Vera Markov was born into this life. She did not choose it. Had she been given the choice, she never would have even considered this life to be an option. She was born a human but she was raised to be a monster. A killer, a fighter, a warrior. She w...
There is a knock on my office door and I look at the time at the bottom corner of my computer. Just in time. My heels clack against the hardwood floor as I walk through my large office and I open the door for the two men standing on the other side. They're very big men, taller than me, muscular and pale and frowns on their faces that say 'don't fuck with me'.
"Good morning, gentlemen," I greet them calmly with a small smile. I feel like I'm the only one who smiles around here ever. Unless they're drunk, my co-workers never smile. I motion with my arm for them to step inside. "Come on in."
I return to my desk, adjusting my black blazer as I sit down, and the two big men sit down in the chairs across from me. Blackjack and Angel are the two men that have made an appointment to see me today and I know that they're leading a big project moving some smuggled guns into Arizona and if they're here, that means that they need my help to do so.
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"What can I do for you boys today?" I ask them.
Blackjack, the taller blond man turns to Angel to see if he's going to speak up but when he doesn't, he looks back at me and starts explaining. "We've got a road block with Arizona. The boss has decided to give the Berardis our Arizona border and we need to know if we should set something up in California or Utah. We have connections in both but which would be easier to get through the tolls for?"
"I'm already in Utah's database for something else," I tell them. "As long as you don't go north of Salt Lake, I can get you two minutes by the end of the week. Why the hell would he give away Arizona to the Berardis?"
They both shrug at me. "He got something from the deal but we haven't heard what it was. Let us know when the permits are ready?"
"Yeah," I sigh, typing a reminder on my computer to register Blackjack and Angel. The gun laws are very lax in America but you do have to register guns and so for people who don't want to register their weapons, they go through the black market and that's us. My job is to keep my guys out of the eye of the cameras and out of the toll system on roads entering and exiting the state borders. I had hacked only one toll into Arizona because it takes so long but if the boss has given away the codes for that toll and the territory to Berardi, we have no way of getting into Arizona without the security cameras on the tolls.
I just shut off the system long enough for them to get through but a short enough time for the toll employees to only think that it was a glitch and not somebody sneaking unregistered weapons through the borders.
"Is there anything else?" I ask them.
They shake their heads and take that as their sign to leave. "Don't rush on anything, we'll let you know when we get it set up."
When they're gone, I decide that I want answers from the boss. The Panteras have had an ugly feud with the Berardis for years and so I know that if he's giving away our border to Arizona, there has to be a really good reason and I want to know what it is. I lock my computer and stand up from my desk again. I'm wearing a black blazer and black straight-leg pants with a red cropped top underneath so with my blazer open, there's a few inches of my thin stomach showing.
