I rocked back on my heels a little bit and blinked at him in surprise. Of all the things he might have said, that wasn’t something I was prepared for. “You have your fingers in every single pot in the Point. How is it you’ve managed to come up empty handed and need a Hail Mary? That’s not your style, Gates.”
“The pots my fingers are in don’t sit on stoves up on the Hill. The only information we have on the girl that’s missing was that she was doing her best to help the mayor’s stepdaughter disappear. The players have dirty hands in an entirely different way than I’m used to dealing with. They are covered in white gloves and go pinky up during high tea.” The Hill was the opulent, expensive part of the city, the polar opposite of the Point. I, however, knew that there was just as much crime and exploitation happening behind those closed mansion doors as there was on the streets. “No one will talk and time is running out. Help me find the girl and I will get you off this mountain.”
I tossed my head back and laughed up at the ceiling. “Right. You’re going to get me out of my deal with the feds like it’s no big deal. You’re good, Gates, but not that good.”
He grinned at me and I felt my blood run cold. I should have known better than to question a man who didn’t flinch when the fires of hell burned all around him.
“I know a Marshal. He helped out when Novak went down and everyone was trying to take over his spot. The city was at war and the Marshal stepped in to try and keep the body count to a minimum. He’s agreed to take over your case, after I blackmailed his boss into agreeing to let me pull you out of the program. You help find the girl and I’ll let you go. You can relocate anywhere in the world you want to, but you still have to cooperate with the feds if they think you have information that might help them take down Novak’s old suppliers and obviously, you’ll owe me a favor if I should ever need your special brand of problem solving in the future.”
I shook my head a little, my thoughts pinging and buzzing around my brain like angry bees. “You blackmailed a federal agent?”
He shrugged as if to say “I do it all the time”. “He should be better about hiding the fact he likes to play the ponies and drown his sorrow in barely legal male prostitutes when he doesn’t win. His wife is a Congresswoman and wouldn’t take too kindly to that information going public. For some reason, the people with the most to lose are always the ones with the most to hide.”
I cocked my head to the side and considered him thoughtfully for a long, silent moment. “Bax will finish the job that was started when I was locked up if I come back to the Point. He’s not going to overlook the fact I broke his best friend’s legs and snatched his girl up and handed her over to Novak. I stood there and did nothing while he cut her open, Gates. Bax isn’t the kind to forgive and forget.” And I couldn’t blame him. I would want me dead too if the situation was reversed and I was the one watching a monster torture the woman I loved because of someone like me.
Nassir nodded and Chuck let out a grunt of agreement. “You’re right. Bax would have you in a shallow grave in no time at all. But in order to do that he would have to know you were back on the streets. He’s in Denver right now with Dovie. That teenager they are all so determined to get out of the city decided to go to college in Boulder. Bax and the entire crew took a week off to move her. You have exactly four days to get in, get me the info I need on the girl, and get out before all hell will break loose.”
It was so tempting. He was offering me the solution to the problem I couldn’t fix on my own, but I was leery of making any kind of deal with the devil. “What if I can’t find her? What happens to me if I don’t manage to hold up my end of the bargain?” I’d never failed before but there was a first time for everything.
Nassir pushed off the counter and lifted his chin up so that he was looking down his nose at me. I hated that it felt like he could see right through me. “If you want off this mountain badly enough, you won’t fail. This is the only chance you’ve got, Ben. I would make it count if I were you. I’m offering you all the best parts of your old life back and don’t bother telling me you don’t miss them. Chuck and I will be outside in the car. You’ve got five minutes to get it together and come with us or you can rot here forever.” He pointed a finger at me and lifted an arrogant eyebrow. “You’ve never been a stupid man; I would suggest you don’t pick now to behave like one.”
With that final declaration, he swept out of the room, taking the electrical current and ominous sense of foreboding with him. I could breathe normally once the space was clear of Nassir’s potent charisma and menace. I’d never liked being under the thumb of men more powerful than me, never liked owing them, but if I wanted out, if I wanted a way to make things work, I was going to have no choice but to sell my soul to a devil in a designer suit.
It didn’t even take five minutes for me to get dressed, throw the bare essentials into a bag, and hit the front door at practically a run. There was an idling Escalade parked in front of my cabin and Chuck was grinning from ear to ear, his gold incisor flashing at me as I threw myself into the backseat.
He pulled the car away from the cabin and watched me in the rearview mirror. “Fly fishing. I’m telling you boys, we need to find a hobby that gets us out of the city and away from it all. It would be good for us.”
Nassir looked over his shoulder at me and smirked. “I have a feeling Benny’s had enough of the wilderness. Where are you going to go? New York? Chicago? Vegas? The offer is open internationally as well. You can disappear into wine and women in Paris if that’s what you want.”
I returned the smirk and turned to look out the tinted window. “The wilderness isn’t so bad when you have the right person to hide away with. It’s funny that Bax is in Denver because that’s exactly where I’m headed when all of this is said and done. There’s something there I need to get back.” Something like my heart, my sanity, my purpose for being. I also wanted my watch back, now that I was going to have the opportunity to wear it again.
“He’s not going to like you being that close to the teenager. You might want to pick somewhere else to hang your hat for the long haul.” That warning came from Chuck, but I was more worried about getting to Echo than I was about running into Bax in the Mile High.
“I plan on keeping my head down and my nose clean.” I was now among the ranks of those dangerous men who had something invaluable they couldn’t afford to lose.
Nassir sneered at me and turned so that he was facing forward. “I’ll believe it when I see it, but then again, I never thought you would embrace your inner lumber jack either. I guess anything is possible.”
Anything was possible, including the villain stumbling across Snow White and stealing a kiss instead of Prince Charming. Once he woke her up, he simply had to be willing to sacrifice everything he’d ever known and work twice as hard at deserving her.
Chapter 11
Echo