Page 47 of Guarding Bristol

Chapter Sixteen

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Angel’s phone chirpedwhile he was in the middle of stirring a pot of pasta sauce on the stove.His work phone, the one only a handful of people had the number for.

He glanced over his shoulder, aware of the sudden tension in his body.Liana was stretched out on the sofa in the living room with her laptop open, busy doing more research into the latest data on experimental treatment protocols and clinical trials.

He turned the burner down as low as it would go, covered the sauce to leave it simmer, and stepped outside into the backyard, shutting the door behind him.Angling his body so that he could keep an eye on Liana, he dialed the saved number.

“Got your message,” he said quietly when his contact answered.He didn’t want his neighbors to overhear if they came outside.

“One of our little birdies didn’t turn up for his post-meeting debrief.He hasn’t made contact, and his phone’s been turned off.That means he’s in the wind,” Hawk said.The nickname of a falcon Angel rarely had contact with.

“Which birdie?”

“Mark.”

Angel called a picture of him to mind.Mid-thirties, worked a custodial job at the Crimson Point Hospital where he acted as a courier for the organization, smuggling product into and out of the place for distribution.The organization liked to “launder” its product that way, using certain healthcare professionals to help circulate it, in exchange for a healthy monetary compensation.

But Angel made a lot more than that for his particular trade.

“Any leads on his current location?”he asked.

“Yeah, but there’s more.Two other birdies were arrested after being involved in a car chase and subsequent rollover near Crimson Point.One’s still in custody, but the other was released.Not sure where he is at the moment, but Mark’s headed up to Washington State.He made contact twenty minutes ago.”

“So what do you want?”Time was ticking.If he was being tapped for this job, he wanted to handle it immediately so he could get back home to Liana as soon as possible.

“Information.I’m sending you the last location where Mark’s phone pinged from.He hasn’t moved in the past three hours, so it looks like he’s bunking at the house.Find out what he knows and deal with him.”

Deal with him.

He shot another glance at Liana, still keenly invested in whatever she was reading, a little frown of concentration creasing her forehead.They were so close to securing her the chance she needed to save her life.“What’s the commission?”

“Fifty.”

It was less than what he’d made from each of his last two targets, but every bit helped.And his body count was already too high for his morals to balk at adding another.All bad people the world was better off without anyway.Or so he told himself.“Are you still tracking him?”

“Yes.”

“Send me the details, then at oh-two-hundred hours reverify his position.I’ll handle it from there.”He ended the call, ignored the prick of his conscience.This latest target was yet another lowlife the world wouldn’t miss.He could almost convince himself he was making the world a better place with this work.

Even if he wasn’t, it brought him one step closer to hopefully saving Liana.That made all the risks worth it.

When he stepped back inside, she looked over at him.“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine.Just a work thing.They’re short-staffed again.You hungry?”

She hesitated a fraction of a second.“Yes.”

She’d barely eaten anything over the past two days, too tired or too nauseated to be interested in food.But even feeling like shit, she would force some dinner down to make him happy.“Liar,” he said softly.

Her lips twitched.“You’ve been working on that sauce for almost two hours.I don’t want all your effort to go to waste.It smells amazing, by the way.”

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