Chapter 10 #3
“Right. But like… how?” Cole raked a hand through his hair and exhaled hard. “He’s covering his tracks like he suddenly got smart. I’d suspect he made a Faustian bargain, but he’d ask for artistic talent, not criminal smarts.”
“Wouldn’t that mean admitting he lacks artistic talent to begin with?”
Cole pursed his lips. “Point taken.”
“Nevertheless, he does seem to be several steps ahead of everyone this time.” She sat back, her ancient chair squeaking with the movement. “He’s got a plan, and he’s covering his tracks at every turn.”
“Ugh.” Cole groaned. “I miss when he was stupid.”
Lilith chuckled softly. “Don’t we all, darling. Don’t we all.” She sobered again. “Let me put out some feelers. See if anyone has heard heads or tails from him, or if there are any suspiciously large deals going on in our world. Where are the two of—you’re in Montreal, yes?”
“For now. I suspect we shouldn’t stay here.” He made a face. “Especially not when we’ve made the news.”
“Smart. I would suggest you find someplace to lay low. And as much as I’m sure neither of you will be thrilled—stay together.”
Cole eyed her. “Why? Because you enjoy watching me suffer?”
“That, but also because when I do get a lead, it will be far easier to get you two moving from the same place.”
He hated that she was right. “Fine. We’ll figure something out. Just… let us know if you hear anything, all right?”
“I will. Talk to you soon, Cole.”
They ended the call, and he closed his eyes and swore in a few languages. He wasn’t even sure what pissed him off the most—that they still hadn’t found the stupid Puffin, that Marcus was in the wind like an actual professional, or that Lilith’s plan required him to stay close to Will.
He decided he could be pissed off about all of it, because it was all bullshit.
Not just a bullshit sandwich—an oversized bullshit meal that was free if someone ate it in the designated time, sides and all.
Wasn’t there someplace in Texas where you could eat like a four-pound steak in an hour and get it free?
And why was he suddenly thinking about steak? And Texas?
Well, that was easy enough.
The former, because he was hungry.
The latter, because—
“So what did Art Yoda have to say?” Will asked in that annoyingly attract—annoying drawl.
Irritation zipped along Cole’s nerve endings as he turned to the man he couldn’t get rid of, who’d just walked into the suite’s living area. “Well, she didn’t have anything encouraging to say.”
“Oh, what a shock.” Sarcasm dripped from every word. Will heaved himself onto the couch without an ounce of dignity, and Cole refused to notice—or, well, acknowledge—the way his jeans clung to his narrow hips when he sat like that. Or the way they emphasized his package and—
Cole cleared his throat, jerking his gaze away from Will. “She’s going to do some digging. See if she can get a bead on Marcus and figure out where the fuck he is.”
“Okay. And we’re supposed to… what? Sit here with our thumbs up our asses?”
“Well, not here.”
Will’s eyebrow shot up. “That’s not a no to the thumbs up our—”
“Fuck off,” Cole said, but it came out as a laugh, which seemed to surprise Will as much as it did him. Muffling a cough, Cole sat up. “She, uh… She said we need to lay low somewhere. Ideally…” He hesitated. “Ideally together.”
The other eyebrow went up. “Is that right?”
Cole nodded, and he filled Will in on everything.
“Well, shit.” Will sank back into the couch. “So we just… go find someplace and wait for her to tell us where Marcus is.”
“Pretty much.”
“That sounds boring.”
“Well, on a scale of ‘bored senseless’ to ‘dangling off the Port of Montreal Tower,’ I’m kind of okay with it.”
“Says the guy who didn’t actually do the dangling.”
No, but I almost saw you—
“Just saying, you should probably be onboard with boredom at this point.”
Will’s lips quirked, and he shrugged, but he didn’t gainsay Cole. In fact, they were both silent for a long moment. Just like out on the Grand Quai, it was Will who broke the silence, but at least it wasn’t to ask Cole about his musical tastes this time.
“I think we need to consider what we’re actually doing,” he said. “With this whole—with everything.”
Cole tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” Will’s eyes lost focus as he seemed to think about it. Meeting Cole’s gaze again, he asked, “At this point, are we still chasing down the Puffin? Or are we chasing down Marcus?”
Cole swallowed. “Aren’t we doing both?”
“I mean, kind of?” Will shrugged tightly.
“But what’s our endgame? Find the Puffin and—I don’t know, give it back to Alders?
Or give Marcus a well-deserved beatdown and maybe threaten him within an inch of his life?
” He paused. “I’d even be kind of satisfied to see him go to prison if I didn’t think he’d take all of us down with him. ”
“Yeah, there is that. Marcus would absolutely dime out every last one of us to get a week taken off his sentence.”
Will snorted. “He’d do it to get fifty cents added to his canteen.”
“You’re not wrong.” Cole chewed the inside of his cheek. “So maybe… I don’t know. Maybe our endgame doesn’t matter yet. We get to Marcus, get the Puffin, and give him something he deserves. After that, we figure out the rest.” He shrugged again. “Maybe it doesn’t really matter what happens next.”
Maybe it didn’t.
But once they found a place to lay low, they were probably going to have plenty of time to think about it.