by AJ Sherwood
Luca sounded exhausted and heart sore. “I know. I wish to hell I knew how to change that, for all our sakes. Let me do one thing.”
He felt guilty enough that he almost promised anything. “What?”
“Let me put my name next to Remi’s. Give me joint custody of her. If shit hits the fan, give me the legal power to protect her so she’s not yanked into the system.”
For Remi’s sake, that would be perfect. Ari hesitated for another reason altogether. “That’s traceable, Luca. Your name will be linked with mine in the system that way.”
“And that’s my choice. I’m not leaving my niece to the wolves if something happens to you.”
Shit. There was that. “Alright. I won’t argue with you, if you want to do that. But I’ll make sure you have a way to reach K. If something really happens, odds are he won’t be in the line of fire. And you’ll likely need his help.”
He expected an argument on that, but Luca seemed to recognize the compromise for what it was. “Okay. I’ll take that. You have Remi call me tonight, and walk me through her exit protocol for DC. So I know exactly what she’s doing.”
So they both knew what to do, he meant. “I will. Luca—sorry.”
“You always are. Next time, try to call me for a happy reason, okay?”
“Yeah.” Ari hung up, as he didn’t know what else to say after a conversation like that one. Why did life have to be so damn complicated? Or maybe it was more his relationships with other people were complicated. Maybe Ari needed to compromise a bit more. Come up with some way of keeping his brother safely in the loop. Because now that he knew what it was like, to worry to the point of pain, he felt guilty for consistently putting his twin through it. It was a delicate balancing act. He’d have to think of a safe way to do it.
It was also probably just as well he hadn’t mentioned someone else knew about Remi. Luca would have lost his shit hearing that a black mercenary knew Remi.
Yeah, that was definitely a conversation for never.
11
Carter
Carter didn’t know what happened on the drive in, but something clearly had, as Ari looked unsettled. Unsettled and unhappy. He didn’t want to pry unduly because whatever the man’s personal business, it wasn’t Carter’s. Still, if something had gone wrong, he’d like to know about it. As they unloaded from their cars in the hotel parking lot, he came in close, trailing light fingertips along the back of Ari’s arm to get his attention. Ari flinched, head coming around sharply, torso twisting so he was out of immediate range of Carter’s touch. Shit, he hadn’t meant to startle him. Was he that locked in his head? Carter went still, body language as non-threatening as he could make it, as he murmured lowly, “Everything alright?”
“Yeah.” Ari almost left it at that, Carter could see it on his face. But something made him continue. His body language became more relaxed, hands unclenching at his sides as he spoke. “I’m just second-guessing my decision to keep Rems with us on this. Knowles isn’t easy.”
That was perfectly understandable. “But you don’t have a safe place to send her.”
“I do,” Ari admitted, face twisting up in a grimace. “And I talked to that safe place on the way in and got an earful for not putting her on a plane already. It’s just…she’s so excited to work with us. And K wants to teach her more hacking, and she doesn’t get to see him face to face all that often. I don’t want to send her off just because I’m afraid something might go wrong.”
Carter was surprised Ari did have a safe place for Remi. He was even more astonished Ari would tell him about it, even obliquely. It said something about how much the man trusted him. He appreciated his frankness and tried to return the favor in kind. “Then don’t. We’ll put together an exit strategy for her. Ari, I sympathize with your fear, I do. But keeping Remi completely in the dark doesn’t help her. You know that.”
“Better to give her the knowledge and tools to deal with crap than to shut her out.” He looked up, a half smile on his face as Remi popped out of the car, still chattering a mile a minute to Ivan. “I know. My instincts are at war, is all.”
Carter had the strongest urge to wrap the man up in a hug. It would probably end in multiple contusions and a splintered skull if he tried it, but still. The urge was there. Ari needed a hug just then. Carter was very touchy-feely by nature, and it had taken time for him to understand that not everyone was like him, or appreciated his hands-on approach. Ari was Italian, though, or at least the phrases he used gave that impression. He was certainly hands-on enough with Remi and Ivan—he didn’t seem to have a concept of personal space with them. He oscillated between being in Carter’s space or across the room from him. Maybe he wouldn’t mind as much?
