Chapter 34
LAKE
Icouldn't believe I was doing this.
My whole life, I've had my friends and then Beasty. We were the only ones who could be trusted.
Sure, we used people to achieve our goals. We blackmailed when it was beneficial for us, or even to secure a little more power over the assholes of the world.
I shouldn't be proud of it. That kind of obsession with power had ruled us for years, but damn if standing on top of our own mountain, making our enemies dance wasn't satisfying.
I pulled up to the gate at Books' place and rang the buzzer. The speaker crackled and the gates slowly pulled open. My tires crunched over dead leaves as I approached the house, wondering if this was really worth it.
By the time I parked, Books came to stand on the porch, his hands tucked into the pocket of his jeans as a half-grin lit his face. He was nothing if not predictable.
He seemed perky today. Or maybe he figured out that being a bookie wasn't the right career for him since he'd stuck his foot in our business more than a few times. Books certainly seemed to have a taste for the darker side of the crime world.
I shook my head. Of course Beasty would only draw other men similar to us to her. God forbid she get a friend who was on the up and up. Actually, it was for the best that she didn't. That would just spell trouble for all of us.
"What are you smiling about, Lake?" Books called as I got out of my SUV.
"Nothing." I wiped the amusement from my face. "You ready to do this?"
He rocked back on his heels. The man was the most unassuming person there was, not an intimidating bone in his body, but he had a protective streak a mile wide for the few people he cared about.
I was beyond fucking ecstatic that Beasty was one of them.
"Yup. The living room is all set up." I grabbed my laptop bag out of the front passenger seat and followed him inside.
It had taken time, and some creative science to get to this point.
But as far as I was concerned, this was the last piece on the board.
Once this was done, I could finally face to the future and stop looking over my fucking shoulder so much.
Well, that probably would never happen. I was too jaded to ever just skip off into the sunset. No matter how long we went without issues, I think I'd always be watching our backs. That was my purpose after all.
"Where’s Cressida?" Books held open the door, glancing behind me in case she would magically pop out of the backseat.
"She stayed at the club. She's organizing a new event, and this time it's her and Atlas headlining." That fucker had beaten us to it by constantly stalking her on the cameras. No sooner had she mentioned it in a meeting than he'd stuck his head in and told her he wanted the spot.
That was fine, I'd save my performances with Beasty for our private rooms.
"She didn't want to be here for this? That doesn't seem like her." Books led the way to the living room. The place was still as homey as ever. At first, I'd thought he'd bought this place furnished and just not had time to redecorate, but I think he liked it.
I fell into one of the two chairs he'd pulled behind the coffee table. "That's exactly her."
Beasty had finally found her purpose. She ran the club better than all of us did, and she enjoyed it. There was a confidence in Beasty over the last few weeks, as she walked the halls in whatever sexy little outfit Kim had managed to dress her in.
We did that. We helped her find herself, and I couldn't be prouder of her.
And this bullshit? It had to be done, but Beasty and the others trusted me to do it.
And I finally learned that we couldn't do everything on our own. Books was as good of an ally as we would ever have. I trusted him more than Parker, although he and his brothers had grown on me considerably.
Books stared at me, waiting for me to say more, but there wasn't anything else to say. He released a resigned sigh and shook his head. "We might as well get this started. I know you want this done as much as I do."
I opened my laptop on my lap, ready with the massive pile of information I'd amassed and what we were planning to do with it. But that all depended on the connection Books was about to make.
Fiddling with the computer hooked up to the projector, Books turned it on. Blue light blinked across the wall opposite before a duplicate of his computer screen popped up.
He clicked on an encrypted app and hit dial.
His contact answered immediately, mouth full, crumbs dotting a wrinkled shirt. Even his hair was a shaggy mess.
I shot Books a heated look. This was his beyond competent, best in the business, contact?
His chest puffed up in offense as he leaned over, hitting the mute. "I promise, you won’t find better than this guy." He unmuted the call.
"What's up, buttercups?" The man on the screen spewed crumbs at the camera. He didn't even blink as he raised an energy drink and slugged it down before crushing it and tossing it into a full waste basket of empty energy drinks.
"I have Lake here about the job we discussed."
The man squinted at me. "I'm not going to tell you my name because I don't know you and you're not an official part of the Network. But I will consider this job, and for the purpose of this meeting you can call me Ranger Danger. Tell me what you want."
I wasn't going to play into his ridiculous headgames. I just jumped straight in—without calling him anything. "There's a man. A detective by the name of Justin Barton. I need connections fabricated."
The man canted his head. "A detective?"
"Yes.” I pulled up the file on him outlining as much of his history as I could find.
"Why are we going after him? Not that I'm pro-police or anything. I'm more partial to the rogue ones who couldn't hack it."
"He's got it out for me and my family. He's raided my club twice, and I can't let this go on. He needs to be a non-issue."
"Okay." The man shrugged. "Give me his details, and I'll see what I can find on him."
I rattled off all the sensitive information I'd managed to collect.
The only sound filling the room was the constant ratta-tat-tat of the keyboard.
