Chapter 22
HARLOW
"Is it time yet?" Boner whispered.
I checked my watch, the analogue kind that didn't illuminate. The hands were almost where we needed them to be.
"Soon," I whispered back. I wiped my palms on my jeans and peered across the street.
The brownstone in West Village was exactly the kind of place I'd buy if I didn't mind drawing attention to myself. It screamed money, power, influence. If I looked for longer, corruption and depravity.
Everything I despised. A beautiful building like this was wasted on someone like Fairfield.
Beside me, Boner shifted, brushing his arm against mine a couple of times.
"Sorry, itchy left nut. They always get itchy when I'm nervous."
I snorted softly. "We all have our quirks."
"Oh? What's yours?" He peered past me before drawing his head back. "You look as cool as a cucumber sandwich."
"Do people really eat those?" Give me a good old-fashioned PB and J any day.
He made a disgusted sound at the back of his throat. "Not me, love. Too fancy for my taste."
"Are you saying you're not fancy?" I teased.
"Fuck no," he said with a short laugh. "Just not cucumber sandwich fancy. Give me a good steak any day. Or some steak and kidney pie."
"I'll keep that in mind," I said.
Granger Fairfield wouldn't be needing his kidneys for much longer, but I wouldn't feed them to Boner unless he pissed me off. Which is to say, my options were open, but it was unlikely.
He cleared his throat. He must have had an inkling what I was thinking, but wouldn't say it with Cass listening in.
I chuckled to myself.
"Are you ready?" Cass said in my ear. "Fairfield is about to arrive."
Just as he said that, a dark town car slid around the corner and headed for the spot in front of the brownstone. The back door opened and Granger Fairfield stepped out one door, his security out the other.
"My replacement should be here shortly," the security guy was saying. "Denton is sick, so they sent in a new guy."
Fairfield seemed disinterested. He grabbed a bag out of the back of the car and carried it up to the stoop.
Expressionless, the security guy followed him up the steps and inside.
"We could have taken him out here," Boner complained.
"There's at least six security cameras in the vicinity," Cass said. "Someone would be suspicious if they all went down at the same time."
The town car slid away, replaced by a black SUV. A car you wouldn't pay much attention to on a normal night. One that blended in with the area. I wouldn't have looked twice if I didn't know what I was looking for. Namely Archer stepping out of the car and up to the front of the brownstone.
He wore a dark suit that looked tailor-made, and a crisp white shirt.
Very different from his usual jeans and T-shirts, he looked good enough to peel off all the layers of fabric and eat him up.
How would he feel about a bit of role-play involving that suit?
Maybe with me and a pencil skirt and heels.
Throw in a desk and we had a fantasy on our hands.
Heat burned through my blood and down to my core, threatening to drench my panties.
Later, I told myself. I couldn't get distracted right now. Just as well Boner wasn't wearing a suit too, or I would have been in serious trouble.
I blinked a couple of times to clear my thoughts and watch Archer striding toward the brownstone, his hands in his jacket pockets.
He knocked on the door and stood with his arms crossed, waiting for it open before stepping inside.
"Almost party time," Boner whispered. "I have to say, getting him in there was a stroke of genius."
"Thank you," Cass said, sounding like he was blushing. It was his idea; he’d hacked the security firm to have Archer added to the roster.
Along with a resume that made him a shoe-in for filling in when the regular security was sick.
And by sick, I mean recovering from an unfortunate dose of food poisoning. He'd be fine in a couple of days.
My competitor he ordered the food from? They were looking into it. Since they tried to steal my recipe for sweet potato ravioli, I didn't feel too bad about it.
The door opened again and the security guy stepped out, hurrying towards the subway station at the end of the block.
I waited until he was out of sight and nodded. "Let's do this."
Boner grabbed my hand and we rose from the spot between two buildings where we'd crouched for the last half-hour. We stayed in the shadows while a couple walked past, before stepping out and crossing the street.
He tapped on the door and we waited for Archer to swing it open.
"I'm so sorry to bother you," I said in my best apologetic tone. "My boyfriend here is drunk and he insisted he knows the man who lives here."
"I do know him," Boner protested, slurring his words. "Philippo and I went to school together. He's a goddamn motherfucker, but he told me if I was ever here I should look him up. So here I am, in all my fuckin' glory." He spread his arms to either side.
"There's no one named Philippo here," Archer said, glancing at Boner like he thought he was out of his mind. In other words, his usual expression when he looked at the Englishman.
"Of course there is." Boner staggered past Archer. He tipped his head back and shouted, "Phil! Where are you, you bastard? Come out here and say hi to your old friend Rastus!"
Rastus?
I exchanged bemused glances with Archer and offered half a shrug. Boner said he'd get Fairfield's attention, but he hadn't elaborated how. Apparently it worked, because Fairfield trotted down the stairs at the center of the house, staring at Boner.
