18. The plan
EIGHTEEN
THE PLAN
LUCA
I t takes me nearly an hour to convince Devil to hear her out, that the Hummingbird is willing to swap sides and help us end Johnny Winter for once and for all.
Turns out, I was way wrong. The boss doesn’t want me to kill her myself now that we know she’s the Hummingbird. He wants me to find a way to get her in the car—backseat, front seat, trunk… he wasn’t particular—and drive her back to Springfield. There, he would take his time learning everything he could about the mysterious hitman—sorry, hit woman —who had been flitting around the States, killing without anyone but her clients knowing she was doing so.
Just like how he made the vice mayor talk, he’d get Kylie to spill her guts. He might even use his knife to spill her actual guts. I already knew that I couldn’t let that happen, but unless I wanted to spend the rest of my life, knowing that Devil was gunning for me, I needed to find a way to do what I was told while also protecting Kylie.
It made it easier for me that she decided she would talk, none of Devil’s specialized persuasion necessary. Before I got back on the phone with Devil, I had names, dates, numbers, and all the intel that would hold him over before he lost his temper completely and drove up to the mountains himself.
More than that, I had Kylie’s plan on how to take down Winter after all. Just like how he thought that, cutting off Devil’s head would be the end of the Sinners Syndicate, if the second Winter twin is dead, the Snowflakes will scatter. We can keep them out of our turf, and maybe even start gathering up their operation and rolling it into ours.
It took an hour, but by the time I was done, Devil gave me his word that he wouldn’t shoot her on sight. Her plan had enough merit to intrigue him. If she could serve us Winter’s head on a silver platter instead of going for the boss’s, he might even look past the fact she accepted a contract on his life.
Might being the operative word there, but I fucking clung to it the entire ride back to the city.
I forgave Kylie. That’s all she wanted. She sat in the front seat, commenting on the mountain terrain and scenery all the way up until we returned to civilization. She seemed sure that Devil would accept her switching sides, though even she stumbled a step or two when I walked her into the meeting room in the back of the Devil’s Playground only for her to see eight unfriendly faces staring back at her.
I knew to expect Devil there. Royce is his second so obviously he’s involved. Tanner’s our tech genius. Damien Libellula came since the Snowflakes infiltrating Springfield affected him as much as anyone here; same for his wife, who has become one of the Dragonflies’ top enforcers since hooking up with the older man. Devil insisted on Officer Burns being here for the meet. Burns brought along his rookie partner, Officer Coleman for some reason.
And Cross is here, too.
A lump lodges in my throat. Cross… the very Sinner who lost his livelihood—and almost his life—when the Hummingbird burned down his studio.
When Kylie burned down his studio…
I can’t bring myself to look at Cross just yet. Instead, I nod at Burns, a silent ‘thank you’ for letting us borrow the cabin, then come to a stop before Devil, clutching Kylie’s hand.
His dark eyes look her over. “Yup. That’s the girl who was there at Blockbusters,” he confirms.
Rolls raises his eyebrows. “ This is the Hummingbird?”
Pacing behind Rolls, Cross huffs.
I squeeze Kylie’s hand. Or maybe she squeezes mine. I can’t tell, though I do run my thumb over the faded ‘H’ on her skin.
She grins at the group assembled. “Okay. Hi. I can sense the tension in the air. Get the feeling none of you like me and, hey, I get it. Wouldn’t like me, either, if I didn’t know how fucking awesome I was.”
Cross huffs louder.
Rolls gives him a warning look.
The rookie cop whispers something to Burns.
Kylie ignores it all. “Okay. I’ve heard stories about the Devil of Springfield’s infamous temper and just how short it is. Luca’s too much of a sweetheart to tell me that there’s a good chance I’m not walking out of this room alive. I get it. I understand it. So let’s not waste any time. Yes, I am the Hummingbird. Yes, I was hired to burn down Sinners and Saints tattoo studio and kill Carlos ‘Cross’ da Silva. Yes, I obviously failed, but my track record speaks for myself. He’s the only one who’s survived the Humminbird, so when I tell you that I can get Johnny Winter, I fucking mean it.”
Like Devil, Damien is wearing a suit. Unlike the head of the Sinners Syndicate, the other man’s suit is impeccably tailored to suit him. Devil looks like a big brawler poured into a suit, muscles bulging against it. Damien—with his silver-streaked hair and piercing blue eyes—seems like Hollywood’s idea of a gangster.
Until he speaks in his no-nonsense, slightly accented voice, and you wouldn’t mistake him for anything other than the threat that he is.
