Page 21 of Devil’s Disciples

“What, then?”

“With me living next door to your office, I can’t decide if this was a good idea or a bad one.”

“You don’t have to worry about me,” I said. “I’m not one of those crazy women who’s going to knock on your door. If you want, you’ll never see me again.”

“That’s the problem.” He said. “I’m afraid I’m far from done fucking you.”

My life continued to get better and better. I smiled. “That’s okay, too.”

He chuckled a dry laugh. “If you say so.”

After he left, I fully expected to fill with regret, but it never came. Instead, I filled with pride, wearing our little sexual adventure like a crown.

Adventurous?

Yeah, I’d say I’m adventurous.

7

Baker

Tito scratched the light scruff that peppered his jaw. He held my gaze for an instant, and then lowered his eyes to my desk. His boyish features made it easy to assume he was immature or inexperienced.

He was neither.

Although he was in his early thirties, he could easily pass for a high school senior. A true genius and self-taught electrician, he was a wealth of information about everything. His areas of expertise, however, were computer hacking, anything to do with numbers, and the manipulation of high end alarms.

I arched an eyebrow. “Well?”

He continued to rub his jaw. “Eighty-six percent.”

I laughed. “Eighty-six, huh?”

He looked up and nodded. “Eighty-six.”

Standing off to the side, Cash crossed his arms and then gave Tito a look. “You’re a fucking weirdo. Why not ninety?”

Tito glared back at him. “Because ninety would be a lie.” He looked at me. “It’s eighty-six,” he said dryly.

In the few days it took me to recover from having my brains fucked out by my new daytime neighbor, Tito had been researching Pat’s Gold and Diamond Exchange in detail. In his survey of the premises, he learned the alarm system included motion activated cameras and an emergency power supply that automatically energized as soon as electrical power was lost. It was outdated, which made the once state-of-the-art system and easy one to disable. If he was eighty-six percent sure he could manipulate it, I was willing to plan the job.

I rubbed my hands together. “Eighty-six is good with me.”

Cash waved in Tito’s direction and then turned away. “Eighty-six is the same as a hundred. He just makes this shit up. This deal’s for sure. I’m telling you. We’re gonna be fucking rich.”

Tito pushed himself away from my desk and gave Cash a shitty look. “Nothing’s certain, so that gets me to ninety-eight. This place is in a strip mall off of Main Street, and Rainbow has a police force. So, the possibility exists that the town cop gets bored and drives past while I’m trying to kill the alarm and cut the power. Now, we’re at ninety-two. There’s six of us involved. The odds of--”

Cash turned around. “Why do you do you always do this in two percent increments? If you’re so fucking smart, why not one percent? Or a half? Or tenths. Yeah, why not tenths, Mister Brainiac?”

“No one can guess within one percent. A tenth is ludicrous. If I claimed to be able to, it’d be a lie. You’re the only one in the club who’s prone to tell lies.”

“Fuck you, Tito.”

Tito looked Cash up and down. “Truth stings, doesn’t it?”

Cash’s eyes thinned to slits. “What are you talking about?”

“Back in May. When you almost shot that girl in the bank and called it an accident. It was the most blatant lie I’ve ever heard.”