Excerpt
Prologue

Under the harsh reality of the hospital lights the woman appeared slight and pale. If she had to guess, Mac would put her age near forty. A balloon bouquet floated up from its anchoring weight on the windowsill. IV lines snaked out from under the sheet, stretching up the pole to bags containing mysterious liquids. A heart monitor beeped rhythmically. An overpowering antiseptic smell almost covered the odor of dying flesh. The patient sipped from a cup of ice water, watching her two visitors enter the room.
Both wore dark business suits that met the FBI’s dress code requirements, though the woman’s had a more feminine cut. The man looked to be an ex-marine who still hadn’t realized he was allowed to grow out his buzz cut. At six two and two hundred pounds he probably felt invincible. The woman in the bed had killed many invincible men just like him. The female FBI agent was medium height, with short blond hair and brilliant green eyes. Both had a 9mm Glock strapped to their right hips.
Taking the agents off guard, the woman in the bed spoke first, “You must be the FBI Agents I requested. Please come in, have seat.” She indicated the recliner and hard backed visitor’s chair next to it. Both agents remained standing.
“Ms. Davidson, I’m special Agent Mackenzie and this is special Agent Ford.” the female Agent nodded toward her partner. “We’re here because of a telephone call you made to our Boulder office.”
“Yes, I called four days ago, what took you so long?” the patient asked.
“Well ma’am, as compelling as your story is, we had to check a few facts before coming here.” Agent Ford replied.
“So tell me Agent Ford, was it the death of Santos or Jimmy “the geek” Delany that caught your attention? Because I know damn well you don’t really give a shit about any of the other scum I’ve scrubbed away.” The last sentence was said between bouts of coughing into a tissue covered with specs of blood.
“Of course we at the FBI are concerned with any suspicious deaths of all US citizens.” Agent Ford began.
“Honestly Ms Davidson, it was the details of the Delany case that caught our attention”, Agent Mackenzie cut in before Ford could hand out more of the company line.
“I thought so. When I killed that little bastard I knew the FBI was conducting surveillance from the top floor of the bakery across the street. Word on the street was that you’d had him in your sights for two years prior to his death. He used to brag about running you around in circles.” the woman laughed.
Before Ford, who was beet red and stuttering by this time, could speak, Agent Mackenzie asked, “So what can you tell us about the murder of Jimmy Delany?”
“I’m going to give you all the answers you want and then some, but I just want to be clear on a few rules. One, I’m going to tell this my way, in my time. Two, this is a death bed confession; I’m never walking out of this hospital. The only concession I’ve given is that I’ve temporarily lifted my Do Not Resuscitate order until I have finished this confession. That means that the doctors can keep me alive by any means possible until you eek out every fucking detail. Three, my daughter is an innocent, she may or may not chose to talk to you. Four, I will get my pain medications and have frequent rest breaks. Do you understand?”
“Now listen, you can’t just,” before Agent Ford could finish the patient stated
“Yes, I can, and you will. The paperwork is on my bedside table. You’ve got enough damn lawyers working for the FBI that between my lawyer and yours, this should be set by tomorrow. One other condition, I don’t like you, Agent Ford, so I will only talk to Agent Mackenzie. Now I have a couple of questions. Do you want the details of only the Delany murder or all one hundred and seventeen murders I’ve done? Do you want only US citizens? Only US citizens in the US? Or every murder I’ve committed around the world?”
After a stunned pause, Agent Mackenzie replied, “We’ll have to get back to you on that ma’am.”