Page 60 of Down & Dirty: Reaper

“Cash?”

“Of course.”

“Can I think about it?”

Sal pulled back his shirt cuff and glanced at an expensive looking watch. “You have thirty seconds.”

“How would you share these jobs with me?”

“We’ll give you an encrypted phone.”

“I didn’t know those existed,” Reaper lied. It would be smart if the Shadows all had them. That might be something to bring up with Vi if Reaper survived the night.

“Time’s up.” Sal jerked his chin up at someone behind Reaper and before he could turn to see who, the muzzle of a handgun was pressed to his temple.

Great. But at least it wasn’t pruning shears.

Sudden death was preferable over a slow and painful one.

“You don’t want to torture him?” the person holding the gun asked, sounding disappointed.

Psycho.

“I want him to answer first before I decide,” Sal said.

“How soon do you want me to start?”

Of course he had planned on saying yes. Taking out some of the Chens would work in their favor. All they had to do was leave hints for the Ohio-based Triad that it was the Russos.

This revenge was what they’d been hoping for. Only they’d be coming at it from a different direction because like the Russos, the Chens wouldn’t take those losses lying down. They would end up striking back for real.

Once they did, the DAMC and the Shadows would simply need to stay out of the line of fire and let the two crime families destroy each other.

Chapter Twelve

When Reaper finally got around to checking his texts, the first one he saw was Vi’s: Running late?

That had come in over an hour ago.

While he’d been indisposed.

He’d been bound and blindfolded but not gagged on his return trip back to the Chevy. He insisted that his AXMC also be returned to him since it was the tool he’d need to get the job done. Luckily, Sal was smart enough to realize Reaper would be unable to follow through with their agreement if it wasn’t.

So, for now, everything was right in the world.

He was alive.

His fake story had been accepted.

He didn’t have to hike ten miles back to the vehicle.

He had his rifle back in his control.

And more importantly, he was heading back to Vi with promising news.

When they dumped him at the Chevy, he was handed a smartphone. Unfortunately, they hadn’t given his own back. Luckily, he knew how to turn it into a useless brick from a distance and would be doing that as soon as he had computer access.

After the Russos’ soldiers dropped him off, he climbed into the Chevy, immediately downloaded the encrypted apps onto his new phone, and checked for missed texts and calls.