Page 44 of Disavowed

As Jack’s smile broadened, the worry in his gut fired up to the boiling point. Jack couldn’t have been working for Daisy for that long, but the guy seemed halfway to the altar already. What the fuck was that about?

“It’s my boss. Her name’s Daisy. You might even know her, considering she and your ex-partner’s wife are friends.”

“We’ve met.” And then some. There was no way Jack and Daisy could possibly have anything serious going. Not after the way she’d kissed him the other night and nearly let him make love to her again. “You and Daisy been seeing each other a lot?”

“First date’s tomorrow night, but I can tell she’s hot for me. We’re already in serious love and lust. Know what I mean?” He winked while making a clicking sound with his tongue.

Dom could only stare. What the fucking hell? Again, his gut roiled. They hadn’t even had a first date and Jack was in love and planning on settling down with Daisy?

“Knock yourself out, buddy,” Dom said. But the entire time he was thinking: touch her and I’ll kill you.

The hell of it was, his reaction wasn’t totally because Jack was a professional hit man. It was because the idea of Schneider touching Daisy was making him bat-shit crazy. And Jack’s certainty that he and Daisy would be shacking up by the end of the year was totally fucking weird.

“I fully intend to,” Jack said. “Which brings me to something else. You may also know Daisy runs a floral business. She’s swamped and needs another driver. You got a CDL?”

“Yes.” No. But he could easily bogey one up that looked like the real thing, and he could handle anything on the road up to eighteen wheels.

“Outstanding,” Jack said. “That way I don’t have to worry about an unknown poking into our business.”

“You gonna get me an interview?” The plan he’d had in mind all along involved some kind of employment with Daisy’s shop, but given her inclination to slice off his nuts with a set of garden shears, he hadn’t quite worked out the particulars yet. With Jack to smooth out the intro, this was an unexpected opportunity that played right into his plans.

“Meet me tomorrow morning at Highland Floral. Eight a.m.”

“Will do.” Now to find out more about the next job without seeming too eager. “Who’s the next target?”

Jack laughed and shook his head. “Fuck, I have no idea.”

“You’re kidding.”

Again Jack shook his head. “The boss won’t say. Whoever the target is, it’s the same as before. Different venue, though.”

“I assume,” Dom said, “One PP was the previous venue, so what’s the new one?”

“The Piazza’s grand reopening.”

Not a shock, but at least the venue was now confirmed. Just not the target. He had to exercise caution not to push too hard.

“Check it out.” Jack flipped open the laptop again and pulled up a website for the hotel. “The place just underwent a major renovation, and there’s a huge event planned for this Sunday. Daisy has a big-time contract for all the flowers, so I got a job as her delivery driver.”

“There just happened to be an opening for a driver?” Dom already knew there hadn’t been.

“Not exactly.” Jack chuckled. “Daisy’s driver had an unfortunate accident. Coincidentally, of course.”

“Of course.” Sonofabitch. Jack really had run the poor guy down. No matter that Jack was vouching for him, he was still a cold-blooded killer. And he had a date with Daisy tomorrow night.

Again, he found the thought disturbing as shit…on so many levels.

Jack continued scrolling through the hotel web pages. “The guest list includes top city officials and politicians. Smith and I figure the target is either a high-ranking official or some senator or congressman.”

“Makes sense.” He nodded, wondering why the boss would keep his own people in the dark about the target. “Any chance this is a multi-hit operation? That would explain why more than one operative is needed.”

“Don’t know. The boss is keeping this one tight to his chest.” He closed the laptop and slid it into a leather briefcase. “Once Daisy hires you, you can get inside the Piazza with me and do recon.”

“Sounds good,” Dom said, and let it go at that. As much as he was itching to probe Jack about the logistics of getting weapons inside the hotel, he didn’t want to push too hard too soon. He’d seen more than one op spiral down the crapper due to overeagerness.

Together, they took the elevator to the main floor. There they parted company, and Dom headed down the street to his Explorer. He drove back to Manhattan and pulled over to call Gray with an update.

He hadn’t been surprised that Jack had dug up the details concerning his friendship with Gray, but it also meant he’d have to exercise caution and no longer go to Gray’s apartment in person. The last thing he wanted was to put Alex and Nicky in danger.