Ace had told Katie he was going to collect intel on Alexei so The Hell Brothers could set up a plan to get rid of him, but that wasn’t exactly true. In reality, he was going to look for some kid named Paul.
Fiona had mentioned her brother had a friend who worked for Alexei. Apparently that was how Niko and Alexei had ended up crossing paths. Paul was tied to Alexei, so Ace figured technically, he hadn’t actually lied to Katie.
Ace sighed. What am I going to do about you, Katie? Her outburst today had been totally unacceptable. He used to think she was a firecracker when she would pop off like that, always setting him on his ass.
Katie would yell at him for being stupid, then he would fuck her brains out; that was their routine, and it was one he liked. Then why didn’t you fuck her this morning? You didn’t even kiss her when you headed out the door. It was like you couldn’t wait to get away, the voice in his head taunted. Ace pushed that part of his mind away.
He revved the motor, accelerating down the highway as he mindlessly zipped through the lanes. His thoughts circled around back to last night again, and how nice it had been to have a woman do what he wanted her to do for once. Soon, she’ll want to do it, too, Ace thought lasciviously as he headed towards Uptown.
Once he told Fiona all the info he was about to dig up on her brother, she’d forget all about his early departure this morning. His plan was foolproof—as long as he found Paul. The only problem was Ace had no idea what Paul looked like.
Pulling over into a narrow alley behind a row of shops, Ace killed the engine, silencing the echoing motor. He pulled off his leather vest that claimed The Hell Brothers title, leaving him in just a tight black tee. He carefully folded the vest and placed it in one of the side saddlebags on his bike, throwing his do-rag on top.
Tousling his auburn hair, Ace stuck one hand in his pocket and casually slung his backpack over his shoulder. He walked out of the alley, heading down the street to the warehouse district where he knew the Russians did their business.
Finding an abandoned warehouse, Ace climbed up the fire escape to stand on the roof. The building was tall, making a good vantage point. He unzipped his bag and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He didn’t know where Alexei’s place was, but Alexei wasn’t a very smart guy. Ace was confident he could figure it out.
Sure enough, in less than thirty minutes Ace noticed a steady stream of fancy cars heading in and out of one of the smaller buildings, as well as a suspicious number of men in graphic tees and leather pants that were far too snug.
Twenty minutes after that, a young man exited one of the side doors and began to pace back and forth, looking extremely nervous. Ace had seen that look before—it was one of a man way out of his depth. He had found Paul.
Ace quickly climbed back down the fire escape, taking the long way around to wind up on the same street as Paul. He didn’t want to walk too fast, or he would attract unwanted attention, but if he took too long, Paul would go back inside. Luck was with him today, and when Ace rounded the corner he spotted Paul, who was now agitatedly sucking down a cigarette.
Staying in the shadow of the building, Ace pulled down his sunglasses to cover his eyes and began to casually wave at Paul, as if they were old pals, patiently waiting for him to notice. When he didn’t, Ace called to him from across the street, without a care in the world to who might be listening, apparently.
Paul lit a cigarette, rapidly pacing back and forth as he tried to come up with a plan. Niko was going to die if he didn’t help him, and now his sister, too. But if he went against Alexei, it would most likely result in him only joining the two in a sudden, fiery car accident.
He jerked his head up, hearing someone shout his name. Paul hastily looked around, spotting a dark-haired man in a black shirt on the street corner. He squinted, but couldn’t make out who the man was; he had a pair of over-sized sunglasses on that covered half of his face.
He waved again, and gestured that he would cross the street to come to Paul. Paul felt his body temperature drop five degrees. That would not fly with Alexei. He’d kill this man for trespassing on his property, and beat Paul half to death for letting him.
Paul waved back to the man hurriedly, motioning for him to stay where he was. The last thing he wanted was another accidental death on his conscience. He looked around to double check no one else was around, then jogged across the street to figure out who this man was.
The second Paul stepped into the shadow of the building, and outside any watchful eyes’ view, Ace grabbed his shirt and slammed him into the wall.
