Page 99 of Double Shot

“But you were so cute.” Sadie gave him a scrunched-up smile.

“Bah, coffee?” He waved her away.

“In the pot.” I pointed.

“Good, good, I need the caffeine.”

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Aside from my balls feeling like someone tried to pull them off, not too bad,” he said. “It’s a little tender down there, and not in a good way.”

“We’ve got her location,” I added.

“Good, good, when are we going to go hang her from her own St Andrew’s?” he asked.

“St Andrew’s?” Sadie asked.

“The big metal X she had me tied to,” he replied.

“Oh, that has a name?” She crossed her arms and gave a derisive shake of her head. “That’s just weird.”

“Different strokes for different folks,” I said. “Kaijin had a lot of high-end BDSM equipment but she doesn’t represent that lifestyle at all.”

“Do you know much about it?” Sadie asked.

“I do, but it’s been mostly work related, we’ve had contracts on a few people who were pretty deep into that scene, and you can’t slip in unnoticed if you show up like a tourist.” Lach nodded in agreement. I had done the research, he had worn the leather pants, it was a good trade off.

“Not to be too direct, but when are we going to move?” Lach asked. Sadie nodded in agreement with him.

“She’s not going anywhere, her accounts are frozen,” I said.

“She’ll have help inbound, and they’ll have money, cash. Lots of it. I know you went scorched earth on them, but it probably didn’t take them long to figure it out. She’s still a boss, and she will have people coming from God knows where. New York? Baltimore? Anywhere they had operations.”

“Yeah, but those police departments were tipped off and should have moved on them already,” I protested.

“They’re police departments, not special forces. Telling NYPD where a heroin distribution hub is won’t have them roll out a strike package like we’re in Kandahar,” Lach countered. “As soon as they figured out that they were burned, how many of those assholes closed shop and bolted like roaches?”

“A lot of them,” Sadie added. “If we just sit here, shewillget backup.”

“My God, fine. Let’s get dressed, drive over the Powhattan and go shoot her in the head,” I said in exasperation.

“Excellent plan, let’s go,” Sadie agreed.

“I’m being sarcastic.”

“I’m not.” She was adamant.

Bloody hell.

* * *

An hourand a half later we made a circuit of the Powhattan parking lot, and there was no sign of the white sedan Kaijin had escaped in. That didn’t mean it wasn’t there, we couldn’t cruise through the valet parking, and that was probably where it was.

“I’m still not sold on why don’t we just go in and kill her.” Sadie glowered.

“Because if we do,” I said, “it’s loud and messy, and there are a lot of guests in a hotel, and then we’ll have to deal with the police, and other guests, and a general panic,” I said, not for the first time.

“We case the place, and find a way to isolate the target, and then remove them as quietly as possible. If we can do it without firing a round, we win. If guns come out, we’ve fucked up.”

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