Page 47 of Ruthless

He’d received a message from her yesterday in response to his text that he was going on an OZ op. She hadn’t asked where or why. She’d just said, Stay safe.

He supposed he’d take that as a good sign that she wanted him to stay alive, and yes, he was scraping the bottom for anything positive.

“Gideon, you read me?”

“Loud and clear, Ash.”

“Lopez just left his hotel room. Should be arriving within the next five minutes.”

“Copy that. I’ll let you know when I see him.”

“So what’s going on with you and Eve?”

He’d been expecting that question. Was surprised it had taken Ash this long to ask. Unfortunately, he still didn’t have a good answer.

“She asked for space. I’m giving it to her.”

“All right,” Ash said slowly. “What does that mean?”

“Not sure she’s going to be able to get past the lie I told her.”

A harsh huff of exasperation came through the earbud. “What Eve finally found out is that you’re as human as anyone else.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means she’s put you so far up on a pedestal that you had no choice but to fall at some point.”

Was that really how Eve had seen him? Had he been so careful to be the best partner and friend he could be that she didn’t know the real him? He was definitely no saint. Had she not known that he was just as flawed and screwed up as the rest of the world’s population? If not, she sure knew that now.

Gideon grunted his disgust. “If that’s the case, I made a gigantic splash when I fell.”

“You’ll work it out. Never seen two people more in tune with each other.”

He’d felt that way, too. From the moment they’d started working with each other, they’d clicked like they’d been together for years.

But now they needed to learn to work together without all the secrets. He refused to believe that wasn’t possible.

“Okay, guys,” Ash said. “Here we go.”

Gideon spotted the Bugatti rolling up in front of the restaurant. A gargantuan bodyguard emerged from the front seat, glanced around, and then opened the back door. Alfredo Lopez slowly emerged from the vehicle. Standing about five eight on a good day, the elderly arms dealer looked as though he would barely be able to walk up the five steps to the restaurant. Something had to be mighty important for the sickly old criminal to come out for a meeting.

Xavier and Jazz were inside. Since the restaurant was closed to any other customers, they’d had no choice but to improvise. Xavier was posing as a newly hired busboy, and Jazz was working as a bartender. OZ had known about this upcoming meeting for a little over a week and had scrambled to get everyone in place.

It was good to see Jazz McAlister and Xavier Quinn back and working regular OZ ops. Jazz was still searching for her brother, but the trail had gone cold. Until another lead popped up, they were back with the team.

“Lopez just walked in,” Jazz said softly. “Poor guy looks like he’s on his last leg.”

That was a good description. Word was that Lopez was not long for this world. So what would make a dying man show up to a meeting? Or rather, who would make a dying man show up? They had yet to confirm the identity of the person he was meeting. Right now, their assignment was to observe.

Ash was posted on a park bench across the street from the restaurant. He had the best vantage point of seeing who else arrived. Their intel had said the meeting would be at one o’clock, but it was now five after, and no one else had appeared. Both Xavier and Jazz had checked the building thoroughly when they’d arrived, and other than the kitchen and waitstaff, no others were there.

Was the other person late, or was something else afoot?

“I’m getting a bad feeling about this, Ash,” Gideon growled.

“Yeah, me, too,” Ash said. “Jazz, what’s Lopez doing?”

“He’s checking his watch and looking around the restaurant. I think he’s thinking the same thing we are.”