Page 72 of Her Boss

CHAPTER 34

Geneva

The night was humid, the wind in the polluted city more like a hot waft of car exhaust than anything even resembling pleasant. The park was surprisingly empty, though considering the awful heat, the lack of visitors made sense. The mixed hardwood deciduous and evergreens at least created a pleasing setting for what might be about to happen. The moon was out, the light more than enough to illuminate the flagstone walk that snaked its way across the ill-kept lawn marred by yellowed islands of pet burns, toward the fountain where I waited.

My jeans and oversized sweater were entirely wrong for the weather, but there was nothing for it. Rick felt it was the best way to conceal the wire down the back of my pants. He’d nixed me wearing an earpiece—he’d called it an IF something—concluding it was too likely to be spotted.

I desperately wanted… something at that moment though, feeling entirely naked, beads of itching sweat running down between my breasts under the sweater threads. The faint scent of chlorine, no doubt added to a fountain that was probably regularly used for something quite different than decoration, was just detectable on the air.

Now and then an evening jogger, or an evening pair of them, would pass, and I’d wave, trying to look as relaxed as possible. I hoped I looked like just some bored girl fiddling with her phone. Nothing special. ‘Forgettable’ was the word Rick used. I tried not to be bothered by it.

Don’t be an idiot. He’s not saying you’re forgettable.

Still, I didn’t like it.

Salazzo always passed the fountain on his evening walkabouts. Not always at the same time, but it was in a range from just after 8:00 to right around 8:20. I found it odd that a man like him was such a strict creature of habit. I’d thought maybe he was arrogant, certain nobody would dare mess with him. Rick had explained it was more likely a throwback to his roots, in keeping with the Italian tradition of taking la passeggiata, an evening stroll.

Or the man could just be crazy.

On the surface the place looked inviting, even pretty if one didn’t study it too hard. But at that moment, none of it even came close to countering the dread sinking deep and hot in the pit of my stomach. For all I knew, the next few minutes might be the last ones of my life.

I had never actually seen Salazzo in the flesh before, but Rick had told me enough. I’d certainly read plenty about him. I knew who to look for.

That’s when I saw them, a group of at least six men clustered around another. About fifty yards away, they emerged from the shadows of the trees. The one man’s arm was gesticulating, the moonlight catching on the silver metal of the watch band at his wrist. He was saying something, but the moan of the wind in my ears drowned it out.

Laughter rippled through the group as it drew closer. They were big, all of them, but at the center of the group was the biggest of all.

That’s him.

He was a tall, broad-shouldered figure, hair dark and perfectly coiffed. While all the men around him wore variations of the dark suit, he had, of all things, a short-sleeve blue and white patterned polo shirt on, and dark slacks. His shoes were nice, meticulously clean. Expensive, but not flashy.

Not exactly the profile of the bloodthirsty thug you were expecting.

But as they drew closer, their footfalls now just audible, I caught a glimpse of his eyes. They seemed to gather the moonlight, their gaze as harsh and unforgiving as the vacuum of space.

Definitely Salazzo.

“Fuck, I hope you’re right about this, Rick,” I whispered to myself, careful not to be seen watching the men as they came closer still, just on the other side of the fountain from me.

I was so scared my phone was actually shaking in my hand.

Keep it together!

“M-Mr. Salazzo?”

“Who the fuck are you?” A towering, heavy-set man in a rumpled off-gray suitcoat said it, but I didn’t think it was Salazzo. Someone that big had to be one of his guards.

In the blink of an eye, the men surrounded me in an arc.

You’re screwed.

“Looks like a lost girl to me,” one of the others drawled.

A chill ran down my spine.

Do it, Genie!

“I-I have a message I’m supposed to give to you.”

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