Risky Temptation

by Hart, Gemma

  I looked up at Zeke. “We don’t have much time now,” I said. “With Copper put in such obvious danger, he’ll be on the move soon. I have to get him before he disappears or is too hard to reach.”

  Those fucking amateurs. If you were going to carry out a hit, at least be fucking accurate. Now all they did was make the whole thing harder.

  Zeke cocked his head, his lips pursed as he tapped his fingers on the side of his leg. “That’ll be hard. His schedule today will probably have shifted a lot and wherever he ends up staying, it’ll probably be well guarded.”

  I stood up, knowing I’d be heading out soon to do more recon work. “It doesn’t matter. If we wait till our original date, Copper will be gone. He knows he’s in deep shit now. We need to get him while we still can.”

  Zeke sucked in a breath.

  “I hope you still have some of that American luck,” he said, sitting down to the task.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Marco

  And like we had predicted, Copper was now much harder to get.

  He had booked himself into the Four Seasons in London. Copper had purposely picked a well known location that would be in a crowded, public space. It would be hard to plan a hit in such a location. And all the buildings surrounding the hotel were not suitable places to set the killshot from.

  I had spent most of the day casing the entire area. Walking down Park Lane and passing by the crowds of tourists, I mentally cursed myself and the mysterious shooters for fucking up my plans.

  “I don’t think it’s going to work,” Zeke had said over the phone as I ducked into an alley off the busy street.

  “He’s in the penthouse suite. There’s no suitable buildings around the hotel that’ll give you the right angle for the shot,” Zeke said, only confirming everything I had seen today.

  “Godfuckingdammit,” I muttered.

  “I think we’ll have to come up with some other kind of plan,” Zeke said.

  “There is no other kind of plan. The man is a flight risk,” I said. “I guarantee he’ll be out of the country before tomorrow night.”

  Zeke sighed. “Well then we’ll have to try and think of something before tomorrow night.”

  I sighed as I hung up, frustrated and angry and dying for a tree to punch. Or Lestrade’s face. That would be even better.

  Too wired and frustrated to head back home, I instead walked towards the Thames.

  Having spent the better part of the day around the Four Seasons, the sun quickly fell as I headed towards the river, making the city lights sparkle across the water.

  I walked until I found a quiet bit of space devoid of any bustling tourists. Leaning against the stone railing, I tried to gather my thoughts as I ran through the schematics of Park Lane for the thousandth time.

  I had to get Copper tonight. If I failed Copper, I failed the mission.

  And that meant god knows what for Halle.

  But of course this kind of situation would happen with someone like Copper! I slammed my fist on the stone. With someone so high profile and so greedy as Marshall Copper, this kind of interference was only natural!

  Lestrade should just let the smaller crime Families try to wipe him out and call it a day for me. After all, eventually someone would surely get him.

  But I knew Lestrade wouldn’t let me slide that easily. He would want to know that a mark was taken care of completely. And that meant I had to personally ensure that Copper was dead.

  “That fucker,” I muttered under my breath as the moon began to rise above me.

  “I hope you weren’t thinking of me just then,” a voice said dryly behind me.

  I turned around and saw Lestrade leaning against a tree, his black coat blending into the shadows of the night.

  Without a word, I swiftly strode up to him and grabbed him a handful of his coat, fisting it and dragging him up. Blood pulsed in my ears as I debated whether to rip his tongue out or to simply break his neck.

  Lestrade clicked his tongue at me, completely unperturbed by my actions. “Now you wouldn’t want my disappearance on your hands, would you?” he said. “What would happen to your dear sweet Halle then?”

  I flexed my free hand, imagining it wrapped around Lestrade’s lean neck. But he was right. I had given in to impulse too quickly. With considerable amount of effort, I released him and stepped back.

  “Where’s Halle?” I asked.

  “Where she’s been this whole time,” he replied. “She’s been very well looked after, trust me.”

  I snorted. Sure, I would.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. He knew I didn’t have the key yet. It had been at 92% download last time I had checked.

  “It’s bad luck about what happened to Copper today, isn’t it?” Lestrade said, not answering my question.

  I raised a brow at him. “I’m sure it’s something you anticipated,” I said.

  Lestrade pursed his lips in agreement. “Of course,” he said. “But as you can see, these petty criminals are not very accurate or very diligent. All they accomplished was spooking Copper.” He grinned. “And of course, derailing whatever plans you had made.”

  I glared at him. “Why the fuck would you be smiling about this? You’re the one who wants Copper dead.”

  Lestrade shrugged, still smiling. “True. But there’s something about seeing you in a hard spot that just tickles me. I honestly didn’t even think you’d get this far.” Lestrade looked down before flicking his gaze back up at me. “But your Miss Margot certainly did. She seems to have unwavering faith in your abilities.”