“And how exactly do you plan on doing that? Enlighten us, if you would.”
“Simple. By killing Lincoln Crewes first.”
Okay. I know Kylie’s plan. She ran through the outline of it for me before I brought it to Devil in the first place. I guess I just thought that the boss would’ve at least filled the others in before we met them at Sinners HQ.
From the reaction she gets, I’m thinking he might have forgotten to mention that part.
Rolls has his Beretta out, aimed right at Kylie. Savannah’s stiletto knife appears in her hand as if by magic; considering I got to know her well enough when we were both undercover in Hamilton, helping to save Genevieve and Cross, I’m not surprised, though I’m no less impressed than I was the first time I saw her handle a blade. Damien has his own gun out. So does Officer Burns.
And Cross. He’s pulled a weapon on Kylie, and of everyone gathered, he looks the most ready to pull the trigger.
I know better than to believe he wouldn’t. Maybe before I saw what captivity had done to him, I might’ve. But then I spoke to one of the other guards—Noah, the one that Genevieve was forced to shoot and kill—and he told me how Cross bit a guy’s cock right off.
At the time, I couldn’t help but think: it’s always the quiet ones you have to look out for. I mean, I get why he did it. If someone put me on my knees and told me I had to suck dick, I might bite down, too. But hard enough to sever the tip?
He’s dangerous. All of us Sinners are, but he has the most reason to want to see the Hummingbird grounded after Devil.
I don’t even think. Letting go of her hand, I step in front of her.
If my brother is going to shoot the woman I need more than my next breath, he’ll have to go through me first.
Cross swallows roughly.
Devil crosses his arms over his chest, watching the whole scene closely.
Kylie clicks her tongue. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Drop the weapons. I wasn’t being literal.”
Devil tilts his head in her direction. “So you’re not going to kill me.”
“No, and I know you already know that because Luca told you. But since the rest of your squad here is obviously out of the loop, let me rephrase that. I’m going to let everyone think I killed you.”
“Think that’s a smart idea?” calls out Burns. “The city’s been on high alert since the vice mayor’s body was found in the downtown, covered in bullet wounds and signs of torture.”
“Fucker deserved it,” mutters Devil.
“He was allowing the Snowflakes to sell their dirty Eclipse on my territory,” cuts in Damien. “I kept seeing their mark, but I couldn’t understand it. Collins was their mule. I’m with Lincoln. He deserved worse.”
“I get that, but that’s not what I’m saying. Sarge has us roaming the streets in pairs. It’s been like that all holiday season. Christmas might be done, and we all know Harrison doesn’t give a fuck, but the department can sense trouble brewing.”
His partner nods his head in agreement. “Even those of us not on the take… with New Year’s coming, we’re expecting something to pop off.”
“That’s my point,” Kylie says. “It will. At least if someone here can get their hands on some explosives before the thirty-first.”
Rolls gives her a speculative look. “I can get anything.”
“A bomb?” Savannah twirls the stiletto. “That’s your plan?”
“Part of it, yeah. See, Winter wants a spectacle. I say we give him a spectacle.”
The plan is deceptively simple. With Devil’s permission, I allowed Kylie to use my phone. She downloaded an app to give her a burner number, then reached out to Winer. After apologizing for missing her deadline, she point-blank offered to go after Devil again and make it explosive.
He grabbed onto the word. He promised to meet her in person, paying her a fraction of her fee if she did exactly that. Make it explosive.
“He wants me to blow up the Devil’s Playground with Devil in it,” admits to the surprise of everyone except for Devil and Tanner.
Probably because Tanner is a genius who either figured it out already, or figured there was a reason he was involved in this discussion.
“Blow up?” echoes Rolls. “No fucking way. Link, you can’t?—”
Kylie holds up both of her hands. Not only is she making it obvious that, unlike everyone else in the room, she isn’t armed, but she catches Rolls’s attention. “No. I talked him down from that. I know it’s the Sinners’s HQ, and I’m a hitwoman, but that’s too much collateral damage, even for me. We settled on something a little more targeted. One of the offices off the back as long as I get video proof that Devil was in there when the bomb goes off. You said you can get me something that’ll do it, right?”
Rolls is the best fixer we have. He can get anything . “Yeah. I’m sure I can.”
“Good. I have until New Year’s to get it done.” She turns toward the pair of beat cops in their uniform. “That’s where you two come in. You’ll take the call. Report that Devil was a casualty. I’ll go and meet with Winter to let him know it’s done. We always do that.” Kylie rolls her eyes. “It’s a power play for him. And when I have him in my sights, I’ll take him down.” She waggles her fingers. “Bye bye, Snowflakes.”
