Breaking Conviction by Greer Rivers
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You fuckin’ lost him?” Dean slammed his fist on the table, rattling the coffee mug on his desk. He’d been a supervisor at AIE Securities for two years and never in his life had he been more infuriated. Even as he thought it, perfectly formed lips telling him it was over flickered across his memory.
Well, I’ve never been angrier with my job, at least.
“We’re sorry, sir,” Davis answered. “It was BlackStone, though, we’re sure of it. We had our eyes on the two assholes who are always in Original Sin, but we ain’t never seen the other guy. Maybe they got a new recruit after Vlad put down that last one.”
“He’s a scary motherfucker, too.” Benson pointed to his eyes and shook his head. “Tattoos of snakes and skulls and shit all over and eyes like ice, like he ain’t got no soul in them.”
Dean had already ground his teeth to nubs at the mention of BlackStone, but as he suffered through listening to his men fumble over their excuses, his teeth were nearly dust and his jaw ached. They were AIE Securities’ most talented officers, which is why they’d been assigned Andrew Ascot’s detail. And now they’d failed one of the biggest jobs AIE ever had.
He’d have to give Davis and Benson credit, though. They’d been beaten to all hell by trained soldiers, and Davis had been attacked by a Taser that’d been rigged to perform way above civilian legal standards for thirty fucking seconds. It’d been deployed from such a short distance that the barbs had embedded under his skin and had to be surgically removed.
“Why the fuck were y’all at a strip club in the middle of a goddamn Sunday? Y’all’d’ve been better off on your own knees at an actual confessional rather than havin’ a whore on hers.”
Benson huffed. The bruise caused by the knockout uppercut he’d taken to the jaw had swollen to the size of a baseball and Dean could tell he was talking gingerly around the pain. “The ol’ perv said he’d fire AIE if we didn’t take him. We strongly advised him against it, sir. But nobody listens to the muscle, boss.”
Dean closed his eyes and stretched his fingers as he thought. The last thing he wanted to do was report this to Vlad. He’d have to figure out a way around that. The giant Russian fucker could pop him like a zit with just his two fingers.
On top of everything, Naomi still hadn’t come home and the rejection stung like a bitch. He even missed his kid, too. Naomi’s obsession with the little girl and insistence on Thea always being around them bugged the hell out of him, but she was his own flesh and blood and the fact that Naomi had the audacity to take her from him straight-up pissed him off. Not to mention, Naomi turning on him was unexpected and the betrayal was a knife to the heart.
She had to have found another guy. That was the only explanation he could think of. Every other time they’d had a tiff, she’d stormed out all dramatic-like but eventually came crawling back. Besides him, she had no one else to turn to. Or at least that’s what he’d thought.
He’d made sure those clingy college friends of hers knew their boundaries when Naomi had Thea. And her mom was a grade A self-righteous cunt who used religion as a weapon. The fact that Captain Ward, a legend in Ashland County, ever married that shrew, was a mystery to him. Naomi was better off without any of them. But somehow she’d turned to someone who wasn’t even on his radar.
“What’re we gonna do, boss?” Davis asked.
Dean hardened his fist until his knuckles cracked. “You say BlackStone took him?”
The two men who might get him killed nodded like bobbleheads.
AIE had been contracted to do a certain job by the big boss, but got offered double from Ascot. Dean had seen the writing on the wall with Ascot, but he figured they could take the money for a while until the big boss said time was up. If Ascot was out of their hands, though, there was only one way this could all go.
“Alright, you’re dismissed.”
The men’s heads jerked in surprise before they looked at each other, then returned their gaze back at him. Fuck, they were the best in AIE, but they reminded him of damn cartoon characters sometimes.
“D-dismissed?” Benson asked. “That’s it? We can go?”
Dean narrowed his eyes and Davis nodded once before using the back of his hand to slap Benson’s chest. “That’s our cue, man.” He pointed to the door with his thumb.
