Page 34 of Painfully Merry

“I got word that it’s going to be hit by the ETF today. If you’re there when the cops show up.”

“Yeah, you don’t need to spell it out. But why are they showing up? No one knows about this guy, and we just figured it out ourselves.”

“I did some digging. All I know is someone within the company called him in.”

Fuckin’ piece of shit. There is no way I’m letting the cops take him from Sabrina. He owes her.

“Thanks for the heads up. But we’ll be fine.” I hang up before he can bitch me out further. If we work fast, we can get in before the raid.

“We gotta go now,” I call out, running back into the house. I find them in the kitchen drinking coffee. “Slam it back. We don’t have time. The clock is working against us.”

“What? Why?” Sabrina asks with horrified eyes.

“Kevin’s place is going to get raided by the ETF sometime today, and we can’t let that happen. Chop, chop.” I clap my hands to get their asses moving.

We need to move fast, and I have no idea what time this is all going down. I wish I had an informant. This would be a whole lot easier for me, not like fishing in the dark. But I’m a professional. I can do this. It’s the other two I’m worried about. How did we end up like this? I thought Parker wanted revenge, but here we are, helping Sabrina.

While Parker drives, I go over the plan with Sabrina. I shoved her in the back even after she bitched me out. It’s the safest spot, but to yell at me. That was mean of her. The drive to the downtown core always makes me nervous. I can’t even explain it.

“Sabrina, I need you to distract the front desk staff. There should be two working. I need to hack into the building's security system to access underground parking; they can’t be alerted about a security login. Parker, keep watch of her and make sure nothing happens.”

“Is this the only option? I can’t distract worth of shit.”

I turn around, glancing down at her body. She is wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, hugging every curve, a checkered button-up shirt peeking under a beige crewneck. She’s a distraction, all right.

“I think you’ll do fine at distracting whoever is working, Sabby,” I tell her, a teasing quirk pulls at my mouth. “After all, you distracted Parky baby from spilling your blood like he wanted to.”

Parker parks across from the apartment building, which has no right looking this nice. What’s the rent on one of these apartments, anyway? Let alone that penthouse we were about to break into.

“Shut up, Chaos. Sabrina lets go. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

I reach back, grab Sabrina’s arm, and pull her toward me. I crush my lips to hers, cupping her cheek. I can’t help but rub my thumb along her cheek, feeling the softness of her skin. With a quick peak, I push away. “Come back to me.”

With a silent nod, she leaves me.

“I’ll bring her back to you, Joel.”

“Thanks, Parker.”

I know he’s serious if he uses the government name. I can’t think about them, the staff won’t appreciate lurkers, so I have to work fast. The nice thing about owning a security company is that I know how most systems work. They usually don't hire a decent company even when you live in a nice, expensive place.

The sweat beads off my forehead every time I see a black van pass by, thinking this is the time the cops show up. With a quick online search, it was easy to find the company in charge of security and, like I figured, not a very well-known company.

They aren’t smart either, listing their employees on their website.

“Hey, Phyllis. I’m a new hire and locked myself out of the server.” I listen to her type away on her keyboard before answering me.

“Name?”

“Jack Morris. I should know better and remember my login info by now, but everything was thrown at me in training, and now, being in the field, it’s so crazy. I don’t want to set off alarms and have the cops called on me, you know what I mean?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“I’m sure you do. It must be a pain for you to keep getting these calls constantly. I’m such a moron.”

“All right, Jack, it’s not a big deal. I do this more than I would like to mention. That's why I still have a job.”

It’s so easy to get what you want. Distraction is key, and they don’t ask that many questions. With a few clicks, I’m in their system and locking down the building. I send Parker a quick text telling him that I’m in and to hurry the fuck up and get out.

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