Page 66 of Desperate Victory
When I was with Lainey, we drove all over the city. She had a driver. She had a bodyguard—thoughts about that prick were probably better left undisturbed. The fact Karagiani had her in close quarters for so long and hadn’t done anything, was something of a miracle.
A flash of movement across the street mirrored my own path. I didn’t make a big deal of looking. Not when I could see Jasper clear as day in the reflection in the glass window of a closed store. Not a lot of missing real estate out here, but some of these shops had been closed for a while.
It was another part of King’s business plan to gentrify. Drive the residents out and the prices down. Keep retail out until the building owners were practically hemorrhaging money, then sweep in for a save. He would pick up the properties at a steal, and flip them for quite a bit more.
A disgusting process that made solid business sense, but disgusting where human compassion and common decency stood. My phone rang as I cleared another block and I slid it out of my pocket. Jasper’s name flashed on the screen with his middle finger.
Snorting at the image, I grinned. Freddie must have pocketed my phone at some point this week. I would have to check the other contact images to see what other surprises he set up. For now, I hit answer on the phone. “Bored?”
“Not particularly. I am freezing my nuts off in this wind. How much further before you show me the top secret new clubhouse?”
I shook my head, chuckling. “It’s not a top secret clubhouse, just a little personal renovation project. Future investment and planning.”
“Raptor,” Jasper said, his tone suddenly sober and serious. “I hate to break this to you, but you don’t have enough time to match your girlfriend’s bank account or the other boyfriends for that matter. I’d say you need to focus on what you bring to the table and accept your fate as a kept man.”
“Fuck you,” I told him cheerfully. “One more block, then I’ll cross toward you and we’ll head east.”
His laughter carried over the phone. “Got it.” Then he ended the call. One block later, I crossed at the corner and headed down a different street. Fortunately, this block offered something of a shield against the wind slicing down between the building. Which was good, cause my nose was fucking numb as hell.
Jasper fell into step with me. He had a cigarette lit and the familiar trail of bluish, tobacco smoke wreathed him periodically before the breeze would snatch it away. The smoking was a bad habit that he’d never kicked and frankly, I didn’t think he wanted to.
We were all a little fucked up. Some of us were a lot fucked up. If he wanted to smoke, he got to smoke. Lighting cigarettes gave him an excuse to check behind us. I paused closer to the building than the street.
“Light one for me?”
He paused, glanced behind us then made a show of patting himself down. Then we huddled to block the breeze while he lit the cigarette. I made a face at the taste but only lipped it.
“We’re clear. Pretty sure we lost the babysitters before you took the train halfway around the city.”
I chuckled. “There are a lot of different lines. Still trying to learn them all.” I turned us down a pathway into the underground garage. The boom gates were both closed and their pathways were marked red, but they weren’t actually preventing anyone from walking in. “Sometimes the best way to learn is to just get lost and figure it out.”
“Makes sense.” Of course, Jasper got it. “Big fucking city though.”
Yes, it was. Lainey and the guys occupied the upper echelons. They knew everyone worth knowing and a few more besides. I had a feeling Bodhi had more of a feel for the street as well, but it wasn’t his focus. I wanted to know everything. Hard to prevent trouble if you didn’t cover all the ways it could come at you.
The path down followed a curve. The concrete pavement was discolored by years of vehicles coming and going. By the first turn, the sound from the street behind faded along with the breeze. At the second curve, I turned toward the door that was tucked away there and opened it, letting Jasper inside before we closed it and then waited by the grimy window.
“Ah,” Jasper said with a long slow sigh as he extinguished his cigarette then mine. “The good old days of paranoia and keeping one eye firmly over our shoulders.”
“You make it sound like we’ve had new days where we don’t.” I raised my brows at him but he only shrugged, that faint smirk back on his face.
“Every now and then,” Jasper said. “But you know, I don’t mind it like I used to.”
“You never minded it,” I pointed out before heading deeper into the service hallway and taking the stairs up into the building above. The door was locked behind us so even if we had someone following us, they’d have to break the door to get in. That would set off an alarm.
Still, Jasper was right. Paranoia fit like a well-worn jacket and my favorite pair of shoes. At the first floor, I entered the code to unlock the door. It buzzed when it opened. Mickey J turned from where he was standing in the middle of the gutted floor, a cup of coffee in hand. The smell of fresh brewed carried.
“You two are late,” Mickey said as we crossed to join him.
“Milo wanted to go fishing on the way here. Sadly, no bites.” Jasper rubbed his hands together to warm them before he poured himself a cup. “I thought Liam was going to show up for this one.”
“Later,” Mickey said, then fixed a look on me. “Where’s your head?”
“Where I need it to be.” I waited for Jasper to finish then got my own cup. “We have three of his men here. He’s going to know someone grabbed them. So whatever details they have are likely to be thin.”
“If he’s kept anything of his security since making you move in, after you moved out, then he’s an idiot,” Jasper said. “Of course, I don’t mind if he wants to be an idiot. I will happily take a baseball bat to his head and close that chapter.”
“I know you would, but Ivy’s still on the fence.” Not that she didn’t hate him, but it was harder for her to make that call where King was concerned.