Jonah nodded. “It would explain why they were so willing to put a six-figure contract on your head.”
“True, but it doesn’t tell us how to get that contract off my head,” Cas reminded him.
Jonah kissed Cas’s forehead. “We could fake your death. Say the thumb drive was nowhere to be found.”
Cas shook his head vehemently. “But that doesn’t solve anything. These people are monsters. They’re raping and enslaving women and children. They need to pay for their crimes.”
“So, we turn them in? Anonymously slip the Feds the thumb drive?”
Cas scoffed. “Do you think our government will let this sort of information go public? They’ll bury it. Our government doesn’t care about trafficking. They have kids in cages. Immigrants go missing all the time. You know they can’t be trusted.”
“So, what do you suggest?” Jonah asked, his exasperation evident.
Cas heaved a huge sigh. “I honestly don’t know.”
“We’ll think of something,” Jonah promised, but his voice held just enough doubt to make Cas worry.
26
Jonah
“Pritka agreed.” Sadie came back into the apartment and kicked the door shut behind her. The incredulous expression on her face remained as she tucked her phone away.
“And you said exactly what I told you to?”
“Yes, Jonah,” she said in a bored monotone. “I caught wind of the bounty on Cas’s head and wanted in on the action. And I want double the current bounty for taking care of the Turkish guy, too. We meet Thursday at The Salem. He’s going to call you sometime today and give you another job to get you ‘out of the way’ so I can do Cas.”
Jonah huffed out a breath, then nodded. “Unexpected, but fine.” He didn’t like the idea of leaving Cas’s side, not with everything that had transpired.
“No, it’s good. It makes sense, and it means he bought it.” Sadie went into the kitchen and rummaged around the fridge.
“Hold on, hold on.” Cas popped up from the couch and rested his chin on the back, looking between Jonah and Sadie. “This guy really believes you’d betray Jonah after he came back for you that time?”
Cas had lodged this complaint earlier, and Jonah had tried to explain the uniquely complex nature of his relationship with Sadie, but maybe it was better to just let her handle this one.
Sadie grinned and then said in her typical blunt fashion, “I shot Jonah once when he got in my way on a job.”
“She did.” Jonah pulled down the edge of his collar to show Cas the scar. “We didn’t speak for a while after that.”
“I apologized!AndJonah put a knife through my hand when we were working the same job once.” Sadie held up her left palm. “Can hardly see the scars now, yeah?”
“Great, I’m really looking forward to a nice family Christmas together.” Cas rolled his eyes.
“I don’t do holidays, sweetie. You’re safe.”
“So, how do we knowyouwon’t actually betray us, though? It’s a lot of money.”
“You don’t, necessarily. You’ll just have to operate on blind faith.” She flashed Cas a short-lived grin and then sobered, gaze flicking toward Jonah. “There’s a tiny hitch, though. He wants physical proof. Cas’s hand, his head if I’m feeling really ambitious—which I’m not. Necks are a bitch to get through. A video of his death. Those were my options.”
“Shit,” Jonah swore. Over the years, Pritka required less and less proof of death from both of them. He should’ve anticipated he’d want more in this case, though. He thought for a second. “Eyes?” Any morgue might be able to provide a reasonable match for the right price.
“Nope. Just those three. Very specific.”
“But if you and Jonah are just going to kill this guy, can’t you just take an empty box or something and say my head’s in there?” Cas winced. “Jesus, this is kind of a morbid subject.”
“No.” Jonah stopped pacing long enough to thread his fingers through Cas’s hair, smoothing back the strands, in an attempt at being reassuring. “It’s got to be something viable. Sadie might be pre-screened going in. What about a video? We could use the warehouse. Set up a camera at just the right angle and somehow create the illusion…” He stopped short and gestured vaguely. He knew next to fucking nothing aboutnotactually killing someone.
“What, magic me to death? Was that what that handwave was, Houdini?” Cas mimicked the handwave but added a little extra flair, and Jonah laughed in spite of himself.
