Knight’s crew was tight. No way in fuck any of Knight’s men would share what Nick had told his brother. But it wouldn’t get that far. There was no reason for Knight to share that information with any of his crew, and until there was, he just wouldn’t do it.
The only other person who knew he was on this job and knew how he did that kind of job, which meant knowing the kind of equipment Nick used and being able to make an educated guess where it might be placed, was Turner.
Twice while Nick had been working that situation with Hettie for the Feds, Nick’s position as a CI had been compromised.
The first nearly got him dead. Hawk Delgado, with the help of Sylvie and Tucker Creed, had intervened, working another job and in doing so, forcing the bust of a small-time player in the larger operation Turner’s team was targeting. Nick had gotten away and Turner and his crew had scrambled and covered Nick.
The second almost had the same ending, with Hettie getting dead and the operation never coming to fruition due the players backing off because of Federal heat.
Nick would stake his life that Turner wouldn’t fuck him.
That didn’t mean someone on his crew wasn’t playing both sides.
Obviously, in both incidences, questions had been asked. How Nick had been made. How Nick and Hettie got put in the position that had ended Hettie’s life.
Internal investigation, everyone came up clean.
Nick had never liked that, but taking that on was not his mission.
Getting his shit together, sorting his life, settling in with Livvie and finishing the job he started with Hettie and vengeance for the early end of her life was.
Fuck.
Now he had to take that shit on.
“You want us to send a guy in to replace our shit?” Curt asked, taking Nick out of his thoughts.
“No,” he answered, not liking that he had to give that answer. But they had a leak, it was too risky. He didn’t like not having ears on the House of Shade. But at least Olivia wasn’t in that fucking warehouse anymore. “I gotta look into some shit, I’ll let you know,” he finished.
Curt accurately took his cue from Nick’s words, nodded and walked out the door.
Nick pulled his cell out, sat in his chair and stared at his phone.
He wanted to contact Turner. He wanted to give him a heads-up that the internal investigation of his team was shit.
Turner had a snake in his garden.
But Nick needed to clear his own men first.
And when he went to Turner, he had to have solid info to give him.
Nick ran his thumb over the screen and put his phone to his ear.
“Nick,” Knight greeted.
“Sylvie and Creed still in town?” Nick asked.
His brother’s tone was more alert when he answered, “No, but they can be.”
Nick drew in a breath.
Then he stated, “I got a couple of jobs for them.”
*
Olivia
2:25 – The Next Thursday Afternoon
I moved down the hall of the warehouse toward Dad’s office, hoping our first monthly meeting went quickly so I could get out of there.
I did it thinking how easy it was getting used to living clean. Just walking down the hall, it felt like the grime of the place in all its incarnations was settling on me, clogging my pores, making it hard to breathe.
Gill nor any of our other boys were outside Dad’s door but I heard voices inside.
I knocked.
I received no reply. Not a “come in.” Not a “go away.”
I was early for our two thirty meeting, but not that early, so I expected Georgia was in there, maybe Gill, Tommy, Miguel, whoever, and they were just waiting for me.
What I did know was that if Dad didn’t want me in, I’d get a “go away.”
I turned the handle and walked in.
I stopped dead at what I saw, thankful that a lifetime of training blanked my face and any telltale line of my body.
“Come in, Olivia, this won’t take long,” Dad said irritably, his hand waving at me, his eyes annoyed and on the man sitting in front of him.
I didn’t want to go in.
But I needed to go in and not only because Dad was waving at me.
So I went in.
The man sitting in front of Dad looked at me. His eyes slid down the length of my body in a way that exacerbated the feel of filth coating me and he turned back to Dad.
“I’m done waiting, Vincent,” Drake Nair declared, dismissing me.
Drake Nair.
I knew the man and part of what I knew was that he would disappear.
Then resurface.
As far as I knew, he’d disappeared for some time.
Now he was back.
I wasn’t the only one who knew Drake Nair. Everyone in Denver knew Drake Nair.
Everyone in Denver knew he wasn’t that bright, but he was wealthy, and rich men, smart or dumb, could pay to get a job done.
They also knew he was a slimy weasel.
And last, everyone in Denver knew Drake Nair hated Knight Sebring.
I did not keep tabs because Nick was just a name for me back then, but I still knew it had to be years since I last heard of anything happening in the Sebring/Nair war.
Word was, Nair played dirty (not surprisingly).
But Knight Sebring had always prevailed.
I didn’t know much of what it was about, outside Knight and Nair were once partners and then they were not.