Best Served Cold

5

It was a cool night, but I seemed impervious to the chill in the air. I almost felt impervious to the whole world as I sat in that tree, Milana at my side and the entire city of San Diego stretching out before us. In the distance all the lights, all the noise and violence and concrete and smog, in the distance it all just ended. The pitch black sea stretched on endlessly, unhinged from the worries of human existence. Just the water, flowing in and out and in and out and in and out until the all the troubles had long since faded into the distant past.

Sitting there on my uncomfortable tree, I almost wished I could be like that. To flow on with no worries.

Almost.

Then Milana tapped my shoulder, as if to remind me what kept me from truly wanting that. Of course, she was actually reminding me that we were supposed to be on a mission, that we were across the street from Mr. O’ Harley’s hilltop house, and that my binoculars were still lying on my lap.

“He’s taking a walk,” she said, and I tuned back into reality, where people could not turn into oceans and the seemingly serene seas were full of wildlife murdering each other for survival.

“Okay.” I centered my binoculars on the man exiting the building and watched as he turned around to lock the door. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, though ten o’clock was certainly late for a stroll. He didn’t seem nervous, but his sweatshirt was already not enough to keep him warm.

“He is scared to death,” Milana whispered. “This is gonna be good.”

So much for not nervous. Apparently he was actually freaked out. Must’ve been in his eyebrows.

Chester started down his driveway and brought a cell phone out of his pocket.

Bingo.

He looked around nervously for a few seconds, but couldn’t see us through the darkness and the leaves of the tree. The man decided to walk away from his house first, but hadn’t noticed us. Deciding it was safe, he speed dialed a number and held the phone up to his ear.

“Robin? It’s Quinn.” He paused. “Yes. Five pounds heroin, two pounds cocaine. Goldset Park. It will.”

He hung up and went back into the house, the entire episode over in less than half a minute. The far off drone of the city again rushed up the hillside neighborhood. The silence seemed like too sacred a thing to break, but eventually we would have to talk. And I would have to take a life.

“Really?” I asked finally. “They get their codenames from batman?”

I have to kill him.

Milana chuckled lightly, her soft laugh filling the space between us. “What would you use?”

“I don’t know, but something a little more original. Shakespeare, maybe.”

If I kill him, he’ll blow my cover. It’ll all be over.

“That’s funny, did you say something about original?”

I didn’t even bother to smile. I would have to murder my old boss, or I would have to break my cover right now. I had the jump on Milana, and could easily knock her out and get away. My infiltration would have failed, but I could just go back to being Dale. No harm done, plus I could put O’ Harley behind bars.

But I would never see Milana’s face again. And I’d never get to my real target.

There had to be another way out, if I could just find it. I would have to not murder him, but make it a good idea for the Muertes. They needed to still think I was on their side…

Wow. How did I not think of that before?

“We can’t take him out yet,” I said.

She glanced over, surprised. “Why not? Are you feeling guilty again? Because I can pull the trigger if you want.”

I shook my head. “I mean we shouldn’t kill him right now. He just gave us the location of the next deal. If we just keep listening to these drops, we can get much more out of this. We could trail the Invis for a mile and take them out. Maybe we could only use like a third of the deals so that they don’t figure out who’s the rat.”

“I hate to admit it, but that’s a good idea. You really do have both brains and brawns.”

I grinned over at her, lit up like a lightbulb. “Don’t forget looks. Gotta have that too.”

For a second she seemed about to laugh, but then she froze, as if literally catching herself. “I- I’m sorry, but…” Her sentence trailed off into the night, and we were again overtaken by the flurry of San Diego. The twinkling town was almost mocking me, it seemed, the lights winking at me like an asshole across the room.

“I know about your father,” I said.

She almost fell out of the tree. “What?”

I looked back over at her mouth, which had gone slack. “Your dad. I know he’s Reyes. Mario told me.”

“But, then, why are you still flirting with me? Why aren’t you distancing yourself, and showing signs of nervousness around me? Or any signs that you even know how dangerous I am?” They were spit out as fast as she could talk, and despite everything it was funny.

I chuckled. “I can only answer one question at a time.”

Soon her gape had turned into a smile. “You’re still here.”

I slid over on our tree branch until our legs grazed, and you could almost see the sparks flying between our skin. “Wouldn’t miss it,” I said and leaned in.

“Why are you still doing this?” Our noses slid in, and soon her emerald eyes were the only thing I was looking at. The only thing I wanted to look at.

“It’s simple,” I whispered, my lips brushing hers. “I just don’t care.”

Mario may have been right on many things. This probably was a bad idea, after all. But there was one point he could not have been more dead wrong about:

It was so worth it.