  I wanted to punch his teeth in every time I heard him utter Halle’s name. He was too dirty to even speak her name and I hated hearing it.

  Lestrade threw back his head and breathed out deeply. The night air was cool and crisp and the closeness of the Thames gave off a salty marine air.

  When he looked back at me, I could see the glittering green eyes studying me with an odd look. It was almost like a calculated look of…jealousy.

  “She’s quite different from what I had expected, your Halle,” he said after awhile.

  “What did you expect, some Family floozy?” I retorted.

  Lestrade shrugged. “Yes,” he said bluntly. “Or you know, one of those women who scream and pitch a fit over even a hint of rough treatment.” He paused a moment. “But she’s not like that.”

  I stared at him. “No, she’s not,” I replied slowly. “She’s brave, braver than most.”

  Lestrade gave a short laugh. “That’s the truth if I ever heard it,” he said with such feeling that I realized he really did know how brave Halle was.

  After a beat, he raised those cool green eyes towards me. “And she’s too good for you.”

  I paused before replying, watching the man carefully. Something had changed within him, that much I could tell.

  “I never denied that,” I said slowly. “She’s reason enough for any man to do his best but she’s all the reason I have to live my best.”

  Lestrade shook his head slowly. “You shouldn’t keep her tied down to you just so you could have your moment of redemption,” he said. “I never pegged you as such a selfish man.”

  “What is this?” I asked finally, narrowing my eyes at him. “You think this is one sided? You think I’m forcing her?”

  Lestrade didn’t respond. He only averted those green eyes of his.

  I stepped closer, not breaking my gaze. “You got it bad,” I said slowly. That made Lestrade jerk up, his eyes cold with annoyance. “But whatever the fuck it is you think you have with Halle, it’s clearly not translating well to her. Because she obviously is still waiting for me.”

  “What makes you think that?” he countered with mock confidence, intended to make me doubt.

  But I didn’t doubt. I never doubted when it came to Halle.

  I snorted. “You wouldn’t be here wasting your time by telling me how selfish I was or how she was too good for me if you had her heart,” I said with comp
lete confidence. “You’re here sniffing at something you don’t understand.”

  Suddenly Lestrade lurched forward at me, his face twisted with suppressed anger. “I don’t understand?” he demanded in anger. “You think I don’t understand what happens between a man and a woman?”

  He gave me a humorless smile. “I understand that sometimes sacrifice is the greater valor of love. You are being a selfish fuck by keeping her with you. You’re endangering her life while you spew bullshit about loving her.”

  I watched the anger flit across Lestrade’s face, wondering for the first time if those six years of disappearance had been something more than just exhaustion from the criminal world.

  “There is love,” I said slowly. “And then there is what I have with Halle. She and I breathe and live as one. It’s no more possible for me to give her up than for her to give up her lungs. There is no selfishness between us. It is necessity. It is essential. It is lifeblood. And you don’t get a fucking say in it.”

  A tense silence fell between the two of us.

  What the fuck had been going on the past few days with Tobias and Halle? To be honest, I wasn’t totally surprised to find Tobias taken with Halle. She had that guileless charm about her that drew people in. But what I was surprised about was how deep his feelings clearly were.

  He was actually trying to break us up.

  But this wasn’t high school and this certainly wasn’t some lunch period showdown between two hormonal teenage boys fighting over the prom queen.

  This was real life and if he wanted to play Enforcer, then he better learn the consequences of fucking with real love.

  “What are you doing here?” I finally asked again.

  Lestrade gave a faint smile. “Just taking in an evening walk.”

  “Trying to scare me off?” I asked with mock humor.

  Lestrade matched my tone. “Did it work?”

  I narrowed my eyes and clenched my fists. “What do you think?”

  Lestrade smiled again, taking in a breath as he headed off towards the southern end of the river.

  “Guess I’ll have to try harder next time,” he said, his back to me as he walked away.

  There won’t be a next time, fucker.

  Then it hit me all at once. A stroke of brilliance that nearly made me jerk in surprise.

  Making sure Lestrade had left, I quickly left the riverside and called Zeke.

  “I’ve got an idea,” I said.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Marco

  “This is a bad idea,” Zeke warned as I pieced my gun together. “There are so many cameras in London. They’ll have your face.”

  “No they won't,” I said confidently. “I came in through the entrance, not sneaking through the back. I looked like a regular hotel guest. And there aren’t cameras on the roof.”

  Zeke sighed. “Still,” he said but I could hear resignation in his voice.

  He knew I was right.

