The Beasts of Juarez, R.B. Schow [books to read for self improvement .txt] 📗

gone through as much dick as I’ll ever want, I’ve had ten facials at the spa in the last few months, and I replaced my entire wardrobe. I’m dying to save someone, or kill someone.”

“Well, then,” he replied, “you’re going to love this.”

Leopold told her the job, holding back on some of the details while embellishing on others in an attempt to get her moving ASAP.

“I’m on the next plane to El Paso,” she said. “I’ll let you know my flight particulars when I get them. Did you already speak to Yergha?”

“You were my first call,” he said.

“Aww, thanks, Leo,” she replied in a sweet voice she seldom used. “But Yergha’s in love now, so you’ll have to let him know the—”

“I don’t care if he’s in love or not,” Leopold said, turning back to the poolside show. “We’re talking about three little girls and a missing wife.”

“She’s a politician’s wife, Leo,” Estella said.

“I know,” he said. “And quit calling me Leo. It’s Leopold.”

Ignoring him, she said, “Yergha got into this business with the hope that he could kill some politicians, not save their families.”

“Yeah, well maybe we work our way up to the politicians by way of the cartels and all the other scumbags. You know as well as I do that more than a few of our elected officials are shady as shit.”

“Yeah. No kidding.”

“As for Yergha’s current state, love is fickle. It can turn on a dime. So maybe, like you, Yergha’s desperate for work the same way you were desperate for work.”

“You’re still mad that I didn’t do the Russia job,” Esty said.

“I’m not mad,” he lied. “I was more disappointed than anything. But it was good that some guy was balls deep inside of you. If not for you and your sexual escapades, I would not have expanded the team.”

“Will they be joining us?” she asked.

“Only if you say you can’t handle it, and then maybe only Kiera. Atlas’s situation is…delicate, if not problematic.”

“What’s his last name?” she asked. “And why won’t you tell me anything about either him or Kiera?”

“Compartmentalization is key when we’re new and, admittedly, a bit sloppy. The goal is to get better with every job, but the jobs aren’t coming as quickly as I’d hoped, and with the amount of human filth operating in the world today, that’s pretty damn depressing.”

“Spoken by a true hero,” she said. “I’m batting my eyelashes at you, Leo.”

“I asked you to stop calling me that,” he said thinking about how much he hated Atlas calling him that. “Now book your flight and send me the details. And if Yergha arrives close enough to your arrival time, be sure to pick him up.”

“Roger that, big daddy,” she said, which for some reason made him laugh.

“Leopold, I think I’m going to cum!” the girl in the pool squealed.

“Who the hell was that?” Estella asked.

“You’re not the only one with a personal life, Esty,” Leopold said, embarrassed. “Book that flight and I’ll see you in Texas.”

He hung up with Esty and called Yergha who answered promptly on the fifth ring. This was far less prompt than Leopold expected when calling one of his assets.

“Hello, boss,” Yergha said, the Pakistani sounding happy. “Talk to me.”

“I have a job for you,” he said.

“Name the time and place, and I am on my way.”

“I thought you were in love, that you might have found the one,” Leopold said.

“I have decided to live my life as you do, being married to the things that make me happy, and not clinging so tightly to everything else.”

“I thought women made you happy,” he said.

“For a few nights,” Yergha said. “But when I am alone, I dream of bigger things. Then you don’t call or text and so I am forced to substitute women for my true passion. The job, boss, that’s what I love. Now tell me, who do I get to kill today?”

“Not a politician,” he said. “Not yet.”

The man blew out an irritated sigh then said, “I was sure this call would be the call.”

“Well, it’s not,” Leopold said. “Besides, I’ve only called you three times, Yergha. Think of this as a marathon, not a sprint.”

“You have called three times and you have not allowed me this honor, this pleasure.”

“In due time, my friend,” Leopold said. “In due time.”

“Alright, then. Let me know where I need to be and I’ll be there.”

“El Paso, Texas.”

“Ah, dammit, Leopold. That’s a dust bowl and they hate people like me there.”

“No one even knows you well enough to hate you.”

“True, but El Paso?”

“I have alternatives to you now,” Leopold said. “If you give me even an ounce of grief about the job, I will tell you to find another job. This is how it works when the team expands.”

“So it’s going to be like that?” he replied, his voice soft, hurt.

“You knew it would be this way one day,” Leopold said. “How are all of your broken bones?”

“No longer broken. I will be in El Paso shortly. I’ll text you my flight information.”

“Estella is going to meet you there.”

“The one woman I actually want to sleep with is the one woman who won’t sleep with me on principle alone.”

“Why do you want to sleep with her so badly?” Leopold asked. Estella was gorgeous and hardcore but her attitude was usually crappy and she had the propensity to be mean.

“Because she is the one girl who can get close enough to kill me. And if she wanted, I just might let her. I mean think about it. The passion of a fight like that between two adversaries, along with the animal instincts to mate—”

“I’m sure she doesn’t have those instincts for you,” Leopold said.

“But if she did…”

“She doesn’t,” he said with a grin.

“And this