“What the fu—” Paul started to exclaim, frantically trying to shove the stranger away.
Ace shook him firmly to hold still, cutting him off. “Are you Paul Ivanov?” he asked, or perhaps threatened.
“Yes, m-my name is Paul,” he stammered out. He had a feeling the man would be able to tell if he was lying.
Miraculously, the giant fists holding him hostage relaxed and let go. Paul knew they would have him again quick as lighting if he tried to run, though.
“You friends with Niko Brown?” the man asked suspiciously.
Is this a trap? Paul wondered. Does this guy work for Alexei? Maybe Alexei’s testing me to see where my loyalties lie. He looked at the man in front of him again. Paul decided to play it straight. He took a deep breath. “Yes,” he said resolutely. “Niko is my friend.”
There was no reaction from the man, which meant he didn’t work for Alexei, Paul gathered. His shoulders drooped, all the bravado rushing out of him. He had gotten himself all worked up over nothing.
“Niko isn’t around, so if you’re looking for him, I can’t really…” Paul stopped midsentence once again, this time because the man had removed his sunglasses and Paul now finally knew who he was. “Holy shit, you’re Ace Connor,” Paul breathed, right before passing out from fear.
Ace looked at the unconscious boy at his feet. “Goddammit,” he said, sighing. He nudged Paul with his boot. Nothing. He nudged harder. Still nothing.
Taking a quick look around, Ace hooked his elbows under Paul’s armpits and hurriedly dragged him into the alley behind the warehouse. He propped Paul up against the brick wall, wincing as the kid’s head scraped along the rough stone.
Ace stood up, panting a little. He was in good shape, especially for a man in his early thirties, but he had to admit, things were beginning to ache.
Paul groaned and began to stir. “Please don’t hit me again,” he pleaded, looking up at Ace. “I swear, I have no idea where Niko is.”
“I didn’t hit you the first time!” Ace said indignantly. “You fainted!”
“Well, that’s embarrassing,” Paul muttered. Ace offered a hand and he took it, pulling himself up. “What do you want with Niko? If it’s to kill him, you’re wasting your time. Alexei’s already on it,” he said, gesturing to the building across the street with one hand while rubbing the back of his head with the other. “You sure you didn’t hit me?” he asked skeptically.
“To be honest, I don’t want anything to do with Niko,” Ace said, ignoring Paul’s comment, “but his sister, Fiona, came around a tad pissed off about Alexei wanting to kill her brother and looking for help. Thing is, I like to be informed before I go sticking my nose where it might get shot off, and Fiona hasn’t been very forthcoming with the details, see?”
If Ace were to be perfectly honest, he would have mentioned he hadn’t really asked Fiona for any details. There wasn’t any point to it, really. She was too close to him to see the truth about Niko. That was why he needed Paul.
“Why do you care what Fiona wants?” Paul blurted out.
Ace scowled at Paul and grabbed him by the back of the neck. “Do you want to ask questions, or do you want to keep your tongue?”
“Sorry!” Paul squeaked out.
Ace glared at him for another minute to make sure he got the point, then let go. “Tell me what happened with Niko,” he ordered, folding his arms.
“Well, I guess it all started out a while back when I met Niko, because, well, we were going to be heading to this place out in…the…” Paul’s voice faded as he noticed Ace’s menacing stare. He was nervous, and babbling because of it. “Sorry,” Paul repeated. “Um, Niko has a pretty bad drug problem, especially when it comes to the nose candy, if you know what I mean, and he was always short on cash. So when Alexei gave us the opportunity to run some drugs, well, we took it,” Paul admitted.
Ace sighed. He could guess where this was headed. “Niko started tasting his own product, didn’t he?”
Paul fervently shook his head. “No way, man. Niko might ride the white pony a little too often for me, but he was smarter than that,” he insisted.
“Then what happened?”
Paul looked at his shoes. “We got jumped. They took everything; our money and our stash. Alexei was pissed. Told us we were responsible for it.”
