Removing his hat, he bows to us and shows his completely rounded bald head. “Good afternoon gentlemen. My name is Mortimer Rooney. I am here to inquire about your intelligence needs.” He says with a quirky tone to his voice. Mortimer lays his bag on the coffee table and opens it up, taking out a unique looking laptop. He sets it up in front of us and turns it on. The image that pops up is an ongoing video of our backs.
I look behind us to search for a camera but see nothing. “How the fuck are you doing that?”
He smiles. “I have many skills that I believe you might be able to use. I come with quality recommendations.”
“Oh yeah? And who are they?” I ask, keeping a hand on my gun. He pushes another button on the laptop, and Eddie pops up. “Hello Mr. Stevens, Mr. Milio how are you gentlemen today! If I may be crass for a second … cool shit, huh?”
“You freaked me out, motherfucker. I thought we were screwed here,” I yell at him.
“Oh so sorry. I thought you might enjoy the flair.” I groan as does Ryan. “Okay, I guess not. Anyway, this is my friend, Mortimer. We have never actually met in person, but when I found out he was out where you guys are, I thought he would be perfect. I okay’d him with Mr. Jayzon, and I promise you he is amazing.”
Ryan leans forward. “Eddie, does he understand what he is getting into?”
“I told you, Mr. Jayzon checked him out personally. Mortimer understands perfectly and is quite excited about it. He has been looking for a new adventure, the usual hacks and government work he does has become rather boring to him.”
“You don’t talk much Mortimer.”
“I find it best, Sir,” Mortimer says with a somewhat creepy smile.
“It can’t hurt, Eli. We need someone. We can’t keep borrowing Eddie from Nick. Plus, it will be nice to have someone full time and local.”
“Yeah, alright, but this whole sneaking up on me from behind shit best not happen again. I like to know where you are at all times, got me?” He nods. I sit back with a long exhale, ready to end the day. “Great, so after an entire day of interviewing, we managed to get our intelligence expert, Charlie Chaplin, and … Shaggy, our dog whisperer. Now, I just need some actual guards.”
After we interviewed all the wrong people, Ryan and I came to the conclusion that the people we are looking for don’t interview for jobs. Even though we have hired on what was left of Jericho’s and Acosta’s men, we still need to acquire a few more—trustworthy—people. We need people who are willing to do whatever we say without question. Unfortunately, it is really hard to find a trustworthy criminal and one that won’t sell you out the first chance they get. Damn criminals are all lying, thieving snakes, which is why we decide to find the biggest snakes we can and steal their guards. We figure if they are loyal enough to these jackasses, then they have to be worth our time. Canter is one of them, and we are quite excited about stealing every person we can from him. Ryan, who is suddenly reminding me of Nick with his way of thinking, has the idea of taking them one by one until the man wakes up only to realize he is protected by nothing more than the four walls surrounding his bed. I think it’s really cruel this way, but I’m good with it.
Canter has become a real pain in the ass, so I thought it best to introduce myself and understand what the fuck his problem is. He has a routine of eating dinner at the same place every night, The Roof Top. The restaurant is elegant and an excellent opportunity for me to take out my girl and spoil her a little bit in the process.
“This is very nice, Eli. What’s the occasion?”
“Can I not just take you out for a nice dinner simply because I love you?”
“Of course you can, but are you sure you didn’t pick tonight because you overheard Amery asking if I was available tonight to talk?”
“Oh, did he? Huh, oh well. His loss. I hope he is horribly upset about it.”
“Eli, he has been really down lately, and I am still his best friend.”
She continues on and on about how horrible the prince of the fifth is, and all I can do is wonder what he would look like with a clown suit on. He is so tall and menacing sometimes, I think he would look much better with a red nose, big flappy feet, and a fluffy, yellow, curly-haired wig. I begin to smile and then laugh when I think about him running around with those big feet tripping him up … flap, flap, flap … boom! Right on his face.
