Page 76 of Dark Angel
Despite the mayhemof the last few hours, Gabriel needed information on Barbianna Bogdanova. She’d killed a man three times her size with nothing but her hands, yet it was the first time she’d taken a life.
Who is this woman, for real?
Rather than push her for answers—which was his usual MO—he’d go easy. If she was telling him the truth, and thiswasthe first time she’d killed anyone, she had to be spinning out pretty good.
“How are you doing?” he asked as he hopped on I-395 south toward Springfield.
“Kind of numb,” she said in her Russian accent. “I’ve been trained, but training and real-life are two different things.”
“Trained in hand-to-hand combat?”
“Yes.”
“Firearms?”
“Yes, but I don’t keep up with target practice.”
“From what I could tell, you don’t need it. You’re a lethal weapon in your own right. I’m in awe.”
“I knew the minute you stepped out of the bathroom you were a dead man.”
“I’ve never had anyone save my life,” he said. “I’m in debt to you, Barbi.”
“Yes, you are.”
They drove in silence to the crematorium. At the gate, Gabriel eyed the outdated speaker, doubting it even worked.
He pushed the button.
“Been expecting you.”
The gates opened, he drove in, backed up to the building. As they were getting out, the front door opened. A slender, hippy-looking man moseyed over rolling an extra-large gurney.
“Heard you caught a big one, huh?”
Gabriel opened the hatch.
“Musta been a bleeder,” CJ said.
“No blood.”
“Poison?”
“No.”
“I give up,” CJ said. “How’d he croak?”
“Heart attack,” Gabriel replied.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Barbi take a calming breath. He had her back… that was the least he could do.
They slid the tarp onto the oversized stretcher and into the building. While Barbi closed the door, CJ rolled the body into another room, then got busy removing the ropes. After he exposed the corpse, he said, “Check his pockets.”
“Already did.”
“Check ‘em again,” CJ insisted.
Gabriel confirmed, all pockets were empty.