This man was explosive with his typing. A divot appeared between his brows as seconds turned to minutes.
All the while, Books leaned back and threaded his fingers over his stomach.
He seemed like this was exactly what he expected it to be.
Five minutes later, the man whistled. "This guy is a piece of work. He's been under investigation three times for tampering with evidence. He raided your club? Did he ever find evidence that wasn't there?"
"No."
The mouse clicked as he scrolled the page. "He's also been demoted in the past. Oof."
"What?" I leaned forward.
"It's bad." The man shook his head rapidly.
The unimaginable started cropping up in my head. Was he a rapist? A wife-beater? A serial killer? So many thoughts were flipping through my brain. "What?" I asked when it was clear he wasn't going to answer.
"He's a Scorpio."
"What?" I scoffed, glaring at Books again.
His mouth twitched but he didn't intervene.
"You didn't get that from his birthday?" I asked.
"Nah, I don't have the zodiac signs memorized like that. Anyway, the detective has a dodgy past. And he was written up last week for...huh."
"What is it now?" I asked, losing my patience.
"It seems his good buddy was recently murdered and he doesn't believe it was an accident. You know, the man that that lady, Valencia, killed." He hit me with an eagle sharp gaze. I bet this motherfucker was the man Parker had used to frame Valencia.
"He's causing all kinds of trouble." He turned back to his screen and I dropped my shoulders.
I hadn't even realized they'd tensed up.
"Hmmm....I was going to charge you out the ass, just because your disapproval is suffocating me, but I think this is more of a clean up job," he mused more to himself than us. "What did you have in mind?"
I rolled my tongue over one canine. "I have five bodies that need to be disposed of..."
His eyes narrowed. "Whose bodies?"
"No one innocent. All Pescis."
His brows popped up and he returned to typing on his keyboard. "That could work. This guy had a hard on for them for years. It all started with the old man." His hand slammed down on the desk and the image of him shook. "Is this why he was so stuck on you? Because you sent that present to them?"
"How did you know that?" If Books was sharing secrets...
"I know everything. I'm basically God over here. And if he doesn't go down for the murder spree, his credibility would at least be shot. His real email communications with our deceased friend does that enough on its own."
Books leaned forward. "He was working with that guy?"
"Barton was complaining that he couldn't take them down,” he made air quotes around them, “that they were untouchable, but wouldn't be for long."
That would do it. A wide smile spread over my face.
"I tell you what. There's an abandoned house fifteen minutes outside of the Pescis stomping ground.
I'll have the paperwork deeded to Mr. Justin Barton in.
..twenty minutes tops, backdated by five years of course.
You can drop the bodies there. It's your job to make sure there's no evidence on said bodies. I'll take care of the rest."
He spun around in a full circle before stopping with a jolt to face us again.
"Any questions?"
"That's it?" That was surprisingly easy. Too easy. I didn't like it.
"Yup! That's it. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy."
"And you don't want to get paid for this job?" This had to be a prank. Books had somehow managed to hose me.
"I already said this is on the house, because it connects people from my last job." He twisted his mouth to the side. "If it makes you feel better, I'll charge you double for the next job if you choose to reach out again. Which you will, because I'm the best in the biz."
I grunted. I didn't have time for this.
"Chatty." He quirked a brow at Books. "Well, it's been fun. I'll text you as soon as you're cleared to drop the goods. Ranger Danger out!" He saluted and the screen went blue.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me. That's the tech genius you wanted me to meet? Or was that a trick before the real meeting?" I slammed my laptop shut.
Books released a laugh that sounded suspiciously like a giggle. "He's a character but he's the best there is. You already met his family anyway. Vienna ring a bell?"
Vienna...Vienna.
Oh shit, I started coughing and slapped my chest. "That woman with her psycho men are his family? He's the final member who wasn't there?"
Books smirked. "Yes. Funny, isn't it? They're all serious and tough, then there's that guy. But he is the best and he'll take care of it." He pushed out of the chair. "I suppose you have Guy on standby?"
Nodding, I stood. "Yes. And we've cleaned everything, so there's not a shred of evidence. It's even a new car that's transporting them so there's no chance our DNA contaminated the suitcases."
"Great. I'll let you know when you can send him. Now get home to Cressida and make sure nothing like this ever happens again." He lost any joviality as he stared me down.
"Don't worry. We've learned so many lessons, we won't fuck up again."
He grinned. "Good. But don't worry. If you do, I'll swoop in with Bishop to save Cressida and make sure she knows how you fucked up."
"So it's going to be like that?" I started walking to the front of the house.
"Only if anything else happens to her. Truth is, I like you and the boys." Books slapped me on the shoulder as I stopped at the front door. "More than I thought I would. So don't ever hesitate to call, but I doubt you'll need to. I bought a residence close to Snatched to be closer to Cressida."
"Great." I grumbled, his laughter following me all the way to the car.
Though, my steps were lighter, and there was a buzzing in my chest. This was it. We were free.
I was barely back on the main road when I got the text from Books and relayed it to Guy.
Damn.
It was all really over.
I smiled at the windshield the whole way home.