“Four,” Rurik said.

“And now I will offer you protection for your next shipment.  Mister Arden will be that protection, won’t you?”

I nodded at Gavino, but kept my eyes on Rurik.

“It is settled,” Andrey announced.  He and Rurik had another Russian exchange but seemed to be at an understanding when it was over.  Soon afterwards, the group began to break up and go their separate ways.  I was given the time and location of the next shipment and decided it was time to go do a little recon of the area to find a good spot to conceal myself.

Jenna followed me out of the office and into the hall.

“You know how to make friends,” she mused.

“It’s all part of the game.”  I shrugged and started down the hallway, but she stopped me again.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” she said as she tossed her long brown hair off her shoulder.  “You have quite the reputation.”

“For?”

Jenna laughed.

“For being a merciless killer.”  She locked eyes with me and took another step closer.  Her hand reached out, and she ran her fingers down my chest.  “Makes me wonder in what other ways you are…merciless.”

I glanced down at her hand as it found its way to my abs and then ran up my arm.  She traced the outline of my bicep with her forefinger before she wrapped her hand around it.

“Nice,” she said softly.  “You like the gym, hmm?”

“I spend some time there,” I admitted.

“I bet you do.”

Without any further warning, I found her lips pressed hard against mine.  Instinctively, I returned the kiss, wrapping one arm around her to grab her ass and hold her against me as her tongue pushed inside of my mouth.

I shouldn’t be doing this.

Never in my life had I been in such a situation.  I’d never had a relationship that was considered “exclusive” in any way and had always gone with the flow when a woman came on to me.  Rarely had I ever turned one down, and that was only when I planned on killing her later.

Jenna was a beautiful woman, and I knew taking her up on her obvious offer would work very much to my advantage when it came to getting the more detailed information I was going to need to bring Greco down.  She was close to him and had been for some time.  He would trust her with much more than he ever would with me.

I didn’t push her away.  I let myself respond to her touch even as her hand moved to palm my dick, which also responded predictably.  It wasn’t like I was going to fuck her there in the hallway, so I figured it was still a relatively safe thing to let her do.  She made it clear what she wanted—I just needed to drag it out as long as possible.

She pulled away first, taking my lip in her teeth briefly as she did.  I opened my eyes and looked down at her with a half-grin.

“You’re an aggressive little thing, aren’t you?”

“I take what I want,” she said simply.  “Always have.”

“Not exactly a great place for such things,” I said as I looked around the hallway of the office building.  I could see Micah near the doorway, watching from the window.  “I have a little work to do, but let’s continue this…‘conversation’ later.”

“Most definitely.”  Jenna smacked my ass before she turned and sauntered down the hall.  I shook my head slightly before heading to the exit and out into the street.

For the next several weeks, Gavino sent me after a variety of characters in Chicago’s underworld.  They weren’t often Rinaldo’s people—there was supposed to be a truce between the families though it was always a tentative one.  It was like the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union—a necessity to keep both families operating but not because either organization liked the idea.  I found out very quickly that Gavino was reaching into many of the businesses that had been carved out for the Moretti family.

Of course, Rinaldo was doing the same thing.

I had also managed to be far too busy to meet up with Jenna, though she had approached me a couple of different times.  There was always someone else about though, so she had made do with lecherous glances from across the room.  The couple of times we had spoken, it was clear she was far more open than she should be.  With just a little casual conversation and light touches, I had already gathered some information that may very well prove useful.  She liked to vent about her job a bit, and some of that venting was more than she should have let on.

At Gavino’s request, I stayed away from Rurik completely.  It was clear he didn’t like me, and Gavino’s thought on that type of conflict was to avoid it.  I would have preferred to handle it a bit more violently, but I was given very precise instructions to not kill anyone who wasn’t on my list.

I kept out of sight as much as possible.  My traveling arrangements were still convoluted, and I either stayed at the apartment with Lia or the hotel room near Quay.  I didn’t go out or show my face in public, and thus far, Rinaldo had yet to contact me.

Somehow, my hearing date kept getting pushed back as well, so I hadn’t had to appear in court with my attorney.  He’d been leaving messages through the correctional center, but I hadn’t returned any of them.  I assumed Trent was behind the court’s failure to offer me a speedy trial, and that was also working out well.  I wasn’t sure what I would do if I actually needed to appear in court.

It was only a matter of time before Rinaldo caught up with me, but I was hoping I would have enough time to get the goods on Greco before that happened.  I did talk to Trent on the phone but had avoided having to meet him in person.  I claimed it was because we shouldn’t be seen together, but that only worked for so long.

He wanted to meet in neutral territory and was no longer taking no for an answer.  I finally gave in but picked a place I was familiar with for our meeting—the 676 Bar and Grill in the Omni Hotel downtown.

I knew there was something not right almost immediately.

There was something about the way he walked into the bar that bothered me right away.  Feds are usually easy to spot with the way they walk in like they own everything, and that was the sort of stride he had when he walked into the visiting room at the prison, but this time it was different.  I couldn’t quite give it a name, but it was somehow lighter—more confident.  Like he knew he had a pair of aces in the hole and everyone else was holding shit.