Did he want to run the risk of pissing off an assassin?
Carter thought better of his instincts and kept his hands carefully to himself. “Come on. Let’s check in, get dinner, and I’ll work up different ways for Remi to get safely out of the city. If we don’t just teach her a specific route, but how to adapt on the fly, she’ll have a much better chance of getting out of a sticky situation.”
Ari gave him an odd look, head tilting, shoulders tightening imperceptibly. “You’d do that?”
That expression made his hugging instincts clamor louder. Carter ruthlessly squashed them under a mental heel. “Of course. I like Remi. I don’t want her hurt. And you’ve already done me the favor of leaving my head attached to my shoulders—”
The assassin snorted a laugh, dark eyes dancing merrily. The defensiveness of his posture eased and his shoulders relaxed as he leaned his back against the car.
“—which I appreciate very much, thank you, so if this eases your mind about her? Sure, I’m happy to help.”
“Harrison. You’re really a team player, aren’t you?”
“Always have been.”
“Why are you not still in the military?”
So it was that obvious he’d been military? Or Ari knew something of his history via K. Probably both. “My CO gave me a bullshit order I refused to follow through on. Got me dishonorably discharged.”
Ari’s dark brows winged up into his hairline. He looked good in the late afternoon sun, casual and ruffled, touchable. Carter curled his fingers into his palm to keep himself from running them through Ari’s soft looking, sexy bed-head waves. Ari considered Carter for a long moment before his head slowly dipped down into a nod. “I can see you doing that.”
“Most people say the same thing.” And Carter wasn’t quite sure why. Did he look rebellious?
Remi bounced up to them, automatically taking her father’s hand in both of hers, a wide smile on her face. Carter adored her shirt, although he hadn’t found a chance to tell her that yet. Above her jean shorts she wore a black tank that read: I am beauty, I am grace, I will punch you in the face.
“Daddy, let’s get pasta. I’m hungry. Uncle Ivan says there’s a place not far from here that’s really good, and their breadsticks are super yummy, and the owner owes him a favor so there’s always lots of breadsticks and sometimes dessert.”
Ari looked up at his friend with a bland expression. “Antonio is still feeding you?”
“He loves me.” Ivan’s accent thickened a mite as he spoke, mischief rolling visibly off him in waves.
Carter debated for a split second, then decided he didn’t really want to know. He might know too much about this group already.
They took ten minutes to check in under various aliases, threw suitcases into their rooms, then walked the three blocks down to the restaurant with Ari and Remi leading. That left Carter and Ivan strolling side by side, but since the man had fed him pancakes, Carter was less inclined to think his life was in danger. Plus, it was a nice view from back here, too. Ari possessed a nice ass, and watching him and Remi swing their joined hands together and chat was a sight too cute to miss. Carter had a good relationship with his parents, but he couldn’t remember ever holding hands with one of them and just chatting. They’d focus
ed most of his life on him behaving and doing things on schedule. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever been as close to his father as Ari was with Remi. Ari, surprisingly, was an awesome father.
Even mid-afternoon the nation’s capital was very lively, to no one’s surprise. The traffic flowed thick even at this midday hour, the humidity and heat enough to make his shirt stick unpleasantly to him. Ari had sensibly ditched his jacket before leaving, and Ivan bemoaned his own choice of jeans. They passed all manner of pedestrians, mostly people walking in a great hurry to some other destination, but there weren’t many on the sidewalks. Cars, subways, and buses were the main ways of transportation in this city. Walking was done by tourists around sites, mostly.
Since the thief seemed to be in a relaxed mood, Carter decided to press his luck a little. “How did the three of you meet?”
