EDGE OF SUSPENSE: Thrilling Tales of Mystery & Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

dead source doesn't complicate matters."
    "I think that's the least of your concerns,"
Carter said. "Staying alive should be your top priority."
    Lydia sipped wine and took a bite of her
turkey sandwich. "It is."
    "And that's what makes this so difficult,"
Suzanne said. She put her drink on the windowsill and pulled a gun
from her pocket, swiveling in one motion toward Carter. She shot
him once in the chest as he went for his own gun.
    Carter fell to the floor before he was shot
again.
    Lydia's eyes widened with shock and horror.
"What the hell have you done?"
    Suzanne scowled. "I've gotten rid of the DEA
agent who would've tried to stop me from completing my
mission."
    Lydia had to wrap her mind around what she
didn't want to believe. "Are you saying—?"
    Suzanne nodded. "I was hired by Antonio
Escobero to take out the snitch Javier Whitman, and the journalist
he confided in."
    Lydia suddenly found herself staring at the
barrel of a gun. Carter wasn't moving and she feared he was dead.
She would be next. Everything she'd worked for in life would be
wasted.
    "You don't have to do this, Suzanne," she
pleaded. "We're friends."
    "It was my job to get close to you and see
what Whitman had divulged about the cartel." Suzanne gazed at
Lydia. "For what it's worth, this isn't personal. Maybe in another
life we could have really been friends. Goodbye, Lydia."
    At that moment, Muffin streaked across the
floor, momentarily distracting Suzanne. Lydia took the opportunity
to lunge at her and wrestle for control of the gun.
    Lydia smashed her fist into Suzanne's jaw,
causing her to see stars and loosen her grip on the gun. Yanking it
away, Suzanne pointed the gun at Lydia's face.
    Closing her eyes, Lydia waited for the end
to come. Suddenly she heard glass shattering.
    Lydia opened her eyes and saw Suzanne
crumple to the floor, her face half blown away. Turning to the
window, or what was left of it, Lydia realized the shot had come
from outside.
    Could there be two assassins?
    Expecting another shot directed at her,
Lydia went down to the floor. She heard Carter moan.
    He was still alive.
    She crawled over to him, wondering if she
would have another death on her hands.
    Carter winced. "Are you all right?"
    "Yes."
    "And your friend?"
    "Suzanne's dead." Lydia glanced at the hit
woman whose head was surrounded by a pool of blood. She turned back
to Carter. "You're hurt. I have to call 911."
    "Don't bother." He moaned and unbuttoned his
shirt, revealing a bulletproof vest. "She just knocked the wind out
of me. I'll be okay."
    Lydia gave a sigh of relief. When Muffin
cautiously walked up to them, she could see how frightened the cat
was, reminding Lydia that they weren't out of danger yet. Escobero
still wanted her dead and someone out there may have already taken
Suzanne's place as the killer.
    * * *
    The shooter hit the mark with precision,
watching through the scope as the woman calling herself Suzanne
Pratt took a bullet to the head and went down instantly. He had no
doubt she was dead, giving him extreme satisfaction.
    The bitch would never again use her skills
to take away other lives for pay. He had seen to that. It was only
fitting that she got what she dished out before adding yet another
victim to her list.
    He put the gun back in its case and made his
way off the rooftop.
    There was still one piece of unfinished
business to take care of.
    * * *
    "Tina Martin was her real name," Carter told
Lydia a week later in the hotel room that was her temporary
residence.
    "You mean Suzanne?"
    "Yeah, and she had at least half a dozen
other aliases. She was a real piece of work and very lethal. She's
been connected to ten known assassinations over the past three
years. No telling how many others we don't know about."
    Lydia shook her head. "I just can't believe
I trusted her as a friend."
    "You and many others. She used it to her
advantage by getting to know everything about her targets until it
was time to eliminate them." Carter sat down on the