Chapter Fourteen #7
“Hold on,” Gene said, using his tablet since he was already on his phone. He sent the call to it, and dialed.
When the screen split on the jet, that had their attention. What had their attention even more was that Jinx was on the screen.
Immediately, Rogue went there.
“Uh, why is my wife on the screen while we’re talking about this?” Rogue asked, already knowing exactly why she was on the screen. He’d said too much, and now, he’d given Gene an idea.
An idea Rogue was NOT going to like.
Oh, shit.
Damn it.
Gene went there. Oh, and not with The Hunters on the plane. No, with the pretty woman.
Speaking of mercenaries doing mercenary things…
Who better to help out?
“Jinxy, want to make some money? You and Eve?” he asked. “A cool million each.”
That was all he had to say. It wasn’t so much the money, as the job. A girl had to keep her skills sharp, and that meant practice made perfect.
Oh, yeah…
Count her in.
“You know it. What’s the job?” she asked, pretending not to see her husband staring at her like she’d lost her damn mind. Oh, she absolutely could see his face.
And she liked it.
Sue her.
While she’d take jobs, he was always around for backup. That wouldn’t be the case this time.
The family that committed crimes together, stayed together. If she took a job, she was on her own.
Truth be told, she was bored, and they had downtime. Area Fifty-two was packed full of kids, which was fine, but idle hands made a Snake twitchy.
Or something like that.
“If we get you two names, and by we, I mean Rogue, can you and Eve head out, and take out the trash? One in each location? We need their tech, and the mess cleaned up.”
She giggled.
“Oh, fuck yeah. Where are they based?” she asked.
Well, that was a good question.
Gene focused on Rogue, and he sighed. Yeah, the man was not amused, but he couldn’t wrangle Jinx, and he knew it. When they got together, he was well aware of what she did for a living.
The Snakes were an elite team of female mercenaries, and he loved that about her.
Oh, and he hated it too.
“I know this is going to bite me in the ass. My wife is a menace,” he stated.
But he still told them.
Because the woman in question was batting her eyes at him, and if he wanted to NOT ride the couch, he’d put his faith in her skills.
“One of the mercenaries is based in Dallas, and one is based in Baltimore—near both of the jobs. That’s where the intel came out of,” he stated.
“Names?” he asked.
Rogue’s fingers moved over the tablet, as he tried to get more information. When he found some names, he hoped they were accurate.
“You know they don’t post their names, but I am almost ninety percent sure it’s them.
According to Calyx’s information, they are the only ones active in those areas.
You have David Stedman out of Texas, and Veruca Filmore out of Baltimore.
They are both mercenaries that frequent The Underground when they are looking for work.
They are in Calyx’s little book of dirty deeds. ”
At the last name, Eve popped onto the screen.
“Did you say Veruca Filmore?” she asked, definitely intrigued by this.
Rogue nodded.
“Uh, yes. Why?”
She laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
Oh, and when a Snake was that giggly, there was almost always a reason—and it wasn’t because she was parked in her husband’s lap.
Dakota was still in Scotland.
“That cunt did me dirty once. It nearly got my cover blown, and I was shot in the thigh. She’s this two-bit wannabe who thinks she’s some hot shit in the mercenary world. She runs her mouth, and you know the first rule of mercenary work.”
They did.
“You don’t talk about it,” Rogue stated. “Like now, I wish my wife wasn’t talking about this. She has that look in her eye, and I’m going to punch Gene in the balls when I see him.”
Zayn shrugged.
“I mean, to be fair, he makes a lot of people want to do that.”
The man in question flipped them both off.
“Don’t marry mercenaries if you don’t want to watch them go out and do dangerous things. That’s why I chose a shrink,” he began, and then realized he was also tied to Elizabeth—who went out and did dangerous things. “Never mind. I just realized how dumb that sounded in my case, specifically.”
As for the two women, they wanted to know more about the job.
“What are you doing with her?” she asked, curiously.
What was entertaining was there was a sprite of a woman holding a baby as she was breastfeeding him, and she looked as innocent as innocent could be.
But she wasn’t.
Adder was a special kind of dangerous. She was good with guns, liked sneaking up on people, and would have you gutted before you knew you were in danger.
Then again, so was Mamba. They made The Hunters look like kindergarten teachers on a good day.
On a bad day, they were your worst nightmare.
Gene shared.
“We think she took out some killer’s helpers, tying up loose ends. I wanted to…,” Gene began, but didn’t get to finish.
There was no need to.
They had Eve at Veruca.
