Page 27 of No Merciful Corruption

He lifts a finger. “Tochno, krasivaya devochka.”

My friend frowns. “What does that mean?”

“If we tell them about the gun, then we’ll have to hand it over.” Damiano says.

“I don’t see how that’d be a problem. Li’s dead and Dahlia no longer needs it as leverage against him.” Rian lifts his good shoulder. “We don’t need it anymore.”

Lyss presses her lips together. “I don’t know…this feels a little complicated.”

“If we go with that story, they’re going to pin those other bodies on us.” I say. “Or did everyone else forget?”

“Don’t worry about the other bodies,” Damiano pulls out his phone. “I think I know a guy.”

Sasha squints. “You know a guy?”

Damiano throws his arms open with a sigh of exasperation. “Look at our line of work, we all know a guy.”

Alejandro frowns. “Why do we have to use your guy?”

Both Sasha and Damiano look his way.

“I know a guy too.”

Damiano lifts a disbelieving brow at Alejandro. “You know a guy?”

“Yes.”

“In New York?”

“I was born here you know.”

“But you weren’t raised here.” He parries.

“Which makes you a fake New Yorker,” Sasha adds.

Alejandro turns to face him. “You were born in Moscow.”

He gives his head a shake. “Not the same. It’s different.”

“Oh really? How’s it different?”

“Well, for one, I actually know how to take the train without ending up in New Rochelle.”

“That was one time⁠—”

Lyss’s brows pull together and she leans over to whisper, “How the Hell did he end up in New Rochelle?”

“I don’t know…are there even trains up there?” I reply.

She shrugs in response. “Beats me. I’ve never been anywhere a MetroCard couldn’t take me.”

“All right,” Rian interrupts. “Enough. Are we all on the same page here? Because I have work to do.”

Sasha grabs his coat from the back of Lyss’s barstool. “I’m heading to the office. Do you need me to drop you off at work?”

“Shit,” Lyss grabs her phone and hops down from her seat. “Do you mind? I took the morning off but I need to be there before my boss gets back from lunch.”

My head snaps around so fast that when I find Alejandro, he has to fake a cough to hide his laughter. Either we’ve stepped into The Twilight Zone or something’s going on between Lyss and Sasha because this is the first time I’ve ever seen them exchange more than a handful of words.