“Oh right, sure. Th-thanks, boss.” Benson’s nervous stutter irritated him further, but at least the men finally shuffled out of his office. Once they were gone, Dean cradled his head in his hands before blowing out a frustrated breath.
After steadying his mind, he grabbed his phone and dialed. He hated talking on the phone, but it was best not to do this shit over text message.
“Yeah?” The man was shouting over the loud bass, his Southern accent already dripping with liquor. “Whatcha want, asshole?”
Dean gritted his teeth. They’d known each other for a while and had developed a mutual amount of equal parts disdain and respect. It was hard to be a double, sometimes triple, agent. The man on the other end probably was one of the few people Dean knew that could totally relate.
“I need info on BlackStone’s facility.”
“Ah, so you’ve heard, then.” The music faded and Dean imagined him closing the door to one of the club’s private rooms. Sometimes Dean wondered why the guy didn’t just rent one out to live in. He was certainly there enough.
“Yeah, my men just told me.”
“Shit, dude, yeah, she’s practically shackin’ up with Snake—”
Dean’s heart stopped cold and he interrupted with a whisper. “What’re you talkin’ about?”
There was a pause. “Oh, so you don’t know? Interestin’. Well, I’m sure you can puzzle out the pieces yourself, for now.”
Dean felt the phone crack under the pressure in his hand. “Is Naomi at BlackStone?” How his voice came out so calm, he had no idea. Inside, he was a boiling vat of oil, ready to maim anyone who tipped him over the edge.
The pause told him everything he needed to know. He’d have to figure that situation out for himself, it seemed.
“I’m callin’ about Ascot,” he pivoted.
“Ah, right. Yeah, what’s the angle with that? I know Vlad’s got you on that job. I thought that was why we couldn’t find him at first. But it was your men who got beat up today. So what the fuck’s the deal?” Each word was more slurred than the next. Some guys just couldn’t handle their liquor.
“Yeah, well, it seems one job’s gone south, so I’m resortin’ to the other. I doubt Ascot’s gonna come outta that facility alive and we need to control that situation to get the cut.”
“I dunno, man. We good guys don’t kill people, you know. He might get let go.”
Dean scoffed. “It’s hilarious you still think you’re one of the good guys.”
“Hey now, I’m an opportunist, and opportunities are a good thing. Speakin’ of which, what’s in this for me?”
“Don’t wanna do somethin’ outta the goodness of your own black heart, huh?”
The laughter on the other line was loud and genuine. “Nope. I left that life a couple years ago, man. Tried it. Realized money was better. After what Vlad’s promised me, I ain’t never goin’ back.”
“Well, how ‘bout this. If you help me, and this goes good, I’ll tell Vlad the extent of your involvement.”
“Hm… what if it goes bad?”
Once Dean told Vlad his plan, there was no way the Russian wouldn’t lend a helping hand. When Vlad was involved, shit got fucking done. Fuck, he might even be scarier than the boss man himself. Dean wasn’t worried about that, but the other guy obviously was.
“Well then, I’ll tell Vlad the extent of your involvement… and maybe make you sound extra liable with a few lil’ white lies.”
“And if I don’t help at all? I’ve got a pretty good gig goin’ right now, my dude.”
Dean chuckled. “We both know you’re not gonna do that. You get high on the risks.”
The man on the other end grumbled. “Fine, fucker. I’ll do it, but this better not blow back on me. I’ve got it good right now.”
“Can’t promise anything, asshole. Except, if Naomi is at BlackStone, I’mma remedy that real quick.”
The guy huffed out a gruff laugh. “Who knows? Maybe you can kill two birds with one stone. Later.”
The call ended and Dean stared at the black screen. It was an idea. Good or bad, he wasn’t sure yet. He’d have to investigate. Until then, he’d try another avenue first. If that failed, well, there was always a plan B.
Two birds. One bomb.
