Page 105 of The Arrangement

Ivan licked his lips and stared at her sadly. “To dishonor.”

“No …” she said, shaking her head, “because Sonny couldn’t look him in the eyes.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The SUV’s door silently closed shut. Anton didn’t move his gaze from the front windshield as the younger man beside him nodded shortly and lit up another cigarette. Anton probably smoked half the man’s pack before he even got back.

“It’s done.”

“You managed to get it all the way in?”

Bo shrugged. “Heard it hit something, Boss. Wasn’t all that full so the flames aren’t going to be huge. Now, we just wait for the alarms to start ringing.”

So wait they did. Anton had the SUV sitting a little awkwardly in the parking space, but it wasn’t bad enough to attract him a violation ticket. Like he’d told Viviana … careful. That’s what it was all about for him when he did a scene. Anyone else could do theirs however the fuck they wanted, but Anton made sure he left nothing behind.

Vehicles were dumped. Weapons and clothes destroyed. No souvenirs kept.

Just memories and broadcasts.

Sure enough, not ten minutes later the building’s fire alarm began to ring. They could hear it echoing through the near silent streets.

Bo meant what he said by smoking the rat out. It wasn’t like they could just call the bastard on the phone and get him to make his merry way out, and Anton didn’t want to risk the chance of going in. There was no promising that cameras wouldn’t be around, not to mention the amount of possible witnesses.

That just screamed messy.

Anton didn’t do messy.

A good twenty minutes passed before tired, bundled up bodies started filing out of the apartment complex. Bo had tossed a glass bottle filled with gasoline, plugged off with a burning rag, into the building’s dumpster shoot that led to the can in the underground garage. It wasn’t likely to do any real damage to the apartment, or the people inside, but it was one hell of a way to wake them up in the middle of the night and get them all out.

With a single tap of a control button, the sunroof slid open. Anton moved his seat back as far as possible. The weapon on his thighs was picked up and placed in his calm, waiting grip. Plucking up the ammo cartridge and clicking it into place with an almost satisfying sound, he was near ready.

No shaking. No worry. Nothing.

Business as usual.

The SVD rifle was only about ten pounds of lightweight metal and wood. Nothing like the stock model, considering they usually came equipped with polymer furniture instead of the slick, blue-brushed snake skin that covered Anton’s gun. Accurate with its scopes for up to thirteen hundred meters, he only had one bullet in the cartridge to use.

Anton didn’t miss. Not once.

When he took the shot, he got it.

It didn’t matter that it was dark as tar outside, the scopes were specially designed for night use. Sonny only needed to fuck up once and he was done.

Dead man walking.

“Ready?” Anton asked gruffly, taking one last drag from his smoke before it was flicked out the opened window.

“As I’m ever going to be,” Bo said.

With the younger man settled back into his seat, Anton took care to get his frame up out of the sunroof with near silent movements and careful wrangling of the gun. When he and the weapon were sitting on top of cold metal, he noticed the wind was all but dimmed to nothing at all from the tall buildings around them, keeping it out. Cocking his foot up to the edge, he waited for another moment. The roads were silent with no cars, no people, and the surrounding buildings dark from the night. Not a soul would notice them parked where they were in the darkness.

More people left the apartment building. Anton could hear their rustling movements and murmuring voices carrying down the quiet street. As it was, he could also hear the sirens starting to screech from somewhere close by.

Time to get to work.

“Phone, Bo,” he said.

Bo handed him his cell phone. Anton readied his weapon quickly, resting it on his shoulder so when the kickback came, it was going to hit hard into that already bruised spot. No incriminating marks to find if they were already looking over a wounded canvas.