A burly guy in a purple button-down got out of the driver’s side of the SUV and posted near the front bumper as two other men exited on either side of the back. Jonah noted their positions, then focused on the town car, waiting. The driver got out of it and moved to the back door, one hand on the handle to open it before he paused and put his cellphone to his ear, glancing down the alley.
“Holy shit!”
Jonah flinched at the sound of Cas’s voice. “Cas, Jesus. Don’t—”
“That’s the guy who was at Briar’s apartment!”
Jonah tore his gaze away from the scope and stared at Cas, who had the fucking binoculars up to his face. “Put those—wait, which one?”
“The one in the blue shirt who just got out.”
Jonah peered back through the scope. Blue Shirt now stood next to Purple Shirt. White Shirt hung back near the rear of the SUV, and the driver of the town car had put his phone away and was now opening the back door. A tall, olive-skinned man in a suit emerged—Jonah’s target.
“Put the fucking binoculars down and be quiet now.”
“But—”
“Cas,now.”
The mix of demand and plea in Jonah’s voice must’ve gotten through because Cas went quiet. But now Jonah’s blood was racing with fire and fury, his attention split between his target and the guy who’d tried to kill Cas. He’d have to fucking deal with that later, though.
Gritting his teeth, he filled his lungs and tried to staunch the noise before he fucked this up.
The town car’s driver moved away, and Jonah’s target started forward, a hand extended toward Purple Shirt. Jonah fired twice, cursed, then fired twice more.
“Time to go,” he told Cas, already snapping the tripod closed as he stood.
Cas leapt into action, packing up his stuff in a flurry of movement as Jonah broke down the gun and erased their presence on the roof. He’d allotted five minutes for this part, but they were back at the car in three and half.
Jonah tore off his t-shirt and mopped his brow with it, then blasted the AC as they took off in the opposite direction. Cas didn’t say a damn word through any of it, and Jonah was grateful for that. But he could feel Cas watching him.
“We drop this rental off, and I’ll make a call,” Jonah said, once they were idling at a stop light five miles away. “I need you to be quiet when that happens, okay?”
Cas gave another mute nod then bit his lip.
Jonah knew that look. “What?”
“You fired four times.” He angled in the front seat, staring at Jonah. “Did you miss?”
Jonah tilted the AC vent so it hit his face straight on. Frigid air washed over his forehead and cascaded down his chest. He let his eyes fall shut just for a moment. “Yeah, I missed the first time.”
Once he returned the rental car, he pulled onto a side street to make the call.
“What the fuck was that?” the voice hissed in greeting, and even the modulating app couldn’t disguise the anger in his tone.
Jonah’s gaze strayed to Cas, who was fiddling with his phone but undoubtedly attuned to every word.
Jonah kicked open the driver’s side door and paced down the sidewalk a couple of yards before replying. “Operator error.”
“Bullshit. How many jobs have you done for me, and every single one of them pristine? Now you want me to believe you accidentally double-tapped another man?”
“Wow,” Jonah deadpanned. “Word travels fast. Unless—” He paused and reconsidered before making an overt accusation. “I completed the contract as requested.”
“So I should just consider the other guy a bonus? You just made a fucking mess for me to clean up is what you did.”
Jonah kept quiet. There wasn’t much else to say. By the instructions he’d been given, his contact probably intended to frame the crew in the SUV, which wouldn’t exactly work now that a man from either side had a .308 in their skulls and torsos. So, yeah, Jonah had made a mess.
“If I’d known you were going to do that, I’d have just had you take out every single one of them. Would’ve saved me a big fucking headache in the long run.” The voice on the other end of the line made a sound like a sigh. “I’m not paying you, and if I can’t clean this up, I’ll make sure it comes down on you.”
