Page 26 of Licence To Howl
‘Do you think I will hurt you?’ Solentino asked, suddenly removing his hands. ‘In front of our two supernatural guests who may or may not be trustworthy? Do you really think I’d do that?’
Lancaster gasped audibly in relief. ‘I –’
‘Because you’re right,’ Solentino said, pulling out a thin wire from his right hand pocket. ‘I absolutely would do that.’ And in one swift movement he looped the garrotte round Lancaster’s neck and pulled hard.
The Australian choked, his fingers automatically rising to his neck in a vain bid to stop the wire from strangling him. His eyes began to bulge. Underneath the table, Scarlett’s fingers gripped Devereau’s, clinging on tight. Solentino continued to pull on the garrotte, his own gaze lifting to meet that of Devereau’s.
Hot pain jabbed in between Devereau’s shoulder blades, and the animal inside him began to stir. He wanted to rush at Solentino, to rise up and attack him and stop what he was doing regardless of Sarah Greensmith’s orders to the contrary. But from beneath the sounds of Mike Lancaster’s hissed splutterings there was an audible click. Any normal set of ears wouldn’t have picked it up but Devereau’s werewolf senses had heard it and he knew exactly what it was. At least one of the other men, probably Rospo Accetta, had a gun underneath that table. Devereau would lay even money on the fact that it contained silver ammunition. Solentino had enough contacts and enough notice to obtain some. No matter how much Devereau wanted to break his cover to save a man he didn’t know and wouldn’t like if he did, it would end up in a bullet for either him or Scarlett. The odds were not in their favour. He was certain that Solentino would already have other contingencies in place. Both he and Scarlett had to see this through; there was no other choice.
Mike Lancaster didn’t die easily. It took far longer than any of them wanted it to. When the light finally dimmed in his eyes and his body went limp, Solentino released his grip on the lethal wire and stepped back. Lancaster’s head slumped forward, landing onto the plate he’d been eating from mere moments before. Alina reached down into a bag at her feet and pulled out a tiny bottle of hand sanitiser. She passed it silently over to Solentino who accepted it with a slight frown.
‘I told you to get the stuff with aloe vera in. It’s better for my skin.’
She licked her lips. ‘I’ll get some next time I’m out,’ she said quietly.
‘See that you do.’ Solentino squeezed out a small amount and rubbed it into his palms.
‘What are you going to do about the Greek?’ Alina asked. ‘Because we still have transport problems and he is in a position to help us with those.’
Solentino frowned. Then he turned to Vissier. ‘Give Avanopoulos a call this afternoon.’
‘Boss?’
‘Mike was right. So’s Alina. That Greek prick does have what we need to solve our current issues. See if he can meet our schedule. Now that the Ring of All Seasons is in my possession,’ he glanced at Devereau, ‘almost in my possession,’ he amended, ‘we need to step things up and make sure we don’t lose any time between now and D-Day. We plan for success and then allow the ring to confirm that success for us before we proceed.’
Scarlett reached across Devereau and picked up a slice of crusty bread which sat on a platter not far from Mike Lancaster’s unseeing eyes. ‘It sounds as if you have something very big brewing.’ She calmly spread some butter onto the slice before taking a bite. Then her eyes met Solentino’s.
‘We do indeed, Miss Cook. We do indeed.’ He nodded at Alina and she dipped into her bag once again, taking out a narrow white cardboard box and passing it to Devereau. ‘Those are for you, Mr Webb. A few laxatives should hurry things along somewhat. It’s best that you finish your food first, however. It’s better not to take them on an empty stomach.’ He motioned towards the various plates with a vague smile. ‘Eat up.’
Chapter Eleven
The restof the meal was conducted mostly in silence. Unsurprisingly, the corpse at the table wasn’t conducive to friendly conversation and only Solentino and Rospo seemed inclined to continue eating with gusto. Devereau picked unenthusiastically at some salami while Scarlett finished her slice of bread before sitting back and watching everyone else. Gee Vissier didn’t eat a thing; he simply gazed down at his plate with a slack expression, and Alina only sipped some wine.
Devereau was well aware that his mission was to ingratiate himself with Solentino and insinuate himself into his little gang but, for the moment, he was out of ideas as to how to manage it. This didn’t seem like the time for either charm or humour. In the end, however, it was Solentino himself who provided the opportunity.
‘Rospo,’ he said, once he’d finally satisfied his appetite, ‘escort the lovely Miss Cook to the red room. I would like to speak to Mr Webb alone.’
Devereau cleared his throat. ‘You know that anything you say to me, you can also say to my colleague.’
Under the table, Scarlett’s hand brushed against his thigh.Careful. Then she rose to her feet. ‘That’s quite alright. I understand how some things need to be said man to man.’ She smiled at Solentino, indicating she was perfectly happy to be shut away again. But she also opened her mouth and ran the tip of her tongue across her top lip. The action was casual enough to appear unconscious – and yet also slow enough to be tantalising. Devereau didn’t fail to note the spark of interest in Solentino’s cold eyes. He did his best to ignore the repeated jab of familiar pain between his shoulder blades and conjured up a smile of his own.
‘Be good,’ he murmured to Scarlett as she was led away.
She tossed her head and winked.
Solentino’s gaze followed the sway of Scarlett’s hips. Then he glanced at Alina. ‘You too. I want to talk to Webb alone.’
Alina didn’t react with the same blithe grace. Her shoulders stiffened and her mouth twisted into a fleeting snarl. Interesting. There was still some deeply placed fury lurking inside that woman. She clearly knew her position where Solentino was concerned, however, because she too got up from the table and walked away. Vissier and Moore tagged after her. Now only Devereau, Solentino and the bulging eyes of the unfortunate Mike Lancaster remained.
‘You have your hands full with that vampire,’ Solentino commented.
‘She keeps me entertained,’ Devereau said.
‘Are you and she –?’ He made a gesture with his circle with his thumb and forefinger and crudely inserted his other index finger inside it.
Devereau reminded himself yet again of the role he was playing and smirked. It was important to stick as close to the truth as possible. Many a liar was undone by creating unnecessary stories that could create conflict later on. ‘We have done in the past,’ he said. ‘But these days we don’t tend to mix business and pleasure. It keeps life simpler and Scarlett isn’t the type to stay with one man.’
Solentino looked intrigued. ‘Does that bother you?’
