fucking with him anymore. This time it was to see if there were any connections with him and the Mathers brothers.
* * *
“What do you think it is, Mark?” Olivia was talking on the phone in speaker when Joey walked in.
“I don’t know, Livie. But McGregor’s camp is saying it’s big. Is there something I need to know?”
Her hands came up in in the air in frustration. “No! You know everything there is to know about me. You, Neil, and now Joey are the only three people who know about my past. Other than that, there’s no skeletons in my closet.”
“Well, I’m sure we’ll find out, whatever it is, soon. Don’t worry too much about it. Whatever it is, we’ll handle it.” He paused. “There’s one more thing, Livie. He wants a debate with you. He’s saying you’re scared and that’s why you haven’t accepted his offer.”
“I am scared, damn it. Not of debating him. Of getting killed.”
