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Matteo, Sean, and Zahir all nodded, agreeing with Levi’s assessment. Tim glanced over at Antonio and almost laughed at the man’s derision. Obviously, Antonio was of the opposite opinion. A comrade, so to speak.
Tim nodded to the other men. “I’ll take your words under advisement,” he lied.
Zahir snorted. “No, you won’t. You’re going to ignore our advice and flounder, just like we all did.” He turned to Antonio. “And you will as well, I’m guessing.”
“What the hell did I do?” Antonio demanded.
Zahir chuckled. “You’re just as arrogant as the rest of us,” he said, selecting a pool stick from the wall and walking over to the table. He bent over and knocked three balls into pockets, then said, “We don’t go down easy.”
“But when we do fall,” Sean stepped in with a grin, “it’s always amazing.”
Antonio snorted, his dark eyebrows hiding the eye roll slightly. But there was no misunderstanding his disbelief.
Tim huffed a bit, but took a long swallow of his beer, thinking about retreating to the gaming tables. But he was too distracted tonight. He wasn’t in the mood to lose large amounts of money gambling. Still, he couldn’t help wishing that his friends had better advice to offer.
Mike watched from the parking lot, irritation marring his normally bland features. There were too many women there tonight. One or two, he could get rid of easily. But there was a whole bunch of women in that small apartment.
A knock on his window startled him because he hadn’t seen anyone approaching his car.
He was even more startled when he noted the enormous man bending down to peer into his window.
For a brief moment, he considered driving away as fast as possible. But that would cause too much suspicion. Instead, Mike lowered the window a couple of inches and asked, “Can I help you?”
The man peered inside his car. Thankfully, the set of needles Mike used on his victims was hidden under the seat. Even if it were sitting beside him on the passenger seat, the plastic container that housed his precious needles looked benign.
“You’ve been sitting here for fifteen minutes with the engine running. Are you okay?” the man asked.
The guy looked bland enough, but there was a hardness in his gaze that warned Mike that he wasn’t as easy-going as he appeared.
“I’m just waiting for my girlfriend,” Mike lied. He pulled out his cell phone, acting like he was checking the time. “She was supposed to be down here a while ago.” He stuffed his cell phone back into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. “Women, right?” he snorted, hoping he didn’t look nervous.
The man didn’t reply. Instead, he stood up, still carefully watching, and moved away without any acknowledgement.
Mike considered his options. He could sit here and pretend to wait, but now that he looked around, he noticed that there were several other large men that seemed to be watching the parking lot and roads leading into the apartment complex.
Another option was to walk up to a door and knock. But what if someone answered? No, that would look even more suspicious if he knocked on a door and a little old lady answered.
A little old lady? Instantly, he perked up. Wouldn’t it be fun to ply his skills on someone right under the noses of these neanderthals? He almost laughed, then suppressed his excitement. No, he had to be smart about this. He was here to get rid of Raven Markley. She was the only person who knew about him.
A new idea popped into his head. Instead of simply driving away, which would look odd after he’d waited here in the parking lot for so long, he could pretend to talk to his “girlfriend”.
Yeah, that wouldn’t look suspicious, right?
Pulling out his cell phone again, he pretended to peer up at the top floor of one of the garden style apartment buildings. Then he faked a one-sided conversation in which he grew angrier with each passing second. Finally, he pretended to yell and flail his hands, knowing the bulky men were watching. After a few more seconds of this fake conversation, he ended the call and drove out of the parking lot.
A mile away, Mike chuckled at his bit of acting. Later. He’d come back in a day or two to fix his little problem, then he’d head off to…?
Mike considered his options. What city did he want to visit next? Maybe Las Vegas? The idea of Vegas had a great deal of appeal. He could maybe do his thing to several women before he had to move on. The city had so many visitors, it would be easy for one or two, maybe three…to get lost in the shuffle.
Chapter 6
She had to stop seeing him.
And yet, Raven stepped into the bar and looked around, eagerly searching for, and finding, the man in the crowd of after-work diners. Sure enough, Tim was there, sitting at a table in the corner with a beer and a martini. The beer was for him. The martini for her.
Damn it! She loved the fact that he knew her well enough to have gotten her some sort of fruity, delicious cocktail.
“Excuse me, but you’re blocking traffic,” a churlish, female voice snarled behind her.
