Best Served Cold

4

“I’m not talking about what he did to you. I’m talking about the fact that he betrayed his country for a man who ruins dozens of lives every day!”

Her eyelids did not open to my provocation. I started to feel pathetic. “How many people’s names were on that list?”

“Maybe forty. What does this have to do with anything?”

Suddenly her blue eyes were locked in mine. “You’re never going to put them all away because you testify to have found one slip of paper. I bet you at least five of them have ties to men more powerful than the governor.”

I could feel the truth of her words, but still they stung. “They can’t just continue to sell our country out. We can’t let them do that.”

She just sighed and turned away, toward the kitchen. “You want some ice cream?”

I had an urge to continue the argument, but I knew as well as she did that it was going nowhere.

“Fine.”

“Hey Boy Genius,” Mario yelled over to me as my Camaro pulled up. “You feel like actually meeting that guy you saved?”

He was leaning against the warehouse, smoking something. I didn’t really want to know. My AC was turned up and I was still hot, but he didn’t break a sweat as the sun bore relentlessly down on him. I engaged the parking break and climbed out of my car. Two seconds later someone could practically swim in my armpits, but I had bigger problems to worry about.

“I take that as a yes.” He pushed off the wall and intercepted me. I figured the conversation was inevitable, so I stopped. “Something wrong? You did save a man’s life, ya know.”

“Is he taking his job back?”

“That was the plan, but I guess you made an impression on the rest of the hitmen. They want to keep you. Lucky son of a bitch. They’re not an easy lot to impress.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah, so we’re keeping you. Makes us one man stronger, so that’s good.” He was way too fidgety.

“Okay.”

“Man, there’s something I been meaning to tell you.”

What a surprise. “Been waiting a whole, what, thirteen hours? I just met you yesterday.”

He chuckled. “Yeah. Anyway, I don’t really want you to die, so I’d advise against doing anything with Milana. I’ve seen how you look at her, but thing is, her name’s Milana Reyes.”

Shit.

I tried to smile it off, relieved Milana wasn’t around. “And?”

“And, her father’s Ignacio Reyes, the guy who runs the Muertes. The one with power beyond our comprehension.”

And the one that ordered my sister’s death.

I rubbed my temples. “Yeah. Yeah.”

“I ain’t joking, man. You get laid, but then you disappear. It’s not worth it.”

I looked over at him. He looked genuinely concerned, which was surprising. I guess I saved his buddy’s life, though. “I feel like actually meeting that guy I saved.” I pushed through his arm and headed inside.

Why did she have to be Reyes’ daughter? For once something couldn’t just be good, with no strings attached. Everything had a price.

“Alex?” I looked left and saw Sam flouncing through the piles of crates as if he owned the place. Back straight, grinning, and confident, it was like nothing happened. With his cock-eyed grin and sandy blond hair, he could have been coming from the beach. Only the bruises showed anything wrong.

It was infectious, and soon I was smiling too. Who cared that Milana was Reyes’ daughter, my dad was a dirty cop, and I was pretending to be a hitman? I saved this man’s life.

“Tough son of a gun, aren’t you?”

He laughed and walked up. “I wouldn’t have been in one more day, trust me. Luckily I still got all my fingers.”

“That’s always a good sign.”

He sobered up and took a deep breath. “Look, I’m honestly not sure if you made the right choice back there, but either way I certainly liked your decision.”

In a flash my smile was gone. “I could’ve hit him. I should’ve.”

“You know what that shows?”

“What?”

“It shows that you care about my life. That you care about life in general. Mario over there might disagree, but I think it makes us better hitmen, not worse.”

I looked down. “Thanks.”

His laugh may have been a little harder than natural, but I didn’t mind. “You’re thanking me? Dude, I think you forgot that I haven’t saved your life yet.”

We would get along just fine.

Mario’s voice came from behind me. “If you two are done with the hugs and kisses, we have work to do.” I turned around to see him strolling toward us.

“I just almost died, in case you didn’t notice,” Sam said.

“You still have all your fingers,” I commented.

“Anyway, Sam, you’re back to the grind. We have deals that need supervising, and we all know you love those.”

“Oh goodie.” He started back to the base.

“What am I doing?” I asked.

Mario paused. “Alex, you’re doing something special.”

“I’m listening.”

“There’s this man, Chester O’ Harley.”

I nodded. “He works for the DEA.”

“How did you know?”

He’s my boss. “I do my homework.”

“Right. Anyway, you and Milana are going to be surveilling him. We got a tip that he works with Los Invisibles. Normally I would just send Milana, since she’s the face reader, but… yeah. She’s important. So if he’s dirty, you know what to do.”

That’s funny. I got a tip that he was working with Los Invisibles too. Strange how that works. “Got it.”

“And Alex?”

“Yes?”

“Be careful, alright?”

Something told me he wasn’t talking about the job.