Last Hit (Hitman #1)(28)
Author: Jessica Clare

My eyebrows climb my forehead. Mr. Brown has actually shot at me, and because I bent over to feed the dog, I’ve avoided having to dodge a bullet. I remain crouched. My eyes are adjusted to the night so it is easy for me to see him waving the gun around. I will have to disarm him.

I give Peanut a final pat and move stealthily to creep around Mr. Brown. He does not sense me, and I’m able to easily rise up behind him and remove his gun from his hand. The gun is small and lightweight. Perhaps I will give Daisy Mr. Brown’s gun. But no, Daisy shouldn’t be touching filth belonging to Mr. Brown.

I wave the gun toward the chair. "Please, Mr. Brown, sit down."

"I’m not Mr. Brown. You have the wrong person," he says, but he obeys nonetheless.

"George Franklin, formerly an employee of the Petrovich Bratva? Currently on the run and in hiding?"

Mr. Brown gasps and then begins to plead with me. "What do you want? I have money. Lots of money. I’ll give you anything."

These encounters are so similar that I wonder if there is some script that is handed out to criminals. In case of capture, use these bargaining tools. Alas, I must surmise that these work on occasion or the bribes wouldn’t be offered.

"You do have some information I would like, Mr. Brown," I reply. "You managed the money for the Bratva and got stupidly greedy, but I don’t care about that. What I care about is why Sergei had Alexsandr Zotov terminated." I put up a hand to forestall any fakery. "I know it is not about Sergei’s daughter."

Mr. Brown closes his mouth and then opens it again. "I’m not certain what it was about."

"Well, then," I lift Mr. Brown’s gun up and chamber a bullet. "There is nothing with which to bargain."

"Wait, wait." He lifts his hands. "I heard them arguing about the cattle. Alexsandr didn’t think the Bratva should be in that business. Guns and drugs, yes, humans, no."

I lower the gun and gesture for him to continue.

"Alexsandr said that the children were too much. He didn’t want to be part of it and said that Sergei’s uncle would never have participated."

"It is just the age, not the act itself that bothered Alexsandr?" Oh Alexsandr, our priorities are all so perverted.

Mr. Brown shakes his head, "I don’t know. I didn’t care. I was leaving. Now you have your information, you can leave too." Mr. Brown is brazen in his requests, but why not?

"A little information share and you expect me to let you go? Who do you think sent me?"

"Sergei," Mr. Brown replies sullenly. He looks down at his feet, and then to his dog, who has not moved from my side.

"Do you think I can return to him and say that the job is not done without suffering consequences?" I shake my head at him. "Do not treat me like I am a foolish child."

"What do you want from me?" Mr. Brown holds his hands up in plea. "I’ll give you anything."

"You are a man out of ideas, yes?"

"Yes!" He is willing to agree anything right now.

"You have no contingency plan? You just thought you would take your money and run around the Midwest and that no one would find you?"

"Yes," Mr. Brown begins to cry and rock in his chair. "I’ve been on the run for so long. I stopped here because I was just so tired."

"So you give me the information that Sergei wants from you…because he did not ask for me to kill you, but to return you home to him."

This terrifies Mr. Brown. He hugs himself and sobs openly now. "Don’t send me back. Just kill me now. Promise me."

I rub the inscription on my chest. Death is a mercy. This man understands. The end is merely the beginning. Staying alive when you are maimed, when your family is being tortured, when you are being tortured—all are worse than death. I bring mercy.

"I promise," I say. "I will return to Sergei and tell him that I had to put you down, but first you reveal the information to me that imperils Sergei. Tell me this information that is so important that you must be returned healthy and hale."

Mr. Brown begins to talk, and it is forty-five minutes before he is done.

I shoot him once in the temple. I will take the dog with me. I’m not certain what I will do with this dog, but I do not want to leave him here to eat out Mr. Brown’s brains as dogs are wont to do.

I pick up Mr. Brown’s body and lay him in the tub. There I pour a mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide that will eat away at Mr. Brown’s body until all that is left are his bones. The lack of obvious decay will ensure that Mr. Brown’s body is not found for some time. I pay his rent for three months in advance.

It will buy me some time with Daisy. Three months to figure out what I should do with her.

In my own apartment, I burn my clothes—the gloves, pants, shirt and skull cap—in my own bathtub. The porcelain is remarkably hardy, and the smell of cotton and wool burning is not unpleasant. Afterward, I shower off the residue of gunpowder, smoke, and ashes.

I give the dog a pat on the head and go to check on the security feed of Daisy’s gas station that I have hacked into. She is sitting on a stool looking through a magazine. No one appears to have harmed her. Perhaps Daisy is right. She is fine.

Briefly, I wonder if she will miss her neighbor, but she has not mentioned him even once. I continue to watch her until her shift is nearing an end. I pour out some dog food for Mr. Brown’s dog. He needs a new name. I cannot call him Peanut. The thought makes my stomach revolt in disgust. The dog is uncertain at first, but after pissing in two corners, he decides that my soulless apartment is just as good as Mr. Brown’s. Cleaning up after the dog, I wonder what I will do with him. Perhaps Daisy would like a pet.

