Home > Black Hearts (Sins Duet #1)(12)

Black Hearts (Sins Duet #1)(12)
Author: Karina Halle

As will the name Camden McQueen.

My father doesn’t believe in coincidences.

If he is informed tonight, I guarantee I’ll wake up tomorrow evening in Mexico with a mouth full of cotton balls and sedatives in my veins. If not tonight, the next day.

The point is, everything I want to find out would go straight down the drain. Everything.

Though I don’t know San Francisco well, I know the maps I’ve been studying and the travel guide audio book I listened to on the drive up here. I head down the street, Tio and Nacho hot on my trail, then cut into Buena Vista Park.

The oldest park in the city, I remember that much. It’s mostly steep hill, disappearing into the fog, shrouded by darkness. During the day it’s a magnet for dog walkers. At night it’s a mountain of drug addicts, dealers, vagrants, the homeless, and a whole other range of less than desirables. No sane man would come here after dark.

And though I’m not sane, I am smart.

Maybe smart isn’t the right word.

Fastidious.

Thorough.

And maybe, just a bit ruthless.

I’m yelled at in incoherent ramblings by a few shadows as I pass them by but I pay them no mind. I ignore the darkened steps of a path curving up the hill and go straight up over the grass and brush and into the trees. I briefly turn around before disappearing into the forest. Tio and Nacho have attracted the attention of the bums who are shouting ethnic slurs at them, and I wait, breath held in my mouth, for either of them to overreact.

That would be seriously bad luck. For all of us here. Me, them, the bums. But they keep going, keep coming after me, straight up the hill, feet slipping on the fog-damp grass.

The bums won’t remember us tomorrow.

I head into the trees. The light from Haight Street below is dispersed into the mist, leaving a world of shadows with just enough to see by. I duck behind a thick eucalyptus, its scaly bark appearing like loose skin in the night, and take my .45 out of my waistband, quickly slipping on the silencer from my pocket.

Tio and Nacho aren’t silent as they enter the forest. They’re huffing and puffing from the climb, swearing under their breath. Nacho says something to Tio about Javier hearing all about this when they’re done. That’s a relief. It means he probably knows nothing yet.

They charge past me, two thick shapes in the ghostly trees.

I have to be quick.

I aim the barrel at Tio, who is closest, a straight shot to the back of the head.

The gun fires hot in my hand, as if the silencer is glowing red with having to silence a scream.

There is still a distinct, muffled sound that brings Nacho’s attention around to me, his gun drawn and ready, all before Tio even begins to fall.

The second bullet gets Nacho right between the eyes. He doesn’t even look shocked. It’s like he knew I’d cause his death, sooner or later.

He falls too, like a tree, leaves scattering as he hits the damp earth right beside Tio.

If I’m supposed to feel something other than relief, I don’t.

Or I try not to.

I take in a deep breath, pushing it all down as I unscrew the silencer and put everything back in its place. Then I slip on a pair of micro-thin gloves and hunch down, searching the bodies. Any fingerprints would mean nothing to the cops but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

I leave their guns. They’re untraceable. Everything about these two men is untraceable. It’s always been that way.

So I take their wallets, phones, and the fifty one-thousand-dollar bills they both have spread between them. Emergency money that my father thought I knew nothing about. I feel almost honored that he would part with those bills, a rare currency he’s held on to for years, but I’m sure the money is better off in my hands than theirs. With any luck, I’ll have a few left when this is all over.

And when will that be? I think.

Then I head out of the forest and back down the hill the way I came. It’s better if I keep to the same witnesses. Any other route might put a new set of eyes upon me.

Not that I’m worried.

The bums aren’t even there when I reach the bottom. It’s like they knew the whole thing was bad news. Even in their drunkenness, they scattered like rats, smelling the poison.

I head out onto Haight, just a man out for a walk, and hail a cab that takes me all the way back to my hotel.

Peace at last.

The next day, after I call Sins & Needles and talk to Lloyd, cancelling the appointment, I take a chance on Ellie’s studio, hoping it will be open on a Sunday. When I find out it’s closed, I’m not surprised. She’s probably with her family. In a way I’m relieved that I don’t have to face her yet. I’m not sure what I’d say—for all my planning I haven’t thought that far ahead. It’s much easier for me to observe what I can from afar.

I switched hotels, moving to a tiny boutique one just outside Chinatown, with vivid art all over the walls and an old-fashioned elevator that only fits one person at a time. I know my father has probably contacted the W, wondering why the hell Tio and Nacho haven’t sent their daily report to him. When he finds out I’ve checked out, he’s probably going to contact every swanky hotel in the city trying to find a Vicente Rodriguez. My father couldn’t imagine me staying anywhere but the very best. He’ll never think to find me here.

Not under the name Vicente Cortez.

One of the girls I fucked in LA put me in touch with another girl who made fake IDs. I put in my order and paid her five grand in cash. She later came to my room, her equipment in her purse. Tio and Nacho never thought anything of it. She took my picture, printed out the IDs. She didn’t quite succumb to my advances, nervously citing a boyfriend, but I got what I needed anyway.

   
Most Popular
» Nothing But Trouble (Malibu University #1)
» Kill Switch (Devil's Night #3)
» Hold Me Today (Put A Ring On It #1)
» Spinning Silver
» Birthday Girl
» A Nordic King (Royal Romance #3)
» The Wild Heir (Royal Romance #2)
» The Swedish Prince (Royal Romance #1)
» Nothing Personal (Karina Halle)
» My Life in Shambles
» The Warrior Queen (The Hundredth Queen #4)
» The Rogue Queen (The Hundredth Queen #3)
romance.readsbookonline.com Copyright 2016 - 2024