“Ha!” I look up at her impatient eyes and smile. “You look so beautiful tonight.” She sits back, crossing her arms with a huff. “Oh, don’t be that way. I brought you out to have a good time not to discuss tall, dark and grumpy.” She softens some as she begins to eat her food, and then I notice Canter and his woman of the night coming in and being seated near us at his regular table. I lean back in my chair until he notices me. “Well hi, how are you all tonight?”
Canter seems unsociable for some reason. “I am here to have a nice dinner. Please don’t bother me.”
“Have you tried the vodka pasta? It’s amazing. I think I am going to have to come back here every single night just so I can get a bite of this.”
Canter sighs with a roll of his eyes before looking back my way. “What do you want?”
“Nothing, just trying to be sociable.”
“I don’t want to be sociable with you. I only want you to leave my city and stop causing my land contracts to be challenged. I don’t know who your man Terrence is, but he is somehow swaying my longtime contacts his way. I am sure you are up to no good and I am going to put a stop to it and end you and him.”
“Wooow! Lester, you have a mean streak. Not to worry though I won’t leave you. I have every right to buy that land too.”
“No you don’t. You don’t belong here. You are only going to get yourself hurt and possibly worse. I have friends in very high places, and they always take care of me. They like to make sure I stay happy.”
“Why? Why would they continue to care whether you stay happy or not? Are you related to them?” I ask winking towards Cat, who shakes her head annoyed by the conversation.
“No, let’s just say I am their link to a more powerful friend that they need in order to be successful.”
“Oh, really. And who is that?”
He laughs. “Even if I told you, I assure you that you are not knowledgeable enough to know who I would be speaking of.”
“Is he more powerful than the president?” He ignores me with a shake of his head. “Because if he isn’t, then I win because I know the president.”
“You do not.”
“Do so,” I reason.
“Well, it doesn’t matter because my friend has more power than the president. He doesn’t have to answer to anyone. He is scary as hell. So unless you know the devil himself, then I guarantee you, my friend, you don’t know anyone scarier or more powerful than I do.”
“Oh, well I win then,” I boast with a wide smile. He looks up at me with a confused expression. Cat shakes her head and continues eating. I lean over to him. “Let me ask you, how did you come to know your powerful friend?” He looks my way. “I’ll tell you my story if you tell me yours.”
“Very well. He found me. I served him once, and he saw that I was a valuable asset to him. As a result, he has seen to it that I stay happy,” he says as if he really believes that. I go back to my meal and Cat and continue on with my night with all I need to know. “Wait a minute, friend, you promised to tell me how you came to know, who was it, the devil himself?” He laughs.
“Oh yeah, we went to high school together.” I nod, assuring him.
Cat laughs, “I can’t imagine you in high school. I bet you were absolutely adorable. I would have never been able to get anything done with you around.”
“Oh, you would have gotten some things done, I would have seen to that.” I smile with all kinds of bad running through my head.
“You’re so sex crazed,” she says, wiggling her cute little nose at me.
“That reminds me, we have to get you home and get your clothes off before you dri
ve me so crazy I have to have you right here.”
“Ugh, some people are so detestable,” Canter says loud enough to make sure we hear him.
Cat and I stand up to leave, but before I take off, I lean down over his table and wink at his woman who instantly giggles. “See, she thinks I’m adorable too.” I walk out with Cat while Canter yells at his woman to stop looking my way. Who needs to be a devil when you are too adorable to be ignored?
