Page 25 of Play Dirty
Jonah eyed him from the couch, where he’d stretched out. From the bedroom came the sound of Cas showering, and all of it suddenly felt too domestic. Definitely time to go.
Jonah tilted his chin toward the Glock as Madigan placed it in its case. “That’s a nice piece. Where’d you pick it up?”
“Azrael took it off a guy in Rio.”
Jonah’s brow perked. “And what? Gave it to you? Like, a gift?”
“I guess so.” Aside from technical details he’d fed Cas, Madigan had managed to avoid discussing the nature of the time he’d spent with Az in Rio for the entirety of his visit. He had no desire to get into it now. He zipped the case brusquely and tossed it on top of his bag.
“How long have you been fucking him?”
In the back of his mind, he’d known Jonah would see through him. He sighed. “Too long.” The scale of time between them felt distorted—to Madigan, at least. Both eons and seconds long. Something had shifted in Rio, though.Yeah, he reminded you why you shouldn’t trust him.Madigan grimaced, because while that might have been true, too, the one thing he kept coming back to over the past few weeks was that he hadn’t wanted to leave.Because you want him anyway.
“You know why we never would’ve worked?” Jonah said.
In hindsight, Madigan could name a few reasons, but he was curious what Jonah’s explanation would be, considering they’d screwed around more than a handful of times over the years. It’d never rung of anything other than convenience, though there’d been a few times when Madigan had almost wanted it to be something else. “Enlighten me.” He shoved another shirt in his duffel bag, tossed the Glock on top, and zipped it up.
“We’re similar. Not alike,” Jonah clarified when Madi chuckled softly, “but similar. Don’t trust easy, and it takes a lot for us to let our guard down.”
“That’s why we’re alive.”
“Not disagreeing there, but if you keep everything zipped up so tight, there’s not any room for…” Jonah scratched his jawline pensively. “For really nice Glocks that might come in handy somewhere down the road during a fight you weren’t even aware you were part of.”
Madigan’s brows furrowed, and then they both burst into laughter.
“Analogies aren’t your strong suit.”
“Yours either.” Jonah flipped him off. “You know what I mean, though.”
Madi didn’t want to, but he did. The feeling lived in his chest, expanding with every passing day and every tight breath. A sense of loneliness he hadn’t realized had been keeping pace alongside him every time he ran.
“Be careful. Be smart.” Jonah’s gaze softened. “Don’t miss your shot.”
“That one worked a little better.” Madigan hitched his bag on his shoulder. “I’ll message when I’m stateside.”
* * *
Madigan strolledleisurely behind a man and woman trying desperately to keep their kids under control. The oldest one couldn’t have been more than six, and he kept darting off to examine some new fascination along Atlantic City’s famous boardwalk.
Madigan polished off the bag of nuts he’d been nursing and tossed the trash into a nearby bin as he passed. Just ahead of the family was his target: an unremarkable middle-aged man walking arm in arm with a perfect ten blond. The kind only a fat bank account could possibly lure.
They’d arrived at the Regency yesterday, but as soon as the man had physically checked in, he and his date had gotten back into the town car and Madigan had lost them in traffic. He’d gotten lucky when the man had shown up again this afternoon, made a call from the lobby of the hotel, and then proceeded to walk right back out the entrance to the blond waiting on him.
Madigan intended to follow them until he figured out where they were really staying and then find a nearby place to post and wait for the man to take what his handler had told him was his usual morning run. Madigan wanted to avoid involving the blond if he could, because he really was too young and gorgeous to be sucked into the mess Madi was about to create.
Madigan slowed when the pair stopped to look at some handmade carvings in a shop window and found a lamppost to lean against. He tugged at the bottom of his coat when it fluttered in the cutting wind and looked at his watch. If he could pull this off in the next twenty-four hours, he could meet up with Soren in Boston and grab a bite to eat. Since Rio had been a no-go, that meant he hadn’t seen his mentor in months. It’d be good to catch up with him. Another momentary distraction from—
Madi jerked his attention back to the couple as they moved on from the window, but that wasn’t what had caught his eye. He skimmed the crowd again, eyes narrowed.
Nothing.
Regardless, his pulse beat loudly in his ears as he started walking, taking a deep breath to settle down the rush of endorphins spreading through him. Ahead, a tourist group thinned out in front of a bunch of shops.
On the other side of them was Azrael. His profile, at least, fixed on Madigan’s target and lover as they passed right by him.
Madigan’s breath caught in his chest, anticipation warring with instinctive anger that Az might snatch yet another paycheck right out from under him, especially after the way they’d left things in Rio. But when the couple turned left onto the street running perpendicular to the boardwalk, Az went right without turning back and without seeming to see Madigan.
Or, possibly worse, Azrael was ignoring him.