Page 29 of Endure the Pain
I turned away from Rourke to look over the plethora of weapons Dean had laid out for me on my bed. “Sure.” Stefan liked to micromanage when it came to me, and Jamie would totally be against the plan altogether. So I might have failed to tell either of them what we were doing today.
“Real convincing, cuz,” Rourke deadpanned.
I scooped up a nine-millimeter with a silver slide and a hot pink frame. I held it up and arched a brow at Dean. He smirked at me. I rolled my eyes and ejected the magazine, finding it fully loaded. I matched the gun with a silencer and picked a couple of knives. One was a spring-assisted folding knife and the other was a stiletto switchblade. I tucked the folding knife in my back pocket and placed the other blade and gun into my purse.
Asher shocked the hell out of me when he asked me to remove my top. “I need to pin a mic to your bra,” he explained.
“I’ll go get Vincent and we’ll meet you in the van,” Rourke said, dashing from my room. I shucked off my leather jacket and pulled off my top.
Asher was professional, maintaining his full focus on pinning a small black wire to my bra instead of my large amount of cleavage. Dean also kept his gaze averted as he held out a beige doodad the size of a cashew. “Earpiece. It’s so we can talk to you.”
I took it and tucked it into my ear. “I feel like a super spy.”
Asher smiled at my comment as he finished pinning the mic and handed me my shirt. I put it and my jacket back on. I grabbed my purse that had a strap that went across my chest and we headed out.
On the drive there, Asher, Rourke, and Rourke’s new enforcer, Owen, were checking over all the automatic rifles they'd brought along in case shit hit the fan. Dean was driving and Vincent was fiddling with three different laptops. A live feed of the Whiskey Bandit was playing on each screen.
“They have five cameras. One pointed outside the front entrance, one outside the back, two in the main bar area, and the last one in the hall leading to the bathrooms and back entrance,” Vincent explained and pulled out two headsets with microphones attached to them from one of his computer bags. He hooked them up to one of the laptops and put one on. “Testing. Testing. Can you hear me?” he said into the mic and his voice came through my earpiece.
“Yes. I can hear you.”
“Good. Can you whisper or something into your mic?” he asked.
I cupped my boob to push it closer to my mouth and whispered, “Hello.”
Vincent chuckled. “It’s working.”
“We’re pulling up,” Dean announced and pulled up to the designated curb where I’d asked my wing-women to meet me. All four were there waiting, and all had dressed in skin fitting pants or skirts that weren’t too short. Their tops were low cut but not too revealing. Their makeup was also on the lighter side than what I had seen when I'd first met them. I was relieved because they did manage to look like innocent college girls celebrating a night at the bar and a lot less like they charged by the hour.
I hopped out of the van with a friendly smile because they did look a little wary. “Hi, ladies. Excuse my disguise and my cousin’s kidnapper van. I know it’s creepy as fuck.” Asher held out my purse from inside the van. I took it and strapped it across my chest.
“If you have a bad feeling, just leave,” he suggested with worry etched around his aquamarine eyes.
I nodded. Rourke poked his head out of the van next. “Just get whoever you pick out the back entrance and we’ll be there to back you up.”
“That’s the plan,” I said.
Rourke closed the side door and the van pulled away. I pulled out four envelopes from my purse and handed one to each of the girls. “I was told not to give you these until after because you might skip out on me. I’m really hoping you won’t.”
“Then why are you paying us now?” one of them asked as she looked inside her envelope.
“Because I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to meet up with you after and I wanted to make sure you got paid,” I explained.
“Just one drink, right?” another asked.
“Yes. We’re going to go into the bar down the street. It’s kind of shady and I don’t want to go in alone. We’re going to pretend it’s my birthday and we’re celebratingbut not too hard because we have midterms. If anyone asks, we’re attending SCSU. After you all have had a drink or two, leave. Do not stick around and don’t spare a glance back at me because I will be staying behind. Any other questions before we walk down there?”
“Why are you staying behind? What are you going to do?” the youngest of the four asked. She had to be about twenty-one or twenty-two. The others were closer to my age.
“Just say you’re looking for someone,” Asher said in my ear.
I tried not to react at suddenly hearing his voice. “I’m looking for someone and it’s best we just leave it at that.”
“I’ve been to that bar before. You know who it belongs to, don’t you?” the youngest spoke up again.
“I do. Are we ready?” I asked.
They all nodded, and we walked down the street toward the Whiskey Bandit.