Chapter 35 Fink
Fink
After a thorough washup, which included shower sex, Fink and Sydney filled the fireplace with logs and used their blood-soaked clothes as kindling. With her head in his lap, covered in cozy blankets, she’d fallen asleep while he stroked her hair.
Staring at the dancing flames, Fink’s mind wandered. He should rest as well. They’d had a long evening, and he was tired, but he couldn’t drift off to dreamland. There were too many unsolved variables bouncing around in his brain.
The biggest one being the woman in his lap.
Sydney had the drive, the tenacity, and the perversion to succeed in his business.
The missing component was the connections.
He supposed she could go off on her own and be a vigilante.
Though, most of the time, people who picked up that hobby used vengeance as fuel for their mission.
As far as Fink knew, there were no wrongs Sydney had endured that required her to seek justice by her own hand.
Besides, murder wasn’t exactly a lucrative pastime. He’d seen her bank account. She needed to make money. Her nest egg wouldn’t last long.
He sighed and let his head drop against the back of the couch as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
He couldn’t let her fall into poverty. She’d been a huge part of this plan.
He’d split the contract with her—evenly.
His cut anyway. Even Steven was fair. That should help her stay afloat for a while.
Vrr. Vrr.
Right on cue.
From the side table, he swiped the vibrating burner phone and brought it to his ear.
“Impressive,” AJ complimented without a greeting. “It’s been a long time since you’ve put on such a display.”
Fink shrugged as though his handler could see him.
“The money should hit your account within the next few hours,” AJ explained.
Fink nodded, offering a barely audible grunt in acknowledgement.
“Any complications I should be aware of?”
Glancing down at the lightly snoring woman, Fink resumed running his fingers through her damp, tangled tendrils. “Everything went smoothly.”
“What did you do with the woman?”
“Nothing.”
“You trust her to keep quiet?”
“Yes.”
There was no reason to lie to AJ. If Fink wanted their relationship to remain productive and profitable, keeping secrets from him wouldn’t be the way to go.
He wouldn’t come right out and say Sydney remained with him unless his handler asked.
Any qualms about Sydney were moot. They’d killed effectively together.
The person who hired him was happy. What was the harm?
Though the longer AJ remained silent on the other end, the more Fink sensed his answer wasn’t good enough.
He might as well set his plan into motion. There was no use in delaying it. “You’re going to have to send another phone.”
“I thought you said there weren’t any issues?” AJ questioned.
“There weren’t.”
“What’s wrong with this one? Is it compromised? Had it too long?”
Fink shook his head. “No. It’s fine.”
“It’s for the woman,” AJ speculated.
“Yes.” Still no reason to lie.
AJ sighed heavily on the other end of the phone. “Listen. I get it.”
Fink highly doubted it.
“You’ve been alone for a while,” his handler continued. “And we men have needs.”
Rolling his eyes, Fink groaned. This wasn’t going anywhere pleasant.
“Whatever your plan is, whether it be popping in on her for a good roll in the hay or dragging her around the country with you, I’m warning you. You’re in for a goddamn mess.”
Probably.
“Guys like you, people who are employed in the way you are, they don’t…” AJ paused, seeming to rethink or reword what he wanted to say.
Whatever his handler shared wouldn’t be anything Fink hadn’t already thought himself.
“It’s more complicated than that. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
Fink always despised that adage. It never made sense to him. “What’s the point of cake if you aren’t going to eat it?”
“I don’t know, man.” AJ groaned with slight irritation in his tone. “It’s a proverb. You understand what it means.”
“I do, but I don’t agree with it,” Fink admitted. “This is more than just fucking.”
“Is it?” AJ sounded intrigued.
“She’s got potential.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She assisted with Burke,” Fink admitted.
“Oh.” There was a lot of weight in that one syllable. Clearly, AJ wasn’t prepared for that piece of information.
Time to come clean. “She would like to learn.”
