In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,103
relaxing it must be not to have to deal with the family. She knew for a fact that the Vatican was easier to deal with than the Malones.
“How did the funeral go?” she asked, sliding onto his desk so her feet dangled. She’d been sitting on Uncle Jimmy’s desk like that since as long as she could remember, and not once had he slapped her off with his paw. Unfortunately, she couldn’t say the same about a few of her other older cousins.
“A church full of honey badgers?” He shrugged. “It could have definitely gone worse.”
“Do you have the video?”
“I just finished downloading.” He pulled a USB drive out of his laptop, but when he faced Cella, he didn’t hand it to her right away. “Now why do you need this again?”
“Nothing bad.”
“Marcella Malone.”
“It’s not! We just need to see who was here. Scottish gang members were in your church, Uncle Jimmy. I’m here to ensure they don’t do anything to upset things.”
“I know what you do for a living,” he reminded her. “And I don’t like it.”
“You and my daughter. But we both know that what I do is important. I don’t, however, do it recklessly. My jobs mean too much to me to screw around with either of them.”
He handed her the drive. “I don’t know why you can’t just coach. The team’s doing great.”
“I know,” she replied, smiling. “Chances are we’ll be going against the Swedes this year. You do know they’re mostly descended from grizzly bear Vikings?”
“And you have the descendent of Genghis Khan as your power forward.”
“Yes, I do.” Cella couldn’t help but smirk. “And Novikov can’t wait to destroy them.”
Uncle Jimmy’s smile faded and he placed his hand on her shoulder while a frown pulled down his thick brows. “Will MacKilligan was here,” he said. “Along with his sons.”
Cella nodded. “We knew he was coming.”
“The three girls were here too. The ones you wanted me to keep an eye out for.”
“You’re sure?”
“I didn’t see any other African American or Chinese girls here. So I’m going out on a limb—”
“Got it. Got it,” Cella said on a laugh. “That was definitely them.”
Again serious, her uncle said, “I need you to be careful, Cella. Will MacKilligan . . . he’s—”
“I know.” Cella took her uncle’s hand to reassure him. “But don’t worry about me. I’ve got my backup.”
Her kindly, God-loving uncle sneered dramatically. “You mean that dog?”
Cella giggled. “Uncle Jimmy, be nice. I am the godmother of that dog’s child.”
“I am aware of that and, speaking for the family, we’re all disgusted by that fact.”
* * *
Dee-Ann Smith planted herself on top of the mausoleum and took her time assembling the Israeli-made sniper rifle she’d brought with her.
She tightened the scope, loaded the weapon, and stretched out, stomach down, near the very edge of the building. Pressing her left eye against the scope, she searched for her target. He stood on one side of Pete MacKilligan’s casket, his sons and the sons of his uncle beside and behind him. On the opposite side stood the rest of the American MacKilligans, including the three daughters of Freddy MacKilligan. And boy did those three little ladies stick out among this group.
They seemed out of place and bored.
Max yawned. Stevie stared at the dirt at her feet and made shapes in it with the tip of her shoe. Charlie blatantly focused on her phone.
“Smith? You there?” Malone’s voice spoke in her ear.
“I’m here,” she said softly.
“Do not shoot Will MacKilligan.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t lie to me, Marmaduke.”
“You always get so moral after you’ve seen that priest uncle of yours.”
“Now, now, Smith. Your Southern Baptist is showing.”
“Look, I’ve got a clean shot. I’ll be gone before they even know—”
“No. Just watch and report back. Think you can handle that?”
“Fine.”
“Thank you. And the sisters are there, too, right?” Malone asked.
“Yep.”
“Did they see you?”
“No. And I don’t appreciate your tone.”
“Just face it, Smith. You’ll never be as good as me when it comes to being invisible.”
“Please. With that big ass? That thing is like a neon sign.” Dee-Ann continued to study the burial through the scope while the casket was slowly lowered into the grave, but she removed her finger from the trigger. Real shame, though. It was an easy shot.
But just as she was questioning Malone’s decision to keep Will MacKilligan alive, the three MacKilligan sisters suddenly looked up at Dee-Ann. She knew she was too far away for them to see her.