Page 5 of Cruel Games

“Oh, get over yourself,” I spat, tossing a couple hundred bucks at her in a rubber-banded roll. “You get the rest when you come back with the next three hit contracts.”

“Three?” She hissed the damn word, recoiling like I’d slapped her. “We agreed on two. Not three on top of that.”

“You can’t tell me when they plan to hit him, and you failed to find out where and how. So you’ve only done the part of the work I could have paid a hacker to do for me. Probably would have gotten off cheaper for it.”

“Please. You know damn well the only hacker that can get through our defenses already works for us.” She crossed herarms, satisfied with her stance. “I want the rest now or no updated floor plans.”

I needed the floor plans. Negotiating them out of the deal wasn’t an option. “I want the floor plans first, and I wanna know who they’re planning to hit next, or no dice.”

“Then I want double.”

“Absofuckinglutely not.”

Clyde threw his hands up, trying to break up the argument. “Okay, listen, why don’t we try again? Hi. So glad you could make it. We’ve got the details you asked for.”

Bonnie smacked him upside the head. “You idiot, we’re not here for pleasantries. We’re here on business.”

“She’s right, Clyde. This is all business. I just want what I contracted you for, and I’ll be on my way.”

“If you want the rest of the intel, you’ll give me the rest of the money,” Bonnie smirked in my direction as Clyde draped an arm over her shoulder, playing at the devoted boyfriend. “Or we walk now.”

“Fine,” I spat, knowing all the bills I was giving them were fakes, anyhow. “Have it. But I want the floor plans and the annotation I specified, and I want them by the end of the week.”

“End of the week pushes our timeline up. I want another two hundred for that inconvenience.”

I rolled my eyes this time, beating her to the punch. “Whatever. But you get it when you deliver. No sooner.”

I didn’t wait for a response, turning on my heel to stride right back out the way I’d come–in the shelter of all the shadows along buildings and cars that were conveniently inside of the blind spots. Before Bonnie and Clyde bothered to move, I’d already disappeared from the parking lot and burned rubber down the road.

They’d better deliver was all I had to say on the matter. If they didn’t, then I’d have to resort to stalking these fuckers myself, and I didn’t have the time for all that.

I had a double life to lead.

The overhead bellrang as I wandered into the old, decrepit corner store for a drink and something easy to snack on. It was a Friday night, and I had a routine to follow. My little friend would no doubt be waiting for me at home, and I didn’t want to disappoint him. Last time I didn’t deliver, I ended up with more visible injuries than I cared for.

Mister Aberdeen looked up from his paper and spotted my head disappearing down the soda aisle, bobbing up and down as I approached the coolers in the back. A quiet grunt of recognition was all he made in acknowledgment as I meandered into a world of my own.

He didn’t pay me a second’s attention until I returned to his register, arms loaded down with the essentials–a ready-made sandwich wrap, some chips, a packet of beef jerky, two bottled waters, an energy drink, and a single can of tuna.

His eyebrows raised at my haul, but he didn’t remark on it. Instead, hehumphedquietly and began ringing me up, waiting for my usual Friday request.

I was, after all, a creature of habit.

“Pack ofSignoré menthol hundreds,Abe.” I glanced out the storefront windows to the street beyond, wishing my life hadn’t come to this—but there was no use in going back now. There was nothing to go backto.

Abe frowned as he turned around to comply, griping as his gnarled hands wrapped around the box of cancer sticks. “Them things are bad for you, girl.”

I waved off his consideration and smiled half-assedly, the amusement never reaching my eyes. “So are about a hundred other things I can’t avoid in life. Might as well do what I want, right?”

“Hmm.”

He said nothing more as I paid on the card reader and shuffled away, the bell like a haunting melody as it chased me back out into the chilly evening air.

Hours later, in the comfort of my bedroom, I flipped through the documents the two biggest idiots in the Guild had managed to put their greasy paws on. I briefly wondered how they’d managed to pull off what I’d asked of them but then dismissed the thought. I didn’t much care to delve into their shady practices. It might be beneficial to know who their inside man was, as there was no doubt in my mind they weren’t doing it alone, but it would be more work I didn’t need. Another point of contact that would be more of a time suck than anything else.

Time was an asset I didn’t have enough of.

If things went south, I’d like to be tied to as few names as possible. Bonnie and Clyde were bad enough.

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