Even Villains Have Interns by Liana Brooks

know.”
    “Didn’t you say you didn’t trust him?” Travys
asked, stopping short of chasing after her into the woman’s locker
room. “I swore that’s what you said.”
    Delilah threw her hands up in frustration. “The
situation has changed. Okay? I need to go home and think about
this.”
    Travys let the door swing closed with silent
disapproval.
    Well that had not gone as planned. She
leaned back against a cold metal locker and stared unseeing at the
wall. She had to get that background check finished, it was the
only way out of this mess. Either Alan could be trusted, and she
was safe to fall in love, or she’d just kissed a man she was
destined to kill.
     
     

Chapter Eleven
     
     
    Dear Maria,
     
    I know you’re busy with the elections and
everything else that’s coming up, but I do need an RSVP for
Christmas. It’s my year to set up the holiday fun and twist arms.
This is Phase 1 of the arm-twisting. Mom wants everyone home for
Christmas. I will beg, bribe, and threaten you with physical pain
and the destruction of all you hold dear to make sure you are
there.
    Let’s start with the bribe. I know that in
your free time you happened to cross paths with a certain dark-eyed
wonder boy who goes by the name of Kon and controls the
weather.
    I also happen to know that The Company has a
very extensive file on him. Sorry, had. Until this morning when I
accidentally smashed their firewall to smithereens. The file is now
in my possession. And my, but it makes fascinating reading. I may
have to give this cowboy a call, see if he likes bareback
riding.
    Don’t even trying to hack my system. The data
is on a reserved hard drive and not connected to anything you can
touch, kept in an undisclosed location that even my best minions
won’t divulge.
    RSVP or else.
    Your evilest sister,
    Delilah
     
    Alan drifted through the shadows of the alley to
the dead drop, memories of Delilah still keeping him warm. He’d
spent all day wondering whether or not he should call her. Twice
he’d composed emails. Ads for floral arrangements had teased him,
but he wasn’t sure if Delilah would like flowers. And, if she did
like flowers, she probably wouldn’t like them delivered to her
office. Peace of mind was out of the question until he could figure
out exactly where their relationship was.
    Which wasn’t going to happen until after this
meet-up.
    When he’d originally joined The Company, he’d
been a distrustful teen who was unwilling to give them too much
power over him. Eighteen years of other people picking everything
from his name to the food he ate to the clothes he wore had left a
mark. He liked the freedom of adulthood, and The Company’s standard
contract was too restrictive for his liking.
    The dead drop had been the compromise. A Company
operative left him messages that he’d read and leave untouched in
the forgotten space between boarded up buildings. There’d been a
dearth of communication since the death of the Wooden Wonder, but
last night there’d been a message.
    Two women stood under a broken street lamp, one
rather elderly with an uptown style and primly pinned gray hair.
The other wore a leather catsuit with a slash of red that matched
her matte lipstick. Katrina, The Company boss, and the superhero
Lead Feather who often acted as Katrina’s bodyguard. The Wooden
Wonder had once said Lead Feather could kill with a touch, turn
people to stone, and stop superpowers from working. That was
probably office gossip, but he made a point of avoiding her all the
same.
    “Katrina.” He stayed a shadow, hovering in the
darkness out of reach of human touch.
    She turned to face him with a scowl. “The Spirit
of Chicago? You’re exactly how I imagined you.”
    Lead Feather’s fingers flexed in black gloves.
“I expected more.”
    “I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Alan lied
smoothly. “How may I be of service this evening?”
    Katrina glanced at Lead Feather, a sidelong
expression she probably didn’t