Chapter 28 - Fast and Loose

The phone was ringing when Nicky got out of the shower. She dried her hands and face as she reached for it. The number displayed as 'unknown.' She hoped it had been jammed by her relays. The other possibility would not be good.

"Speak," she said.

"Very professional." The voice on the other end was masked, but she recognized it.

The chill on her spine had nothing to do with the water dripping off her. He was not supposed to call her directly, and this was the second time he'd done so. She was slipping.

"You call me to check on my phone manners or do we have business?"

"We do. You've been contracted to do a very specific job." He talked down to her out of habit, something she had never tolerated.

"Which I'm in the middle of doing, so what's your problem?" she snapped.

"The time table doesn't work for me."

"Come again?"

"The weekend isn't a suitable time for this operation. It needs to happen during the week." He was worried about the news cycle. She should have seen that coming.

"I can't tell the people involved that they have to wait until next week some time to do this. They'll want to know why, and I've got no good reason."

"You have a very good reason. Because I asked." He thought that was enough. For the circles he moved in, it would be.

"You want me to tell them that? I'm sure they'd be interested. And then they'd shoot me in the fucking head and come after you. You don't want the kinds of presents disclosure would buy you."

"Threats are unnecessary. And unwise." He tried to intimidate her with words. Without his particular connections, he wouldn't scare her at all.

"It wasn't a threat. Just a reminder that you really don't want to meet these people."

She wondered who would get to her first. It didn't matter; details of both contracts would spill out all over news wires if she died. After the news cooled, her trade secrets would hit the internet, starting the fire all over again. Not much in the way of insurance, but post-mortem revenge was a commendable legacy. At least the journalists would remember her fondly.

"Change the timing. This week." He thought he was being forceful, but she could hear the whine underneath.

"I don't think you understand. There is no way I can do that."

"I don't need to understand. Our agreement is that you'd do this to my advantage. It isn't to my advantage to have this happen on the weekend. So see that it happens sooner or I won't provide the assistance you need afterwards."

"Fine. I'll do what I can to move it up. But you do need to understand a couple of things. First, if we move early, it's going to be a lot messier than we'd discussed. Second, if you don't hold up your end of the bargain, you will spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder because these motherfuckers don't give up."

"Such language," he said, amused.

"Take my advice, and do what you've said you'll do. I'll let you know what the arrangements are." She knew he had no idea of what was really involved. That was probably a good thing.

"Fine."

"And don't bother to call. This number is about to be out of service."

"I can find you." He sounded amused.

"Not as fast as I can find you. And every newsroom in this city. You don't want to fuck with me. You can't afford it." It had been a long time since she'd had to remind a client that she was dangerous. At least he finally got it.

"Then I suggest we each play our part and leave it at that." He disconnected.

Nicky reached for a towel, shivering. This job was turning into a nightmare, and it was her own fault. The first contract had been straight up – take out Cavuto and don't worry about the aftermath. The new boss would take over with most people none the wiser. Deira would have her revenge, and Gage would be able to cut the girl loose. It was clean and simple, the way things were done in this business.

She never did things the way they were supposed to be done, and that usually worked out just fine. This time, the complexities were multiplying faster than she could sort them out, all because she had decided she could do two jobs at once.

She considered ways to convince Gage to change the schedule, rejecting each one as too obvious. He would be suspicious. He was always suspicious, especially when it came to her. You earned that. The truth irritated her. She would have to lie to him. Again. The fact that it would save his life was little comfort.

She got dressed and found the phone she'd purchased for this operation. It, too, would go dead soon. She began to dial Gage's number and stopped. She could learn something here. She called Deira instead.

"Nicky?"

"You sound out of breath, girl."

"Phone was in my gym bag. What's up?"

"I haven't been able to reach Gage. Either his phone is off or his battery is dead. You know where he is?" She struggled to keep her voice neutral.

"He's here. Hold on. I'll get him."

So much for cutting her loose. Nicky shook her head. He was an idiot, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"Duchess." The caution in his voice would have set her off if it hadn't been a constant.

"Check your phone. I haven't been able to get through."

"I turned it off."

"That's a really bad idea," she chided. She clutched the counter for balance, overwhelmed by relief.

"I had my reasons."

"And I'll bet they had something to do with a naked blonde." Shit. She should have let it go.

"Is that why you called, to save me from my baser instincts? Or to save her from them?"

"No. I don't give a damn what you do in your spare time."

"You used to be a better liar," he said, obviously amused.

She swallowed her fear. Let him think that's the only lie.

"Time, spare or otherwise, is the problem. Things are moving fast on Cavuto's end. I don't know if he has anything solid, but the hit on the whorehouse has made him very nervous."

"Good."

"No, not good. He's moving money around fast. That's never good. I'm probably not the only one who's noticed. At some point, banks will have to report it."

"How is this my concern?" he asked.

"Because, you thick bastard, if he's shifting funds openly, he's trying to draw attention to himself. It keeps people interested in his finances, so they won't notice when he closes or relocates the lab. The window of opportunity just shrank. We need to move the job up."

"To when?" Schedule changes had always aggravated him.

"Best guess? Two days, three at the outside." She held her breath. If he didn't go for this, the whole thing would fall apart. And sometime shortly thereafter, she would be killed. It hardly mattered by which party.

