“How many crates?” I ask.
“Encrypted card readers. Panels. Control modules. But they shouldn’t be too much for us to grab and go,” Vito says.
He nods at the warehouse.
“They were supposed to install them at that new club before the weekend,” he continues. “The one that’s going to start pulling our VIPs. They like that shit. Makes them feel untouchable.”
I don’t answer, because I don’t need to. I know exactly what kind of doors those systems get bolted onto.
Doors with my VIPs behind them. I won’t let that happen.
Which means we take it before it gets where it’s going.
I stare at the loading bay.
Nothing moves.
The sun keeps shining.
It’s almost insulting.
A minute passes. Then another.
Vito shifts, restless. He’s always been like that. All heat and impulse and muscle. Where I can sit still for hours and not blink if that’s what the job requires, he burns through patience like gasoline.
He drums his fingers once against the steering wheel, then stops when I look at his hands.
“Relax,” he says, like he isn’t the one vibrating.
“I am relaxed,” I answer.
He snorts.
“Sure.”
We sit in silence long enough that the quiet starts to feel like a second layer of pressure.
My phone buzzes once in my pocket. I don’t pull it out.
It makes me think of Erica, and the look on her face when she got my message.
I force it back into a smaller corner of my mind. Later. Not here.
Not while we’re watching a warehouse for a shipment that needs to disappear.
But tonight… tonight I’ll have her all to myself. No close neighbors means she can scream and beg and plead as loud as she wants to.
Vito turns his head toward me like he’s been waiting for the silence to loosen something.
“You know your girl was all hot and bothered today, right?” he says.
I don’t move.
I keep my eyes on the warehouse.
I pull in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Vito grins like he’s proud of himself.
