Chapter 27 Rob #2
“Well, they still think Krista is Alicia. That’s the one good thing we have going for us.”
“And how do you plan to convince Alicia to go along with this insane plan?”
I pulled out the documents I’d picked up from my buddy. “Papers. New identity.”
“You bought the hooker a one-way ticket out of town?” Liam asked.
“Did you have a better plan?”
“Than any of this? Nope, but that’s not my area of expertise.”
“Well, this is mine. She needs a way out, and I can give it to her.”
“Unless you have a hundred grand to go along with that, there’s no way she’ll take it,” Sinner pointed out.
“This will be enough. It’s life or death. Trust me, if she’s smart, she’ll choose life.”
“Hookers aren’t known for their smarts,” he pointed out.
“I thought you were on the side of the hooker?” I asked, getting irritated with this conversation.
“Oh, definitely. But you’re acting like she’s going to see this lifeline and snatch it up. In actuality, she’s going to pretend to take your offer, then turn on you when she finds a better way out.”
“If she wants to live, she won’t do that,” I gritted out.
“You’d better hope you’re right because if she screws you over, your plan will be blown.”
He was right, but I had to take the chance. There was no other way for us to get out of this alive.
“I’m heading over there now.”
“I’ll go with you,” Sinner said, grabbing his weapon and holstering it.
“I think it’s best if I go alone. Two of us will scare the shit out of her.”
“And sending you alone will end one of two ways. One, you disappear and we never hear from you again. Two, she tricks you into going with her, but in reality, she leads you right into the lion’s den where she feeds you to the wolves.
Or three, she gets really creeped out by the large man storming into her room and tries to kick your ass, in which case, you might need backup. ”
“That was three options.”
“I know. I added one.”
“And wolves aren’t in a lion’s den.”
“Yes, but you lead someone into a lion’s den, but you feed them to wolves. See how that works?” he asked, grinning at me.
I got the reference. I even got all three of his points, but the whole thing was fucked up. Not that it was worth arguing about at the moment.
“Fine. Stay or come with me. It really doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, it really does if you want to live,” he chuckled, clapping me on the shoulder and leaning in closely. “And I really don’t want to stay here with the cowboy. He creeps me out.”
Glancing over his shoulder, he stared at Liam for a moment before shivering. “No self-respecting man wears pants that tight.”
Rolling my eyes, I walked out the door with Sinner scurrying behind me. With traffic, it took longer than expected to reach the outskirts of the city. When we pulled up to the house, I grimaced at the rundown shack and surrounding dilapidated houses.
It didn’t surprise me that she was hiding out here. The house looked abandoned, but this was where I tracked her to.
“Are you sure you want to do this? It’s not too late to turn back before you get hepatitis.”
“From a house?” I snapped.
“Hey, I’m just saying, there are things worth risking in life. Certain death is not one of them.”
The house was not certain death, but it was very possible I would blow my brains out if I had to spend too much more time with Sinner. Striding across the street, I marched straight up to the door and knocked, wincing when the movement actually pushed the door in a little.
It swung open on rickety hinges, and the woman on the other side of the door looked like she hadn’t seen fresh air in a year. And by the tartar on her teeth, she had been chain-smoking cigarettes since she was eleven.
“I’m looking for Alicia.”
“Not here,” she said, slamming the door in my face.
I stopped her at the last second, shoving my boot between the door and the frame. The irritation on her face was humorous at best, but there was also a hint of fear from what I expected was years of intimidation.
“I’m not here to turn her in. I need her help, and I have a way for her to get out of this mess in one piece.”
Her eyes narrowed in accusation. “What mess?”
“You know what mess. Now, let me in so I can talk to her.”
Her eyes flicked over my shoulder warily, but after a moment, she opened the door and gestured for me to come in.
After a quick look around the room, taking in the couch that looked like it had been eaten by rats, the food littered on the table, and the garbage on the floor, I discerned that I would not be sitting down.
“I’ll go get her. Make yourselves at home.”
“Not likely,” I muttered under my breath.
She stumbled down the hall, calling out to Alicia while I did a little investigating. Not that there was much to find out. They lived like pigs, had nothing but cigarette butts on the table, and from what I could tell of the stack of paperwork, a shit ton of unpaid bills.
