Page 14 of Hell and High Water

At this rate, I wonder what will be left for him to take over.

Unless there’s more to his game.

Past that, the Holy Ghosts are scattered, their “secret” leader, Oliver Devonde, is holed up in his office building, and the Block MC is on full lockdown aside from Ora Clive making the odd appearance to pester us.

In other words, the whole situation is FUBAR, as Gavin would say.

“Back at the office, then?”

“Yes. Plenty to do.”

“Yay. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. My favorite,” Tell mocks, pumping his fist.

“Just get us to the garage. I need to get out of this stupid outfit.” I sigh. “And for the record, that paperwork is paying all of our bills right now, keeping us fed.”

“I never said it wasn’t useful. It’s just your thing, not mine.”

“Too bad, baby boy.”

“Nope. Try again,” he snips.

“Act like one, get called one.”

The garage is one of many drops we have all over town. I have to give Tell credit. He built himself a useful network of supplies, hideouts, and stashes.

With our combined supplies, it makes getting around town and staying under the radar a hell of a lot easier. Especially when I am so ready to be out of this shit-smelling outfit.

I’ve never minded cigarette smoke or bars.

But every night this week, we’ve been inundated in cigar smoke, cheap beer, and the reek of the dockside fish-stink. That, combined with these chafing, itchy costumes, particularly the beards…

I’m ready for a shower and some silk sheets.

Call me a priss, but I worked hard for the finer things.

“Uh-oh, are your little cheekies too sensitive?” Tell snarks as we scrub off the makeup and I toss the prosthetic, pockmarked mess in the trash. “Hey! That’s reusable.”

“Then reuse it. I get to choose my outfit next time. And you can kiss both of my cheeks if you don’t like it.”

“Dang, ever since you started hanging out with Hella, you got a mouth on you.”

I grunt, more irritated because he’s right.

Her foul, sailor mouth has rubbed off on me. Utterly classless. Yet, she’s the most graceful creature I’ve ever seen. Irresistibly so.

Who am I kidding, anyway? She just brought it back out in me. I grew up rough.

“Besides, it's not my cheeks that are chafing at this point. It's you and your personality.”

“Come on, now. You love my personality.”

“Which one?” I snap back at him.

Tell grins from ear to ear.

The clown is incorrigible on a good day. Today… he's really out of pocket. “What we got on the docket today? More favors? Panic rooms?”

“A few. We mostly need to see if we can pin down a few of our higher-end clients. Get them to stay in Sanctum. Then we need to keep digging for info.”

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