Page 13 of Tesio
“Well, I coulda told you that. Every fucker wants to knife me right now, man. You gonna help watch my back, or am I on my own here? I’m trying to keep everyone safe, but I can’t do that alone.”
I mean, he was literally the one person I wasn’t reporting to, but if this venture didn’t succeed, then I’d be back in mafia hell before I could fucking jerk off in my new bed.
“Let me finish getting into their old files, because I reckon there’s plenty of dirt there, and probably that’ll give us a better idea of whether they’re the only risk. I’m running their real names and road names through various channels to see what I can find while I keep hacking. Hey, do me one solid here?”
Micro nodded, standing up again, and waiting for me to speak. I stood up too, it’s a mafia thing,capisce?
“You talk to Ice, and as far as he knows, this took me five minutes, yeah? These guys were a little more tech savvy than I expected, so I took the wrong route at the start. He doesn’t need to know that.”
“Yeah, the snarky bastard wouldn’t let you forget that. Don’t worry, he’s not even on my speed dial, man. It’s our secret, just keep me posted, because I don’t think I’m getting out unscathedtoday. Someone’s gonna want some kinda beef, and I need to be prepared for that.”
“You trust any of them?”
He headed for the door. “Me. Well, Harley, I think. He seems on board, but we’ll see. People don’t always show you their true face, right? I taught everyone I knew that little gem.”
After he left, I replayed our conversation, and one thing struck me. If you’d blindfolded me, and disguised his voice, I would have said that wasn’t him. I’m not saying he found God or some shit, but he was different. The anger was gone. The spitting rage that we’d all seen tastes of, it just wasn’t there anymore. Was his little lady the reason? And if so, could we rely on that to keep him in line, or would he fall back on old habits once everyone’s guard was down?
When I got into those files, what I found was a fucking treasure trove of crimes and misdemeanours that would destroy this club if that news came out, and that’s why I was pissed when I first met the lady I’d come to know as PC Pain-In-My-Ass.
Especially since the first time she stopped by, I’d not long put a bullet in Burn, after he tried to kill our new Pres. After he’d seen off Roadkill earlier that same day, we thought maybe Burn would behave, but no. He pulled a gun on Micro, and I made him eat mine instead.
Jamie
When in doubt, actlike you own the place, right? The gates were open when we pulled up outside, and they werebacking a van up to one of the buildings, and didn’t that just look suspicious as all hell?
“Can we help you?”
I smiled widely at the young guy who approached me, grabbing the gate like he already realised he’d fucked up by leaving it open. If this was their idea of security, maybe they needed some pointers from their friendly local police officers?
“Who’s in charge here?”
The guy literally turned to look around him, and I spotted the word ‘prospect’ across the back of his black leather waistcoat. Oh. They’re called cuts. See, I did research, so I knew that, and also that prospects were guys who wanted to join the club, but had to do a mandatory period as a prospect first. Apparently they were the ones most likely to do all the cleaning and security type stuff, which seemed risky to me. You don’t trust a guy enough to make him a member yet, but you trust him with your safety?
“Guys, take five,” someone yelled, as he passed that van, which was now parked as close to one of the small concrete buildings as possible. There was definitely something untoward going on there, and my feet started moving before I realised what I was doing.
“Hey, you can’t go… she can’t do that, right? Is she allowed to just-”
“I’ve got this, prospect, why don’t you wait by the gate to shut her back out when she gets lost?”
It wasn’t a question as such, but it was the blatant insult against me that caught my attention, and had me turning to glare at the man approaching me. He was tall, really tall, with dark, slicked back hair, and black clothes on, including one of the leather cuts. His eyes were really dark too, it was almost like being faced with a demon or something, especially as his full lips tipped up in a smirk worthy of a movie star.
“See something you like, darlin’?” He practically preened, smoothing his cut, and reaching down to adjust himself in his jeans.Perv.
“Excuse you?” Nice and professional, right? I took a deep breath.
“I’m just stopping by to introduce myself, and my partner, who uh… well, we’re just making ourselves known to you, you know, in case you need the assistance of local law enforcement.”
His grin widened, and he stepped further into my personal space, looming over me like, my god, why was I thinking of him as some kind of demonic entity again? He was just hot and dangerous looking, dammit.
“You’re offering to aid and abet us, PC Pain?”
I frowned, his words twisting up in my head for a moment, before I grasped two things. One, he took my ‘offer’ as a suggestion that I’d be turning a blind eye to their crimes, and he called me PC Pain? What the hell does that mean? Is it a threat? Is he threatening bodily harm right now?
I fought the urge to back up, because he was too close, so close in fact, that I could catch deep enticing whiffs of some cologne, something dark and manly, with hints of motor oil or something equally manly.
“Are you suggesting that I’m not a law abiding officer, Mr uh…”
“Grease. My name’s Grease, and you’re the one who offered, love.” Offered? I didn’t offer any such thing!
