Page 129 of The Mafia Enforcer's Temptation

“I thought you were quitting.”

“Gobshite,” Cal mutters.

Inside, right about now, Ava’s opening that locker.

Torin turns around in the front seat. “These papers won’t hold up under scrutiny. Not even the ones she’s putting in that locker.”

“Those are just a taste. A bank account he can access with a small amount of cash in it, to see what’s coming is real.” I tap my thigh and adjust my shirt.

Dec sighs from the back. “Our money.”

“Did you want to go to the cartel and ask them if we could give their funds away?” I snap.

Ava emerges and I snatch up my binoculars, adjusting them.

Nervous but determined. She’s wearing jeans and a hoodie to conceal her gun.

She slings a bag she didn’t have before over her shoulder.

Tor’s hand comes down on my shoulder. “It won’t be on a timer. And we made sure she checked. It’s Semtex most likely. And?—”

“Things could go wrong,” I say tersely.

“They won’t. Hanlon wants this too much. We know the type,” Cal says, handing his binoculars to Torin.

“Two cars. We’ll wait until they go.” Then he hands the binoculars back.

I move mine around, but while there are cars parked in the lot, I can’t tell if any are occupied. But Torin’s got the sniper instinct. He clearly picked something up.

Her phone must ring because she answers it and holds it to her ear. I can’t hear what she’s saying, or what Hanlon’s saying, but he’s around. Or, more likely, his people are around. As long as she sticks to the script, we’ll be golden.

Then she stalks off and hails what looks like a cab.

“Ready for phase two?” Cal asks.

“No, but let’s get this shit done.”

Twenty minutes later, I see her, just ahead on the street. She walks out of the bar where Brad the Mad conducts business. And I follow her.

I shake my head and look at the condemned building.

“Goddamn it, Ava. What the fuck are you doing?” I mutter just loud enough.

She slips into a side alley and opens the bag, making a show of setting the timer on the bomb before putting it back in the bag. Then she looks at the papers before she stuffs them back in with the bomb. I wait until she exits back onto the street.

My brothers should all be in position, and this needs to happen exactly according to plan. If it doesn’t…

I don’t want to think about that if.

“Ava.” This time, I say her name loud enough for her to hear.

She whirls around under the light of a streetlamp and her anger hits me. She’s holding a gun in her hand. And in her other hand, she hits the call button on her phone.

“Hanlon. I’ve got the papers. I’m also setting the bomb to go off in one hour.”

“Ava,” I call out.

“I’m sorry, Seamus, but I want my bratva and my sister…” Then she says into the phone, “I’ll meet you where you shot Anton on the Lower East Side. Be here in ten. The Murphys? They’ll be here in time for when the bomb goes off. But first, my sister.”