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Dominic raises his eyebrows. “Man, remind me never to piss you off. You sure you don’t want to go home and rest that ear?”
“Tonight. Before the dust has settled. We’re cutting off the head and the neck.”
***
Flashing blue and red lights greet us as we pull up outside Declan Maroney’s house. Ordinarily, pulling off a hit in a neighborhood like this would be far too dangerous to consider. But I called in a favor for this one.
“You got a warrant?” comes a loud voice from the front door. A uniformed police officer stands on the doorstep, says something, then enters the house. Dominic and I wait in the front seat of his car, warming our hands with the hot air blowing from the heater.
A few minutes later, the cop comes out, this time dragging a handcuffed man wearing sweats and a familiar shock of red hair.
“I’ll be out of there in no time!” Declan Maroney barks. “You got nothing on me!”
The officer doesn’t take Declan to his patrol car, pulling him instead to our vehicle parked right behind it. I make eye contact with Dominic and we get out.
“What are you doing?” The Irish mobster starts to panic. “What the fuck is going on?”
“One more word and you’re getting tasered,” growls the cop. He turns to me. “Nobody’s going to find him, right? I don’t want this coming back to bite me in the ass.”
I shake my head. “Don’t worry about it. If anything gets found, it will be far from here, and it won’t be identifiable.”
“Okay. No offense, but I’m getting the fuck out of here.”
“I appreciate this, Paul. You’re going to like your Christmas bonus this year, trust me.”
Declan takes this opportunity to make a run for it. Immediately, Paul pulls his taser and shoots him in the back. The barbs pierce his sweatshirt and he collapses, twitching.
Dominic smirks. “Good shooting, officer.”
Paul shakes his head, then gets into his patrol car and drives off.
I glance down at Declan Maroney as he twitches on the ground, then back at my friend. “Okay, let’s get him in the car.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Ava
My morning starts in a hotel room in Boise, Idaho. The place is nice enough, at least. Not that I intend to stay here. I grab breakfast at the Denny’s across the street, then find a hardware store on my phone and take an Uber there.
An employee greets me as I enter, a kind-looking older fellow. “Good day, ma’am. Looking for anything in particular?”
“Uh, yeah. Can you recommend a good pair of bolt cutters?”
He gestures for me to follow him. “Oh, yeah, definitely. What do you need to cut through? Wire? Rebar?”
My fingers play with the metal collar, hidden by my turtleneck. “Maybe… something in between?”
He stops midway down an aisle and points. “Well, here’s your bolt cutters. We’ve got big and small, all depends on what kind of project you’re doing.”
“Thanks,” I say, picking one off the shelf that seems to be the right size. “I think this one will do.”
***
Alessandro
I sit down at an airport bar, waiting for my flight.
I’m on my way to Boise.