Ivan spared him a glance, his expression going reminiscent. “It was K, really. About, oh, five years ago I was bored. Walking through New York, in between jobs, and not sure what to do with myself. I started picking pockets, just for something to keep my hands occupied. I got through three wallets when I realized the one I’d just picked had nothing much in it. Just a twenty and a note that read: Meet me at the Rockefeller Center at eight o’clock. I have a job you might be interested in. Bring my wallet with you.”
“He was auditioning for a thief?” Carter snorted in amusement. “And you did, I take it.”
Ivan shrugged, still amused at the memory. Carter preferred him with a half-smile. It softened the angles of his face, made him look less hardened. “As I said, I was bored and in between jobs. I don’t think he believed he’d catch such a big fish with his lure, but he wasn’t upset about it, either. Ari he already knew.”
“We were both in foster care,” Ari explained over his shoulder. “We ran into each other a few times, stayed in the same house once for about six months. We didn’t keep track of each other, but once we got into the business, he looked me up for a job. I almost backed out of it, because he had this idiot lined up for it.”
“Wait, both of you for the same job?”
“All three of us, really. K’s not much for hands-on, he prefers to work his magic remote.” Ivan shrugged. “For the job, I needed another set of hands. I do not know many thieves I trust to work alongside, and the two I do know were busy on their own jobs. But an assassin’s skillset overlaps with a thief’s well enough—we both have to quietly get in and out of places to reach a target. K knew of Ari, and when offered, I was amiable to at least trying.”
Ari’s tone turned fond. “Turns out we’re a formidable team. And we don’t get on each other’s nerves, which is a rare thing.”
That explained why Ari had so easily pulled in the other two. Neither man said as much, but the implication was clear enough. Given a choice, they preferred to work with each other. This made things easier and conversely harder for Carter. Unlike other team-ups with criminals, these guys were already accustomed to working together. That was the easy part. The hard part was finding his own way to slot into an established team dynamic.
“It’s great to have a dedicated team to back you up,” Carter responded honestly. Not to mention a little wistfully.
Ivan gave him a sharp, weighing look from the corner of his eye. “You don’t have that?”
“Not for lack of trying. Usually my team-ups go okay, but no one’s really interested in repeating the experience. And sometimes, it goes so pear-shaped that I refuse to work with them again. My last job was that way.” Carter made a face. “Sometimes I totally understand why Batman worked alone.”
The conversation stalled there as Ivan went ahead, opening the door to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. It looked very established, everything from the aging red paint around the door, to the worn-in dark green carpet on the floor. The inside smelled heavenly—full of baking bread, cheese, and simmering sauce that hit Carter’s taste buds with a sledgehammer of promised delights. Really, nothing advertised a restaurant better than scent.
“Ivan!” A happy man roared out over the customers’ heads, barreling straight for them. He was nearly as wide as he was tall, dark hair so thin on top that the mellow lighting of the room gleamed off his head.
Ivan smiled in return, grin stretched from ear to ear, arms held out in an anticipated hug. “Antonio! You haven’t aged a day, I swear it.”
Antonio came straight to him—as much as he could with tables blocking his way—grabbed the man by both shoulders and kissed him on either cheek like an old friend. His Italian accent was thick as he scolded, “I haven’t seen you in a good year, at least, and now you just pop onto my doorstep without even a call ahead. Shame on you, I would have given you my best table.”
“We didn’t actually know we’d be here until four hours ago,” Ivan said by way of explanation. “Here, come meet my friends and my solnishko. This is Carter, Ari, and his daughter, Remi.”
Antonio greeted them politely enough but his eyes kept going back to Remi. “Such a beautiful girl you are, Remi. Did your uncle tell you how we met?”
“Only that he helped you once,” she denied, eyes wide with curiosity.
Leaning in, Antonio whispered the story like a secret. “Ten years ago, I was just starting out. I made the mistake of borrowing money from the wrong loan sharks. Your Uncle Ivan, he ate here regularly at the time, and when he learned about it? He told me off for being so stupid. The interest rate was insane, I was barely treading water, and then the ovens shorted out. I had to replace them, but didn’t have the money to do it. But without them, I couldn’t keep the restaurant going. I was faced with broken knee caps for defaulting on a loan. It was terrifying. But Ivan, he stepped in. Bought me new ovens, re-worked the loan so he carried it instead of the company. I paid him off steadily, at a much lower interest rate, and stayed open. Really, it’s all thanks to him.”
