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I glance out the window. A black car pulls up, windows tinted, back door opening. “Get in,” Imelda says, but I’m already dropping the phone.
I yank open the shop door and dive into the car. It sets off an instant later as I pull myself upright. Imelda is sitting on the far seat, watching me with an expression of wry amusement on her face. “Quite the pickle,” she says, shaking her head. “But don’t worry. I’ve got something that will sort it all out for you.”
“What?”
She pulls out an envelope and hands it to me. “It’s a big one. Pull it off and you’ll earn enough to forget about the fire. The sniper was just to make sure you say yes, apparently. Enough in this to retire. One last job and then you’re a free man. How does that sound?”
“What’s the catch?”
“Other than if you refuse, you go down for Trevor’s murder and get shanked inside?”
“Get to the point.”
“Well, you wouldn’t earn the big bucks if it wasn’t a tough one.”
“A tough one? Two years learning to walk again, Imelda.”
“It wasn’t my fault you got shot in Ukraine was it? I told you he was guarded.”
“You never told me the guy would have a fucking army of mercs at his disposal.”
“I had no clue, I swear.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you want, but when have I ever fucked you over?”
I wipe my face with my hand, doing my best not to overreact. “What’s the job?”
“An untouchable.”
I drop the envelope like it’s on fire. “Then it’s a no go. Are you kidding me?”
“Paying a lot extra to go off the books on this one.”
“Since when do you go off the books? Is this not a legit assignment?”
“All you need to know is she’s a mafia princess who’s gone missing. You kill her and bring back a safe deposit key, along with her right index finger.”
“Whoever’s trying to get into her shit is going to struggle to walk into a bank with a severed finger for the print scanner.”
“Vincenzo Marino’s bank.”
“Even a mob bank will notice the finger isn’t attached to its owner anymore.”
“Leave problems like that to the client. You just focus on getting the job done.”
“I never said I’d do the job. You’re asking me to violate the one sacred rule that you drummed into me from the very start. No untouchables. Ever.”
She picks up the envelope and puts it in my lap like it’s a cat curling up to sleep. “Your salvation lies in that envelope,” she says. “Trust me on this one.” The way she says the words gets me thinking. There’s more to this than she’s telling me.
“I won’t do it,” I tell her, passing the envelope back. “No untouchables.”
“You don’t do it. Someone else will for less money. You’ll be back where you started. No chance of buying Isobel back. Two more years gone by Jack. How many has she got left before she’s no memory of you at all?”
“Don’t mention her name in front of me.”
“Look at the assignment before you get all self righteous. Please.”
