Page 48 of Altered By Fire (Undercover Sinners 1)
“Mace?” Hawke prompts and the big man gusts out a heavy sigh.
“No, I didn’t. Talia … she’s different. She’s not like Portia. I kind of like her, you know?” Mace is clearly not thinking about what he’s saying, and my eyes dart quickly over to Hawke whose knuckles are turning white on the steering wheel. “Not that I didn’t like Portia, it’s just … Talia.”
“Don’t forget,” Hawke snarls from between clenched teeth, “we are using her. We need her to love us. Not the other way around. This job has no room for real emotions, Mace. Not from us. You know that.”
“I know, boss,” Mace snaps back. “I’m not stupid. I just wasn’t in the mood to stick my dick in her in the back of my car.”
Hawke and I exchange a look. In all the years we’ve known Mace, he’s never not been in the mood. This is bad. Real bad.
“Buddy, do us a favor when we get back to the church?” I say with a nervous laugh. “And get that monster cock of yours wet. I think this priest disguise is messing with your head. Making you into a nice guy or some shit. Trust me, a good thorough bang with that hellcat will set you straight.”
Mace glares at me so hard that I turn back around in my seat. Scary ass motherfucker.
“I’ll think about it,” he says in a quiet, angry voice.
“You’ll do it,” Hawke snaps, “that’s an order.”
Mace grunts his understanding and a tense sort of silence falls over the three of us.
“And stop talking about fucking Portia,” Hawke adds after a long pause, “She’s dead, and soon enough Konstantin Petrov will follow. We don’t need to keep taking trips down memory fucking lane.”
“Sorry, boss,” Mace mutters, and I murmur my understanding.
Hawke’s hands are still clenched tight on the steering wheel, and I keep watch from the corner of my eye. He and Arsen fell the hardest for Portia, even if they’ll never admit it. Taking this job was supposed to be cathartic, closure for us all … except I doubt any of us expected Natalia … Tzarina.
I cover my smile with a hand, lest Hawke think I’m smiling at him.
God forbid. He’ll totally kick my ass.
“This must be it,” Hawke mutters, pulling into the driveway of a little cottage. “Let's get her inside and set the scene before anyone sees us.”
The three of us fall into business mode. I take lookout, as usual, while Hawke picks the old bird's lock and Mace hauls her dead body inside. The aim is just to drop her somewhere inside, so it looks like she had her heart attack here and not in our undercover base.
We work as a well-oiled machine, and the stage is set in under five minutes. Another thirty seconds sees all traces of us erased and back on the road. We're in a stolen car, which we’ll change the plates on as soon as we we’re back, so there's no real danger if any of Sister Frances' neighbors saw us pull up.
"Still can't believe you killed a nun," I mutter with a cheeky grin as I glance at Hawke. "That must have been some explicit sex to give the old duck a heart attack."
Hawke shoots me a glare. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Besides, as old as she was, it was bound to happen sooner or later."
"What?" Mace snorts a laugh. "Walking in on two priests fucking a chick tied to the church altar? Yeah, that shit happens all the damn time."
"In your case, it damn well should," Hawke snaps, and the warning is clear.
Shifting to turn in my seat, I give Mace a grin. "Don't worry, bro. I have an eight ball in my room if you need a little Colombian Marching Powder to get the job done. We all know you fuck like a demon on coke."
"Colt," Hawke barks, and I slide back into my seat. He's such a stiff sometimes, considering what we do for a living. I mean fuck, he just killed a nun and he wants to give me shit for drugs? "Are you all set for this Sunday? Arsen's intel suggests Petrov is changing his routine, so he could pick our church as soon as this week."
"Yes, boss," I sigh. "All prepped and ready on my end. Are we still expecting the high-ranking members, or have they gotten cautious?"
"So far, seems to be the same pay grade doing the exchanges," Hawke confirmed.
The whole reason we're set up in the church as fake priests is because Petrov has been using the holy ground as a convenient location to make drug and money exchanges. We've known this for ages, so have the feds, but the local Bishop has refused any sort of stakeouts on church land without proof that they’re housing illegal activity.