Devil heard the plan earlier. He agreed to let Kylie lay it out in front of the people who would help us pull it off.
I look at them all, trying to get a gauge on what they’re thinking.
As I do, Kylie reminds them all while we’re here. “He hired the Humminbird to take down the head of the Sinners Syndicate.” A nudge to my side, and then, “What’s that saying, ace? And eye for an eye?”
I nod. “That’s right.”
“He wanted Devil,” she says flatly. “To be honest, his plan was to go after Damien next?—”
Savannah’s features sharpen as she sucks in a breath. “Over my dead body.”
Damien strokes the length of her dark hair. “Cara mia,” he murmurs softly.
“Just telling you that Winter… he won’t be deterred from this. Who knows? He might even have hunted up another contractor to get it done while I was… you know… off the grid. It might not be the best shot, but I might be your only shot at getting to him.”
“How can we trust you?” asks Cross. He stopped pacing, but unlike the others, he hadn’t put away his gun yet, either. “You tried to kill me and didn’t manage to pull that off. How do we know you’ll turn on your employer?”
Kylie snorts. “Don’t flatter yourself. I did what I did for money. It was another job to me. But this?—”
“Is your way of saving your skin?”
“Cross,” I begin.
Kylie shakes her head royally. “Of course. But, more importantly, this kill would be a favor for someone I care about. I don’t give a shit what you think. There’s only one man in this room I want to prove myself to. And if Luca thinks I can do this, then I can.”
Suddenly, all eyes are on me.
I lay my hand on her shoulder while meeting Devil’s in particular. “I trust her,” I say simply.
“Really?” snaps Cross. “A hired killer you just met?”
“I’ll be retired once this is done.”
Wait.
What?
I look down at Kylie, feeling myself falling for her impish grin all over again. “You are?”
She shrugs. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I like the idea of going out with a bang. When this is all done, the Hummingbird is going to retire.”
“You don’t have to do that because of me.”
“I know. Killing was fun for a while, but I was getting bored. You know me, ace. I don’t like to be bored. Luckily, I found someone who entertains me.” She taps my bicep. “I get a kick out of corrupting you. BUt don’t worry. If you need me, I’ll be there. One of us can be a killer from time to time.”
And it doesn’t have to be me.
Thou shall not ? —
“Come on.” Cross shakes his head. “This is ridiculous. We know Winter’s still sneaking around Springfield. For the first time in months, we know he’s around. I think we should take her out, then handle Winter and the Snowflakes on our own.” His voice drops, almost deadly quiet. “He tried to hurt Genevieve. I can’t let him go after him again.”
If Winter’s dead, Cross won’t have to worry about that.
Too bad the overprotective, possessive artist isn’t thinking rationally. He’s thinking about his butterfly, and how far he’ll go to protect her.
How do I know? Because the moment Cross lifts his gun again, aiming it at Kylie, I draw mine .
Have I ever aimed my Ruger at another person? No. But if he thinks that he’s going to shoot this woman in front of me?
We can both be killers.
Cross narrows his gaze on the barrel of my gun. “This how you gonna get your next slash, Luca?”
Luca, I notice. Not ‘wheels’ anymore.
I guess that makes sense. I do have a gun on him.
My hand is steady, the gun focused on Cross’s chest. “If you threaten Kylie again, it might be.”
“Drop the gun, Luca,” rumbles Devil. “Don’t make a stupid choice, kid. He’s one of us.”
“So was Twig,” I remind the boss, “but you didn’t hesitate to put him down when he disrespected Ava.”
“She’s my wife. My fucking heart. I love her. Of course I did.”
“And I’ll do the same.”
Rolls mutters a curse under his breath. Officer Coleman inches a couple of steps away from Cross.
He’s not even looking at the gun. No. His gaze is on my face. “You love her, Luca?”
That’s too mild of a word for how I feel about Kylie Ferguson. I’m obsessed with her.
I know it’s fast. I know we only just met. I know she’s a contract killer who lied to me about who she really was.
And, like I said, I don’t give a fuck about that. Because she’s Kylie, and she’s mine .
But how can I say all that? With a room full of people, and half of them looking like they’re ready to turn their weapons on me now?
I drop the Ruger. “Yeah. I love her.”
Cross nods. His eyes are still dark with rage, but his voice calms as he says, “Then I guess that’s good enough for me. Come on. Let’s blow up that sick motherfucker before he can hurt any more of us.”
And that’s how my future with Kylie Ferguson hinges on faking one death, and pulling off another.
No fucking pressure.