Page 46 of Iron Cross

“You’re very insistent.”

“I am, if I think you actually like it,” he shrugged. “What’s your drink of choice?”

“I just like plain black coffee, and a donut.”

“What kind of donut?”

“Surprise me.”

“Okay.” He beamed. “This is going to be fun, Anna Jones.”

He got up from his seat and walked away, his hands in his pockets.

Chapter fourteen

Blood of Mine

Eoghan

Shiny was covered in blood, her dyed midnight black hair was stringy, clinging to the sides of her face. Her clothes were soaked in the cold winter rain that had stubbornly kept itself from turning into snow.

“Surveillance going well, Shiny?” I asked, as she glared at me.

She grunted. It was a very un-lady-like sound.

“I found an accomplice for our friend, Chicken.” She shook out her hair like a wet dog, splashing me in the water.

“Chicken?” I grunted, lifting my arms to shield myself.

“Alfredo.” She smirked, because no matter what she did, she could not help thinking about the sauce of the same name. “He had a driver, who was apparently the brains of the operation.”

Humor was never Shiny’s strong suit. The few times she had thrown me and Dairo into a fit of laughter, it had been absolutely unintentional. She ran away a pretty blond princess, and came back a raven-haired skeptic with a dark humor that would make even the coldest killer shudder.

“Oh?” I asked, “Where is this Italian genius that was pulling our Durante the Lesser’s strings?”

“In the trunk of the car.”

“Really?” I crossed my arms. “You intended to leave him there?”

The man must have been an icicle. Then again, I had heard that freezing to death wasn’t the worst way to go. According to Jack London, it could be as peaceful as going into a deep sleep. But mercy wasn’t really a trait Shiny had.

“Nope. I was intending to have you go get him.”

I rolled my eyes, irritated by her gall. “You’re a brat, do you know that?”

I clambered to my feet. I’d done nothing physically strenuous that day when I sent her out to find Alfredo Chicken’s accomplice, so it was only fair.

I stepped out of the little warehouse we were bunking in and popped the boot of the little armored sedan. Nice, nondescript,white vehicle. The most common color, in the most common looking body type.

Unlike our Italian companions, we had taught ourselves to put flash and ego aside in order to blend in with the population. Truly, it was a lesson we had learned from Dairo’s training, which he had learned from the SAS, and then his time at Caledonia Security. I wasn’t above taking advantage of his expertise to improve Green Fields Enterprises.

He’s the reason why we were the efficient elimination machines that we were now.

The efficiently hog-tied mafioso wriggled as I hoisted him over my shoulder. Whatever cotton she had pushed into his mouth, then duct taped to his head was now blunting his attempts to scream.

With a shrug, I dumped him on the floor, his sad little head slamming against the ground.

“Don’t break him!” Shiny chastised. “We need to question him.”

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