Chapter 10
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As soon as Burton and Sammy walked into the house, Anderson looked up.
“That didn’t take long.”
“Nope, but I’m going back,” Burton announced, then cocked his head at her.
She shrugged. “I’m staying here. I get it.”
“It’s fine if you want to come with me.”
“Nah, I’m good.” She chuckled. “Besides, Anderson could use a hand right now.”
Burton explained things to Anderson in an abbreviated version, how he’d agreed to go back and check her apartment for bugs.
“Good idea,” Anderson agreed, “and might also help her see our side of things.”
“Yeah, she’s a little freaked out right now.”
“Right. In that case, get a move on,” he said with a smile, waving him off.
Burton got into the vehicle, drove back over, and found Alexandra still standing outside. She had grabbed a sweater, and, when she saw him, relief broke across her face.
“I was afraid you weren’t coming back,” she admitted nervously.
“Do you have somebody with you here?”
“I did, but he’s gone now.” She looked around. “I need to make sure that he’ll be safe too.”
Burton didn’t say anything, just held out his tester and noted, “I need to go through the apartment.” She stepped back and let him in, and he immediately turned it on and started searching.
When he got to the bedroom, he winced and pointed as the light immediately flared up. Her eyes widened in alarm, and then a fury he hadn’t ever seen before in a woman crossed her face. She shook her head and said in a very furious tone, “Dear God. He really did it. … That chicken-shit bastard.”
“We don’t know if it was him,” Burton pointed out warily, as he removed the object and crushed it under his foot, “but somebody did.”
“Oh, it was him,” she declared, her tone scornful. “He also warned me about not getting myself into trouble over all this.”
“Any idea what that meant?”
“No, I wasn’t even sure what he was talking about, but I know that he didn’t like the new boyfriend I had picked up since he left me. He went out of his way to tell me it was not a good choice.”
“And who is this new boyfriend?”
She hesitated, then gave him the name. “Jonas Clarkson.”
Burton shrugged, didn’t know the name. “Okay, and why doesn’t Colbert approve?”
“I think he plays for the other team,” she muttered.
Burton looked at her in surprise, and she just shrugged. He asked her, “Are you aware of these competing teams?”
She winced. “Not really aware of the teams, just aware that, for some reason, there is bad blood between them. In Colbert’s mind, my boyfriend is on the wrong side,” she suggested. “Just the thought that these rooms were being bugged is beyond scary.”
“Not only beyond scary in thought,” Burton pointed out, “they have absolutely been bugged, and now you have the proof too.”
“Can you check the spare room? That’s my office space. I want to make sure it’s—”
“Clean?” Burton asked pointedly. “Sure, I can take a look.”
Just as Burton headed to the office door, a man stepped out from behind the curtain with a gun in hand and pointed it right at him.
“You can stop right there,” he stated calmly, but his tone was lethal and made Burton pause.
Burton stared at him and asked, “Jonas, by any chance?”
Jonas’s eyebrows shot up. He looked over at Alexandra, and she shrugged. “I told Burton that I was going out with somebody new and that you were probably working on the wrong side of the tracks.” She was nonchalant, and then she turned to Burton. “This is my boyfriend, Jonas.”
Jonas snorted. “Really? You actually used that wrong side of the tracks line?”
“In this turf war, yes,” she stated. “And you don’t appear to want to change it. Which is fine, just as long as you keep me out of it.”
“No, I sure don’t want to change,” he declared. “And you’ll want to remember that.” She glared at him, and he shrugged. “I told you that I’m here for a good time, not a long time. You don’t like it? You know what you can do about it.”
She swallowed hard, nodded, and then said, “Okay then. When you leave tonight, make sure you stay gone.”
He frowned at her in surprise. “Really?”
“Yeah, really,” she confirmed, her anger returning, “because somebody who I know—or at least know of—has been beaten to the point that she’s still in the hospital recovering, and she’s got triplets at home.”
He slowly nodded. “Tim’s wife. The thing is, that wasn’t me. And honestly, I’m not sure you can even blame anyone for it. Her husband threw her to the wolves.”
She stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, they needed information, and he wouldn’t give it. So they started to threaten him with hurting her. And when he still wouldn’t step up and be a man, he basically allowed them to beat the crap out of her.”
She winced. “I guess that’s what you would do with me too, wouldn’t you?”
He gave a brutal laugh. “Absolutely. Just so you know, that’s your future, sweetheart,” he said in a mocking tone.
She glared at him. “So, why the hell are you even here? I thought we had something going,” she asked, her face a mask now.
“I did tell you that I’m just here for a good time.”
“I know. I know. You’re here for a good time but not for a long time.”
“That’s right. And you shouldn’t feel sorry about it either,” he added, with a mocking smile. “It’s been a blast.”
“Yeah. It was a blast until …” She left it at that, followed by a sigh.
“So, it isn’t any longer.” He shrugged, then chuckled. “Okay, point taken. So, what am I supposed to do with this guy now?”
