Page 6 of Captured Heart

“I’m dangling a few carrots, making him think we’re about to do a big drug trade with another cartel—Alfonzo and his gang. He thinks it’ll be big enough to putallof us away, but really, it’s just a smoke and mirrors game to buy me more time to find these fucking files.” He sneers and releases an aggravated breath. “And that’s where you come in. I need you to scour that place top to bottom and find those files. I don’t care how you do it, just do it as inconspicuously as possible.”

My mom always told me that if something seems too good to be true...it probably is. This doesn’t seem like half a mil’s worth of work, so what’s the catch? “Why me? You can get any of your boys to do this for you? Bowman’s very capable.”

“Because you’re resourceful,” he replies without hesitation. “I’ve spent four years trying to replace you, and I can’t find a single person with your level of skill and competence. If there’s anyone who can get this job done without fuck-ups, it’s you.” He shrugs as if his answer should’ve been obvious to me. “Also, you’re young. Twenty-six, but you can pass for twenty-two, so you can easily blend in with the university crowd without anyone getting suspicious. But mainly...you’re loyal. I trust you, Johnny.”

I hear it then. The panic in his voice. Whatever Kenji has on him must be worse than what I’ve witnessed. And that’s saying something. That should make me more fearful about what this man is capable of, but instead, I decide to exploit this verylucrative opportunity. It could go one of two ways. He could negotiate me down to five-fifty...or he could put a bullet in my head. Not great odds, but I’m going to trust my gut on this.

I swallow so he doesn’t hear the nervousness in my voice. “Six hundred.”

There’s no negotiation. He doesn’t even blink, which shows how much is riding on this. “Done.” He turns on his heel and starts walking back to his car.

“Can I get an upfront payment? Say about...twenty percent?” I know I’m pushing it now, but that would cover a sizeable portion of my debt.

“No,” is his swift reply. “This fake drug deal is supposed to happen in nineteen days. You have until then. You get your full payment when the job is done.”

“Wait. What if the files aren’t at the house in Berkeley?”

“I’m a hundred percent sure they’re there,” he retorts without looking back.

He’s already tried Kenji’s house and office and was wrong both times. How can he be so sure this time? “But what if they aren’t?”

He stops and turns to face me again. “Then we take the girl and use her as leverage.”

My eyes almost pop out of my head. “Kidnapping? Like my rap sheet isn’t long enough already. You want to add kidnapping to it now, too?”

“It’s a last resort,” he assures me. “And if it comes to that—which it won’t because those files are there—but if it does, I’ll get my boys to do thedirty work. I’ll pay you half the amount for your trouble, and you can disappear with your money. You’ll never hear from me again.” He reaches into his pocket, then chucks a sealed envelope at me. “Almost forgot. I’m not sure if you’ll need this, but just in case, your fake ID and university pass are in there with some cash. Use it to get yourself cleaned up.”

I watch him slip into the backseat of the limo, and within a minute, the car is just a speck on the horizon. I’m not sure if the adrenaline kept me upright, but I slump against the truck the second they disappear from view.

There really doesn’t seem to be any downside to this deal. I still get half even if I deliver nothing. Maybe something can be good and true at the same time.

I finally take a second to study the picture he gave me. Katelyn Akiyama. It’s a side profile of her, and her long black hair covers much of her cheek. Yet even without seeing her whole face, something about her eyes catches my attention. They’re deep and thoughtful, filled with curiosity.

There’s an innocence about her. No. Innocence isn’t the right word. Unsuspecting is more apt. She seems untainted, unafraid, and totally unprepared for an encounter with someone like me.

2. Aleksandras

Ipark Morty’s beat-up old pickup truck a few houses away from the address Victor gave me. It’s a quiet, tree-lined street in a nice part of town, the kind of place where people walked their dogs and kids rode their bikes without a care in the world. I feel out of place here, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but it’s a feeling I’ve grown used to over the years.

I pull my hoodie up to cover my head and approach the house cautiously, sticking to the shadows cast by the tall oaks lining the sidewalk. It’s a modest, two-story home with a well-kept lawn and flowers in the front garden. Sort of small, though. Not what I expected for the daughter of a lawyer, but I can see why she’d choose this place over the campus dorms. It has a certain charm, a sense of peace that dorms don’t offer.

I scan the exterior, looking for a way in. The windows on the ground floor are all shut tight, but maybe there’s a back door that might be an easier target. Victor said I need to be inconspicuous, so breaking in isn’t an option. Maybe I can pick the lock. I creep around the side, careful to avoid the crunch of gravel underfoot. Just as I’m about to step onto the back porch, I see it.

A small, black device nestled in the corner of the porch roof. A camera. Fuck! I look around and spot another one near the garage...and another on the side of the house. This place is rigged with security cameras, all expertly concealed. Must be a precautionary measure Kenji put in place after Victor’s goons ransacked his office.

I quickly step back into the shadows, pulling my hoodie tighter around my face. Victor hadn’t mentioned anything about cameras. I’d assumed this would be a simple in-and-out job, but this house is more secure than I’d anticipated. There’s no way I can get inside without being seen.

The last time I got busted was because an alarm went off during a jewelry store heist. I planned everything down to the last detail, but that one unexpected spanner in the works landed my ass in jail. I’m not taking a risk like that again.

I need a new plan. Somehow, I have to get her to let me inwillingly. How the hell am I going to pull that off? I can’t just cut the electricity off here and pretend to be a repair guy. That will tip Kenji off immediately. I need something more creative than that.

My mind toys with potential ideas as I walk to the front of the house again. I just need to—

“Are you looking for someone, young man?”

My eyes spring up to see an old lady sitting on her porch across the street. She definitely wasn’t there when I got here, so I don’t think she saw me creep around back. My tats are all covered up, but the hoodie is probably pretty suspicious.

It’s more than likely that there are cameras in the front as well, so I need distance to distort my features. I walk across the street before taking the hoodie off my head and fake the most charming smile I can muster. “Good morning, ma’am. Sorry if I startled you. I was just looking for Katelyn. We take...”What did Victor say she’s studying again?“...biochemistry together, and she told me I could come by and...pick up a...textbook.”

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