Agitated, I jostled my knee as I waited for their response.
Alfio: Nah, boss. Been quiet
Ciro: Barely anything happening at the front of house.
“My men say they haven’t seen her.”
Dead To Me sneered at my blast of temper. “They wouldn’t know their ass cracks from a toe crack.”
Luc pulled a face. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“She’s there. They have more than one entrance, genius.”
Jaw working, I typed:
Me: We’re incoming. Await ETA and further instruction upon our arrival.
Alfio: Sure thing, boss
Ciro:
“What’s with the gift bag, and did you have to put it in the middle of the road?” I snapped, eager to burn off some of my aggression.
She settled into the seat stiffly, making me think her injuries were worse than they appeared. “That’s the last one I’ll ever send.”
“And are we the targets?” I cracked my knuckles. “Because I don’t have time to fight with you?—”
“As if you could.” She sniffed. “You’d be dead already. No, it’s afuck youto the universe.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about someone thinking theycould kill me!”she shrieked. Luciu and I shared a glance at her unusually hysterical tone, but she ignored us, grimacing as she snagged a bottle of water from the mini fridge back here. “Star told me to look after your woman. I leave no job unfinished.”
“I’m confused. Explain it to me like I’m five.”
“No. I’ll explain dick, Stan. The brothel has a dry cleaner’s front. We need to get past six guards in there. They technically work at the cleaners but they’re grunts?—”
“How big is this brothel?” Luciu queried, perplexed. “Why do they require such a heavy guard out front?”
“Because the brothel isn’t just a brothel.” Her expression made stone look malleable. “They hold auctions in the basement and other,alternativeentertainments.”
Disapproval laced the explanation so I assumed the obvious: “Skin auctions?”
The stone turned to obsidian. “Worse.” Her prevarication when Dead To Me never prevaricated immediately put me on edge. “The least of their sins is an underground fighting ring based out of there?—”
“You’re shitting me!”
Her second sniff would give a lesser man frostbite. “Big prizes for a big reason—they fight nasty.”
Luc fiddled with his signet ring. “How the hell have we never heard about a fighting ring?”
“Your circle is more upper crust than mine. Plus, your fronts are for a reason—it’s about skimming from the rich.”
I countered, “We have massive holes in our intel if we’re not hearing about this.”
“It’s a small but rich circle. I keep my eye on it, and well, you’ll find out why soon enough.” She folded her arms across her chest then winced and set her hands on her lap. The number of lacerations had me cringing on her behalf.
I had to give her credit for wanting in on this when firing a gun would be agonizing with those injuries.
