I shake my head. “Just tell me about the task, asswipe.”
“You do realize that I’m quite older than you, don’t you?”
“It hasn’t put you out of business yet, so I don’t think I quite care.”
He snorts and leans back against the driver’s side of his SUV. “Same-night kills,” he begins, then folds his arms in front of himself. “All 3 of them have been accused of trafficking women to remote islands and high-pay buyers around the world for prostitution and slavery.”
My hands clench inside my pockets after I hear that. “And the kidnapped women?”
Solo sighs. “Mostly of Asian descent. Their ages vary from anywhere between 16 to 35.”
“Fucking dipshits,” I hiss.
“I agree.” Solo clicks his tongue again. “Locations for most of these trafficked women have been attained, so all you have to do is end the fuckers.”
I nod. “Names?”
“Andres Salazar, Rizwana Hafeez, and Tomas Aetos.”
All of them are elites, to no one’s surprise.
I rub a hand over my jaw. “Place? I’m assuming there’s a reason why it’s a same-night kill.”
Solo’s eyes gleam as he hums. “Miranda Adler is hosting a charity ball atImperiathis Saturday, and all 3 of our kills have already RSVP’d for it.”
I keep my expression neutral as I look at him, but the wayhe’slooking back at me, it’s like he’s reading me; seeing right through me.
Imperiais a Michelin Star hotel that both Cignette’s mom, and her uncle, own. It’s just another show of power from those 2; the place could go up in flames and no one would care, not even them.
“Acharityball?” I muse. “Since when does Miranda do those?”
Solo laughs airily. “Since she was advised to do so.” He lifts a shoulder. “It’s basically a posh ploy to soft-launch her new clothing collection. She’d recently held an exclusive gathering to promote her casualwear crap, if you remember. Hosting another one so soon would only irate her peers, so she’s masking this promotional shindig under the guise of charity. All the influencers and celebrities who are ambassadors forLure, will be there, so you’ll have quite an audience to evade.”
“Interesting.” I tilt my head to the right. “Who’s ordered the kills anyway? For someone who wants not 1, but 3 elites dead, our client must be quite special.”
“Oh, Dor,” Solo says, then chuckles. “That’s the best part of it all.” He pushes away from his car and takes a step toward me. “Our client is Miranda’s latest boy-toy, Waleed Najimi. And, before you ask: yes, he’s paying enough for the killsandfor the cleanup, and yes, him and his team were the ones who located the trafficked women and learnt of Andres, Rizwana, and Tomas’s involvement in the act. And finally, yes, he decided to associate himself with Miranda merely to get close to our kills, and nothing more.”
I whistle. “Bold.”
“And rich asfuck,” Solo adds. “He’s 25, an heir to a petrol and oil company in Abu Dhabi, and respects women way too much to let this pass, not when he knows he can put an end to it.”
“And yet, he’s using a woman to get what he wants,” I point out.
Solo waves a dismissive hand in front of his face. “Miranda Adler can hardly be labeled as a woman, let alone a dignified one.”
“But she’s got the money, the status, and the connections.”
Solo gives me an exasperated look. “It shouldn’t matter to us.”
“I’m just trying to understand shit here.”
He runs his fingers through his styled hair. “Do you have a plan, or what, kid? Because that’s the only thing that matters.”
I nod again. “Varsha’ll get rid of Rizwana first. That way, we’ll get the noisy fuss outta the way. I’ll take on Andres, and Jayce and Alex can work on Tomas.”
Solo looks impressed, as if he’s never seen me device a plan so quickly before. “I like it; you distributed the kills precisely.”
I give him a quick wink. “You’ve taught me well.”