Canter has decided he doesn’t want to wait to see what we will do next anymore, so he hired an assassin to kill us. That assassin had no problem finding Ryan at his broken down shack, so he went after him first rather than me. Canter couldn’t be more excited about the idea that I would be shaking in my boots, waiting for someone to come after me, but his little dream was crushed. Canter’s high-priced assassin assumed it was just another ordinary job, and he treated it as such. He loaded his gun and waited for Ryan to leave his house; he tried to get a good shot at him, but for some reason, he never could. Ryan had breakfast at a local café that day with Skylar, and from what he told me, he sensed the man early that morning and was waiting for him to come in closer. He continuously frustrated him with no open shot and then walked into the café’s bathroom with the irritated assassin following in after him. The man was found days later, dead, with a look of absolute fear embedded on his face. It wasn’t the news Canter had expected, but the setback only made him more determined. He put a price on our heads and sent his best men out to get us. Those men have gathered at a nearby bar that Canter owns to try and figure out how we have avoided death so far and to form a solid plan to put us in our new, unmarked graves. We have managed to avoid them so far, but it is only a matter of time before they, in fact, catch us by surprise, so we have to act. We have no choice.
We know we are being watched, so we send most of our men out to the other side of town, with the understanding to be on alert while we try to take on these men with a simple few. The men we are going against are highly-skilled, no regret killers. The longer we sit here, the more I wonder why we are here at all. Maybe we should go at this another way? Before I can suggest it though, Ryan and I take notice of a couple of men getting out of an SUV with obvious guns at their sides.
“I know that guy. I’ve seen him drive through the neighborhood. You say he is working with Canter?” Ryan asks.
“Yep, they all are. This is Canter’s bar, and the jackass just so happens to be here too. Do you see that silver Mercedes over there?” I point out to him. “That’s Canter’s car. You can tell by the custom plates, “RolnNit”.
“Ah, so he’s creative too.” He laughs. “What else do you know about him?”
“He, himself, is nothing we can’t handle. He’s a figurehead, a talking puppet for someone else. Someone is taking care of him because he is too stupid to make it on his own but smart enough to know he can’t make it without his special friend. Or maybe he is just that scared of him. I am not sure which yet.”
“Do we know who this special friend is?” Ryan asks, watching the door of the bar where more of Canter’s men walk in.
“No, and that part bothers me, but I don’t think we will find out unless we get rid of Canter. I think whoever it is stays behind the scenes and uses Canter to do all his work so he never has to come out into the light.”
Marcus sits forward in his seat as if he has something to say, but he shakes his head and sits back once again, looking out of the car window as if he is more interested in the scenery than talking to anyone. “Marcus, spit it out,” Ryan insists.
“I might be wrong, so keep that in mind, but I may know a way into this place without anyone seeing us or knowing we are there.”
I turn around in my seat and look him dead in the eye. “And how might we do that?”
“The building they are going into used to have a hole in the basement wall, the wall that connects it with the building next door.”
“You mean that building that’s being remodeled right now?” I ask, and Marcus nods. I smile at Ryan with a nod. “I think we have a plan.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“I don’t know, but I am sure it will come to me once we get in there.” I jump out of the car and lead everyone inside the construction mess of the building next door, grabbing some tools and building materials to blend in. I look back at Marcus who motions in the direction I need to go. Once we get into the basement, I wait for Marcus to find the hole.
He steps forward, looking at the wall with a long sigh. “It’s been a while. I used to live in this building, and my friends and I would sneak through the hole and into the deli next door, and take our fair share of food and sweets. If I recall correctly, there is an odd vent on the other side of the storage wall …” He disappears into a dark room, and we suddenly hear a crack and a crash of metal. “Found it!” he yells out to us. With the help of a flashlight from the set of tools I took, we all manage to move through the short tunnel to Canter’s basement.
“Alright Eli. We are in the lion’s den, now what?” Terrence asks, swearing under his breath with a shake of his head when we all have to quickly move into a small area because someone comes down to get some wine from the cellar. “I really wish we could have some completely thought out plans before we rush into the middle of danger from now on, Eli.”
I sneak up behind the guy and knock him out. “Plans? We don’t need no stinkin’ plans.”
“Okay, smart guy, now what happens when they realize they aren’t getting their wine?” Terrence asks, annoying me.