Ace was nonplussed. “What happened to your guard?”
“Our what?” Paul asked, equally confused.
“Your guard,” Ace repeated. “You should have had a guard with you to make sure that exact thing didn’t happen to you…” He trailed off, seeing Paul wasn’t understanding anything he was saying. Come on, Alexei, Ace thought, aggravated. This is Drug-Running 101; where’s your head at? Unless…
“Paul, do you know who jumped you?” Ace asked urgently. “Did they say anything?”
Paul frowned as he thought back to that night. “No…” he said slowly. “Why?”
Ace sighed. “Because Alexei rolled you two.”
“What do you mean?” Paul asked anxiously.
“It’s a fucked up thing to do, but then, Alexei’s pretty fucked up,” Ace said. “You send out a runner with no guard so they’re defenseless, then you send someone out after the runner to rob them. It’s easy because you know exactly where they are on the route,” he explained. “They come back and you demand they come up with the money or you kill them. Then they have twice as much, see? The only thing I don’t understand is why Alexei would pull this on Niko. There’s nothing to suggest Niko would be able to pay up,” Ace wondered aloud.
Paul’s shoulders suddenly drooped.
“What?” Ace asked suspiciously.
“My cousin, Patrick,” Paul said miserably. “He’s rich—he paid for my share, and even some of Niko’s. Alexei must’ve been going after me,” he stuttered, clearly distressed.
“Yeah, probably,” Ace agreed absentmindedly.
This changed things considerably. It had been one thing to rile the gang up this morning, but as much as he hated to admit it, Katie had been right—they weren’t going to be swayed for long by some sap who couldn’t pay his debts. But if Alexei was intentionally rolling his own runners, well, that was a different story.
The gangs of Chicago often hastily formed alliances and broke them just as quickly – that is, when there were enough gangs for an alliance to be necessary. These cease-fires, which were fragile enough to begin with, were most frequently broken when one gang jumped another gang’s runner. Attacking your own runner could inadvertently end a truce. Plus, it was just bad business—if you can’t protect your employees, no one will want to work for you.
I can take this back to The Hell Brothers as a real issue. I can work this! Ace thought excitedly, purposely ignoring why he was so happy he was going to be able to help Fiona without putting too much strain on his role as the leader of the gang.
“Ex-excuse me,” Paul stammered nervously, pulling Ace from his reverie.
Ace snapped his head up to look at him. “What?” he demanded.
“Can I help?” Paul asked timidly. “Niko was—is my friend, and if I didn’t have my cousin, Alexei would be hunting me down right now, too.”
Ace didn’t think it was a good idea to bring someone of Alexei’s back to headquarters just yet, but he was glad to have a guy on the inside. He smirked, imagining Katie’s face when he told her he had a double agent. That’ll show her, he thought smugly.
“What can you tell me?” Ace needed information, and quickly.
“Uh, well, um.” Paul was struggling under the pressure to remember the conversation he’d overheard only an hour earlier. Ace took a deep breath, trying not to strangle the kid with his bare hands. “Vlad’s pushing Alexei to kill all you guys, well, not all, but enough that you won’t be able to do business anymore.”
“I know that already,” Ace said impatiently. “What did he say about Fiona? And Niko?” he added hurriedly.
“Oh, that. Alexei wants both of them by the end of the week,” Paul said. “I said something about maybe getting them to leave Fiona alone, but they didn’t like that. I…I don’t think it’s about the money anymore.”
Ace rolled his eyes. He could have guessed that much, as well. Paul was essentially useless. But that didn’t mean he always would be. “Okay, Paul, that’s great,” Ace lied. “Can you keep doing this? Can you keep telling me what’s going on with Alexei? If you do, I promise I will help your friend Niko.”
“If it’ll help Niko—anything,” Paul said firmly. “Thank you, Mr. Connor.”
“No problem.” Ace rubbed the back of his neck, hurrying to leave before the kid burst into tears or something.
