Page 12 of Play Dirty

“And yet, you know they’re meeting. How is that?” Madigan cocked his head, but Az remained impassive.

“Like I said before, I’ve got my grapevine.”

Madigan could cross-check with his own contacts, but he was irritated Az had a leg up on him from the get-go. If he’d known about the meeting, he would’ve waited and swept all three from beneath Azrael’s nose.

His gaze snapped up at the sound of Azrael’s laughter.

“I know what you’re thinking right now. They are not the simple targets you might think they are, Madigan, even for you and your big guns. But go ahead and verify with your contacts,” Az said, clearly anticipating Madigan. “They’ll tell you the same.”

“Why are they meeting?”

Az shrugged one shoulder. “That I do not know.”

“Why would they still meet here if their third is dead? I doubt they’d be that reckless.”

Az made a noise in the back of his throat. “They don’t know he’s dead.”

Madigan cursed and started to rise. “I’m tired of this game already.”

Az shot a hand out, the bruising grip on Madigan’s forearm easing at Madi’s steely gaze. “You don’t know everything about me. Sit.” His hand slid slowly down Madigan’s forearm and fell away, but the warmth of his touch lingered. “Please.”

Madigan sat reluctantly and folded his arms over his chest.

“I lived here in Rio for a couple of years. Everyone can be bought. It was nothing to make his body disappear from the morgue. You got your proof for the kill. I got my set up for the larger plan. For all intents and purposes, Carlos is on a weekend trip to Costa Rica and will return in time for the meeting. We will be waiting.”

Silence fell between them, and, once again, Madigan told himself to get up and leave Az to do the job himself. There were plenty of targets on the list. In ten hours, an entire ocean could separate him from this infuriating man who made him question—even go against—his own instincts. This man, who watched him with an expression that seemed patient and aloof, belied only by the intensity in his dark eyes. Madigan wondered if he allowed it to show on purpose. Probably. Az was nothing if not calculating. They shared that trait, though Madigan was the more impulsive.

He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, everything inside him screamingnoeven as he nodded. “Alright. What’s next, then?”

The radiant smile Az flashed rivaled the shafts of sunlight slanting across their table. “Next, I plan to lie by the hotel pool for a while. You’re welcome to join me.”

“Pass,” Madigan said immediately. He wasn’t about to sunbathe next to the fucker, who would probably lie on a lounger in tiny swim trunks flexing his abs to maximum effect on purpose and trying to seduce any passersby.

Az laughed as if he could read Madigan’s thoughts. Christ, it was annoying. “Do as you wish, though we’ll be required to check out by one p.m. Later this afternoon, we’ll see what’s what. DiMarco’s compound isn’t too far.”

“You enjoy stringing me along, don’t you?” Madigan grumbled as Az grinned shamelessly. “Fine, if we’re not staying in the suite, where are we staying?”

“I rented a small villa. Fewer prying eyes. We’ll need prep and planning time. I have no interest in any hotel cameras possibly tracking our comings and goings.” It was a smart move. One Madigan would’ve made himself if he’d known what he was walking into. But he wasn’t about to give Az a pat on the back for it. He nodded succinctly, and Az continued. “It’s private. Charming. A large bed. Small dipping pool. Enormous shower. I think you’ll regret Ground Rule Number One. In fact, I’m doubtful you’ll be able to uphold it. I’m very entertaining company, as you know.”

The wind knocked the foil streamer Madigan had been watching loose from the lamppost. It scuttled off around the corner on a current of air, and Madi exhaled slowly, finished his coffee, then slid from his chair to crouch next to Azrael. He ran his knuckles along the outside of Azrael’s thigh, knee to hip, and then palmed his cock through his pants with a squeeze that made a muscle in Az’s jaw twitch. “Do you think I’m capable of killing you?”

Az met his gaze evenly, though a few beats passed before he answered. “Yes. You’re one of the more cold-blooded men I’ve known.” As he spoke, he tilted his hips a fraction, letting Madigan feel his thickening cock and the implication beneath the words.

“Good.” Madigan removed his hand and stood. “Leave the address of the villa in the suite. If I check with my contacts and get wind of any kind of fuckery, I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth to put you down. And I’ll even leave mybig gunsbehind.” He started down the street without waiting for a reply, half hoping his intel would uncover a ruse, because he honestly wasn’t sure which was the more dangerous prospect: having an irrefutable reason to finally kill Azrael or spending the next seventy-two hours in close quarters with him.

5

Azrael

Az had spent many hours of his life learning patience. He was used to cramped quarters and confined spaces. His mother had often locked him away in darkened closets as punishment or, sometimes, just because he looked too much like the one person she truly wished to punish. To sit in a dark room in sweltering heat was almost as familiar to him as the compounds he used to mix the poisons with which he killed.

“There is another window, you know,” Madi spat at him through clenched teeth.

Madigan, on the other hand, had clearly never learned to share. Az admitted, the cramped attic space was hardly an ideal spot for two grown men of their size, but there wasn’t anything to be done about it. The compound where DiMarco currently resided was just that, a compound—far outside the city limits. The closest building was almost half a mile away with a slanted roof, which was hardly ideal for recon.

Instead, they’d broken into the empty home and made a nest in the attic, its pitched roof and two windows offering an unencumbered view of the compound. While Az watched through high-powered binoculars, Madi looked through the scope of the rifle he’d assembled. Perhaps it was easier for him to gauge the difficulty of his shot this way, even if they had not decided where they planned to take out the two men.

“Then perhaps you’d be more comfortable over there?” Az murmured, refusing to lower his binoculars to glance at the other man.