  Inspiration had struck me and I was positive this was the best course of action if I wanted to get Copper before he fled. Sure, there were plenty of benefits of being inside a big and popular hotel like the Four Seasons.

  Like I had said before, it meant that the hotel was surrounded by busy streets and busier shops. There was no surrounding building that allowed for a good clean shot. And with how well known and exclusive the hotel was, it would be almost impossible for me to just walk up to the penthouse suite and shoot Copper in the face.

  Those had all been disadvantages a few hours ago. They were all reasons that had led me to the Thames, discouraged.

  But now I realized that those very same reasons might be my advantage.

  A populated street like this with tons of tourists means a very antsy crowd. I didn’t need to go into the hotel. I just had to bring Copper out.

  I had entered the hotel smoothly and had gone up the elevator and several flights of stairs without attracting any attention. On the roof under moonlight, I quickly disassembled the silencer from my gun, reassembling it into its original, louder form.

  Copper’s penthouse suite faced the front of the hotel. Running towards the opposite far corner on the roof, I leaned over. I could just barely make out one of the penthouse windows that touched the edge of the building. But I knew it was one of Copper’s windows.

  Keeping my head ducked low, I aimed my gun carefully and fired two rounds at the window, knowing I would only skim it.

  One bullet hit the brick corner and another one hit the sill.

  But that was enough.

  Immediately, I heard screams from below as passerbys panicked at the clear and recognizable noise of gunfire. I watched as people scurried around, trying to evacuate the area.

  Good. The faster they left, the less of a chance of anyone getting caught in the crossfire. Luckily with it being late evening, there weren’t as many people out anyway.

  Now I turned back and immediately unzipped my gear bag, assembling my sniper rifle.

  I knew Copper’s men were quickly pulling him out of his room by now. They knew he was a wanted man and hearing those gunshots, they probably had assumed that it was another failed attempted hit. They were probably ushering him down the stairs to the first floor. In emergencies, people always took the stairs. That would buy me eight more minutes, by my estimate.

  I could never have shot Copper from any other buildings surrounding the Four Seasons. It would’ve been impossible to angle and too hard not to be noticed.

  But if Copper came out and I had my sights set correctly, I could take him out as he exited the building to his car from the Four Seasons’ own roof. Then I had the perfect clearance and angle and if I was lucky enough, most of the tourists and pedestrians would have evacuated by the time I fired.

  Setting up my tripod, I carefully set up my rifle and aimed towards where I knew the front doors of the hotel were.

  This had to work.

  With how spooked Copper was now, there was no way he’d let himself get caught a third time. If I failed now, he’d be out of the country within the hour.

  The fucker had really played with fire. I knew he had led a fucked up life with the wife beating and the ecological drilling but who fucks with entire nations? This guy had it coming and I had no remorse in being the one to give it to him. I was only irritated that it was at the behest of a man I wanted to knock the teeth out of.

  I stilled my body and carefully looked through the sights.

  As if right on cue, a large black SUV rolled up to the front of the hotel. Copper’s car. It parked itself in front of the hotel doors, waiting for its passenger.

  It was a tight shot. With the height of the roof, I had literally half a foot of space to get the shot right. I had to get him just as he was about to enter the car. And no one could be right behind him. His guards had to give me enough clearance so I could shoot.

  Right on an exhale, I saw three black suited men rush out towards the SUV. One slid into the passenger seat. Another one stood in front of the backseat door, his hand ready on the handle.

  Move, I thought without any rancor, even though my heart was urgent. It was important to keep calm during a shot. Move.

  And then I saw him.

  Marshall Copper’s well swept silver hair came into view. He was ducking his head as if he was walking out into a sea of gunfire. His shoulders clad in a very expensive custom suit were shrugged up to his ears.

  I let out another breath. The guard standing by the door opened it wide for Copper.

  There was another guard behind Copper, guarding his back, I suppose. I waited patiently for him to move.

  Move.

  Finally, right before Copper slipped into the car, the guard behind him moved towards the back of the vehicle.

  For the women you beat, the goddamn mess you put me in, and the fucking fish, here’s to you Marshall Copper.

  And I pulled the trigger.

  A neat echo barely rang through the empty street as Copper sprayed the inside of the
SUV with his blood and brains.

  Got him.

  Immediately, I pulled away from the edge, ignoring the shouts and cries from the street as one of the world’s most infamous millionaires was gunned down.

  I dismantled my weapon and called Zeke as I headed down from the roof. I’d need to wait it out a bit before I went back out onto the street.

  “The key?” I said as soon as he picked up. “Do we have it yet?”

  “Did you get Copper?” Zeke asked incredulously. I heard Jamie whoop excitedly in the background. Did that kid never study?