“I’m in. I’ll do her for a not-so-small donation to the women’s shelter in NOLA. I don’t need the million, but they do. Times are tough,” she stated. “The economy is shit.”
Jinx smiled.
“Well, then, I guess I’m taking the Dallas dude for the same donation. Two Snakes reporting for duty. Get us the intel, and we’ll bag and tag them,” she said, spinning a sharp blade between her fingers like the pro she was.
At hearing that, Rogue closed his eyes.
“Not only is this going to make me nervous, but now, when Dakota wakes up, and finds out his wife, the NEW MOTHER, is out killing, I’m getting blamed. I can feel it in my testicles. I said shit, and it’s about to bite me in the ass.”
Gene laughed.
“Blame the little guy. That’s the best way. Jagger is always fucking shit up—ask his wife.”
Jagger flipped him off.
From where he sat, he went there.
“I don’t care how nice the jet is. Fuck you, and I’m not little. Maybe compared to you guys, but two of you are fat asses. That’s between you and Café Du Monde.”
Gene shrugged.
“What you mean is bear. I’m a very gay bear. That’s a whole genre of kink, and my man happens to subscribe to that kind of thing. Zayn is just a fat ass. He smells like he’s got beignets tucked in his pockets as snacks, not me.”
He sighed.
Nope.
He wasn’t going there.
“I’m not engaging the crazy. I know better,” he stated, eating some cookies. “Happy little cookies. HAPPY LITTLE COOKIES,” he said, eating another.
Gene smiled.
Oh, he knew how to rile them all up.
“I love you, Jinxy. Want to get married? I just fucked Stella, but she told me no.”
Oh, there went the happy little cookies out the jet window. That hit exactly where he wanted.
Zayn growled.
“You’d think becoming a Blackhawk would make you a better person, and yet, it hasn’t. Shocking,” he stated. “You keep your dirty thoughts off my sweet Stella!”
The other man just pointed at him.
“Keep it up, gay man, and I’ll sic your husband on you. I know how to make it look like you have a porn addiction on your phone and tablet, and I’ll put literal pictures of Stella on it to make you cry.”
He laughed.
“Thanks, guys. I needed that,” he admitted. “It’s tense here.”
Yeah, they could tell.
Honestly, they all wished they could take some of that away to make it better for all of the Blackhawks.
Jinx was curious.
“Do you want them held? Or what?” she asked. “You didn’t give us the contract information. We need deets.”
That they did.
“Please say torture. Please say torture,” Eve whispered, over and over again as she covered the one uncovered ear on her little one.
They all stared at her.
“WHAT? I’m postpartum. My hormones are all over the place,” she admitted. “I need an outlet since I can’t have sex with my husband or kill anyone around me.”
Yeah, they let that go as Gene considered it. They’d had one psycho around them when Sarah had been alive before Preston had been killed. It was best not to poke the crazy.
Gene was to the point.
“We want them to die for helping Devon Slater. Interrogating won’t work.
He’s sneaky. Tech will. Oh, and this one is on me, not Elizabeth.
If you need help from a Spider, or whatever, I’ll pay him too.
Just see if we’re right. If you can get information on Devon Slater, great, but I’m betting he did all of his work by phone, and never met up with them. ”
That worked for them.
“Consider the contract initiated,” Eve said. “We’ll be in contact with the outcome. I’ll send you the name of the women’s shelter that I volunteer at.”
And by volunteer, she meant ‘get the names of the abusive husbands and make them disappear’.
But they were all good with that. If they couldn’t punch women, no one could.
Getting everything handled for Elizabeth made Gene incredibly happy.
The Hunters were working on four names to figure out who blew up the car, and who was playing with poison. The Snakes were going to handle the two mercenaries that offed Devon’s helpers, and it looked as if ALL of the loose ends would be handled.
That was a productive night in his world.
“So, as soon as we narrow down two of the four names, we’ll be going after the mad car bomber, the poison dude, and Devon?” Jagger asked.
He nodded.
“Yeah, that’s what Elizabeth is getting ready for, so expect her to ride along. Oh, and if she’s going, I’m going. Think of me as her personal security. I know for a fucking fact she’s not letting Ivan do this.”
Oh, they didn’t question that.
Elizabeth wouldn’t risk her Marines, especially if this killer already took out one, and decimated the other by way of his personal relationship.
That wasn’t happening.
Not.
On.
Her.
Watch.
Only, that posed a question.
“Are the hubs going to be okay with that?” Maura asked. “We don’t like to step on toes.”
He was to the point.