Page 35 of Fear the Reaper
Swede stopped typing to look over to her. “Do youreallywanna know?”
Star seemed contemplative for a moment but instead of replying, she kissed Six’s head.
“You’re spoiling him,” Kuo pouts. “I don’t get that much loving.”
Star crinkled her nose then stuck her tongue out at Kujo before kissing Six again. “Tell me what the plan is.”
“The plan…” I made my way into the kitchen and yanked open the fridge. “We find Heller and squeeze him.”
“Hard.” Swede added.
“What I don’t get.” Star set Six onto the seat and climbed off. The dog yawned and rested his head on his front legs. “I don’t know who this Osman is. I don’t remember going after anyone named Osman.”
“He’s probably not someone you’ve brought down.” Kujo explained. “It’s probably a friend or a loved one of someone you’ve exposed.”
“We don’t have time to go through all these names one by one,” Swede said. “So, we have to go back to the source.”
“Brian?” Star asked.
“Bingo.” I said. “We’re going to have to make him take us to his boss.”
“Great.” Star rolled her eyes. “Take me to your leader. That’ll work.”
“We may not have to do all that.” Swede was once more working on his computer. “All we have to do—”
He stopped speaking and we all watched silently. It seemed there was an unwritten rule—when Swede was on some sort of a roll, we should all just sit back and wait. Most often than not, Swede comes up with something quite brilliant.
“—follow the mon-neh.” Swede muttered. “Ha! Okay, so I had to do a little more digging because the trail of money went through four different countries before leading back here. But, it trails back to an LLP that hasn’t been used since it was created a year ago. It has an address on it so this might be the breakthrough we need.”
I smiled. “You’re a genius.”
Swede beamed then laughed out loud when Star kissed his head. “Aww shucks,” he said. “You’re only saying that ‘cause it’s true!”
I smirked. “The plan, Kujo, I need you to stay here with Star. Swede, you and I should check this address out.”
“I’m not staying behind,” Star complained.
“Star, I wasn’t asking. I don’t know what we’re walking into and if something happens I’m going to need the extra gun.”
She seemed angry but didn’t argue further. After we got ready, I wanted to kiss her, to hold her against me before leaving. I didn’t expect to die or anything quite so morbid. But I needed the extra boost. Star seemed angry and she stormed from the room when I turned to her. Agitated, I led Swede out the door and hopped into the truck.
We made our way, in silence, to the address Swede had found. After parking in a place I believed wouldn’t seem suspicious, we hiked back through a wooded area and hunched down to watch the ranch. It was large, sprawling and reeked of money—maybe not all legal. It seemed to be two floors along with a bungalow guesthouse to the north of it. Horses grazed behind it, a few chickens ran about the yard and the grass at the front was greener than it had a right to be.
“You know,” Swede said. “If I die in this, I’m haunting your ass.”
I blinked and turned to look at him. He gave me a one shoulder shrug.
“No one’s going to die.” I muttered. “You’re just being dramatic.”
“Maybe.” Swede turned his attention back to the target’s place. “But you won’t be saying that when ghost me is knocking over your coffee first thing in the morning.”
“Ghost or no ghost, wasting my coffee would earn you an ass kicking.”
Swede smiled. “You see that?”
I turned to the ranch, allowing my eyes to follow his motion. There, in the corner, was a camera. I scanned the building as far as I could make out, and there was more than one. No one is that careful anywhere. If we were going to take Heller, we’re going to have to do it when he wasn’t home—or at least inside. If the outside was so heavily guarded, inside would be no joke.
“Well, shit.”
