Page 61 of Her Guardian
“Boyd!” she says, running up to me. “I wasn’t expecting you this early.”
“It’s business this time,” I say. “Massimo is putting together a new plan. I thought you might be able to help. You’re the resident expert on the Mafia Prince Killer, right?”
“If it’s the same guy,” she sighs. “I want to believe it is, especially after the first message, but the nerve agent is different. That could mean it’s a different killer. He’s also not keeping the samepattern. Last night was the first time he’s ever struck twice, and he usually waits a while between them.”
“You still might see something we’re missing,” I say. “Get your stuff. Come on.”
Sarah quickly gathers what she needs and follows me back to the elevator. As soon as the doors close, I forget all about the Mafia Prince Killer and pull her into my arms so I can kiss the lips I’ve been missing all fucking day. We kiss until the elevator dings, and I reluctantly pull away.
“I missed you too,” she says, her eyes flickering with excitement. “You know, when I started my podcast, I never imagined that the Mafia would come tomefor help!”
“Don’t let it go to your head,” I chuckle, slapping her ass hard enough to make her hop off the elevator.
“Ow!” she whines. “I didn’t do anything to deserve that!”
“So?” I tease, giving her a nudge.
“By the way…” Sarah turns and walks backwards as we go down the hallway—probably so I can’t slap her ass again. “Lea told me something very interesting today.”
“Did she?” I say, narrowing my eyes.
“Yeah, apparently you threw a drunk guy out of the casino before he could hit on me,” she says, her lips spreading into a grin. “Why did you do that, Big Boyd? Didn’t want anyone talking to the girl you had a thing for?”
“How the fuck did Lea find out about that?” I grunt. “Wait, she was there that night. I remember now. I was just doing my job. Drunk assholes hitting on customers isn’t good for business.”
“That’s all it was?” she questions, turning and grabbing my hand. “Big Boyd doing his job? Nothing more than that?”
“I already told you I’ve been thinking about you since the wedding,” I relent.
“Thinking about me andprotectingme are two different things,” she teases. “What if that guy was a really awesome dude who had one too many? He could have been the love of my life!”
“I doubt it,” I grumble, unable to slap her ass because she’s holding my hand. “When I threw him out, he begged to come back in because hiswifewas waiting for him upstairs.”
“Gross.” Sarah wrinkles her nose, then her eyes get wide when we get to the room. “Holy shit, iseveryonehere?”
“Pretty much,” I say, nudging her inside. “Dante! Go over everything again. The expert is here.”
Sarah looks a little overwhelmed when everyone turns their attention to her. I stay beside her while Dante runs down the plan. I can tell she’s interested based on her reaction, but when Dante wraps up, she doesn’t look very impressed by what she’s heard.
I give her a nudge for encouragement, motioning for her to speak up. She’s got the floor now, whether she wants it or not.
“If it’s the real Mafia Prince Killer, he’ll never be predictable enough for you to figure out where he will strike next,” Sarah explains, walking to the front of the room. “They tried that in Chicago and it didn’t work, even though he was going after other families the first one did business with. Plus, he broke from that pattern last night unless the Moreno family was secretly doing business with the Bratva.”
“Damn sure better not have been,” Massimo snarls.
“And I hate to say this, but if you do happen to stake out the location he’s targeting, it won’t necessarily work. In New Jersey, the cops were staking out targets, and he took them out first. He didn’t kill them, of course, but he gassed them,” Sarah continues. “The cops think he uses a drone to scout out the location before he strikes.”
“Yeah, we’re aware,” Dante sighs. “But there are too many drones flying around Las Vegas for us to follow them all.”
“Radar won’t work either,” Sarah adds. “Not if he’s using the same kind of drone. They had one in New Jersey, and nothing ever registered, so it’s probably one of those stealth drones the military uses.”
“Not just the military,” I mutter. “We have them, too. They’ve been in the air since this started.”
I glance over at one of the tech guys who nods and confirms they haven’t spotted anything.
“Then what do we do?” Massimo asks. “We’re not getting anywhere shaking people down, and sitting on our asses sure as hell isn’t getting us any closer to this motherfucker.”
Sarah looks like she wants to say something, but she hesitates. She glances nervously at me, and I nod, indicating she should continue. There’s something going on in her head. I can see it in her eyes.