“We will … um … oh shut up,” I say to him. I have no idea what to do now, but I look around, trying to figure it out as quickly as I can until I spot Ryan watching the door. I can see it in his eyes; he is worse than I am and a little too sure of his abilities. I am a little too unsure of them right now to be comfortable. “What is swirling in that Jayzon head of yours?” I whisper to him.
“Let’s just go up there and see if I can handle them all.” Ryan smiles. “Nick could. He could walk into a room, and for some reason, people would just sop and wait to see what he would do or say. I think all I have to do is just be confident.”
“You think?”
“I know… kind of. Don’t worry, Eli, I got this.”
I stop him mid-step, “And what about the rest of us? What are we going to do, just walk up there and wait while you swirl those freaky eyes and say, ‘These are not the men you are looking for’?” I say with my best sci-fi voice and a wave of my hand. No matter what I say, he is already in the mode. I have to let go of his arm as his skin begins to heat up and his eyes begin to change color. I have never seen their power form in such a controlled fashion before. Ryan laughs and begins to look my way. “Wait! Oh, no. Don’t use up all your devil controlling on me. Look the other way and save that shit up. We have a lot of gun carrying men up there who want nothing more than to kill us.”
“Alright then, let’s just go up there and talk to them,” Ryan suggests.
“Talk? Hm. Hell, it’s worth a try, but I’m bringing my gun anyway.” Ryan nods in agreement.
“Good, because apparently, I’m bringing a bodyguard.” He sighs. I laugh, looking back at the nosy and supposedly invisible woman standing as close as she can to us so she can hear our private conversation. “Terrence, Marcus, you two stay here and watch our backs. If things get out of hand, get to the car and be our quick getaway if we need it. Eli, Skylar, let’s go. We have some gun carrying men to convince to change sides.”
Opening the door, we step inside and are immediately sized up by everyone in the room. Canter sits in a dark corner in the back, watching as his twelve men surround the three of us. I suddenly feel as if we greatly misjudged our advantage here. I nudge Ryan’s side. “Go ahead. Talk. I got your back.”
Ryan seems to almost stop breathing before he looks up and eyes each of them. “I am only going to say this once … leave now and work for us or you can stay and spend your final minutes with a man who sent you to
your death.” He breathes with a smoky fire about his breath. Twelve men, twelve heavily armed men, stand silent for a minute before finally nodding towards Ryan and walking out.
“That’s right. We are not the men you are looking for,” I whisper sarcastically, humoring Ryan but not enough to break his concentration.
Canter jumps up with gun in hand and an intention to kill. We dive to the floor as the bullets begin to fly over our heads. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but I’m not giving up without a fight!” he yells at us. “Do you hear me? I will have you all killed. You think I don’t have connections that could destroy you? I do, and they will burn your houses down with you in them.” He starts firing again while I finish counting his shots. When I get down to zero, I stand up and shoot Canter in the head.
“That was the worst plan I have ever seen,” Skylar announces.
“What do you mean? That went better than any plan we have ever had,” I reply with Ryan in agreement.
“Oh you have got to be kidding me?” She exhales. I shrug as does Ryan while Sky simply sighs. “This is going to be a really long assignment guarding you. I hope I survive it.”
I smile and pat her on the back. “Good luck with that.”
CHAPTER 8
Skylar
Elijah, the tall self-appointed humorous one, sits back in a booth with a drink in his hand as he declares that, “Owning a bar is something he should have considered doing a long time ago.”
I laugh for some reason. It’s not something I would typically do, but when Ryan looks up at me and shakes his head laughing, I feel the need to do the same. I watch Ryan as he goes through the old bar, searching for something. I’m not sure what, but I am enjoying watching him. I knew Nick had a brother, but I had never seen him before or heard much about him. I only wanted to take the assignment and accomplish what I set out to do, what Ramsey finally agreed to let me do if I help him find something once I get in good with Ryan. I really don’t care about Ramsey’s wants or needs, but he controls my future right now, and without his consent, I cannot so much as breathe.