"What's going on here? Why are these people in my home?" He looked like he'd throw us out onto the street, Archer included. Especially Archer, since he was the one who let us in and was still standing beside the door.
The door he closed and stood in front of, his arms crossed.
"Phil, there you are," Boner said, sounding perfectly sober.
"There's no one by that name here," Fairfield said coldly. "Get the hell out."
I smiled. "I don't think so. Archer?"
"There's no one else here," Archer said. "There was a young woman, but I untied her and helped her out the back door. She's on her way somewhere safe." He must have contacted Cass to arrange someone to take her home.
"What the fuck?" Fairfield backed up a step or two. "I paid good money…"
Apparently he realized he was about to incriminate himself, because he slammed his mouth shut, turned and started to run for the back of the building.
Boner and I gave chase, trotting down the hallway a few feet behind.
Fairfield darted into a side room and Boner held out his arm to keep me behind him.
"Prick's going to have a—"
Fairfield stepped back out of the room, a gun in his hand. "Did you think I'd be unprepared?"
"We didn't think you would, but we'd hoped," Boner said. "I mean, guys like you usually rely on other people. It's not often they have the balls to deal with anything themselves."
He was right. There could have been a panic button in the room he just vacated. The cops might be on their way right now. We needed to deal with this quickly.
Fairfield rolled his eyes. "Who are you and what do you want?" He shook his head. "You know what, it doesn't matter." He raised the gun and pointed it at Boner's head. "You shouldn't have tried screwing with me."
"You're absolutely right," Boner said. "We shouldn't have. Our bad. We'll just be leaving now." He took a step back.
"You're not going anywhere," Fairfield growled.
"You're not going to shoot me," Boner said. "If you do, then how will I learn? This whole lesson was for nothing. You wouldn't want a perfectly good teachable moment to go to waste, would you?"
"What are you talking about?" Fairfield lowered the gun slightly, but raised it again. "You should have learned a long time ago."
"My mom always said I'd get myself in trouble someday, because I always have to see something through, even if it seems like a bad idea at the time.
You know the expression, fuck around and find out?
I've always enjoyed a bit of fucking around.
The finding out part? Not such a big fan.
I bet almost anything we have that in common, yeah? "
Boner lowered his hands to his sides. "Consequences are always such a pain in the ass, wouldn't you say? Wait, you wouldn't know. You haven't had to face any yet. It must be nice to have so much money you can buy your way out of anything."
In my earpiece, Cass growled. I mean an actual, full on feral growl. Under any other circumstance, it would have been hot as hell. Right now, he reminded me of what was at stake here. The things Fairfield did. Why Cass wanted to help us in the first place.
"He has connections too," I said. "They've been a big help too, haven't they Fairfield?"
He glanced around Boner at me and frowned. "Have we met?"
I stepped up beside the Englishman. "Not in person. You knew my sister, Lettie St. James."
He shook his head, but I could tell he knew exactly who I was referring to. I could have hoped for a flicker of guilt, but it never came. Of course not. It never would with men like him. Their only regret would be getting caught.
"Enough," Fairfield snapped. His grip on the gun tightened. Coldly, he regarded us both, calculating how fast he'd have to be to kill one, then the other. He aimed the gun back at Boner.
Rude. Did he think he could shoot Boner, then overpower me? Did he believe I'd be too slow? Had he underestimated the rage I'd lived with since my sister's murder?
My guess was yes, yes and also yes.
His finger tightened around the trigger.
I went for my knife.
The door opened behind Fairfield and Archer stepped inside. Before Fairfield could react to his presence, Archer plunged a needle into the side of his neck and squeezing the contents until the syringe was empty.
"What the—"
Boner and I both took the distraction, leaping at Fairfield. Boner to grab his wrist and try to wrench the gun out of his hand. Me to drive a knife into his thigh.
Goddamn it, I was aiming for his groin.
Either way, Boner and Fairfield wrestled for the gun for a few moments before Boner grabbed it and tossed it back over his shoulder. It clattered on the hardwood and slid almost to the front door.
I pulled out my knife, ready to try again, when Fairfield's eyes rolled back in his head and he started to fall. Both of the guys grabbed him before he could hit the floor. Hefting him up between them like he was now the drunk one, they carried him out the back of the house and around the front.
"We need to get him into the car," Archer said.
I hurried to open the back of the SUV so the guys could toss him inside like a sack of potatoes. Actually, they'd probably be gentler with potatoes.
Archer slammed the hatch closed and hurried around to the driver's side door. "Let's get out of here."
"Now the party really begins." Boner grinned and slid into the back seat, leaving me to claim shotgun.
"My favorite part," I said, clicking my seatbelt in as Archer peeled the car away from the side of the road.