We’d been tailing Samuel for forty minutes when he finally pulled over at a small store. Paris parked half a block away. I already had the binoculars out and was adjusting the focus to see what was going on. I laughed out loud when I saw what he was putting on the counter in the store.
“Ha! He’s buying mints,” I told Paris. “I guess he doesn’t want to be around the brothers smelling like Darlene’s nuts.”
“Whoa . . .” Paris muttered, but it wasn’t because of my comment. “Check it out,” she said, and I looked in the direction of the store again.
Samuel was coming out of the store, but now he had two other bow tie–wearing brothers with him. From the bulges in their jackets, I knew they were all strapped.
“Looks like Samuel stopped here to get more than just breath mints,” I said.
“Yeah,” Paris agreed. “This just got real interesting.”
We watched as one man got into the passenger seat of Samuel’s car, and the other followed in a separate car. Paris, who was always ready for action, reached for her piece. She opened the glove box to retrieve some more ammo.
I would never admit it to her, but I was glad to have Paris with me. She was a true bad-ass, and that’s who I would want to have my back—even if she was also a pain in the ass who reminded me often that she was the older cousin, and therefore superior at everything.
We followed Samuel and his partners onto the Grand Central Parkway, where they exited at LaGuardia Airport, confusing the hell outta me. If they were getting on a flight, that could mean that Brother X was somewhere outside of New York, which would make it much harder to get at him.
I breathed a sigh of relief as they passed by the airport and drove down Ditmars Boulevard to the Marriot hotel. In the parking lot, they pulled in next to a black van. It looked like the driver of that van had been waiting for them, because they all got out and spoke to him.
“What do you think they’re up to?” I asked Paris.
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good. I think we need to get in that hotel lobby before they do.” We grabbed our baseball caps and headed for the hotel entrance.
“Oh, shit!” I grabbed her arm, stopping her twenty feet from the entrance.
“What?”
I directed her attention to a souped-up 1975 Plymouth Duster. “Isn’t that one of Junior’s cars?” This was really bad.
“Shit. Junior must be in there with Sonya.”
We rushed to the lobby and posted up in a couple of chairs that gave us a great view of the front desk, lobby, and elevators just in time to see Samuel and his two henchmen enter. They headed straight for the front desk, where they were greeted by a smiling reservations clerk. She wasn’t smiling for long, though, because Samuel started getting agitated. We weren’t close enough to hear the conversation, but it looked like it was easily solved once he pulled out a wad of cash and slid it across the counter to her. Her smile returned as she typed something into her computer then handed Samuel a key card. Samuel snatched up the card, and he and his men turned toward the elevators.
Paris shot me a look, and we got our asses over to the elevator bank in a hurry. Just as the door was about to close, Paris reached her arm in to stop it.
“Hello.” She smiled flirtatiously as we entered the elevator, joining the men. She got a big smile in return from one of Samuel’s henchmen. Not to be outdone, I pushed my breasts out until they were straining against the fabric of my tight top.
“How are you gentlemen?” I purred. There was nothing like playing oversexed bimbos looking for dates. I had to admit it was my favorite act.
“We’re great,” the shortest one answered quickly. He was clearly the one least accustomed to two hot sistahs giving him the time of day. Yeah, he was definitely the one to focus on. The taller, skinny one, who looked to be all about business, barely cracked a smile. I would have to step up my game, but I didn’t mind. I always enjoyed a challenge.