Page 21 of The Fortunate Ones
“What about that house?” Luca grumbled, pointing to the one directly next door and also on the top of the hill. “It’s a nice pale yellow. Not . . . this.”
He had a point, but still. “Maybe it was already rented out?” I asked, ignoring the available for rent sign still on the front of the property.
Luca eyed me pointedly before sighing heavily. He stalked toward the front door, a bag in each hand. I tipped the driver and thanked him, then grabbed the other bags, following Luca inside.
Despite its color, it was a cute little thing. I did a quick assessment of the security. I noticed several cameras on the outside. One that I was sure Diego could access and easily take over. Once inside, my eyes were instantly drawn to the large bay window with blackout shades that faced the backyard. Luca was in the living area, staring in horror at the massive floor light that looked like an ocean wave. I ignored him, walking to the window. I pulled the shade and immediately whistled, impressed at my boy. I could see directly onto the other street. I’d have to double-check for sure, but I’d bet money that the light blue bungalow, whose back porch was directly in my line of sight, was our target. Walking away, I kept going out the back door and onto a well-maintained deck. There was a fire pit, complete with matching purple Adirondack chairs, which would also suffice for some classic old-school surveillance.
I went back inside and saw that Luca and our luggage had moved to the bedroom, so I followed him there. The bungalow only had one, but it was fairly spacious for a house this size, and the king-sized bed looked comfortable and welcoming. Like the rest of the place, it had the standard beach decor of marine animal figurines, a lighthouse lamp, and blue sheets that resembled the ocean. Luca’s face was scrunched in discomfort, and if I hadn’t personally witnessed him camping out in a dirt-covered hole in the middle of swampland, I’d believe he’d never experienced anything so . . . working-class chic before.
I crowded behind him and began massaging his shoulders. He relaxed a fraction, allowing his head to rest on my chest.
“What’s really bothering you?” I asked gently. While I was sure the house was offensive to his bougie aesthetic, there was no way that was the only reason he was suddenly so on edge. I thought back to the plane and now wondered if he’d been trying to distract himself.
Luca tilted his head back farther so I could see into his dark brown eyes. “I never could hide anything from you.”
I dug into a particularly rough knot. “Never, love.”
“I don’t know why this trip has me so anxious,” he finally admitted. “This isn’t the first time since we all got together that I’ve separated from the main group, either on my own or with just one other of you. But we only got back from a job not long ago, and there are too many unknowns.”
Most jobs didn’t require the entire team to go. One or two of us were usually enough, especially on smaller gigs. Brooks and I rarely travelled together so one of us was home with Diego, which I was sure he noticed, but he hadn’t said anything. It also allowed us to stay home with Matty without him grumbling about being an adult. Under normal circumstances, that was true and he was certainly responsible enough, but until his asshole bio dad and Vladimir Andreev were behind bars or, even better, buried six feet under, we couldn’t be too careful.
“It’s always hard to leave, even if it’s just a few days,” I prompted when Luca didn’t elaborate. I kissed his jaw. “We’ll figure this out quickly, love, and then we’ll get back home.”
Luca turned so he was facing me. “Maybe we’re getting too old for this. Should stick to the paperwork and let the young ones do the dirty work.”
I snorted. “Speak for yourself. It will be a long time before I willingly delegate myself to a pencil pusher. Probably not ever.” They were likely going to have to cart me off the field in a damnstretcher before I gave it up entirely. Maybe if Diego asked me to stop, but since I doubted he would, I wasn’t worried about it.
Luca nipped at my lip, looking a little lighter, which had been my main goal.
“Let’s go call the guys and let them know we got here okay, and then we’ll get started on this thing so we can go the fuck home.”
Laughing, I grabbed his hand and led him back out to the kitchen, where there was a small breakfast nook and table where you could see directly outside. “C’mon, old man,” I teased, knowing he hated that since I was older than him. “Let’s see if this place has a coffee maker.”
I took a seat, ignoring Luca’s expression at the starfish table runner and lighthouse vase filled with fake flowers in the center of the table.
Before we even greeted our guys, I could hear laughter in the background. Brooks and Skye weren’t a surprise, but when I saw Matty pop up on the screen, trying to hold back his own case of the giggles, I joined in, much to Luca’s annoyance.
“How do you like the house, boss?” Skye asked seriously, being the first one to recover. “Diego was lucky to get something so close on such short notice.”
Diego snorted. “Leave me out of this fuckery.”
“Just wait till I get home,” Luca grouched, sounding more like an angry father from the 60’s than a partner.
“Oh, sir?” Brooks added, digging his own grave. “Have you seen the backyard yet? The garden is designed to look like a beach, and there are statues of all these different ocean animals. And instead of stones or some shit, it’s seashells. I even spotted a wind chime made of sea glass.” Both he and Skye started to crack up again. It was funny because Luca loved the ocean, but he always felt themed aesthetics were tacky.
Luca just grunted about something about brats writing checks their asses couldn’t cash, but I could see the smile he couldn’t quite hide. I sipped my coffee and tried to stifle my joy.
Diego eventually got us all on track. “I have full control over your security system there. If anything happens, I’ll know. There are cameras in the bag that Skye packed. When you get a chance, place them in the backyard, pointing toward the house. That way I can keep up surveillance even when you’re not watching.”
“Let me do that now, angel, before we hang up.”
I went back to the bedroom and grabbed the bag. The cameras were easy to find, and after a few minutes, we managed to get them set up in a way that would directly cover the yard and inside—if the blinds were open—of the target house.
“While you were flying in, I was able to gain access to Ramirez’s phone records before he disconnected it, and there was something that might be relevant. The day Ramirez left work early, he got a call from a payphone at a gas station.”
“They still have those?” Luca chimed in, asking the question I was wondering.
“In rural Pennsylvania, yeah. In a few places actually. I haven’t been able to listen to the call, but I found the gas station, and I was able to pull surveillance from CCTV cameras in the parking lot. About five minutes before Ramirez received the call, an old Honda Civic pulled in and two men got out. One seemed injured, and the other was a younger man, maybe a teenager. I don’t have an ID on either of them.”
