Page 40 of Betting Blind

My eyes catch movement in my bedroom, and I freeze. Surely the boys couldn’t have beaten me here. They were all still bleary-eyed and nursing coffee mugs when I left. I creep forward and dislodge the gun hidden under the long table behind my couch. My fingers close loosely along the trigger. My ears strain as I listen for any sounds, but I don’t hear anything.

Hector comes through my bedroom door with a steaming mug of coffee and a bagel hanging between his teeth. His eyes widen at the barrel pointed at his forehead and he nearly drops his coffee. “You gonna use that on me, Little Bird?” he asks after he regains his composure.

I glare over at Anubis and drop my hand to my side. “I retract my previous compliment. You are a terrible guard dog.” The dog cocks his head to the side and pants heavily. Apparently, his three brain cells are not all firing this morning. I turn my glare to Hector and my lips twist into a scowl. “Is that my last bagel?”

He presses his lips into a thin line as he chews slowly but says nothing. I raise the gun again and point the barrel at his leg. “If bullets weren’t so expensive right now, I would lodge one in your kneecap,” I quip.

He laughs and shoulders past me to drop onto the couch. The dog saunters up and lays at his feet, his tail thumping quietly on the floor. I don’t bother asking Hector what he’s doing in my house. I already know. Ever since he saw the video feed of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb stalking through my house, Hector has been here whenever I’m not. I don’t bother telling him that I’m usually with the Tweedles. He doesn’t need to know that.

“Long night?” he asks and nods to my attire. It’s the same outfit I was wearing the day before.

I tilt my chin up and refuse to let him catch me in my walk of shame. “Unexpected change of plans,” I respond and head for the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower. I have a meeting with Tobias and the Russians at nine.”

“Translation, I need to get the fuck out and make sure I’m there by eight?” he calls after me. I grind my teeth together in annoyance because I can hear the smirk in his voice.

“Damn straight,” I shout back over the rushing water as I step into the shower. I hear the door creak open, and I push my head around the curtain. “Anything else?” I ask him as he hovers in my doorway.

His eyes darken and he folds his tattooed arms across his chest. “Everything was quiet yesterday. There have been rumblings that the Italians blame us for Giordano’s death, and the Irish are unusually quiet.”

I duck back into the water and wash my hair. “Well the Italians aren’t wrong, but they brought that on themselves. I’ll make sure Tobias checks with Alexei to see what they’ve heard. You know the Russians love a good gossip story.”

“That they do,” Hector rumbles. He doesn’t say anything else, and I think he’s gone for a moment. I peek around the curtain again and he’s still rooted to his spot, eyes blazing at me.

I shift on my feet and swallow hard, my body growing too hot in the already steaming shower. I close the curtain again and press my forehead against the cold tile. “Grab me a coffee on your way in, would you?” I ask as I shut the water off and pull the towel from the rod.

Hector grunts and I hear the door click shut. I breathe out a sigh and dry my hair. My hands are already full with three grown assassins, I can’t add another macho man to the mix. I don’t have time, nor do I have the patience to deal with that fall out.

*****

I drum my fingers along the table and lean forward in the rolling chair, putting my face mere inches from the computer screen. Tobias is in our small conference room with Alexei and Maxim, the two Russian mafia brothers that are in charge of the northern neck of the city. We typically don’t butt heads, but we also purposefully don’t work together. The brothers are hell bent on marrying me, and I want no part of any of that. Even if they have the best Vodka.

Maxim’s deep accent comes across the comm device in my ear. “We have not heard that O’leary is making moves. It is suspicious that they have been so quiet of late.”

Alexei’s voice follows a moment later, a duplicate of his brother’s. “We have little need for the Irish and their guns.” I narrow my eyes at the screen and watch as both Russians lean forward and balance their forearms on their knees. “We are in need of a service,” he says slowly. “It needs to be done quickly and efficiently. Do you have men capable of this?”

“I may,” Tobias says in a clipped tone. “But I need more details than that.”

Maxim scoffs. “We have someone snooping around and it needs to be dealt with, but we don’t want them to see us coming.”

I press the talk button so that my voice filters into Tobias’s ears. “They have a leak on the inside. They want someone to remove the target, but they can’t trust their own people because they don’t know who the rat is yet. My guess is this is a ploy to draw them out.”

Tobias nods slowly, and I watch him stare down the two men. “I would suggest planting certain details in differentdepartments while I organize my men. Once the job is done, you should know where the problem lies.”

They nod slowly and their faces stretch into slow grins. Tobias hands them a pen and Alexei writes down the information for the hit. “You impress us with your astuteness,” Alexei says as they shake hands.

Tobias smirks and his eyes cut to one of the hidden cameras in the corner. “It’s my job.” His deep voice rumbles as he ushers them down the hall.

A moment later, he emerges into the security office and drops the notebook onto the table in front of me along with a piece of paper with details on the intended target. “They have multiple rats,” I muse quietly. “Mine are harmless and are only there for intel if needed, but there are others that are beginning to cause a ruckus for them.” I spin the notebook around and read over the looping script. “I’ll handle this. Thank you, Tobias.”

He nods his head and turns to leave but hesitates in the doorway. “Would you please consider taking backup this time? You make me nervous, and it doesn’t sit well with me that the other groups have been so silent.”

I sigh and remove the communication device from my head. “I will consider it,” I say to appease him. I most certainly will not be taking anyone anywhere with me. This is my play time, and the last thing that I need is some trigger-happy bozo taking my shots. He nods again and heads down the hallway. I turn in the opposite direction, heading to the armory to pick out which shiny toys I’m going to play with today.

My fists clench and unclench as I walk through the rows of weapons. I pick up two identical pistols and slip them into my thigh holsters. Then I pull out a wicked looking hunting knifeand tuck it into a holster across my back. Another small gun is tucked into my pant leg and secured around my left ankle, followed by another blade that is secured around my left wrist and hidden under my sleeve.

I complete my ensemble with a black kevlar jacket and a custom helmet with a bulletproof coating. I tuck the paper that I had torn from the notepad into my pocket and head for my bike, prepped for battle.

A short ride later, I find myself at the docks. A large cargo ship is stationed at the end and there are two large cranes loading shipping containers onto the boat. I wrinkle my nose at the smell of salt water and rotten fish. I hate going to the docks. They smell fucking terrible.

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