“You’re not supposed to do anything with him,” she stated in alarm.
“He came looking for what?” He spied the thing in his hand and nodded. “Then I find him with that.”
“More important than what you found me with,” Burton interjected, “is the fact that I found that this room has been bugged, as well as the bedroom.”
“That’s what I thought you would say,” he grumbled, turning that fury on her. “So, are you setting me up? Is that how this works?”
“No,” she snapped in shock. “I didn’t know it was bugged. How can you say that?”
“Well, why not?” he asked, his anger showing.
“It’s obvious that you’re kicking me out now, and the only reason you would do that is if you had something better on the way,” he noted with barely controlled fury.
“Women like you are never without somebody hanging off your arm—or you hanging off their arm is a better way to put it,” he snapped.
“And don’t think I don’t know that old partner of yours has been sniffing around you again.
” At those words, shock crossed her face. “Did you think I didn’t know?”
“He came to warn me that you were bad news,” she explained, staring at him in horror. “That’s all.”
“Right, like I’ll believe you on that one.”
She seemed to collect herself while Burton watched, his gaze wary as he stared at the two of them. “If this is a turf war,” he interjected, “I don’t understand who the players are.”
“Doesn’t matter if you do or not,” Jonas snapped, turning a cold gaze in his direction. “Much better if you keep your big nose out of it.”
“Right, well, that would be great, except that I was asked to come and check for bugs.”
“You actually asked him?” Jonas asked Alexandra, turning on her.
“Of course I did. How the hell can you be so thick-skulled? The last thing I want is to have my bedroom bugged, and my private conversations out there for the whole world to listen to, much less my home office.”
He snickered. “I hope they had a good laugh over that. … You know they were listening while we—”
“Did you know they were listening?” she asked, narrowing her gaze at him.
“Nope, I sure didn’t. I guess I should have though,” he muttered, a shadow crossing his face. “I should have expected something like that, and I’m kind of pissed that I didn’t. So that’s on me, but that doesn’t mean it’ll stay on me.” He glared at her. “So, when I leave today, you don’t know me.”
“Yeah, right,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “Like everybody doesn’t know we haven’t been together for the last few months.”
“Well, I just ditched you.”
“No, I ditched you,” she snapped.
He chuckled. “Whatever your ego needs to make you feel better. … Hmm, I wonder what it would cost me to get those tapes?”
“And why would you want them?” she asked warily.
“Memories,” he quipped, with a big grin, “and to make sure you behave yourself in the future.” And, with that, he stepped back, looked over at Burton, and noted, “I presume you’re just an innocent stooge trying to get in her pants.
I don’t mind that under the circumstances.
I’ll let you off with a warning this time, but, if I see you around again, you’re history. ” He backed up another step.
Burton stepped up as he took a step back.
The guy frowned at him and asked, “Do you have a death wish?”
“No, not at all,” he told him, “but apparently you do.”
“Yeah, and why is that?”
“Because I don’t like anything that you’re spouting,” Burton said. “And it’s rare that anybody gets away with talking to me like that.”
He laughed. “Think you’re somebody, do you? The reality is, you ain’t nobody. You might think you are, you might want to hope you are, but you ain’t jack shit,” he retorted. “And right now is not the time to be brave because, if I got to take you out, then I got to take her out too.”
At that, Burton stopped.
Jonas laughed. “See? I already got your number. You’re one of those chivalrous guys.”
“I thought you were too,” Alexandra snapped.
“God, no,” he argued. “And you knew the score, sweetheart. And you probably, in your own crazy way, thought you could change me, but that ain’t happening. I’ve been this way too long.”
“Yet Colbert’s trying to take you out,” Burton shared, holding up the still-blinking device.
He glared at him. “You don’t know anything about what Colbert’s trying or not trying, but don’t you worry. I’ll take care of him.”
“Before or after this next deal goes down?” Burton asked, smiling at him. “Seems your number’s up either way. If you’re not skipping town right now, your number is toast.”
“You don’t know anything about it,” Jonas snapped, glaring at him. “And the last thing I’ll do is listen to a techie guy like you. You don’t even know how to handle a weapon. I’m the one sitting here with the gun, so you can just shut the hell up.”
Burton nodded and didn’t say anything.
Jonas laughed and turned to her. “See? You can’t even find one with balls. Why the hell do you keep going after all these namby-pamby men?”
She nodded. “You’re right. I have been.” And she glared pointedly at Jonas.
He upped the wattage on his frown. “Nice try, bitch. Keep it up, and I’ll pistol whip you myself.
” Then he shot a glance over at Burton and added, “I don’t think this guy will be too interested in stopping me, but either way I will have to shoot him.
After I shoot him, I have to shoot you. But that’s a hell of a mess to clean up.
So …” He gave her a mock salute. “See you later, bitch, or … not.”
Then, with a laugh, he raced out of the apartment.