The rest of the night hours pass uneventfully.

As her shift nears its end, I trot down to the Ducati and speed off to pick her up.

"Hey, Nick." She seems pleased to see me, all bright smiles. "I didn’t think I’d see you."

"Why not?" I am offended. Did I not tell her that I would watch out for her?

"I’m just surprised. Pleased, but surprised. I didn’t get a text from you." She slings her leg over the back of the bike and tugs on her helmet. It is hard to talk to her while she is wearing it. I would need to buy those helmets with the mic capabilities.

I tug her close to me and pat her hands, which are folded over my abdomen. I am tired, and I suspect Daisy is tired. We both needed to sleep, but I cannot sleep when I am worrying about her. When we arrive at her apartment, I broach the issue with her.

"Daisy, I am exhausted," I tell her honestly.

Her hand reaches out to brush against the skin under my eye. "You look it."

"You are tired too, yes?"

She nods a little.

"Then let us sleep together. I cannot sleep without being next to you now. Not after." I pause meaningfully, and I am pleased when I see her blush. She understands then. "Just sleep, nothing more."

Daisy huffs a laugh and shakes her head. "I don’t know if I should be offended that all you want to do is sleep."

"No offense is meant." I tell her. "I want you much, but we are both tired, and your first time should be when we are both fully rested. After, you will get no sleep for hours, maybe days."

This makes Daisy blush even harder, although it is nothing but the truth. Once I am inside her wet lushness, with her sweet cunt gripping my cock, I will not want to leave for days. We will need to arrange to have provisions brought to us every few hours, for I suspect that once I have Daisy, I will think of nothing else but having her again and again until our muscles are jelly and even the ability to think will have been suspended. But I cannot do this until the situation with Sergei is resolved. I cannot place Daisy in any danger, and thus I must remain vigilant at all times.

Daisy takes me by the hand, and I follow to her apartment. When she shuts the door, I pull out some string and ask her for a couple of cans or metal items.

"Why?"

"For safety," I respond honestly. She looks at me like my idea is full of craziness, so I tell her, "I will not be able to sleep if we cannot secure your residence."

"Nick, did you grow up in an unsafe neighborhood?"

"Yes." Truth. The streets were unsafe. In the Bratva, a non-Petrovich was a target until you could stand up for yourself. You needed to learn that skill quickly.

Daisy asks me no more questions. Instead, she digs around the trash and finds two metal cans. She rinses them out, and I dig a hole in the bottom of each with the little penknife on my keychain. The cans are strung together and rest at the top of the door.

"What about Regan?"

"If she leaves or returns, we will know. Just like with anyone." I want to keep track of everyone coming or going.

Daisy looks down the hall toward the bedrooms and then back up to the cans. It takes effort not to cover the area beneath my jacket where my gun resides.

"I think that there’s a lot you should be telling me, Nick, or things I should be asking you about, but I’m too tired right now." She yawns even as she speaks this.

I nod, although at this point, I don’t know what I am agreeing to. I spare a thought for the dog, but if he shits or pisses again, I will just clean it up. Tomorrow. All those things can be taken care of tomorrow.

"Come on," she says, and I follow her down to the bedroom.

I’ve seen it before, but being in Daisy’s bedroom is completely different than staring at it through a scope. I run my fingers across the scarred wooden dresser that holds the clothes I’ve bought for her. I’m not sure who has slept on the bed before us, but I care not. All I know is that I will be cradling Daisy’s body close to mine.

"Do you want clothes to sleep in? I don’t have any, but maybe Reagan’s boyfriend has left something?"

I shake my head. "No, I can sleep in my t-shirt and jeans." I don’t tell her that I’d rather be nak*d than touch his clothes.

Daisy picks out some clothes. I try to remember what we bought that would constitute nightwear. My blood heats when I think of the scraps of satin and lace that were in the lingerie department. I remove my jacket and hang it on the closet door. The gun is tucked between the mattress on the side of the bed closest to the door. I shuck off my boots but leave on my socks and belt. It will be easier to respond to threats the less clothing I have to don. I know Daisy is nervous, so I lie down in the bed, my hands tucked behind my head. And I wait.

Chapter Ten

DAISY

My mind is troubled as I head to the bathroom and change into a sleep shirt. It’s soft and fuzzy, all warm and flannel. It’s not cold in the house, but I feel obligated to Nick to wear thicker clothing to sleep in so I don’t bother him. He looks exhausted and doesn’t want to have sex, so I won’t torment him by wearing one of the silky nighties I got when we went shopping together.

I exit the bathroom and give the cans strung above the door a quick look and then glance away as if they are no big deal. The sight of them bothers me. Not because they are there, but because they represent secrets. They make me think of my past with my father, and the many ways he had to ensure that we would never be surprised by intruders. I remember bubble wrap placed on windowsills.

I wonder if that is why I am so drawn to Nick—underneath it all, we are more alike than either of us realizes.