“Who lives like this?” Sinner muttered.
Something scurried across my foot, and I leaped back, terrified I was about to be eaten alive by a rat. There weren’t many things in life that scared me, but things that could chew your face off in your sleep was one of them.
A scratching sound from the other room drew my attention, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. It sounded like—
“She’s going out the back window,” Sinner said, dashing out the front door.
I ran after him, going the opposite direction from him around the house. Alicia was trying and failing to hop over the metal fence, instead, tearing her hooker tights on the wires.
Sinner grabbed her, pulling her to the ground. She landed with a shriek, her makeup smeared from tears as she covered her face.
“I’ll get you the money!” she cried out, curling into herself.
Sighing, I grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. “I don’t want money. I’m here to help you.”
Her tears instantly dried, but suspicion immediately replaced the terror. “Help me what?”
“You stole something from the Ratti family. And you just happen to look like my girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” Sinner piped up. “I didn’t know you guys were an item.”
“Not sure what else you would call her.”
“Wife?”
“Technically, but— that’s not important right now!” I snapped, pissed he was getting me off track. “The point is, I have a way out for you, and if you do as I ask, I can get you out of this.”
“There’s no getting away from them. I was stupid,” she sighed. “Even if I give back the case, they won’t let me go.”
“I know, which is why you need me.”
There was a spark of hope in her eyes. “How?”
“I have papers. A new identity for you. All I need you to do is get me inside DeLuca’s apartment.”
“Are you insane?” she shouted, her eyes growing wide. “If I do that, they’ll kill me on the spot!”
“They won’t because you’re going to stall. Tell them you have information they need. And while you’re doing that, I’ll sneak in and get blackmail on DeLuca.”
She tried to jerk out of my grasp, but I held her tight. “They won’t let me live long enough to tell them anything I know!”
“Yes, they will when you tell them it’s about a missing shipment of cocaine.”
“But I don’t know anything! I can’t stall long enough to keep them from putting a bullet in my head.”
“I have the information, and it will be enough,” I stressed. “This is your only way out. If you do this, you’ll live. If you don’t, you won’t be able to run far enough or stay hidden long enough to enjoy what little freedom you have.”
I knew I had her. She could see this was her only way out, and if she didn’t do as I asked, she would be dead by the end of the week. Resignation filled her eyes as she nodded slowly.
“You have papers? Real papers? Not the fake stuff that won’t even get me on a plane?”
“Everything. I can show it to you first.”
Biting her lip, she nodded, taking the first step toward the house. Her arm trembled in my grip, but she wasn’t crying, which meant that she was at least considering what I had to say. That was something.
As we walked inside, she ducked her head. “Just let me get cleaned up. I’ll be right out.”
I nodded, then signaled for Sinner to get the paperwork. She needed to see that she had a way out. Words would only get me so far.
By the time she returned from the bathroom, Sinner was back with the paperwork in hand. Pulling out the documents, he handed them over to her. She picked at them, studied them, until finally, she nodded.
“They look real.”
“That’s because I know a guy who does this for a living. Trust me, these will get you anywhere you need to go.”
Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, handing the papers back. “I can’t do it.”
“Alicia, this is your only way out,” I pressed.
Lifting her head, she stared me square in the eyes. “And I’m dead if I walk through those doors. It’s not just about the case. I was with DeLuca.”
“I know.”
“He knows me. He won’t believe for a second that I have information that I’m willing to hand over.”
“Not even in exchange for your life?”
“Not even that.”
That didn’t make any sense. “Why?”
“Because he knows if I had that information, I would have used it sooner. I never would have stolen the case.”
“Maybe you got it after,” I said in frustration.
“The moment I stole that case, he put a hit out on me,” she laughed humorlessly. “Everyone in this town knows my face. I’ve been hanging off his arm for months. No one would let me near their business, no matter what I offered them. I’m telling you, if I walk in there, it’s a death sentence.”
“Alicia—”
“I won’t help you, and I won’t change my mind.”
I paced the motel room, trying to come up with any solution that didn’t end with Krista or me dead.
“You should have just kidnapped her,” Liam seethed. “Take her and turn her in. That’s what she deserves.”
“Krista would have hated me,” I said, staring at the ground, searching the carpet fibers for answers.
“So what if she hates you. She’d be alive.”