6. Chapter 6
Chapter 6
On Berlin’s couch, Chance sat with his laptop, scrolling through the files that Berlin had sent to him. They’d been at her place for hours and he’d been slowly making his way through all the stuff she’d found. So far, it wasn’t of interest to him, though he had a feeling it would be interesting to the Feds or local cops.
Her phone buzzed on the coffee table, the name Bradford lighting up the screen. Bradford? He shoved down the weird sensation he had because some guy was calling her. Jealousy? Oh, he didn’t like that at all.
She came back into the living room wearing gym shorts and an oversized hoodie she’d just changed into. He tried not to stare at her bare legs and wonder what they’d feel like wrapped around him. Failed.
“Find anything good?” She plopped down on the other end of the couch and kicked her feet up on the coffee table.
“No, but your phone buzzed.”
“Oh…” She made a weird face as she looked at the screen.
“Boyfriend?” he asked before he could stop himself. He didn’t want the answer.
She snort-laughed, which wasn’t exactly an answer. As she started to call the guy back—or he assumed that was what she was doing—Brody’s name lit up his caller ID.
She set her phone down, looking at him expectantly.
He answered on the third ring, put it on speaker. “Hey.”
“I looked into your girl,” Brody said without preamble. “She’s legit.”
The band of tension around his chest eased, but didn’t fully release. “I know.”
“Yeah, well, now I know. She’s got a solid rep. I want to talk to you guys about the job.”
“All right. Talk. She’s with me.”
“No, in person.”
The tension was back, tingling at the base of his skull. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want this shit over the phone.”
Chance was silent for a long moment. He needed to find his brother, and Enzo’s last connection was with this gang. He hated that he still needed this asshole.
“Fine, we’re in,” Berlin answered for him, making him bite back a curse. “We’re near Royal Street, just finished dinner. We can meet you.”
“Head down to Decatur, we’ll meet you at the entrance to Jackson Square.” He disconnected.
“What the hell are you doing?” Chance demanded.
“What?” Berlin stood, cell phone in hand. “That’s a public place, we’ll be fine. And my cover ID held up, trust me.”
Chance still didn’t like it. But she was back in the living room in minutes, ready to go in black jeans, a black sweater and of course, black boots with little skulls on the side.
“Here,” she said, tossing him her keys and then handing him a burner phone.
“What’s all this?”
“I hate driving at night. I actually hate driving at all, but especially around here at night. And I need to make some calls on the way. I just want to be prepared in case they try to take our phones or something. Hide your real one and use this burner as your decoy.”
“I feel like you’re more than a PI,” he murmured as he tucked the decoy phone in his back pocket.
Grinning, she just shrugged. But once they were in her little car, she pulled her phone out.
“Hey,” she said to someone. “I just wanted to let you know I’m doing a little job right now. Not sure what time I’ll be back but if anything comes up, you can track my location.”
“Job? What job?” That was definitely a male voice. It was quiet in the interior of her car so Chance could hear everything.
She turned away, as if that would help. “Just helping out a friend.”
“What friend? And where are you going?”
“We’re headed downtown now to…meet up with some members of the Uptown Street Kings.”
“What the hell, Berlin? Who is this friend and why are you meeting up with that gang? They’re dangerous.”
“I know that! I’m trying to help my friend find his brother.”
“Then wait for me… Oh my god, did you wait to call me because you knew I was on a fishing trip and I couldn’t stop you?”
Chance watched her face scrunch up in the reflection of the window as he pulled up to a stoplight.
“What? No.” But the slightly higher pitch of her voice said otherwise. “Look, I’ve gotta go. Just keep track of my phone.”
“Berlin—”
She hung up, then silenced her phone.
“So…you normally work with a team?”
“Yep. But most of them are out of town on a job, and Bradford is…just getting back from a day fishing trip. In Mississippi. He won’t make it in time to help out.”
“Just stating the obvious, but backup seems like a good thing,” he said dryly. Who the hell was this Bradford guy to her? More than a teammate?
She shot him a dark look. “Obviously, yeah. But we’ve got this. And this isn’t a job anyway. I’m just helping you out.”
“Going out on a limb here… Are you trying to prove something to your coworkers?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know.” She was silent as she looked down at her phone, responded to a couple incoming texts. “Sometimes they treat me like I can’t handle shit and it’s annoying.”
He didn’t say anything, because he wasn’t sure if there was a response for that.
Sighing, she lay her head back against the headrest. “I don’t want to involve them in this.”
He still didn’t know how to respond so he remained silent.
To his surprise, she continued. “I love the people I work with but sometimes they treat me like a little sister. They’re insisting I take a vacation when they’re all off on a job right now. Like they don’t trust that I can look after myself on a job.”
“When’s the last time you took a break?”
“I can relax when I’m dead,” she grumbled.
“So…never?”
“I…take breaks.”
“Hmmm.”
“Don’t hmmm me.”
He snickered, which made her laugh lightly.
“Fine,” she continued. “I could probably use a vacation, but not right now. I guess I just get frustrated because Bradford would never tell anyone else in the group to wait for backup.”
Yeah, he really wanted to know what exactly their relationship was. “Are you sure about that?”
“Definitely. They’re all trained like you are.”
“They were in the military?”
“More or less.”
He’d received a follow-up text from Evan earlier in the day that Berlin worked with some former spooks, and he’d only found that out after a deep dive—and Evan had given him nothing concrete. Just rumors. “Maybe they just care about you,” he murmured as he steered into a gated parking lot off Decatur, pausing so a couple dressed in matching leopard print tracksuits could move around them. Shouldn’t take them long to meet up with Brody now.
“Yeah, they do. I just… Whatever, I can handle myself.”
From what he’d seen, she could definitely handle herself. “If something feels off, we’re leaving, okay?” he said as he put the car into park. And it wasn’t really a question.
She nodded and got out with him. Immediately they were inundated by the noise and scents of the city. The parking lot was right next to a seafood restaurant and a row of shops that were all still open. Normally he liked the quiet, but the noise of New Orleans had a lively energy, one he didn’t hate.
The scent of seafood and freshly baked bread filled the air despite the later hour. Combined with patchouli, rich coffee, and somehow sugar, which made him think of Carnival and king cakes, the scents were an odd combination that somehow worked for the eclectic city. The sugar was likely coming from the chocolate shop across the street.
A little Maserati zoomed out of a parking space with a woman leaning out the window, wolf-whistling at Berlin. “You’re working those boots!”
“Thanks!” Berlin grinned in amusement as the car tore out of the lot, the woman whooping to herself.
He texted Brody that they were off Decatur and told him to meet them at a nearby pub. He wanted to keep things public and stay in control. Especially since Berlin was involved. She might be capable, but he was still going to protect her.