Page 98 of Constantly Cotton
One does not forget a miracle. Good night, little George.
And then he turned his phone off and fell hard and fast asleep.
He slept for a solid two hours, awakening when Burton shook his arm. His eyes shot open, but he knew where he was. Asleep, yes. Dead to the world? Not so much.
“You smell better,” Burton told him dryly. “Now it’s time for me to do the same. There are fresh jeans and T-shirts in the bag on the chair. I set up a camera and a scope through the window to keep an eye on the place where the boys are staying. We’re inside the complex, but their staircase can be accessed outside. It can’t be helped. Take a good look while I’m showering, and don’t forget to eat.”
With that, Burton disappeared into the bathroom, a duffel over his shoulder, and Jai rolled his eyes. Smart man, Lee Burton, but he often forgot his friends weren’t in the military and didn’t take orders well. Ace could give a good order too, but Ace was also good at assuming Jai wasn’t stupid and wouldn’t starve with a perfectly good pizza sitting on the cheap Formica table in the apartment.
Jai felt marginally more charitable after he’d dressed and eaten. The clothes fit well and the pizza was excellent, and there was a chair set up in front of the camera on a tripod, so Jai was very much in a good place.
When Burton emerged a few minutes later, also fresh and clean, water droplets sparkling on his shaved black curls, Jai could ask him in acivilizedfashion about what had gone down at the garage.
“Oh God. Yeah, that,” Burton muttered, getting a bottle of water from a flat he’d brought in. “Yeah—Ernie told me while we were driving up this morning. On the one hand, it was good because it kept me awake, but on the other….” He shuddered and smothered a yawn. “Apparently the coyote you guys intercepted had time to call in you and Ace to his bosses, the guys we blew up in Vegas and helped to take down this morning. Anyway, two yo-yos showed up at the garage last night ready to take Ace out. Ernie killed one, Sonny wounded the other, and they kept him in the garage waiting for Ace to get there and deal with it. That’s why I sent him back.” Burton grimaced. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have minded three of us. Rivers told me his assistant, Henry, lives in the apartment downstairs and kitty-corner from the one where Jason’s staying. I’ve got his number—he’s the guy—”
“Who drove Constance away,” Jai interrupted. “I remember. So that makes sense, why we are here. Like you said, good fortune the military had a safehouse. Sonny and Ernie were unharmed?” He may not carry a torch for Sonny anymore, but he did still care for the damaged little man. And Ernie had become a good friend.
“Yeah—a little freaked-out, and I honestly don’t know what Ace is gonna do with the wounded mobster—”
“Let him loose by an urgent care,” Jai informed him. “After letting him know his bosses are all dead, and he will be too if he shows up again.”
“He didwhat?” Burton demanded. “Are you kidding me?”
“Nyet—you talk to him.”
“Oh my God. Fine.” Burton let out an exhausted sigh. “After I wake up,” he muttered. “Ernie wouldn’t have let him do that if the consequences were bad.”
“Da,” Jai agreed.
“Bed,” Burton told him.
“Da,” Jai agreed.
Burton’s mouth twisted. “You know, you could be one of my favorite op partners. You and Ace are like, my favorite team.” And suddenly Jai could read the thing he wasn’t saying.
“Besides Constance, who is also your friend.”
Burton nodded, yawning again. “Yeah,” he said, dispiritedly. “I’m trusting you with my brother’s life here. Let me know if you see anything.”
Jai nodded, eyes wide and sincere.
He got that, having brothers you would die for. He hadn’t in the mob, but he sure did now. With a little grunt, he settled himself into the chair and started his share of the surveillance. In the corner of his mind, he wondered if they could pull Ace and Sonny up here too.
Part 8
ONE WEEKafter Jason Constance had been placed in the apartment with Henry’s friends, Burton was tired, cranky, and feeling very bad about dragging the stoic Jai into this mess.
Ace had sent Ernie up to help, and Ernie, at least, had been able to tell them when they could sleep because he knew in his bones that nothing would happen that night. Unfortunately, Ernie’s witchy thing was on high alert too.
“There’s eyes out there,” he’d say. “They’re not doing anything tonight, but they’re out there.”
“Whose eyes?” Burton would ask—they had it down to a ritual by now. “Ours or theirs?”
“Both,” Ernie said, like he was thinking hard. “There are soldierslookingfor him, and they’re not sure why, and there are mobsters who know where he is, but they’re afraid of all the muscle he’s got around him.” Ernie laughed the last time he said this, like he’d just read a funny meme on his phone. “He doesn’t know they’re porn stars.”
“I find it difficult to believe myself,” Jai had interjected, sounding just as laconic as always.
Burton blew out a breath through his nose. “Man, I should send you home,” he said, not for the first time. “You have a week with your boyfriend waiting, and you have been like, a colossal good sport here—”