"That will be difficult."

"No, it won't. You told me yesterday everything was set." She hoped he missed the panic in her voice.

"We still need to arrange for delivery of the devices," he said.

"Which you can do with a phone call. My part of this is ready to go, too."

"And if I am not ready to move yet?"

"Why are you being like this? You can get a call in the middle of the night, be on a plane, do what needs to be done and be home before anyone knows you're gone. With weeks to plan, I know you're ready." She hated appealing to his ego.

"I don't like this," he said. She could almost see him pacing.

"I'm sorry the big, bad drug dealer is messing up your plans, but we don't really have a lot of options here." Her desperation bled through.

"I will make the necessary arrangements and call you back." His accent was in full force, so he was truly pissed off.

"I'll be waiting." She disconnected.

Gage paced. Deira kept quiet even after he got off the phone. Nothing good came of talking to him when he was like this. She wanted to get up, pour them some coffee, find out what was happening. When he began muttering in another language, she decided it was safer to remain where she was, perfectly still.

When he grew quiet, she went to the kitchen, filling his cup and handing it to him without a word. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and let it out softly.

"There has been a change of plans." He almost hid his ire.

"I figured. So tell me what I need to do according to the new plan, and I'll do that."

"The details are essentially the same, but we have to move faster."

"Okay. We're ready, right?"

"I am ready. I had hoped to give you a few more days to recover, during which we could have timed the placement of the bombs."

"This isn't the first time I've set explosives," she said.

"It is the first time you might be doing it under fire. It is different when you know you are surrounded by people with guns."

"Does it change what has to be done?"

"No, only how much your hands shake while you try to do it. Seconds count."

"Were you planning to shoot at me while I practiced?"

He glanced sideways at her and shook his head, exasperated.

"Then it would have been academic anyway. Unless you think we should call the whole deal, we're going to have to accept a less than perfect plan"

"Those tend to have unfortunate results. Like dying." He regarded her carefully. "You would accept it if I canceled the job?"

"As long as I walk away with no obligation to you, yes." It startled her to realize she meant it. "But you aren't going to."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you keep your promises."

"I did not promise to do this job for you," he said softly.

"No, but you did contract out, and I'm pretty sure that counts as a promise in your book. You have a reputation for finishing what you start."

"This job is anonymous. Nicky is the one holding the contract," he said.

"Right. And you told her you would do the job. You might find a way to get out of doing something I want, but you aren't going to break a promise to her." She was sure of it.

"You think I would deceive you but not her? Why?"

"She obviously knows more about you, and knowledge in Nicky's hands is extremely dangerous."

"As am I."

"Yes, but that doesn't change how dangerous she is to you."

"And you are not?"

"Not really. Nicky can erase people, screw with their finances, set them up and take them down in all sorts of ways. I'm not nearly that caliber of dangerous. Hell, I can't even get you off me when you knock me down."

"I have not noticed you trying lately." He smiled for the first time since the phone call.

"Cute, but not what I was talking about. You expended a fair amount of energy trying to get me to let you handle this on your own. If I hadn't been clear on what you thought of my skills before, that would have told me all I need to know."

"So you see my attempts to keep you out of harm's way as an insult?"

"No, just an indication you think I'm not up to this. Don't get me wrong. It was sweet of you to try to protect me – if I can even use that word about you – but the impetus behind it was your uncertainty about whether I could hold up my end."

"If I thought you were not capable, I would not have bothered setting you up with Nicky in the first place. I certainly would not have suggested you make the explosives." The slight amusement in his eyes belied the serious tone.

Deira looked at him. "What would you have done?"

"Let you go off on your own and get killed." He shrugged.

"Huh."

"That was not the answer you expected."

"No." She tilted her head and looked at him. "Why didn't you?"

"Because dead you would be no good to me."

"I'm not going to be any good to you when this is over, either," she pointed out.

"We shall see."

"Oh, no, you don't. You told me that doing my part cancels my debt to you."

"It does. I was referring to mutually beneficial endeavors." He did not elaborate.

"As long as we're clear. I won't end up owing you like Nicky did."

"The circumstances are different. Nicky burned me. Clearing her debt by having her train you was a gift, as she knows. I could easily have killed her and did not. That was also a gift. If I decided to walk away from this job, I would feel no obligation to her and she would not try to harm me."

"So what's stopping you?"

"You are."

"I said I would accept you backing out."

"You did not say you would abandon the job because I did. You have access to a truck full of explosives, blueprints, and a reasonable plan. You know how to use your gun well enough to take out at least a few targets. And there is a great deal of money to be made in seeing it through."

"So you think I'd go ahead without you."

"I know you would."

"Shit. Am I that easy to read?"

"No, Deira. You are that dangerous." He paused. "Which is why you may be of use to me in the future."

"I told you this was it for me," she said.

"I would never ask you to do anything you are not willing to do."

That doesn't narrow the field much. She wisely kept quiet. Some things he didn't need to know.

He got up and looked for his keys. She got the gun case from the bedroom and packed her gym bag. By the time she had finished, he had done the dishes and was waiting by the door.

"You scare me sometimes," she said lightly.

"Good." He carried a bag downstairs, leaving her to lock up.