Page 49 of The Devil's Viking

“OK, so, carry on boys,” Wolf said. “Call us tomorrow night, same as always.”

“You got it,” Ice said. “You’ll deal with Iris, or whatever the hell her name actually is?”

“You know it,” Wolf said grimly and Viking looked startled. “Stay safe out there, too. If a cop is involved with these maniacs, who knows how much protection they have locally.”

He disconnected the call, then got to his feet.

“Wolf,” Viking said in a hesitant tone. “What did you mean about dealing with Iris?”

“What do youthinkI mean?” Wolf snapped. “If that Gideon motherfucker has a cop workin’ with him, then it means that he has resources available to him that we hadno ideaabout. Cops can get video and traffic footage. They can trace license plates and access the DMV database. They can use all this stuff and start puttin’ pieces together. They can –”

“Find Iris through the van and through me,” Viking said as the penny dropped; as always, Wolf was about eleven steps ahead of anyone else. “And through me they can findus.”

“Go get your little girlfriend,” Wolf said sharply. “Now.”

Viking didn’t even stop to wonder how Wolf knew about the change in his relationship with Iris; as always, Wolf justkneweverything. He shot out of Wolf’s office and up to Iris’ bedroom, where she was getting ready for the dinner rush.

He paused outside her door, already hating what was coming. He knocked. “Iris?”

“Hey!” she called. “Come on in!”

He opened the door and despite himself, he smiled to see her sitting on her bed, happily putting stacks of bills into a box that Zoe had given her as a present.God, she was just so stunning, with that dark hair piled high on her head, those purple eyes sparkling over at him with pure joy.

Just for a second, he flashed back to those eyes staring at him last night as his fingers stroked deep inside her, those eyes after she’d come on his mouth – they’d been hot and full of need, and even though it was wholly inappropriate, he wanted her again. Right now.

“Hey, handsome! Guess what?” She gave him that heart-stopping smile that he was slowly becoming addicted to. “Between wages and kitchen tips, I’ve earned over six hundred dollars this week so far!”

“That’s great,” he said.

“Right? It took me six damn months to get just over three hundred when I was stealing from Gideon, but one honest week’s hard work and I’ve made more. Like, double!”

“Iris.”

She looked at him again, and when she saw his face, her expression changed. “Oh, boy. What is it?”

“Wolf wants to talk to you. Downstairs.”

“Now?”

“Right now.”

“Viking.” She got to her feet. “What is he – is he kicking me out?”

“You need to talk to him.”

“So you don’t know what he’s going to do?”

“It’s not my call what Wolf does, you know that.”

“So, hemightbe kicking me out? Is he mad that we – that you and me –that last night we –”

“Baby,” he said, and oddly, him calling her that seemed to calm her down a bit. “He’s waiting.”

“OK.” She tucked her box away in the dresser drawer, looked at herself in the mirror and smoothed her hair back. “Let’s go.”

**

Wolf closed the door, then turned to face Iris (or whatever her name was). She looked scared to death, and he found himself softening a bit. This woman had been through quite enough at the hands of this sick fuck Gideon –and now Wolf had the thankless task of informing her that maybe she hadn’t escaped his slimy clutches after all.

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