Page 75 of Property of Tacoma

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I turn back to the stove, hiding my smile. “Well, I can’t miss that, now can I?”

“What kind of sauce are you putting in that?” Tacoma asks, peering over my shoulder again.

I open my mouth to answer when my burner phone starts vibrating in my back pocket.

My stomach instantly knots.

Only a handful of people have this number, and none of them call for social reasons.

Wiping my hands on a dish towel, I pull out the phone and check the screen.

Georgia area code.

I don’t recognize the number, but that’s not unusual in my line of work.

“I need to take this,” I say, stepping away from the stove. “Can you watch the meat for a minute?”

Tacoma’s eyes narrow slightly, but he nods, taking my place at the stove.

I press the phone to my ear. “Housekeeping.”

“This is Micky Figaro,” a gruff male voice responds. “Need to schedule an appointment for Friday. The deluxe package for eight rooms.”

My blood runs cold.

The deluxe package means body removal and a complete bio scrub. Eight rooms means there are eight bodies.

Jesus. What the hell happened?

All my clients know the protocol.

Once I confirm the appointment, they send the location through a secure server that routes the information globally before finally returning it to me.

Thanks to Dex, Miami’s tech man, the whole process takes less than a second and is completely untraceable.

“Your appointment has been confirmed,” I say, keeping my voice neutral.

I end the call and slide the phone back into my pocket, my mind already racing through the logistics.

Georgia.

That’s at least a seven-hour drive.

I’ll need to leave late tonight if I’m going to make it there by morning.

When I turn back to the stove, Tacoma’s eyes are locked on me, his jaw set in a hard line. “You have to go,” he says.

It’s not a question.

I nod, a pit forming in my stomach. “It’s a job. In Georgia.”

“No!”

I close my eyes at the hurt I hear in Saylor’s voice.

Slowly opening them, I turn around, and my heart hits the floor.

Saylor has tears streaming down her cheeks, her bottom lip trembling.

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