He needed to go to Fiona’s and talk to her about what he’d just found out, but he doubted she would want to see him right now. After he’d left so abruptly last night, he’d sort of been avoiding her. Ace angrily rolled his shoulders. What’d she fucking expect anyway? I’m not the kind of guy who brings a girl breakfast in bed, and if Fiona thought otherwise, that’s her own damn fault!
He wanted to believe that was true, he really did, but deep down, Ace knew the reason he left last night was because of the weird, sick feeling in the pit of his stomach he couldn’t name. It was that feeling that made him run from Fiona’s bedroom last night, and it was what kept him from kissing Katie earlier.
Either not wanting or not ready to face whatever it was that was growing inside of him, Ace shoved his emotions all the way down to the bottom of his gut and put on his game face. He would be all business when he saw Fiona, that was for certain.
***
“Ugh, that was so good. I needed that,” Fiona said, patting her distended belly.
“I don’t know whether to be impressed or disgusted,” Melanie said in awe.
She and Melanie had just returned from Denny’s, where Fiona had completely inhaled six strips of bacon, two biscuits with honey, three sausages, three sunny-side up eggs, two and a half glasses of orange juice, and four pancakes loaded with strawberries, syrup, and butter, courtesy of Melanie’s mom’s credit card.
“Be jealous,” Fiona said, sighing contentedly.
She wanted nothing more than to fall back on her couch and pass out, but her sofa was still shot to shit and, more importantly, she still had to find Ace again. She was growing more and more concerned that he hadn’t stopped by, or at least called her.
What if Melanie’s right? Fiona thought worriedly. What if he played me—played on my situation?
Oh, right, her cynical side replied, the leader of a motorcycle gang has nothing better to do with his time than to trick someone like you into letting him eat your pussy, sure.
“What’s wrong?” Melanie asked, seeing her friend’s sour face.
“Huh?” Fiona was startled out of her self-deprecating thoughts. “Oh, nothing. I just remembered that Ace is supposed to come over soon to tell me his plan for Alexei,” she lied.
In reality, Fiona needed to figure out how she was going to get in touch with Ace, and since she wasn’t ready to admit to Melanie that she might have been conned, she was going to have to do it herself.
“Do you want me to stay? Give you an excuse to avoid…anything?” Melanie offered kindly.
“Um, I think he would probably see through that. You should just go,” Fiona said hurriedly. “But, thanks, really,” she added genuinely. Melanie was a better friend than she deserved right now.
There was a knock at the door that startled both of them. Melanie let out a little scream. “He must be early!” she said, laughing at her own reaction.
“Yeah…” Fiona said slowly, staring at the door, confused. “Must be.”
She walked over to the door, a small wave of cool relief washing over her. She didn’t know why Ace would just randomly show up to her house without notice, but she didn’t care. Fiona was just glad he was here.
She opened the door to see what could quite possibly be considered the very antithesis of Ace.
“Fiona!” Ash exclaimed, throwing his arms around her—a difficult feat considering one of his hands held a massive bouquet of red and pink roses. “I’m so glad you’re okay! I pulled up and saw the house! What happened?”
Fiona gently but firmly pushed Ash away from her, taking a deep breath now that she wasn’t being suffocated to death by a floral arrangement. “Ash, what are you doing here?” she asked.
“You haven’t responded to any of my calls or texts for almost a week, so I thought I would pop by with a little surprise,” he waved the oversized bouquet, “and say hello!”
Fiona sighed and turned back to look at her friend. “Melanie…” Melanie cut her off with a wave of her hand.
“Got it,” she said, picking her bag up off of the floor. She gave Ash a sympathetic little pat on the shoulder as she walked past him, shutting the front door behind her.
Ash looked at his shoulder as though Melanie had wiped rat shit on it. “I don’t know why you talk to her,” he said, glaring after Melanie.
Fiona ignored him. She’d had that argument with him far too often for someone who wasn’t even her boyfriend. “Ash, this isn’t a great time right now. I’m kind of in the middle of something,” she told him.
