Chapter 6
SIX
Liora
“Ain’t you Lee’s girl?” the old ass man asked, looking at me in a way I didn’t like.
I nodded. “Now are you gonna give me what I asked you for?”
“How do you know I got that, baby? Better question is, who wants to get in touch with Rich Jordan so badly that they send you in here?” He licked his lips, turning my stomach at the sight of his missing front teeth. His gums were gray.
I laughed. Small talk had never been my thing, so it took everything in me not to bust him in his shit and help him lose the rest of his bottom teeth.
“Because I know a few things I’m sure you don’t want anybody else to know. Your connections with certain agencies and deals to make sure when takedowns happen you are not the one taken down.”
The sly grin in his features disappeared and he sat up immediately. “Who are you?”
“You know who I am and I know who you are as well, geography aside. We both know things. Now all I’m asking you for is a number and the things I know will stay between you and the agency.”
He tilted his head to the side.
“But you’re not here on behalf of the agency, are you?”
“Who’s to know?”
He was silent, staring at me before he leaned forward to go into his drawer.
My hand went to my side because I had no problem putting this old motherfucker in the dirt.
“Easy, sweetheart. I gain nothing by shooting a CIA agent. Even if she has gone rogue.” He then extended his hand with a small white card. On it was a scribbled number.
I accepted the card, then gave him another look. “I ain’t gone rogue either. I just see the world in a couple other tones. Morally gray ones.”
He nodded. “In that case, let me know if you’re ever looking for a side job. I dabble in those morally gray spaces, as you already know.”
The conversation with the depleted pimp replayed in my head while I watched cars drive past the pawn shop windows. I had gone from coming here to check on my father to watching the floor while he checked out an old school somebody was trying to pawn. Since when did he accept cars for collateral?
I sat here and watched the windows before I glanced down at my phone. It vibrated against the glass display case. Forman’s contact was on the screen and I shook my head. The bell alerting me to someone entering the shop made me look up. The door was open.
I immediately locked eyes with my sister and glanced back at my phone.
“Hello to you too, sister,” Sissy greeted before I could even look back up.
“My bad, hey. Do me a favor and watch the front. I need to handle something.” I picked up my phone and walked out of the shop before she could respond.
“Um, okay,” I heard her mumble from behind me, but my focus was out of the door.
As soon as I stepped out, a black-on-black SUV pulled up in seconds. The back passenger side was right in front of me before the window lowered.
“Imagine my surprise when they said my asset was spending her off time in the slums of Briar South. Get in, Pierce.”
The door opened and she scooted over for me to get in next to her. No sooner than I was in the car did she start speaking.
“I need you at home, not here.”
“This is my home, Forman,” I corrected, looking out the window while they drove, hitting a block before a right turn.
“You know what I mean. We have a job and need you back. You should have been back. Shoulder looks fine, and even if it wasn’t, you could have passed with your eyes closed.”
I laughed. “Weren’t you the one who said I needed to come home for a little while and recuperate?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t mean get here and get lost. That’s not what I meant, Liora, and you know it. This is a career maker and you are the only handler who can run it.” She dropped a file into my lap before I could speak again.
“The Heminez Cartel. They’re now operating on our soil, which means we are operating on our soil in a way as well. You’ll have a team, so you don’t have to go back into the field. We’ve all agreed that we’ve been too cavalier with your particular skillset. You have earned your stripes.”
I looked from the file in my lap to her. “So, this is a promotion.”
“I have taught you everything I know. Now you’re better than me and the DOD has handed over a blank check to clean the soil and keep it clean. They just want things handled and I believe you are the person to do that. What is there to think about?”
“Everything. Where would my base be?”
“Anywhere in the world, you name it. Preferably New York, but I have a feeling you’re going to turn that down.”
“Here.”
She looked displeased immediately but agreed. “I guess I can spin the small city girl, but not here, per se. Westvale or Uptown, maybe.”
I laughed. “Fine.”
“Good negotiation. Now I’ll allow you to get back to your pawning. Be on standby.” Then she held a phone out toward me. “It’s secured, and please, for the life of me, stop screening my calls.”
I accepted the phone. “I guess I can do that.”
The truck came to a stop immediately. When I glanced out of the window, my eyes landed on the shop.
