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He thought she’d argue with him, but she remained silent as he approached the entrance to I-10, heading back to Mid-City. When he glanced at her, her eyes were closed and her chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm. She was already asleep, her face relaxed and serene.
Metairie, Louisiana
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 6:15 P.M.
“Well?” Bobby asked, his hands still tight on the steering wheel of the car they’d stolen. They’d disabled the GPS function, so at least NOPD couldn’t track them after this latest unmitigated disaster. “What next?”
Needing a place to decompress, they’d parked behind a boarded-up store after checking to be sure there were no security cameras. Corey was still nervous. What a fuckup.
“NOPD was ready for us tonight,” he said.
Bobby huffed. “Ed was right, as much as I hate to admit it. This was a trap.”
There had been no Jace waiting for them in the small bungalow. Rather, they’d been greeted with shouts of “Police! Drop your weapons!” Which they hadn’t done, of course.
They might have been lured into a trap, but they weren’t completely stupid. They’d shot up the house as well as the cops, who’d—unfortunately—been wearing vests. Fortunately, so had Corey and Bobby, because the police had returned fire.
He and Bobby had gotten away before backup could arrive. But it had been too close.
“They know they have a leak,” Corey muttered. “Better tell your buddy that he might be in danger.”
“Already texted him. He’s pissed off.”
Up until tonight, Bobby’s friend had been spot-on, although Corey now wondered what else the man had gotten wrong that they’d accepted as truth.
“The cops have Jace stashed somewhere,” Corey said, trying to think past the pounding of his heart. “They wouldn’t have known to use him as bait if they hadn’t caught him. So at least your friend got that right.”
“We have to find out what else Jace has told them.”
Corey studied his friend’s profile in the semidarkness. “Did you mention the Doyle job at the office where Jace or Rick could have overheard you?”
Bobby’s angry gaze collided with Corey’s. “No. I did not.”
Corey held up one hand. “Okay. I just needed to ask. Sorry.”
“What next?” Bobby asked again, his words clipped.
“We still have to find Jace,” Corey said quietly. “But we might have a hard time getting intel out of NOPD now that they know they have a leak.”
Bobby snorted. “They’ve always had leaks. It’s like... breathing. Give it a day or two. The heat will move on to someone else and my friend will feel fine with talking again. Or we could lean on one of Ed’s paid informants. Some of them are placed well enough to overhear helpful things. We have a lot of options.”
“How long you think we should wait before trying again to get Jace?” Because he would make the little bastard pay for fucking everything up. My life was ordered. My business was growing. I had the respect of my clients. And then Aaron, Rick, and Jace had gone and ruined everything. Aaron was probably going to spend the rest of his life in prison if he didn’t get the needle, but Rick would get out someday. And Jace was walking around free.
So Jace would be next. Corey knew he wouldn’t get a decent night’s sleep until his youngest brother was punished. He’d find a way to deal with Rick, too. I’m a paid killer, for fuck’s sake. I can take out one skinny teenager in lockup. He’d figure it out.
He had to. How would it look for a professional killer to allow his two brothers to continue breathing after such betrayal? His reputation had already been battered by all this. He would not allow Rick and Jace to ruin his business as well.
Neither of them could continue existing. They simply couldn’t.
“At least until we’re done with the Doyle job,” Bobby said thoughtfully. “We get paid, then we can find a place to lay low and hire someone to take Jace out. Not as satisfying, but smarter.” He lifted a brow. “And don’t you dare tell Ed that I said that.”
“I won’t. Let’s get back to camp. I need to sleep. My brain is too fried to even think about the Doyle job right now. Bella’s going to leave her hidey-hole for the city any day now. I need to be alert.”
“Let’s steal another car and ditch this one,” Bobby said. “With our luck, the people who rented it have already reported it missing.”
They were nearly out of the city when Corey’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He checked the caller ID and his pulse started to tick up again, because Ed rarely called. He usually texted. “Yeah?” he answered, putting the phone on speaker. “What’s up?”
“I made some calls to the cops we have on payroll, and one of our guys heard that Rick was visited by a lawyer today.”