“I can see that, Fiona!” he gestured to the destroyed living room. His dull brown eyes narrowed at her. “This has something to do with your deadbeat brother, doesn’t it?”
Someone knocked on the door again, loudly this time. Figuring it was Melanie, Fiona went to answer it. Maybe she overheard Ash and came back, she hoped.
She opened the door and was met by a pair of dark green eyes.
“Ace,” she breathed.
It wasn’t until Fiona felt this rollercoaster of expectations that she grasped how attracted she was to this man. Shoving this realization far into the deep recesses of her mind, she stepped back to let Ace inside.
“Who is he?” Ash asked indignantly, a touch of fear in his voice.
“He’s helping me with my deadbeat brother,” Fiona said contemptuously.
Ash’s face swiftly changed to one of regret. “Oh, Fiona, you know I didn’t mean that. I just worry about you.”
“I think the lady would prefer if you left,” Ace interjected menacingly, his hands unconsciously tightening into fists.
He felt extremely territorial coming over to Fiona’s house and finding a man already there—one with clear romantic intent, judging by the rosebush sitting on the table. Ace wanted nothing more than to take those roses and shove them somewhere they would never see sunshine again.
Deep down, he knew he had no right to this feeling. Obviously this…person had history with Fiona, one that predated all of the eighteen hours Ace had known her. That’s what makes it sting, though, he decided. His only claim to Fiona was the deal she was bound to. If it weren’t for that, she would probably be with what’s-his-face over there—the kid who couldn’t stop staring at Fiona with big, pleading puppy-dog eyes.
Ace snorted softly to himself, rolling his shoulders. That’s the problem with getting attached to people—it’s never what you want it to be, but you’re so dependent on them you become weak, he thought, looking over at the two of them. The sap was holding Fiona by her bicep, whispering agitatedly to her and glancing at Ace as though to make sure he was keeping his distance. Even worse, you don’t even see how pathetic you’re being.
He couldn’t think of anything more appalling.
Ace strode over to the pair, clapping his hand on the sap’s narrow shoulders. “Sorry, but the lady and I have business to attend to, and you’ve overstayed your welcome.”
Fiona tried not to giggle as she watched Ace steer a highly indignant and spluttering Ash towards the front door, pushing him out rather unceremoniously. She felt a little guilty that she enjoyed seeing that so much.
Ace slammed the door, a firm sense of satisfaction clicking into place as he locked the deadbolt. “Goddamn,” he cursed. “I don’t know how you can stand even to talk to that guy, let alone fuck him.”
Fiona’s temper suddenly flared. “At least he’s there when I wake up in the morning,” she snapped.
Should have seen that one coming. “So suddenly I’m boyfriend material? That wasn’t the deal, sweet cheeks.” He grinned lustily.
“You are most certainly not boyfriend material,” Fiona vehemently agreed. “That’s the whole point with Ash,” she explained. “I don’t have the time for a full-fledged relationship right now, but…something’s better than nothing,” she said, shrugging.
“Is that why you’re still helping your brother, despite the fact that all he does is weigh you down?” Ace asked suddenly. “Because some family is better than no family?”
“What?” Fiona said defensively. “No! Of course not! Niko is my brother and I love him. He does not weigh me down,” she informed.
“Oh, okay,” Ace said casually. “I only ask because I talked to his friend Paul today, and he told me that your brother is a drug addict who willingly got involved with Alexei and his gang,” he accused her.
“I told you right away that my brother had problems!” Fiona fired back.
“So you did know about him?” Ace said in disbelief. “You know all about the coke, and him running drugs? Everything?”
Fiona nodded defiantly. “So?”
“So I’m willing to bet this isn’t the first time you’ve had to bail out your brother, and because you refused to cut ties with him, now it’s about to be the last!” Ace said, letting out a small laugh. Fiona said nothing to dispute him, and he knew he was right. “I get you’re stuck on the family thing because of your dad, but let me be the first to tell you: families suck, and people suck, too. And if you rely too much on them, you’re just giving them more and more opportunities to let you down,” he told her regretfully.