“Happy pawning. I’ll be in touch.”
When I made it back into the pawn shop, my sister’s eyes were on me and so were my father’s. Neither of them said anything, but I felt their questions in the air.
“No, I am not about to disappear into thin air. I’m still here,” I said to both of them, even though neither asked.
“You sure ’bout that. That looked real disappear into thin air to me.” My father peered at me over his glasses.
“Well, I am right here, aren’t I?”
Neither of them seemed convinced, but I wasn’t about to stand around and convince them.
I clutched the file in my hand tightly and looked from her to him.
“Yeah, but for how long?” Sissy asked.
“For as long as I want to be. Now please drop it.” I gave her a stern look
She threw her hands up in surrender. “Fine. I’ll hold you to that. What are you doing tonight? Let’s have dinner.”
I screwed my face up because having dinner with her meant I wouldn’t be having dinner with Iso. Even though I didn’t act like it, I had come to enjoy them. The idea of routine petrified me.
Laughter escaped my lips at the thought of how he’d cursed me out last night for saying I was going home instead of coming to his place.
“Is dinner with me funny or something, sis?” Sissy asked, confused.
“No, I was just thinking about something, but I already have dinner plans.”
“With who?” My father’s voice made me turn around.
“With a friend, and no, I’m not giving a name so dro… As a matter of fact, both of you keep trying to put me in the hot seat and I don’t like it. So I’ma go. I’ll see you both around.”
I turned to leave and held my index and middle fingers in the air as I turned to leave.
I technically needed to go to my place and look this file over before I went to Iso’s.
I hadn’t been home consistently in what felt like forever.
After three spend a night moments, it became a thing.
Now the mere mention of me sleeping in my own bed had him telling me I had him fucked up.
More laughter escaped my lips thinking about last night.
“Yo, where you at?” he asked as soon as I answered the phone through my car.
“On my way home. I just left the pawn shop and I’m exhausted. What’s up?” I asked, knowing damn well asking my location was to gauge how long it would take for me to be his way.
“What, to pack a bag?” he asked, confusion evident in his tone. “I thought you were on your way here?”
“Maybe another time. I spend so much time at your plac—”
“Fuck everything you ’boutta say, including whatever stupid ass thought’s in your mind. Bring your ass here, Liora, before you wake up and I’m seated at the foot of your bed with matches. What floor you stay on again?”
I cheesed hard as hell, glad he couldn’t see me. That nut shit was a turn on, especially coming from a man as nonchalant as him. Aquarius shit.
“Stop fucking smiling. Pack you a bag and come on. These soggy, sour ass wings are gonna be cold by the time you get here.” Before I could even respond or question how he knew I was smiling, he hung up.
The sound of a blaring horn interrupted my flashback.
Immediately I was present again, in my car about to go home.
My eyes landed on the manila file on the passenger seat damn near staring at me.
The idea of it had me thinking about my life and where I was currently versus what opening that file meant.
I’d always loved what I did, but I realized over the years it was what made it so easy for me to be so detached.
Then I came home and was thrust back into this unit I’d grown up in.
Their fears that I’d drop off the face of the earth were valid because I had done it several times before.
If only they knew how hard that would be for me now.
Even if I wanted to, family aside, disappearing wouldn’t happen right now.
I sped through traffic, headed in the direction of my place. As soon as I was about to turn into the parking garage, a siren went off behind me. I rolled my eyes because I wasn’t even speeding. Now had he caught me on the expressway, I’d definitely have a ticket, no dispute.
I pulled over inches from the garage entrance and put the car in park.
I also took the liberty of grabbing not only my badge but my wallet from the glove compartment.
I then sat back and watched in the rearview mirror as it took him what seemed like forever to get out of the cruiser to my car. He walked in slow motion.
When he finally reached my mirror, the other officer stopped at my back passenger side window. I lowered my window enough to speak before my eyes landed on the last person I wanted to see. Sergeant.
“Good evening, Liora.” He greeted me by name with a big dumb ass grin on his face.
“Evening. Is there a reason you pulled me over, Officer?”
He grinned even harder, like this was some sort of cat and mouse game. “Yeah, you missed two stop signs and your tints are illegal here.”