“How did they go?”
He and Sweetness shared an awkward glance. “Last night, we cased the apartment and the dealer was gone, so I picked the lock and we entered. A woman was asleep in her bed. She heard the door open, woke up, came out of her bedroom and saw us.”
“What happened?”
“I found a roll of duct tape and mummified her. She had on pajamas, but still, it would have hurt like hell when it got pulled off, so Sweetness stood her up and held her up in place, and I rolled it around her backwards, so the sticky part faced out. Only her mouth was taped shut, and we tied a scarf around her eyes. Then we stuck her to the kitchen wall. And after all that, we only got twenty-three thousand euros.”
“Can she ID you?”
“No. We wore balaclavas the whole time.”
It must have made an interesting picture. “Milo, work on your contraptions for a while if you want. Quietly. Sweetness, go home for a while or dig some dirt on politicos or whatever. Both of you be back here tomorrow at three p.m. Milo, what weapons have we confiscated?”
“Four handguns, a sawed-off shotgun, and a Daddy MAC.”
We would save the MAC-10 for something special. Illegal possession of fully automatic weapons carries more jail time. “Bring a couple pistols,” I said, “for a frame-up.”
Sweetness left. Milo unpacked his goodies, placed the components in orderly piles in the corner and threw out the boxes, so the dining room did indeed look neat. He left for the day, and according to Kate’s wishes, we passed a quiet evening.
11
In the morning, Aino, Kate’s assistant, who was taking Kate’s place while she was on enforced maternity leave, stopped by our apartment to drop off some papers. Her gorgeous blue eyes were framed by a mop of messy blond hair. She’s built the opposite of Kate. Short and lush instead of tall and thin. A long and sexy upper lip. Her sweater accentuated magnificent breasts. I got an insta-hard-on. All I could think about was fucking her.
It took me by surprise. I’d never wanted anyone besides Kate since I first laid eyes on her, and I hadn’t had this kind of reaction to a woman since I was a teenager. I tried not to stare, to act natural. I was sitting on the couch and covered my crotch with the morning newspaper. I had found a new dimension to my post-op symptoms. My primitive desires included other women.
Jyri called. There were a number of big-money drug deals going down over the coming weeks. He knew I was weak and on crutches. How much could I do? Could Milo and Sweetness work independent of me? Could we get the jobs done? He didn’t know how much they had already accomplished. I wanted to participate. I was bored shitless. I said we would find a way. Unless I was on death’s door, I would participate. I counted the days. Two weeks until I could drive again. A month until I ditched the crutches.
Aino stayed for coffee, hung around for about an hour. She and Kate had a blossoming friendship. I was glad when she left. Her presence made me feel like my dick was going to burst.
A packet of dossiers arrived about two p.m. They contained info on criminals culled from the ship’s manifest of the Baltic Princess, the ferry from Tallinn due to arrive in Helsinki at four thirty. I agreed to participate in this black-ops project because I wanted to help people. This day marked my first attempt to do so.
Milo showed up around noon and started assembling his new computer. The circles around his eyes were so dark, he looked like he wore camo stick.
“How many hours do you normally sleep?” I asked.
“Two or three.”
“Why?”
“It’s all my body requires.”
He has problems I didn’t even want to contemplate.