Ghosts, Matt Rogers [reading the story of the .txt] 📗

couple more run, and suddenly everyone’s hightailing it for the hills or switching sides. Criminals don’t exactly inspire life-or-death loyalty.’

Violetta looked out over the grounds, at the bodies scattered across no-man’s-land or draped over the lip of the awning. ‘Ray did.’

‘Gates isn’t Ray. He’s a street thug. Ray was a manipulator of the highest calibre.’

Violetta said, ‘Even so, I can handle it. He doesn’t know me. I’ve got a better chance of tying it up neatly.’

Chance.

The word hung heavy in the air.

Slater could see the ethical dilemma playing out before his eyes.

King had just seen what happened with Alexis. How close Slater had come to the love of his life getting killed or permanently scarred by trauma. Violetta had a hundred times the field experience that Alexis did, and was equally as capable of putting a bullet square between Gates’ eyes as King was, but still…

King had been operating solo for most of his career.

His instinct was to place all the risk squarely on his own shoulders.

Bear the burden, so others didn’t have to.

He was grappling with it now.

Slater said, ‘Jason.’

King looked over.

Slater said, ‘It’s not your call. It’s hers.’

King nodded.

He knew.

He just didn’t want to admit it.

Violetta said, ‘I’ve got spare clothes in the back of the Range Rover. I’ll take it to Wan’s. Can you steal one of their cars and hole it up in the garage back at the estate?’

King nodded. ‘No problem.’

She could tell he wasn’t happy.

They all could.

She said, ‘I’m not your handler anymore. I’m just as much of a field agent as you now. And in this case it’s safer for me to do this.’

He said, ‘I know.’

‘Then what?’

‘I love you.’

She looked at him.

Slater and Alexis stayed quiet.

She said, ‘Now you know how I felt on every operation.’

He nodded. ‘Then there’s only one thing left to do.’

She didn’t respond.

He said, ‘Go get that motherfucker.’

Slater said, ‘Wish it could have been me.’

Violetta focused on his ankle and shrugged. ‘Fate didn’t want you to deal with it. You’ll have to live vicariously through me.’

Slater closed his eyes. ‘I’m already picturing it.’

Despite everything Violetta smiled.

King said, ‘Go. There’s no guarantee Melanie will hang around.’

She kissed him, hugged Alexis, and patted Slater on the shoulder. Then she turned and walked straight past Ray’s corpse and the mangled body that used to be Alan Ward, its torso now riddled with lead. She didn’t look at either of them. One man was far more depraved than the other, but ultimately their choices had led them to the same place.

They watched her get in the SUV, reverse out of the lot and peel away.

The engine faded away, and then it was just the three of them.

King said, ‘Let’s get you out of here, buddy.’

He looked distracted.

As he hauled Slater upright and supported him around the waist, Slater said, ‘She’s going to be okay.’

‘I know,’ King said.

They started for one of the enemy’s SUVs, Alexis marching ahead.

King said, ‘I don’t know what I’ll do if she isn’t.’

58

Violetta had little experience with this particular role.

Frankly, she’d never needed to.

But she knew she could.

She wore jean shorts that ended a couple of inches below her hips and a tube top that pushed her breasts up and out. It perfectly accentuated all the curves she’d been blessed with, and as she waltzed into the laneway behind the strip mall she made sure to flick her hair over one shoulder and direct her assets toward the old security cameras outside the back door to Wan’s. She’d made herself look slightly dishevelled beforehand, like a woman who’d been at a pool party all evening and loaded herself up on enough substances to stride through the seedier parts of Chinatown late at night without a care in the world.

She was ready to do laps of the alley until she got a response, but it wasn’t necessary.

The door flew open.

Armando Gates was there, half-curious, half-suspicious.

He looked bad, but she knew he couldn’t tell. His eyes were so wide she thought they might burst, and red veins had almost entirely encompassed the whites around his irises. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, which he probably hadn’t. She knew he had at least a dozen underage girls on call to get his rocks off, but he either didn’t touch his own product or simply couldn’t resist the allure of doing things the old-fashioned way. Cocaine has the incredible ability to ruin your self-awareness, so he probably didn’t realise how strung-out and deranged he looked.

She pretended not to notice. ‘Hi there.’

‘Hi,’ he said. ‘You lost?’

He talked fast.

She talked slow to offset his mania.

‘No,’ she said. ‘Just walking around.’

‘You look like you should be someplace else.’

‘Where do I look like I should be?’

‘Encore Beach Club, maybe.’

‘I was at Kaos,’ she said. ‘I got bored.’

‘It’s real late. You’re a daredevil, aren’t you?’

She flushed her face and tried her best to dilate her pupils. King and Slater could do it on command. She hadn’t been through their training, but she did a respectable job of it anyway. It sure looked to Gates like she was coming down off ecstasy.

She said, ‘My friends were scared to come out this way.’

‘Why would they be scared?’

‘You tell me.’

He grinned. He looked like a demon. ‘I wouldn’t have a clue.’

‘You okay, honey?’ she said. ‘You look stressed.’

‘It’s been a long day.’

‘Same here,’ she said.

She took a couple of steps toward the doorway. Still keeping her distance — she couldn’t act completely idiotic. But enough for him to recognise the subtle advance.

He said, ‘I’ve got a club here.’

She looked around. ‘A club?’

He said, ‘You had an argument with your friends, didn’t you?’

She gave thanks he’d noticed her deliberately smudged mascara. ‘Why do you care?’

‘You’re in a bad mood, I’m in a bad mood,’ he said. ‘How about a drink to take the edge off?’

‘I don’t see any club,’ she said.

‘It’s not open right now,’ he said. ‘There’s a few issues I had to handle today. But there’s a full bar back here. I’ve got some top-shelf shit.