Page 6 of The Assassin
“Pan.” Santiago shrugged and flashed a toothy smile. “I like all works of art.”
“I can appreciate that. You’ll have to tell me how Ardan is in bed. I always imagined him to be vanilla and boring.”
Gabriel paused and laid down the spoon again. Back when they’d worked together, Ardan had mentioned Santiago more than once during the days where all they could do was sit and wait. He spoke about the hot nights they spent together, and a part of Gabriel had been jealous. He’d had hot sex before, but Ardan spoke as though it was something more with Santiago, and Gabriel expected them to make their sexual escapades into a relationship. It never happened, at least not before it all went to hell and Ardan decided he wanted Gabriel dead.
“Do you imagine him a lot?” Santiago’s mouth twisted and he grinned wickedly. “When are you going to put this thing to bed and just admit you want to fuck each other?”
Gabriel hummed and took another sip of his coffee. “It’s all about the foreplay, Santiago. You should know that.”
Santiago laughed. “Yeah, I suppose it is. Ardan’s not going to lie down and take it. He wants your head. I heard you’re on the run from him.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“We have people from the Society come through town. They talk. It’s no secret that you’re on his hit list. What did you do to piss that boy off? He’s the wrong person to have after you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Whatdoesmatter is that I’m here. I asked permission from your president to be in your lovely town. Murphy hasn’t.”
“What do you mean?” Santiago’s thick brows scrunched together.
Gabriel nodded out the window to a brown-bricked building across the road. It was two stories tall and belonged to a lawyer’s office. He’d made sure to study the town map and know everything about it. “Right now, Murphy is lying on that roof, pointing a rifle at me. He’s wondering why I’m sitting here having coffee with you, and deciding if he should put a bullet in my head or not.”
Santiago’s gaze slid to the large windows of the café and over to the building Gabriel gestured to. He didn’t glance up at the roof, though. “It’s a good position. It’s where I would shoot you from.”
“Right. The difference is that I have permission to be here, Murphy doesn’t. Can you imagine what would happen if he killed me now? It would start a war between the Norse Lords MC and the Killough Company. I don’t see you as the type who appreciates warring with the Irish mafia, Santiago, especially not Sloan Killough.”
“Fuck.” Santiago fell back into the flimsy wooden seat which creaked with the movement. His nostrils flared in irritation.
“Exactly. He’s waiting for you to leave, but now you know he’s up there, you can’t leave, because if your president finds out you were here, and knew Ardan was going to shoot me, you’d be in his firing range too.” Gabriel raised his mug to Santiago and took another sip, excitement buzzing under his skin. He enjoyed a chase and this had been one of his most exciting ever. There was no assassin quite like Ardan Murphy.
“Maldito bastardo.”
Gabriel finished the last bit of his coffee and set the empty mug on the table, smiling. “A bastard? No. I play strategically. I always have.”
“If you knew he was in Pleasant Beach, why are you still here?” Santiago hissed, eyes narrowed.
Gabriel hooked his fingers together in front of him over his closed laptop and inhaled the fresh scent of coffee deeply. He loved the smell of coffee grounds and had tossed up the idea of opening his own café when he got out of the CIA. Those dreams were shattered when he was left for dead. “Because I like winning, and I want to see his face when I do it.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Gabriel grinned. “You’re not meant to understand, but he will. I called you here to go up there and order him to come to the party your president invited me to tonight.”
“Order?” Santiago chuckled, tapping his fingers on the table. “What makes you think anyone can order Ardan to do anything? The only person I know who can do that is Sloan Killough.”
“Because he’s in Lords territory without permission. He’d have no choice unless he wanted to start that war I mentioned. Tell him he has to come to the party.”
His eyebrows rose and he shook his head. “You are a connivingbastardo, you know that?”
“Yes, I do. It’s how I’ve survived this long,” Gabriel said simply.
Santiago cursed in Spanish some more before he stood, earning the attention of more than a few people with how dramatically he did it. His eyes narrowed on Gabriel and he rolled his shoulders, as though he wasn’t sure if he wanted to pull out the Glock hiding in his cut and shoot him, or just strangle him with his bare hands. “You have a death wish, Mancini. Whatever game you’re playing with Ardan will be your last.”
He spun on his heel, stalking across the café and back out the door just as Jennifer returned to stand beside Gabriel, hesitation in her stance. Gabriel smiled up at her. “I’d like the check please.”
“Of course.” She glanced back toward the door and then almost ran toward the cash register.
Gabriel opened his laptop again and stared at the pictures of Isabella. “Ci incontreremo un giorno.”
We will meet one day.