“What?”
“She wants in on the business.”
“Are you vouching for her?” AJ scoffed. “You met her a week ago. That must be some fucking stellar snatch.”
Fink’s eye twitched. Annoyance burned in his chest. He didn’t like AJ talking like that about Sydney. Banging her was as close to nirvana as Fink would ever get, but that wasn’t the point. There was more to their situationship than that.
She was a bubbly enigma that intrigued him. There was a delicate balance of brightness, damage, and darkness within her. Her zest for life and killing inspired him. He couldn’t get enough of being around her. He couldn’t give that up or explain it. So, he wouldn’t even try. AJ wouldn’t understand.
“I have to think about it.” AJ sighed.
Fink nodded, grateful that his longtime friend wasn’t pushing back on this. “Keep an eye on the Grant case.”
“Why?” AJ’s tone reflected his concern.
“I want to make sure she doesn’t get hung up on it.” Though that wasn’t entirely the story. “If things get too hot, she gets subpoenaed or anything, we have to make sure she gets a good lawyer.”
“I don’t do messy,” AJ warned.
“Me neither,” Fink said as he glanced down at the biggest mess of his existence slumbering peacefully in his lap. Maybe messy wasn’t so bad after all.
“This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.”
It most certainly was.
“It won’t be,” Fink declared.
“If there is a chance she gets dragged into court…”
“She’s solid. She won’t be an issue. I’ll make sure of it.”
Another heavy sigh from his handler.
“I’ve never let you down before.”
“This isn’t about you.”
“It’s about my gut.”
“She must be damn fucking phenomenal in bed for you to risk this much.”
Fink clenched his jaw. His teeth strained from grinding them. If AJ were in front of him, he would’ve throat-punched him already.
“Stop,” he warned.
“What?”
“She gouged an eyeball out without even flinching,” Fink explained. “She’s more than good pussy.”
“Women like that don’t appear out of nowhere.” AJ’s skepticism came through loud and clear.
Understandable. Fink had wrestled with that exact thought repeatedly over the past few days. The odds of him running into an untapped killer like himself were beyond improbable. It just didn’t happen.
Until it did.
“Then dig deeper into her,” Fink suggested.
This was the logical solution. If anyone would find dirt on Sydney, it’d be AJ. The guy was a bloodhound when he had to be.
What harm could it do? Either she had a past and was actually looking to gut him in his sleep, or she was a budding killer like himself.
He’d like to know who wanted him dead if she were hired by one of his many enemies.
Also, the peace of mind he’d get from confirming she was genuinely interested in him and what he did for a living would be refreshing.
“I have,” AJ retorted. “There’s literally nothing there. She’s a fucking ghost.”
“Ghost or normal person. There are people in this world who don’t have criminal histories.”
“Not in our industry.”
“We all are squeaky clean until we aren’t,” Fink countered.
AJ grumbled something inaudible on the other end of the line. Clearly, he wasn’t pleased with this idea. Too bad. Fink had decided. Either AJ would support him going forward, or Fink would have to figure out if it was time to retire and disappear.
Though, that wouldn’t really work, considering Sydney was eager to start a life of murder. So he’d have to find a new handler. One for her, though. He’d promote her as his protégé. That should give her some clout in the right circles.
“Fine,” AJ relented. “I’ll keep digging.”
“And send a phone,” Fink reminded.
“Where? Her apartment?”
Fink swallowed hard. Admitting this would either solidify AJ’s concerns about this whole arrangement or it would bolster Fink’s claims that Sydney was trustworthy. Either way, there was no time like the present to bring it up.
“The lake.” Fink didn’t have to give the address. AJ was all too aware of Fink’s hideout—his respite from the world. While he’d never actually stepped foot on the property that Fink knew of, as his handler, and his most trusted ally, AJ needed to be aware of these things.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“You brought this unknown woman to—”
“Yes.”
“Jesus Christ.”
Indeed.