Page 8 of Wicked Games
“It’s nine o’clock in the morning here,” I said dryly. Nothing I ever did would be good enough for the man, regardless of how quickly and efficiently I completed my missions.
“Still a late start, is it not? What time should I send Reeves over?” Reeves was our transportation expert. I never knew how he got the recovered items safely away once I handed them over to him, and I didn’t care. I focused solely on my job and expected the others on the team to do the same.
“Send Reeves on to the next job, Banks. There’s nothing for him to transport.”
“What?” Banks asked tersely. “Is this a sick joke? I’m not laughing one tiny bit. Theheisthas already made the world news, Lucky. What are you playing at?”
“Carmen struck again.”
I heard muttering from the other side of our connection, but I couldn’t make out the exact curses he’d chosen to mutter. Banks didn’t mind blackmailing a man to do the dirty work for him, but he seldom spewed profanity. It was beneath his station in life. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. How is it I didn’t even know she was on the hunt for the vessel? She’s a bold minx and loves to challenge us. Why is this time different?”
“I’ve been asking myself the same thing since I discovered the vessel was already gone when I arrived. Something about this entire mission feels off to me, Banks.”
Banks was silent as he considered my words. “Lucky, everything about this mission has gone wrong from the very start. There were variables we didn’t account for.”
Like the reappearance of Ryder Jameson?I wisely didn’t ask it, because without some extra digging, I wouldn’t have known Ryder was in Cincinnati. Then again, Banks made it his job to know the ins and outs of every job which often included the most vulnerable museum employee. He sent his advanced scouts to get the lay of the land and get a feel for the pulse before we moved in. Banks assessed risk and reward better than anyone I’d ever known, including my father, who amassed his fortune by advising others on how to invest their money and navigate volatile markets.
“It’s possible Carmen moved in during the transition time, but it doesn’t feel right. As you said, she’s the kind of woman who gets in your face and dares you to beat her.” The more I thought about Carmen’s sly smile from the previous night, the more certain I became. Some serious fuckery was stirring.
“True,” Banks admitted after a brief pause. “Lucky, what exactly are you trying to tell me?”
“Banks, we’re thinking the same thing. She’s working with someone on our team.”
“No fucking way,” he said adamantly. “Cleary the mission failed, but it wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.”
“It was my first failed mission,” I pointed out. “Carmen’s never bested me.”
“Lucky, is that what’s going on here? Your male pride is wounded because a girl beat you.”
“A woman,” I corrected, “and not at all. I’ve admired her skill for a long time, and I’ve felt it was only a matter of time before she claimed the upper hand. That isn’t what happened last night.”
“How can you be so sure? Deverish’s injurywasthe upper hand she needed. You only arrived twelve hours before the recovery was set to occur. I knew there was a big chance for things to go wrong. It’s why I’m not screaming and carrying on.” He wasn’t screaming and carrying on because it wasn’t dignified. Banks didn’t need to act uncouth to get his way; he only needed to trot out the information he had on us to ensure our cooperation.
I narrowed my eyes as I stared out the hotel window.I knew there was a big chance for things to go wrong.Such as? Someone stealing the vessel before I could recover it? My capture and arrest? How wrong was he willing to allow before admitting something sinister was at work?
“I suppose you think Deverish threw himself down the flight of steps to set this all up? Do you think he’s fallen victim to Carmen’s charms?” Banks could sneer all he wanted, but it was only because the man was devoid of all emotion except greed.
“I didn’t blame any of this on Dev, so don’t put words in my mouth, Banks.”
“Who then? Percy?”
“Is Percy the one who scouted this job and set up all the arrangements?” I countered.
“Yes.”
“No wonder you’re not as upset as I thought you’d be.” I snorted. “You were already mentally prepared for a certain level of collateral damage.”
“What are you blathering on about now?”
Was it possible he didn’t know the men were former lovers who’d had a very nasty breakup after Dev caught Percy in bed with another man? If so, I had to revise my belief about the man. Maybe Bankswasn’ton top of everything and everyone who worked for him.
“Huh-uh,” I said, shaking my head even though he couldn’t see me. “I’m not a snitch, but I advise you to pay a little better attention. Maybe you don’t randomly pop in on the others as you do with me, Banks. You’re getting a little sloppy, and it just cost you a cool million dollars.”
“Well, since you seem to know everything that’s going on, you get to stay behind and investigate the circumstances for me, Lucky.”
God, how I wished he would quit calling me by that stupid nickname. “You want me to stay behind and look into what went wrong?”
“Deverish and Percy are still in Cincinnati, are they not?” Banks asked snidely. “You claim to have inside information about the two of them, so it’s now up to you to figure out who fucked up, when they did, how they did, and whether one of them, or both, deliberately sabotaged the recovery efforts. I want daily reports.” It was a rare thing for Banks to drop the F-bomb, so I knew he was pissed off.