“Tell me what you got,” Trent said as soon as he sat down at the bar.

“Let’s get some privacy first.”

I glanced over to Michele with one “L,” the bartender at 676, and got her attention.  She refilled my scotch, got Trent the same, and I told her we were moving to the seats by the window.  We made our way over to the grouping of chairs and couches that overlooked Michigan Avenue and sat down.

“Well, asshole?  What do you have?”

“You’re quite the charmer,” I said with a chuckle.  “You kiss your mama with that mouth?”

“Shut up and tell me what you know.  You’ve given me nothing but shit for two weeks.  If you give me something worthwhile, maybe I’ll tell you what I’ve heard.”

I stared at him for a long moment, but he didn’t appear to be bluffing.  I wasn’t sure what kind of information he had, but it must be noteworthy enough to taunt me with it.  Bringing it up so soon, though—that also meant he wanted me to hear whatever it was.

That was not good news.

If he had something he wanted to tell me so badly, it would most assuredly be something I wouldn’t like hearing.  It also meant I needed to hear it, so I made sure Trent had something he would consider valuable.

“I have something you’re going to like,” I told Trent.  I sipped my scotch before setting it on the table in front of me and leaning forward.  “Greco’s got a woman working for him—a Miss Jenna Ranger.  She’s the bitch that collects the goods for one of his businesses.  She’s high up in the organization and thinks she’s invulnerable.”

“Yeah,” Trent said as he narrowed his eyes at me, “I know who she is.  What about her?”

“Well, Greco’s not happy with her at the moment.  It seems the last shipment of people-cargo wasn’t what it was supposed to be.  His idea of punishment is that he’s going to go along for the ride personally when she picks up the next batch.”

“You mean he’s going to be there himself when she picks up a bunch of kidnapped kids, illegally smuggled into the country?”

“You got it.”

I could see actual drool as it formed at the corner of his mouth.

“When?  Where?”

“The when is around the middle of October,” I said.  “They haven’t decided on a where yet.”

“That’s still a ways off.  When are you going to have the details?”

“Probably shortly after I bang the bitch,” I replied.  I didn’t really intend to fuck Jenna, but I also knew Trent expected that kind of shit from me, and it might throw him off Lia a bit.

He smirked.

“You are a low-life little shit, aren’t you?” he said.  “Every once in a while, I think maybe there’s something redeemable in there, but there isn’t.  You’re just a fucked up, murdering, shell-shocked, piece-of-shit bastard.”

I’d been called worse.

“The shipment is coming from the Caribbean, probably Haiti or the Dominican Republic.  I think they’re still in the process of acquiring the cargo.”

“Sick fuckers.”

I happened to agree with Trent on that one.  I might not have had a whole lot of scruples, but that was one of them.  He finished his drink and started to stand up without commenting any further.

“You had something to tell me?” I reminded him.

Trent’s eyes glittered as his mouth turned up.

“I do,” he acknowledged.  “It’s pretty good and ripe, too.”

“So spill it.”

“Moretti knows you’re working for Greco,” Trent said with a sadistic little smile.  “He’s on to you, seriously pissed off, and has decided to teach you a lesson by putting out a contract on your lady friend, if you even care.”

There was no lie in his voice or posture—none at all.  What he was saying was completely true, and now Lia was officially caught up in the shit-storm that had been brewing since Trent and Johnson first visited me in jail.

“It’s an open contract,” he said.  “First one to her gets the cash.”

“How much?” I asked.

“You thinking of taking the job?” Trent said as he laughed.  “Kill her while you fuck her, maybe?  That would make it an easy hit.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I growled.

He laughed again.

“So she does mean something to you?  You got a funny way of showing it.”

“Answer the fucking question.  How much is the contract worth?”

“Fifteen,” he told me.  “Moretti must think she’s going to be an easy one to get.”

I wasn’t sure if I was more insulted that my girl’s price was so low or more thrilled that it wasn’t the kind of price that would attract hunters from out of town.  Ultimately, I was glad there wouldn’t be too many others looking for her.  I would probably be able to come up with the complete list of Chicago-based contract killers within a couple hours.  I knew most of them already.  We might not have afternoon tea together, but we were still well aware of each other’s activities.

I wondered if my reputation alone would keep some of them away but decided it would actually work against me.  There were definitely those who would consider a feather like that in their hats to be a drop on me even if Lia was a relatively easy target on her own.

I needed to get back to her.

“Thanks,” I muttered as I stood, downed my scotch, and began to move away.

“You make sure you get me the where long before the time comes.  You got that, Arden?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I was extra cautious on the way home.  I took a much longer route and watched my back constantly.  At one point on the L, I knew there was someone in dark clothing who had stepped on just as I had on the last two stops, and I tried to get a glimpse of him in the car.  I couldn’t find anyone and considered that it might be my paranoia acting up again, but Lia wasn’t worth the risk.

I jumped out at the next stop and hung around outside the train for a while.  I saw the same guy again—long dark jacket that was too heavy for the season and a hoodie pulled up over his head.  I stepped onto the next train, watched him carefully as he did the same, and then I jumped off before the train started to move.

He was waiting for it and stepped off as well.