Page 225 of Assassin

“Hey, Gamble, let’s get you into bed, Mate,” he said, helping him sit up.

Somehow, the damaged man helped Poe get himself up, and he got him into the bed. As soon as he was in bed, Gamble crawled under the blankets, not looking at him.

Poe tucked him in.

“I’ll be next door if something happens. Come get me if you need me.”

He didn’t answer or speak.

Instead, he closed his eyes, and escaped.

In that moment, Poe knew to give him space. For now, he’d done what he could, and he’d pushed as hard as possible. It was time to back off.

Gamble would come to him when he needed to.

Going into his bathroom, attached to his own bedroom, he leaned on the counter, and stared into his eyes.

And saw his brother.

Yeah, he understood loss. Poe understood how much guilt was tied to it.

He knew another thing.

He’d never take on a case like this ever again.

The cost…

It was just too high.

Chapter Eighteen

First National Bank

Of New Orleans

French Quarter

Midnight

As they reached the bank, they were working out the plan in the vehicle. They were going to have to do this carefully, and that meant without drawing too much suspicion to each other.

The easiest part would be the technology.

There were things to evade that.

The hardest part was that during Rogue’s research, while the team was swamping with Shing, he found out that the bank used a backup security method.

SECURITY GUARDS.

Throughout the night, they had someone drive by, and also on occasion they had people go into the bank and do a walk through on days when there was a lot of cash in the safe.

They wouldn’t know which would happen until it went down.

That was a problem for him. His wife would be going in, along with Alyona, and he didn’t trust anyone when it came to her safety.

“We’re going to have to be very careful,” he said. “There are three levels of security. The cameras, alarms, and human interaction. I can track both of you through it, and shut down security as you go,” he said, handing his wife and Alyona leather wrist straps.

When they both put them on, he explained.

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