Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
AUDRY
I expected to feel lighter as I walked away from the Cassio family Pasadena compound, after sticking that note on the camera. It hadn't been an easy thing, making sure the security cameras were down long enough for me to make my escape, and evading the guards on patrol. Luckily, the electronic surveillance was mostly geared towards keeping things out rather than in.
Like cat woman, I somersaulted over the electric fence, rappelling down the ten-foot fence like Tom Cruise down that tall building in Mission Impossible.
Exhilarating stuff.
Usually had my blood pumping with excitement.
So why do I feel like I’m carrying a ten-ton elephant on my shoulders?
I could barely get myself to lift my hand and put the note on the camera. Walking away from the compound felt like negotiating my way through quicksand. Everything felt ten times harder than it should.
What is going on with me? Am I getting my period?
I couldn’t understand all these things I was feeling. Things like pain and regret. “What the fuck?” I said aloud.
“What is it?” Kylie asked urgently in my ear, “Problem?”
“No.” I swallowed the lump in my throat, blinking the moisture from my eyes. “I got out okay. I’m on the way to you.”
“Great. Wonderful. See you in…?”
I checked my watch, and then looked up and down the street. Dawn was just breaking, and the sunrise looked like it was going to be a doozy. Kylie should have left a car for me at the end of the street. Meanwhile, I tried to blend in with the early morning joggers in my sweat suit. My bracelet, beeping blue, let me know that the virus I’d introduced in Marco’s systems was doing what it was meant to. I didn’t know why my stomach was burning with what felt like guilt at the thought.
“I’ll be there in about fifteen, as long as I find the car sometime soon.”
She chuckled. “It should be in sight by now. A silver Tesla, blending in with all the other cars on that street.”
I squinted down the road and saw the car, in a parking lot by the coffee shop at the corner. Kylie was right – there were two other Teslas parked in the same lot, probably belonging to early morning coffee customers.
I began to jog in earnest, avoiding all the neighborhood cameras by hugging the fences until I reached the end of the street. I slipped into the car and drove away, hoping no one had noticed me. I couldn’t help staring into the rear view, my heart aching more the further away I got from him. I mean the further away I got from the estate. In the little time I’d spent there, it had begun to feel like home.
I’d never had one of those.
Growing up in an orphanage, I’d been fostered a few times but then they’d return me for being too much of a problem child or in one infamous case, the husband turned out to be a pedophile who was filming the kids in his care in compromising ways. I was only there for two days before the FBI busted in and arrested him for making and distributing child pornography, so I thankfully did not have to deal with all of… that. But it just solidified how hopeless it was to ever think I could find a family that wanted me .
Why did they have to be so nice to me? I laughed bleakly at myself. Poor little unwanted Audry. Nobody’s ever been nice to her.
“This is so stupid.” I murmured to myself as I turned into my street. Marco and I didn’t even live that far apart. I was surprised we hadn’t run into each other before this.
I couldn’t help feeling stupid for being hopeful about the possibility of seeing him again, even if by accident. I slammed at my chest, over and over, “Fucking– get over yourself.” I gritted my teeth, cursing the tear that escaped my eye. “He’s just another mark!”
Much as I tried to convince myself that I wasn’t hurting, my body would not be deceived. My muscles were literally aching as I reminded myself that this had been the aim all along. Get an in to the Cosa Nostra, steal their secrets and their money, and maybe even bring them down eventually. Be all you can be and all that, like the poster said.
I parked in the underground garage and walked slowly towards the stairs, trying to compose myself before I saw Kylie. I loved her, she was my right hand, but I didn’t need her to know I’d caught feelings for the mark. She’d lose all respect for me.
I keyed in the code and stepped into the apartment we used as a base. Kylie got to her feet, a huge expectant smile on her face. “There she is.” She exclaimed.
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “No balloons? Where’s the confetti? All I get is a shout?”
Kylie laughed. “I can run down to the bakery and get you a cake if you want.”
I dropped down into the chair. “Nah, just gimme my laptop and let’s get this show on the road. I need a long hot bath and to wear my own clothes again, so hurry up.”
She handed me my machine, sympathy in her eyes. “That bad huh?” she looked me up and down, “Those sweats don’t look too terrible.”
“Yeah, cuz I’m hot. Nothing looks bad on me.”
“Also modest,” she said drily, “Very modest.”
I powered up the laptop and took the chip from my bracelet, inserting it into the port replicator. I connect it to the laptop and let it boot up, holding my breath. The program ran its course as I helped it along by clicking on ‘yes’ or ‘ok’. Finally, we were in the system and all I had to do was divert the route of the payments from the central Cosa Nostra account to my own offshore accounts. In addition, I went into their meeting minutes, downloading those as well as all their records.
Leverage.
If you were going to steal from the mafia, you needed it.
“All done?” Kylie asked.
I nodded. “All done.”