Aaaand that confirmed Ivan really had been part of the mafia at some point. Carter still didn’t know whether it was Ukrainian or Russian. Either way it was bad news.
“Best investment I ever made,” Ivan swore with that wide smile still in place.
Antonio grinned back at him, practically vibrating with his joy. “Come, I shouldn’t keep you standing here. Sit, sit, order whatever you like. I’ll bring you wine. Remi, what would you like to drink?”
“Coke,” she responded hopefully.
Ari made a sound like a buzzer on a game show, the one for the wrong answer. “Uh, no, missy. You do not get caffeine. You’re worse than the Energizer Bunny. Try again.”
“Sprite,” she amended with a sigh and a frown at her father.
Antonio patted the top of her head, amused. “I’ll bring it out. And menus.”
Carter debated the wisdom of saying they shouldn’t be drinking on the job. But technically they weren’t on the job yet, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a glass. Half a glass might be safer.
Someone’s phone beeped and Ari and Ivan both pulled theirs out to check. It must have been the same message, as they grunted before putting it away again.
“K will meet us at the house in a few days,” Ari relayed to Carter and Remi. “He’ll need help lugging all of his computer equipment in and setting it up.”
Remi immediately brightened and thrust an arm into the air. “I’ll do that.”
“I’m sure you will, honey, but you can’t lug it all upstairs. We’ll need to help him too.”
It stood to reason K would bring his own system with him. It was something Carter had learned from one of his first jobs. A hacker needed their own equipment, their own software, and it wasn’t something that could be acquired from a box store. One hacker he’d met claimed he’d spent three weeks building and perfecting his system. Seeing how many CPUs the man used, Carter believed him. If K’s setup was anything like that man’s, they’d definitely need to help him carry it all in.
They sat at a corner table, something allowing them to see both the front and back door. Carter had his back to the wall, giving him cl
ear line of sight. Remi was the only one with her back to the room, but that was fine. Asking either Ivan or Ari to sit like that would have likely fried their synapses. Their table sat far enough away from the other patrons that it gave them a bubble of semi-privacy. Enough to talk in, at least.
Carter leaned in a touch anyway before asking, “Who’s taking lead on this?”
“I am,” Ivan informed him. “This falls under my expertise.”
He had no problem with that. “Okay.”
“Harrison.” Ivan eyed him thoughtfully, grey eyes dark in the lighting. “I don’t really know your skillset.”
That would be a problem. “Yeah, ‘merc’ doesn’t really tell you much, does it? I’m sorta a jack-of-all-trades. I can do basic hacking, override electronic locks, that sort of thing. I’m a demolitions expert. I’m comfortable with handguns, sniping, and hand-to-hand. If you need requisition, I’m your man. That was one of my jobs while still in uniform. People know me as a retrieval expert. Hence, you know, the current contract for the job we have.”
Ivan gave him a slow nod, absorbing this. “You really are jack-of-all-trades. Horosho, that’s useful. You can cover bases if one of us needs a hand. How known is your face?”
“Not very. I operate on the down low. Anyone searching for me will come up with my military history, basics of my childhood, that’s about it. I’ve got one of those generic everyman faces anyway, it’s hard to find me off a description.”
“I’ll have K scrub you from the system just in case. You’ll be more infamous after this job, trust me.”
Carter didn’t doubt that for a second. “I’d appreciate his help. I know we shouldn’t really tackle the job without him on site, but we still planning for a drive by and lookie-lou after dinner?”
“Da,” Ivan confirmed easily.
He accepted this with a nod. “Then let’s focus on something else over dinner. Remi.” Her attention focused on him. “Quiz time. How many ways of transport are there in DC, and which ones can you board without raising suspicion?”
