It was the most thorough search Raider had ever endured. Finally, the guy straightened up and moved back behind the bar. “I think you owe me dinner now,” Raider called after him. “And maybe a yacht.”
A door at the far end of the bar opened, and Eddie Coonan motioned Raider forward.
Raider avoided the deep breath he needed to take, striding toward the mob boss. The four guys at the counter didn’t turn, but the bartender watched him with no expression on his boulder-sized face. As a deterrent in the bar, that guy was better than any baseball bat or shotgun.
“Welcome,” Eddie said, looking Raider up and down. “Getting blown up doesn’t seem to have hurt you.”
Raider forced a grin. “We jumped out. The swim was more of a pain than the missile.” He frowned. “Where’d you get missiles, anyway?”
“I’m a man of many secrets,” Eddie said, moving aside. “Why don’t you come on back?”
Well. This was either going to be a smooth plan or a very painful disaster. Raider walked beyond the fortified door, surprised to see an ordinary-looking back room with a round poker table in the middle, just like old times when there would be secret poker parties for big money. He paused and looked back at Eddie as he closed the door. “You still play poker?”
“Yep.” Eddie secured three locks and then punched in numbers on a keypad. “You play?”
“Yeah.” Maybe that would be another way in if he survived the next hour. Raider memorized the layout. There were three closed doors, one each in the remaining walls—the farthest one probably was an exit to outside. “You run your entire operation out of here?” He had to get into those other rooms somehow.
The first door opened, and Jonny P walked out. His chin lifted. “I still say we just shoot him.”
Eddie scowled. “That’s probably gonna happen. What does Josh think?”
Jonny shrugged. “He hasn’t said.”
Eddie chuckled. “I know. I was just kidding.” He escorted Raider to the nearest closed door, used another keypad, and pushed it open. “Josh doesn’t offer up much unless we ask. I like that about him. Come this way.”
Raider followed Eddie and kept his hands loose in case he needed to fight, but how the heck was he going to get out of there? The doors all had keypads. He’d known Eddie had stepped it up in the tech department, but he hadn’t realized how much. Could Brigid hack those doors? Probably. But she’d still be too much leverage for Eddie to use, and they’d made the right call in leaving her at headquarters, even though she hadn’t been happy about it.
Eddie’s office held a cherrywood desk with green marble center, thick leather chairs, and a fish tank that took up the entire wall behind him. Odd paperweights, including a bronzed brick, cluttered the desk along with a laptop that had been pushed to the side. He took a seat behind his desk and gestured for Raider to sit.
Jonny P entered behind Raider and shut the door, his armed presence adding weight to the atmosphere.
Raider sat and angled his head to better see the many black piranhas in the tank. “Is that a shark?” he asked.
“There are two sharks; they’re usually at the bottom swimming around. I just fed them all goldfish, so they’re fat and happy at the moment. Where’s my journal?” Eddie asked.
The air behind Raider heated as Jonny shuffled closer with the scrape of a boot. Raider reached into his jacket and pulled out half of the journal to hand over, along with two cassette tapes and one picture of Eddie with the future senator.
Eddie reached for the journal and flipped it over. “You actually cut it in two.”
“Right down the middle.” Raider kept his accent in place and leaned over to point. “I used steam to loosen the glue and then just pried it apart. Unfortunately, much of your business with the future senator is in the second half. The first half mainly deals with your father, God rest his soul.”
“Did you make a copy?” Eddie drawled.
“Nope. Told you I wouldn’t,” Raider lied, smiling.
“Right.” Eddie looked at the first half of the journal. “Information is power, my friend.”
Jonny P clamped a hand on Raider’s shoulder. “Let me have five minutes with him and a blowtorch. I’ll get the other half.”
Eddie studied him, his eyes bloodshot. Had he been playing poker late? “It’s an idea.”
Raider shoved off Jonny’s bony hand. “It is an idea, and one I already thought of.” He gave Eddie an “aw shucks” expression. “A loyal friend named Roscoe has the other evidence, and I ordered him to take it somewhere I’d never consider.” He folded his hands on his jeans, making sure to move his head enough that the diamond camera caught the entire room. “Roscoe is good at hiding things.”
Jonny P coughed. “Within an hour, I could have you calling Roscoe with new orders.”
“Well, now, that’s the problem.” Raider kept his attention focused on Eddie. “Roscoe doesn’t like phones and has no intention of checking in for a month. I truly have no clue where he is.” He smiled and forced himself to appear calm and not ready to rip out Jonny’s trachea. “So, best idea? How about we get to work? There’s a lot of money to be made.”
Eddie’s nostrils widened in his already wide face. “Can’t decide. Either we should just kill you now and take our chances, or maybe we’d make good business partners.” He spun a letter opener on his desk.