Fiona didn’t say anything for a long time after that. Ace began to wonder if his bluntness had triggered some kind of emotional breakdown, when she smiled brightly at him.
“I know you had a really bad childhood—far worse than mine, not that mine was great either. But one thing I remember is that when I was sixteen, my dad promised that he would take me to The Shops at North Bridge to get new clothes, and I was so excited,” Fiona said, her blue eyes shining. “Not because of the clothes, though that was a bonus, but because I was going to get to spend the day with my dad. He was going to be my dad again.” She fell silent.
“It didn’t happen like that, did it?” Ace said flatly.
Fiona shook her head. “He was supposed to come home straight from work, but I guess he stopped at the bar first.”
“Sounds about right. So what’s so great about that? Why would that make you want to cling to your brother?” Ace asked skeptically.
“Because after about two hours of waiting for my dad, Niko, who was barely ten at the time, scraped together his savings to buy us two train tickets so we could go to The Shops and eat at the food court.” Fiona looked at her feet. “We spent the day window shopping, pretending to be a rich family. I know it sounds dumb now, but at the time…”
Ace understood. He would have given anything for someone to do something like that for him. Instead, when he was sixteen, he’d walked in on his mother’s corpse and ended up killing his father. Not exactly the memories family photo albums are made of.
Feeling terribly unsure about what he was doing, Ace felt himself walk over to Fiona and stiffly gather her into his arms.
“Listen to me,” he said, looking down at her soft, tanned skin. “Paul told me some other things. Alexei isn’t going to let you or your brother go.”
“What do you mean?” Fiona said, confusion and worry clouding her pale blue eyes. “You said you were able to get rid of Alexei, so that won’t matter if you do what you said, right?”
Ace could hear the panic growing in her voice. “Fiona, relax,” he said calmly. “It just means that we’re going to have to do a little more than simply run Alexei out of town. I know Alexei’s type; if he wants someone dead, there’s no stopping him. We’re going to have to kill him.”
“I’m not seeing the problem,” Fiona said darkly.
Ace chuckled. “Well, as long as we’re on the same page, then,” he said, kissing the top of her head, surprising them both.
He pulled back, a yearning look in his eyes as he gazed at Fiona. She looked up at him, her mind a swirling mess of thoughts and emotions. The only thing she knew was that she was going to fly into a million pieces if Ace didn’t kiss her right this second.
Thankfully, she was rescued just in time. Ace’s lips crashed down on her, wiping away everything except the sensations currently brewing down below. She brought her hands up to entwine her fingers through his shaggy hair, pulling him even closer to her.
Ace groaned, loving her urgent mouth. He hugged her curves, sliding his hands up and down her body. “Holy fuck,” he moaned. It was incredible how hot she made him, just from making out. Ace thought he could survive on kisses alone for the rest of his life if they were all going to be like that.
She probably kisses the sap like this all the time, that horrible, self-doubting voice said. Ace thought about Fiona and the younger man in bed together, and he gripped Fiona roughly. He pressed her up against the fridge, wanting nothing more than to be the only man she ever touched again.
He knew, of course, that once The Hell Brothers managed to kill Alexei and the rest of the Russians, Fiona would most likely go back to her sap, and he would return to Katie. Until then, however… Ace slid his hands under Fiona’s ass and picked her up. Her long legs wound around his waist and he walked down the hallway to where he knew her bedroom lie.
***
Ash stood on Fiona’s doorstep for a few moments, processing what had just happened. Eventually he realized he had been kicked out of his own girlfriend’s home, and by a man he strongly suspected was a criminal, no less!
This is insane, Ash said to himself. That man is most likely involved with her brother and holding her hostage! I need to save her, he decided imperiously.
Hurrying back to his car, Ash made sure he drove far enough away that he wouldn’t be spotted. Something told him that if the heavily tattooed man found out he was calling the cops, he wouldn’t be able to do much calling as he would have had his tongue removed.
