Page 7 of Twin Deception

“You heard me. Get someone else to handle that.” I narrowed my eyes and wished I had a cigarette. I quit ten years ago, but fuck if the urge for a release didn’t hit me now.

“You hear yourself, man? Who do you think you are to?—”

“I know exactly who the fuck I am,” I growled. Holding my phone tighter, I almost cracked the case. If I could, I’d reach through the line and punch this cocky asshole for talking back.

“I take hits. That’s it. Not babysitting orders.”

Fuck. This.

How dare he question me? He never had, but that didn’t excuse him. I was a trained killer, an operative with a selective and hard-earned set of skills not many others had. I began my career on the “good side”. When I was young and stupid and disillusioned about how the world worked, I served in the military. All it took was one corrupt asshole at the border to frame me for something I had no part in, and I saw how fast the supposed “good guys” could fall from honor. My unwarranted discharge for misconduct was the catalyst that had me joining the Gulf Cartel. And I rose in the ranks immediately with my ability to hunt and kill like no other.

Asking—no, telling—me to snatch someone and babysit them was bullshit. It was disrespectful.

“It’s notbabysitting,” Drago argued. “How fucking full of yourself can you be? A hit is a hit.”

“Yeah, you stupid fucker. A hit is a hit. Not a kidnapping request.”

“Fine,” he snapped. “Then just kill the daughter.”

I furrowed my brow, staring unseeing into the dark night as I waited for him to expand on that. It was already messed up that he was changing a contract after the fact, but…

“What?”

“Kill her. It would make more sense to keep her captive so others can handle more complications that have come up, but fuck it. Kill her then. Make her the new hit.”

He couldn’t just play it by ear on this.Where are you even getting your orders?He was just supposed to be the messenger. Not a boss. Then again, I’d never met him in person so I was clueless. That gap of association was intended, though. I liked that distance to better keep me as independent as I could be.

“The news of her death?—”

“What complications?” I asked before he could finish.

“Other complications. This shit with Flores isn’t cut and dry.”

What ever is?All these corrupt assholes had layered operations and schemes at play.

“Louis has gone into hiding,” he reminded me. “The news of her death will spread and reach him, wherever he is. So it’ll lure him out into the open. It’ll reach him, and he’ll know that he’s going to be next.”

While that sounded reasonable and did make sense, I was still pissed at this change of plans. I was appeased with the permission to kill this daughter, but my annoyance remained that I’d have to start over. I had been working with the intel to track down Louis and stalk him. Now I’d need to go back to square one and do it with a different target in mind. These things required skill and stealth. Strategy and forethought.

“Miguel?” Drago didn’t seem to be in the mood to prolong this call.

Tough shit.

“I was supposed to be off for a while.”

“Yeah. I know. You’ve mentioned it a fuck ton of times. How could I forget?”

I shook my head, peeved with his attitude. We were never friendly, but where did he get off talking to me like this? “All right, then consider the mess you’re dropping into my lap without any warning. I was supposed to take off after this hit tonight. Now I’ll have to start all over.”

“No, you won’t.” The clacks of buttons tapped on a keyboard filled the background on his end, making me again wonder if he doubled as a hacker or on a cyber unit for the Cartel. “You can still get this over with ASAP.”

I raised my brows. “Oh?”

“I’ll send you what I have on her now.”

Collecting, gathering, and holding on to personal information of targets and their families was just one reach of the Cartel. In this day and age of so much being online, it was almost impossible for anyone to really hidethatwell. Cameras were everyone. Hackers worked wonders.

“I’ve got a file on her that will tell you anything you need to know.”

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