Lib Novel Page 2
Paoli studied her as she looked back at the house, and he swore he saw a touch of sadness.
Remorse.
Guilt.
But it wasn’t as if they’d known the family. This was what they did for a living, what they did best—followed orders for large sums of money.
No questions asked.
Perhaps, for her, it was different. They were all killers, but not all of them were murderers. Then, there was only one Abraham Novikov, the crazy son-of-a bitch who walked around as if he was immortal. There wasn’t a human being alive who didn’t fear Novi. If they didn’t fear Novi, it was because they’d never heard of him.
“I know you wanted to play a little more,” she said, gently patting Novi’s shoulder, “but you’re done here.”
“Why are you here?” Paoli asked.
Red only showed up when something went wrong on their end. As far as he knew, she wasn’t assigned to any teams or squads. They were told that Gamma was the only ghost unit, but it made little sense. No one jumped from having no plan to a Plan B. There had to be a Plan A, an Alpha somewhere, whether dead or alive.
“I’m here because of that shit Novi pulled with the phone call,” she explained. “Who did you call?”
Novi shrugged. “Don’t remember.”
“Where’d you get the number?”
“He didn’t call,” Paoli clarified. “He answered the damn phone.”
That was the point at which he’d left. Why they continued to sack him with a human Chupacabra, he had no fucking clue. Boss Lady claimed it was because he could probably handle Novi, but he didn’t want things to get to that point only to find out she was wrong.
“How many names are on the list, Novi?” Red quizzed. “Five, right? You might be crazy, but I know you can at least count to ten.”
“Five?” Novi, frowning, raised his fingers, one after the other, counting under his breath. Then, the counting abruptly stopped. “Can you take me to get something to eat, my sweet? To eat, my sweet? To eat, my sweet?”
She examined his clothes and hair, which was so blond, it looked white.
Usually.
“Let’s get you cleaned up first.”
She walked off.
Paoli fell into step next to her, his own hunger setting in now that all the adrenaline and excitement had waned. Novi trailed them, dancing down the sidewalk to music only he could hear, and the rhythm seemed to exist nowhere else but inside Novi’s head.
“Change of plans,” Red said. “I’m headed to Mexico.”
“For Gano?” Paoli asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s perfect, Red. The three of us can finish that in a day, and then I’ll take you to Toluca to meet my grandmother.”
She glanced at him. “Like I’ve told you before, that’s not my name. And why would I want to meet your grandmother?”
“It’s custom.”
His grandmother would be more than excited to meet the mother of her future great-grandchildren. It might take some convincing to get Red on board with the relationship, but he had the outfit she would wear when they conceived their first child in his back pocket.
“I’m going to Mexico,” Red reiterated. “You and the maniac are headed home. Also, scratch Gano’s name off the list. I’m not going out to Mexico to assassinate. I’m going there to collect.”
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