The Dealers

Chapter 44 - Noah

Getting to San Jose was a pain in the ass and I'd rather spend hours in a car than any amount of time on an airplane. Thankfully, the trip was quick and we got to the hotel without incident. According to Eli, the loot on that job was substantial and would be worth the inconvenience of going out to California.

Calling Lena once I got to my hotel room, she was at work and didn't answer. Even though I knew she was probably just busy, my mind went into overdrive thinking of worst case scenarios. When she finally did call me back, I'd finally be able to breathe. Until then, I was incredibly high-strung.

Leaving Lena was hard and even though I knew I'd be back in a few days but, that didn't make it any easier. Azrael's reach was growing and if he wanted to get to Lena, even with me in Cedar Falls, he would—he proved that already. It made me nervous to say the least but, I had no choice. I had to do my job and the money would be much welcomed. If I wanted to consider the banyan tree ash that Tessa told us about, I'd need the funds.

"I'm starving." Eli sighed when I met my brothers back in the hotel lobby after I took a quick shower and called Lena just to hear her voicemail.

I looked around the upscale hotel we opted for instead of our usual sleazy chain of motels. Part of the change was because we were making decent money on that job but more so, I didn't want Lena to worry about New Hampshire repeating itself. I was less likely to run into old friends like Jen at a place like the Ritz.

"There's a restaurant down the road then we have to get going." I told my brothers. We had a lot to do before tomorrow and that included getting as much information on our client as possible. He wasn't like the last soul we reaped and I was still incredibly rusty. I didn't want to leave anything to chance.

Grabbing a late dinner with Eli and Finn, we eventually piled into the SUV we rented and followed the GPS to the clients home where we had been instructed to watch but remain undetected. Eli had been vague with details of that particular case and something just didn't sit right with me about it but I kept my mouth shut for the time being.

"So, this one's supposed to be tough, is that it?" I asked Eli after we'd been parked for about an hour under a clearing of trees a half mile from the client's home. Two people were home and seemed to be enjoying dinner from what we could see from the high-tech pair of binoculars Finn brought with him.

"Apparently." Eli replied. "According to the initial file, he's been elusive."

"Well, we have to wait until his girlfriend or wife or whatever she is, leaves." Finn added as he lowered the binoculars from his face and looked at us. "That's going to be tricky."

"That's why we watch." I sighed, taking the binoculars from him and looking through. "We find their routine and find a time to get him alone."

Shit, this was going to take longer than I originally planned.

"How long is that going to take?" Eli asked as he looked at Finn.

"At least an extra day." I added as I checked my phone and still hadn't heard back from Lena. She should have been done with work already and still hadn't even responded to my text. I tried not to worry more than I already was.

"I had plans, man." Eli complained at the revelation that we may be in California for longer.

You have no idea, man.

As the three of us sat in the the SUV and waited, it was early morning before we called it quits and headed back to the hotel. But, before we did, I had a revelation I just had to share with my brothers.

"Does this seem suspicious to you?" I asked Finn and Eli as we got ready to leave our stakeout spot.

Looking at each other, Finn and Eli only shrugged but, I still felt like something was off about the job. "I mean, think about it, we never get jobs like this. So why then, did we get this one? 200k? When have we ever made that kind of cash for a single job?"