Page 61 of Triple Threat

“You can, and you can tell me what I could offer you to… reconsider, your answer.”

“My partner,” and for some reason I found myself thinking of Sadie, “and I are happy with our current setup. We work when we want to, and when we want to take time off, we are free to do so.”

“But what about the money,” she said.

“We don’t work because we have bills to pay, I could retire today and not have to worry about bringing in another dollar.” I accepted what would be my third glass of gin. I tried not to think about how much this bill was going to be. I could afford it, but that wasn’t the point.

“Retirement might be another option,” she said.

“We work because we want to,” I said. “On our own terms, our independence means quite a bit to us.”

“Le Generaleconsiders you such a fine assassin, he would dread to think if someone were to hire you to eliminate him, or damage his operation.” She ran her hand down the front of her dress, drawing attention to her cleavage, and I could see that each fingernail had its own, different animal on it. I saw a panda, a dragon, and a koi fish.

“I think it is very unlikely,” I said, “In the years that we’ve been doing this there has never been an instance where a new employer has contracted us to deal with a previous employer.”

“So, you have a guarantee that if such an event occurred, that you would refuse the offer. Would you even be obligated to let a - former employer - know about such activities?” Her eyes were hard.

“I can talk to my partner about that, it’s never come up before,” I said. My gut had turned cold.

“Le Generalewould also be interested in meeting you, and your partner, in person,” she said.

“We appreciate the offer, but unless you have a contract to carry out, I think we’re done here.” Her expression was carved from ice.

“I think you should talk to your partner, Mister Lachlan, and consider the consequences of your potential answer. Your partner might have some insight that you might be overlooking.”

“I’ll take that under consideration,” I said. She kissed me on the cheek, and I could smell her perfume, lilacs and something fruity.

She turned and walked away from me. Her dress was so tight across her ass that I half wondered how she got into it, and how she walked without it splitting like a banana peel.

I finished my third round in a gulp and gestured for the bill.

I needed another drink after handing over my charge card.

* * *

I heldthe keys to the new Audi in my hand, normally a drink or two and I was still fine to drive, but three in so short a span? That was too much. I pulled out my phone, toggled the ride share app and called for a top end car to come pick me up and take me back to the house. It was a little pricey going that far, but it was cheaper than tearing out the side of the car or ending up crossways with the local police for riding over the line more than once.

I didn’t have to wait long, and a Mercedes driver was exactly as his five-star rating claimed. In the fairly long drive back to Bootlegger Head, the only time he spoke to me was to ask if I had a music preference, which I did not, and if I wanted conversation, which I did not. He dropped me at the head of the driveway and I walked the last few hundred feet from the gate to the house in silence. I did give him a five-star rating, and a large tip. Still only a fraction of how much I had spent at the Tobacconist just to tell a smoking hot woman no.

I felt like there might be something wrong with me. It wasn’t so long ago that I would have taken her up on her offer just to see how far she would go, what she was willing to do to get the answer she wanted. I would have taken so much advantage of that.

Oh, and yes, I would have taken so much advantage ofher. I keyed the combination and unlocked the door, and let myself in. When the door shut, I heard the electronic lock engage again and the deadbolt turn with its magnetic whatever that made it work. Roan’s wizardry, that. I walked to the Black-Eyed Susan, and it seemed like a sad little hobby bar compared to the decadence and heaviness that had been the Tobacconist. I would have bought some of their barrel aged gin, even an entire barrel of it, but that was a hard no. They only sold it by the glass.

My loss.

Praise God and one-legged Brits, I had a new bottle of that crazy botanical infused gin, and a few others. Was that a sprig of rosemary in the bottle? I poured a measure of the gin, and by God it had a slightly green tint to it.

It was the nectar of some fertility and harvest goddess.

Splendid.

I was in Roan’s bar, when I could have been balls deep in Gwendolyn Kaijin’s asshole, listening to her make the high-pitch sounds and animal noises that women made when they discovered that they liked it like that. I took a drink directly from the bottle.

I was too restless to go to bed, and there was a bit too much alcohol in me for that to be a good idea. I wandered through the house and into the living room, the big television was still on, holding at the end credits for one of Roan’s old long ass movies. I picked up the remote to see what he had inflicted on Sadie. Spaghetti western? Some classic where the last surviving actor was a crusty old 118-year-old woman the size of a Pomeranian?

The Kwai movie, God, that was a long one. I still had avoided sitting through the entirety of it.

I went to the Bat Cave next and dropped down into his captain’s seat. The only thing missing were controls on the arms of the chair. I pulled up his keyboard and started scrolling through the last few hours of house feeds.

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