He punched in 911, anxiously waiting for the operator to answer.
“9-1-1, what is your emergency?” a cool voice on the other line said.
“Yes, hello, I think there’s someone inside my girlfriend’s house,” Ash replied, agitated.
“What is your girlfriend’s name?”
The woman sounded calm, but Ash could hear her typing furiously in the background. “Fiona Brown. I went over to her house and there was a man inside.”
“So there is someone inside the home threatening her?” she asked.
“Yes. I mean, no. I mean…” Ash slammed his fist against his steering wheel and took a deep breath. “I went over to her house and there was a man inside, and he didn’t look like the kind of guy she would hang around with. She seemed nervous and scared, and when I tried to ask who he was, he pushed me out of the house and locked the door,” he clarified, listening to the rapid tic-tac of keys as the woman typed. “There’s one other thing,” he added. “Her brother, Niko, has a habit of getting into trouble.”
“And you think her brother might know this man, or have something to do with the man being at Ms. Brown’s house?”
“It’s possible,” Ash said.
“It looks like there is a record on file for Fiona Brown, and her brother, Niko,” the operator told him.
“What?” Ash was stunned. Niko, of course, but Fiona? Ash wondered. “Is it recent?” he asked.
“I’m sorry, that’s confidential,” she said evenly. “There is an officer assigned to the case. If you would like, I can contact him and send him to Ms. Brown’s home.”
“Do that, please,” Ash said.
“Could I get your name as well, sir?”
Ash hung up quickly; he didn’t want this to get traced back to him. Starting his car, Ash drove away. If he was going to keep an eye on Fiona, he would need supplies.
***
William jumped at the screeching static of his CB radio.
“Unit 41, please respond,” the operator crackled.
He quickly zipped up his pants, pushing the prostitute off of him and grabbing the walkie. “This is Unit 41 responding. What do you need, Radio?” he asked, frustrated. He had been seconds away from coming.
The girl in the passenger seat wiped her mouth. She flipped down the visor to check her makeup and fixed her smudged lipstick.
“I got a call for you on one of your cases.”
William frowned. “What case?” he asked.
The girl had grown bored already and started to tug on his uniform, whining quietly. William gave an exasperated sigh and dug into one of his utility belt pouches, pulling out a small baggie of white powder.
He tossed it to the girl, who immediately opened it and began to rub it on her gums.
“Looks like Brown, Fiona and Niko; siblings. Someone called 9-1-1 about a possible intruder in the sister’s house. Need me to send you the file?” the operator asked.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll do a drive by,” William told her. “Any description?”
“No, and no name on the caller either.”
“All right. Thanks, Radio,” he said, putting the walkie back in its holder. William looked at the girl next to him. She was already high; her pupils were huge. He reached across her lap to open the car door. “Time to get out,” he told her, giving her a rough push.
The girl half-stepped, half-stumbled out of the car, grabbing onto a parking meter to stabilize herself.
William shut the door and rolled down the window. “See you next week, Macy.” He smirked, turning on his lights and speeding away.
As he drove to Fiona’s house, William reached into his glove compartment and pulled out a burner phone. His eyes flicking from the road to the screen, he dialed Alexei as quickly as he could.
“Alexei!” William exclaimed when he answered. “Did you send anyone to Fiona’s place today?”
“No, why?” Alexei asked, confused. “What happened?”
“There was an emergency call to her house, something about a possible intruder,” he told him. “I thought maybe you—”
“No,” Alexei repeated, cutting William off. “I sent no one. Do you think our friend Niko has managed to piss off someone else besides us?”
“I’m not sure. I’m about to drive by her house now and take a look. I’ll let you know what I see,” William said. He slowly cruised down Fiona’s road, the bright white floodlight on top of his hood illuminating the entire neighborhood.
There it was—a distinctly matte black motorcycle with red accents—Ace Connor’s bike.