Dangerous Lines (12 page)

Shawn smiled at Tamara as she stepped close to him,
pressing a kiss to her lips. His friend, and boss, said something to her that made
her laugh and nod. A quick kiss of her own to his lips, and Tamara turned to
leave the room. Not before throwing Vincent
a warning look
.

Fucking women were scary.

Once the door shut behind Tamara, Shawn got down to
business. “All right, so with the approval of Rhonda’s captain we will be in
control of this op. We have been authorized to hold anyone involved. Once they
are detained, we call in the SFPD. Because of things going on in the department
right now, it’s best we do it this way to avoid any potential issues.”

In other words, the captain still didn’t know the
leak. Not good. Not good at all.

With a sigh, Vincent stood next to Ro’s chair, his
hip bumping her shoulder lightly as he settled in. She glanced up with a smile
before resting her head against his side.

“Rhonda is our bait,” Shawn said.
“Plain and simple.
She is also our one and only concern
during this op. She will be armed, but because of how we need to set up
appearances, she’ll be less than quick on the draw if it comes to that. Michael,
I want you behind the scope. Vincent and Trent will be on the ground, close,
but back far enough that there’s a time gap to worry about. Sheila, you and
Trent will be playing parts in the open with Adam front and centre. Sorry,
sweetie, but we need you to get your hooker on.”

Sheila let out a sigh. “Damn it, those stockings
fucking itch, Shawn.”

“I know, but no one else can fit into that skirt
and still make it look good,” he said.

Everyone chuckled at that, and the middle finger
Sheila threw up in the air.

“Adam is primary, since he will be the closest to
Rhonda. We’ll all be wired for sound, but nobody moves without the signal from
either Adam or Rhonda.
Nobody.”

Shawn was staring hard at him so Vincent gave a nod
of understanding. He was in on the op because neither he nor Ro would have it
any other way. But he was on a leash, and Shawn had just reminded him that they
needed to get anything, and everything they could in order to nail Moreau to
the proverbial stake.

“Okay
folks,
let’s get
this insanity on the road. Adam, how long before you’re next
check
in?”

Adam pulled his sleeve back to reveal his watch,
and said, “Fifteen minutes. He knows I’m on her trail, but he doesn’t know
where, or how close I am.”

“Good,” Shawn said. “Call him in sixteen minutes.
Not one second sooner, it’ll be good to start throwing him off balance now,
even in this little way.”

Adam nodded and headed for the door. The others
started out, talking low about this and that, anything but what was about to go
down. Vincent and Ro stayed right where they were. Neither spoke.
Neither moved.
They just soaked in a moment of peace,
together. Vincent knew Rhonda prayed for the same thing he did.
That this wouldn’t be their last moment together.

Chapter Fifteen

Tied to a chair in the middle of the room, her head
down, was the bitch that had escaped. Moreau didn’t know how, yet, but he would
find that out as well. Looking to the man who had finally brought the bitch to
heel, he gave an approving nod.

“I may have more work for you in the future. You
have proven to be most competent, and I like that in my employees.”

“Always happy to help,” Adam said.
“For a fee.”

Smiling tightly, Gabriel Moreau tipped his head in
acknowledgement. Holding out his hand, he snapped his fingers, the weight of a bag
soon on his arm.
“Your bounty, as promised.”

Adam took the bag, hefted it, peered inside and
then set it aside.

“You’re not going to count it?”

“It’s all there,” Adam said. “If it’s not...” He
gave a lazy shrug that didn’t hide the lethal promise behind the words.

“Quite right,” Moreau laughed. “Yes, yes, I think
you would be a fine addition to my business interests.”

“One thing at a time, Mr. Moreau,” Adam pointed
out.

“You are absolutely correct.” Turning, he looked at
the drooping head, the slouched form, and felt a quiver in his gut.
Anticipation, of finally putting the bitch where she belonged.
In the ground.

Normally, he wouldn’t sully his hands with such a
thing. Deniability was a precious commodity in his world. For this one though,
he would make an exception. She slipped away once because he wasn’t diligent.
She wouldn’t slip away again, because he would ensure that he ended her life
permanently. With his own two hands.

“Is she conscious?” he asked.

“Not at the moment.” Adam looked at his watch,
tipping his head slightly. “She’s likely starting to come around. She was a
little hellcat when I caught her, had to drug her or risk losing the family
jewels.”

A laugh escaped Moreau, unexpected, and yet he
didn’t mind. While he preferred being in complete control of everything around
him, his emotions, his employees, and everything, a bit of spontaneity didn’t
upset him.
Especially amusement.
“Tried to unman you,
did she?”

“To say the least.
That bitch has claws on her. I was expecting she’d fight, just didn’t
know she’d fight so dirty. She decked me with that damned cast.”

Seeing Adam rub at his jaw, he narrowed his eyes,
and caught the hint of bruising. She’d clipped him there obviously. “Well, fear
not Adam, she will be duly reprimanded before I take my own annoyances out on
her.”

“Whatever. I’m good with anything as long as she
gets what she’s got coming.”

So he wasn’t squeamish about killing a woman.
Interesting.
“Out of curiosity’s sake, and for my own peace
of mind, had I ordered you to remove her permanently, would you have?
Hypothetically speaking, of course.”

“Of course,” Adam said. With a shrug he slid his
thumbs into his front pockets. “Hypothetically speaking? Sure. It would have
cost you more since, there would have been a bit more work involved after the
fact.”

“True
enough,
and you are
right. For something like that the fee would have been appropriately negotiated
for adequate compensation. Hypothetically speaking,” he said.

A low moan of pain brought his attention to the
bound woman.

