Chapter 2
Chapter two
Barrett
I’ll play along . I wait between Pike and Shaw, brothers and my childhood neighbours, while they stand in position as the front door bouncers.
Sage walks away, still forcing her head high.
The woman is bold, but I suspect she has something else on the line to make her do this.
Her dress clings to all her soft curves.
She’s slim, but not toned. This isn’t her world, although I commend her effort to hide that fact.
Being spotted three weeks ago had been a chance occurrence, and a mistake I won’t make again.
The pictures are more of an annoyance than a genuine threat.
I can make those all disappear tonight. Her recording is an interesting twist, considering that the kill had been a silent one.
The timing and distance of her pictures doesn’t allow for her to have had time to get close enough for a recording.
But, I’ll play along.
Leaning toward Pike, I speak low. “Follow her. I’ll catch up soon.”
“Got it.” Pike stays in his position until Sage is out of view, then he rushes after her.
I nod at Shaw before disappearing inside.
Pike and Shaw lived across the street from me growing up.
The three of us often hid together during rough times, bonding over the same circumstances.
Adulthood took us all down different paths, even the brothers, but when they came to me looking for jobs and roots to keep them in one place, I couldn’t say no.
I’m unsure if they know what I do. We’ve never sat around to shoot the shit about old times or pry into each other’s lives.
I don’t know where they’ve been for the past decade either.
I planned to spend the evening at the club, considering it’s a while since I put much of my own effort into the place. It just happened to be that night Sage came looking for me that I was here. Or had she been here before?
I stop at the security office on my way to the back exit.
“Evening, Mr. Taylor.” Hudson, one of my security guys, glances over his shoulder.
“The woman I was speaking with on the upper level. Has she been here before?”
“I’ll look.” Hudson leans forward and brings up the video from minutes ago. We look like an intimate couple on the verge of another type of conversation than what we had.
She’s trembling. It’s subtle and only in her fingers when she reaches for her drink. I’d been so focused on her face, I hadn’t noticed, but her face told me everything I needed to know. The wife of the target is important to her. Sage is protecting her. That much is obvious.
“Her?”
“Yes. Let me know if you find her on any other footage.”
“Will do.” Hudson types faster, pulling up several videos at once across several screens.
I leave without another word and exit the back of the club.
The sleek car isn’t my preferred style, but it’s quiet and that’s something I value.
I don’t need anyone giving reports of a loud motorcycle or massive truck speeding off during the window of an assassination.
I own both, but they don’t get near enough use.
Pulling out of the parking lot, I call Pike.
“She hasn’t spotted me, but she wound around the city as if she expected to be followed.”
That’s cute. Smart. “Where is she now?”
“Spring Heights.” A newer neighborhood on the west side of town filled with townhouses.
“On my way.” I take the quickest route, keeping away from the downtown area to avoid the waiting taxis filling the streets at this time of night. When I reach Spring Heights, I call Pike. “Address?”
He rattles it off and I keep him on the line until I find him. I see his car parked six houses past the one Sage went into.
“Is her car that little red Corolla?”
“Yup.” Pike’s car purrs to life over the speaker.
“Thanks.”
“You got it.” He drives off.
I park my car closer than Pike had. I want to see as much as possible.
Lights are on in the house and Sage is pacing past them—walking by in one direction with her fingers covering her lips, then returning with the back of her hand over her forehead.
The next pass, her hands fly through the air and her lips move as if talking to herself.
I can’t stop myself from grinning. Poor little thing is in over her head. My career and identity are safe.
The lights go out on the main floor and turn on in a room upstairs. Curtains cover the windows, but they aren’t enough to hide her silhouette. The same silhouette I memorized as she walked away from my club.
Soon, her figure disappears, but the light never goes out.
I pull out the small laptop computer I keep in the car and start a quick search on Sage.
I remember everything she told me, the target’s name and both businesses, but as I’m sure she’s doing this to protect someone, I’ll find more information by searching for Sage.
One sister. Older. Lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins. No nieces or nephews. Nor children, spouse, and I don’t believe any other romantic entanglement from what I can find. She’s a real estate agent. Not a broker or a team leader. Only an associate.
The sister, however, is married, and doesn’t have a job. The husband is the target. I can see why in only the few family pictures I’ve found. I recognize the look in her sister’s eyes, the set of her shoulders. That pain is what put me in this business.
I decided I enjoy this form of justice. The legal system took too long and cost too much money.
I’m not a good person. I’m a hired assassin—I’ll kill because someone pays me to.
My favourite jobs are the ones where I rid the world of someone like Adam Pierson.
I lived with someone like him, and I lost people to someone like him.
Shutting my computer, I take one last glimpse at what I assume is Sage’s bedroom. The light is still on, but there’s no sign of her. I drive away and go straight to her sister and brother-in-law’s home. It didn’t take long to get their address despite Sage refusing to tell me.
And that’s where I stay for a few hours. Long enough to see Adam come home and stagger toward the door, and for a small shadow to pass through a dim room on the far side of the house. Lights turn on and off throughout until reaching the last room.
Okay, Sage. I’ll play along.