Page 76 of Intent to Kill
“We need this book,” Adam said. “Time is running out and Blake is catching up. We need to act.”
Dan and Carlos reluctantly nodded.
“We’ll need everyone for this one,” Adam said, giving Paul a meaningful look. But the former hitman had a softness that played in his eyes before he nodded tightly. An apology lingering in his gaze for stopping it in the first place. An apology that dried up into a warning frown when Adam’s smile widened.
Adam smirked and said, “Listen carefully, here’s what we’re gonna do.”
14
SLICED AND DICED
APRIL 1991
Adam and Paul dressed in waiter uniforms to blend into the atmosphere of the country club kitchen. Kitchen staff, waiters, and chefs alike bustled around them, too preoccupied to notice a couple of tatted-up gangsters snatching canapé trays off metallic countertops. Then again, perhaps they did notice, but actively chose not to. Smart.
Adam’s nerves were a jittery mess. It’d been his idea, sure, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous as fuck to be out so brazenly in the open. Every single eye that lingered too long on his face had his teeth clenching.
Paul bumped Adam’s shoulder with his own, giving him a meaningful look that was probably meant to calm his nerves but didn’t. Dan needed to hurry the fuck up.
“I’m in. Thirty seconds, and then head out.” Dan’s voice clicked in through Adam’s earpiece, thank fuck. Dan’s job was to break into the security office and act as monitor and guide. Their all-seeing, overseeing, bird’s eye...he would oversee things. Adam would listen. For once.
Making sure to wait the allotted amount of time, Paul and Adam made their way through the kitchen until they sidled out the double doors into the party.
The main floor was a sight to take in. There had to be hundreds of people crowding the club dressed in finery and likely stolen jewels. The large, octagonal-shaped dining area had been cleared to create a cocktail function atmosphere. The middle of the room was sunken in, with floor-to-ceiling windows at one side, leaving the edges on a raised platform.
Adam split from Paul, each of them going a different way and moving through the crowd at seemingly random intervals. It wasn’t, though, it was timed and calculated. Because they planned shit now.Planning. Now there was an annoying word. It was code for extra work.
A spot of baby blue had him stopping. When he saw her, Adam’s breath caught.
He’d spotted Mercedes from across the room, mingling in the middle of the sunken party floor. She wore a baby blue ball gown, the fabric hugging her curves, her long blonde hair curled and blowing against the dress’s open back. He stopped in his tracks, trying desperately to release his lungs but finding they wouldn’t comply.
A diamond choker hung at her neck which made Adam frown. Like she knew he was looking and what he was lookingfor, she brushed a lock of hair from her face, showing the diamond infinity necklace hanging off her wrist.
“Ugh.” Dan’s annoyed voice came over the earpiece. “Focus, dickhead.”
Mercedes’s eyes flicked to Adam’s, a satisfied look on her face, but she kept her conversation going.
Adam finally coughed out his breath when Paul brushed past and elbowed him in the rib. He almost doubled over but managed to compose himself. Dick move. But necessary if Adam were being honest.
He began circulating the room again and Paul made to hide in the shadows.
This was surely a bad idea. If anyone were to ever recognize him and call the whole thing game over, it would be here. Among Blake’s high-level associates, there were several who would certainly remember his face. Especially Antonio. He was there the day Adam died, after all. Even dressed down, purposefully keeping his face hidden, it wouldn’t be enough if they came eye to eye.
Adam glanced at the security camera sitting above him as if he was staring directly into Dan’s eyes. “Say when,” he whispered. If he was going to get close enough to Antonio to make a pick without him seeing his face, he would need all the help he could get.
While he waited for Dan’s instruction, Adam shifted through the crowd, head down serving canapés. Finding that for all his bravado, he rather hated crowds. He watched as Antonio moved into the middle of the room. Without T.B. and Yani nearby, he was the VIP and was peacocking like an idiot at the attention.
Adam barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
But with Antonio schmoozing, now was surely as good a time as–
“Go now,” Dan said.
Mercedes reached Antonio first, tapping him on the shoulder and giving him a polite kiss on the cheek that he grimaced away from. Dick.
Paul arrived next, serving canapés at Antonio’s left. Close enough to hide the side view of Antonio’s belt. It would seem unlikely that a six-foot, mountainous black man would be able to hide in plain sight, but Paul had a useful set of skills from his hitman days. Dude could blend in anywhere.
Less could be said for Adam, hence all the cover. He wasn’t practiced in stealth. He liked to make messes. Big ones, preferably.