“Sounds like she’s finally coming around,” Adam
muttered. “I had to take into account she might be on pain meds, but without
knowing what, it was still a crap shoot.”

“You did well, Adam. A man who handles the pressure
of immediate decisions like that is a man I like having on my side.” Turning to
his bodyguard, he told him to wait by the door and keep watch. His driver and
other bodyguard outside would do the same for the approaches and egresses of
the location. His man hesitated a moment, his eyes raking over Adam, before he
gave a nod and moved off.

A good man that one, always looking out for his
interests and safety, and yet still always aware of
who
paid him.

Rubbing his palms together for a moment, Gabriel Moreau
watched as the woman, Rhonda according to one of his many informants, tried to
lift her head. She didn’t get far, likely still too affected by the drugs.
Undoing the buttons on his suit jacket, he carefully slid it off and folded it up.
With a glance around, he found a clean spot, the chair that Adam had likely
occupied while he waited, to hang the jacket over. Next off was his tie before
he removed his cufflinks to roll up his sleeves.

He wouldn’t admit it to anyone he knew currently,
but he quite missed being hands on. In his early days, fighting his way to a
position of power, he’d been one who quite liked to hurt people. He’d been an
enforcer, and an interrogator when necessary back in the day. He’d missed it.

Oh, he still got off watching others attend to the
dirty work, but really there wasn’t anything more satisfying than feeling skin
split under his own knuckles, or bones breaking for him. It was something that
very few truly enjoyed enough to make their lives work. Too many went for the
quick kill, a bullet to the head.

Truth be told, in some cases such things were
needed. In other cases a full work over before snapping a neck with your own
bare hands was required.
More for a personal sense of
fulfillment than anything else.

In Rhonda’s case, Gabriel was more than willing to
lower himself back to that place he’d vaulted so far from over the years, just
one more time. Cracking his knuckles, he eyed his rings.
Wouldn’t
do to have her DNA trapped in the little crevices.
They would be
beneficial in harming her, but he still needed to be mindful of getting caught
by his own stupidity.

Humming under his breath, he slipped off the rings
and stashed them in an inner pocket of his jacket. With a flick of his fingers,
he loosened the top two buttons on his shirt as she let out a longer, heartier
moan.

Time to get his party on the road.
He would be
reasonable,
he would allow her
time to come out of the drugged state more before demanding answers to his
questions. If, or rather when, she failed to give him what he wanted, then he’d
allow himself the pleasure of striking her.

A quick glance at Adam showed he lounged back
against a crate, relaxed and yet vigilant. Definitely a man Gabriel wanted to
keep around. Making a mental note to set up a meeting early next week, he
turned his focus back to Rhonda.

She was struggling to raise her head. A curse
slipped from her lips before her head fell again. Bored with all of it, Gabriel
grabbed a large handful of hair and jerked her head back. She screeched,
then
let out a moan, her eyes squeezed tight.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, my dear.
So nice to see you again.”

With a squinty look she peeked at him,
then
her eyes went wide, even as they watered in the dim
lighting surrounding them. Her lips were moving, but no sound came out.

“Ah, we should get you a bit of water, I think. We
do need you to be able to speak, and I’m guessing your mouth is full of cotton
right now. Adam, do we have any water?” he asked.

“Of course, sir.”
A bit of shuffling behind him before a water bottle, no
cap,
came into view.

“Thank you, Adam.”
Tipping the
water to her lips, he let her drink down a bit before pulling it away.
“Easy now, not too fast or you’ll be ill.” He waited a moment more before
letting her take another sip,
then
passed the bottle
back to Adam.

“That should help you regain your wits. After all,
we do need to have ourselves a bit of a chat before we decide anything. You
left so unexpectedly after our last one that we really didn’t get all that far.
I know, it was rude of me to take that call, but business is business. Sadly,
not all my people are as diligent about their tasks as Adam here is.”

Her eyes flickered to the side and back. She was
starting to look wary, even through the fog of the last of the drugs. Good, she
should be.

Releasing her hair, he stepped away from her,
turning to stand in front with hands on his hips. “Now then, Rhonda, if that’s
even your name. Shall we begin?” he asked.

“
Wh
-
where am I?” she stuttered. She didn’t appear able to
focus, her head swaying back and forth slightly, her eyes narrowing to a squint
or going wide as she stared in his general direction.

“Tut-tut, a minor inconsequential detail
in the grand scheme of things.
The where is nowhere near as
interesting as the why of it
all.
The where doesn’t
matter, not
now.
As we were interrupted the last time
I think we shall start fresh, right from the top. Who do you work for?”

“You,” she whispered.

“I mean, my dear, who do you work for that you felt
the need to infiltrate my business?”

She frowned, a look of confusion on her face.
Obviously, the drugs were still messing with her system too much. “Give her
some more water, Adam. I doubt we’ll get much out of her until she’s a little
clearer.”

“Sorry about that, Mr. Moreau.” Waving off his
apology—it really was unnecessary given the circumstances—Gabriel watched as
Adam fed her more liquid. She was staring up at Adam in confusion, worry, and definitely
some serious concern. Good, she needed to be wary of her situation. It was
quite perilous, after all.

Since he had a bit of time, Gabriel took a nice
slow walk around the interior of the building Adam had picked. It was a good
location.
Lots of egress points, two obvious doors, low
lighting, concrete floors and not a neighbor in sight.

Stopping by the front door he got a nod from his
bodyguard. All was quiet. To say that was an understatement, given where they
were on the fringes of the city, would be putting it mildly. It was fucking
dead out there except for the soft rustle of dried grasses in the breeze and
the occasional bird or small animal disturbing the quiet.