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“I bring in the job, vet the person paying, insulate you from the transaction, and will have your back if you’re stupid enough to get caught.”
He appreciated how she laid that all out for him. “Ten grand.”
“Five.”
“Let’s just settle on eight. For now. Or you’ll have to get one of the others to do your bidding.” He wondered why she had come to him and not one of the others in the club who were more... malleable.
“The others aren’t like you. Spike saw how calm and collected you were with the mark and the unexpected addition of the brother-in-law the other night. He vouched for you. I know you served time for assault and other nefarious things.”
Viper had been a bad boy. At least on paper.
“But you also got off on an attempted-murder charge.”
He gave her a smug look. “They didn’t have any evidence I did it.”
She raised that brow at him again. “Exactly. You only got caught for that assault because of a hidden camera.”
“Fucking technology.”
“Do we have a deal?”
He stared at her for a long moment, then nodded once. “Yes. When does this have to be done? I’ve got a small job going in Willow Fork.”
“You’re going to have to cancel it. This job is in Salt Lake. You need to leave today. You can scope out the place tonight, do the job tomorrow night, then drive back.”
“Are you coming with me?”
She gave him a sultry grin, then shook her head. “You’ll meet the client, collect the money, do the job, then come back.”
“With twenty grand, I could afford not to come back.”
“Who said it’s twenty?” Thegotchalook didn’t become her.
But he took it in stride. “How much is the job?”
“Fifty. Unlike the last guy, this one has money and wants the job done fast.” She handed him a burner phone and headed for the door, smugness written all over her face. “I know this is the last time you won’t get the details up front before we negotiate, but God it feels good to best you.” She turned back before she opened the door. “I’ll text you the details. The only communication I want back is a text saying it’s done. When you return”—she glanced at the bed behind him—“we’ll celebrate.”
The second the door closed he breathed easier, then glanced at the shelf by the window and the hidden camera recording everything. He picked up his phone off the table and stopped the audio recording on it, too. Ever cautious, he liked to have a backup just in case.
He sent the audio to his brother, then went to the linen closet, pulled out the folded blanket on the bottom shelf, pried open the panel at the back, revealing the hidden compartment and the laptop connected to the video feed. “I love technology.”
He pulled up the video file, cut it to show Maria’s arrival and their conversation all the way to her leaving him, then sent it to his brother, too.
He pulled out the cell phone he kept hidden with the laptop and texted Nick.
VIPER:I just got hired to do a job. Meeting client for payment tonight. Salt Lake City.
VIPER:I’ll make contact once I’m on the road.
He hated to leave now, but he didn’t have a choice. He’d collect the payment, arrest the asshole who wanted someone killed, have the FBI make it look like the victim bit the dust tomorrow, then show up back here with the money for Maria and find out how she was setting up the jobs and shut her down. This would finally be over.
Three days. Maybe a week.
Then he could have his life back. He could be with Lyric. Everything would be normal again. No more hiding. No more lies. He could be himself once more.
He could give Lyric everything she wanted and have everything he wanted with her.
All he had to do was leave her for a few days.
