Hitman vs Hitman - L.A. Witt Page 0,39
at Ricardo. “How do you know who I am? And about…” She gestured at their surroundings.
His face burned a little, and he was a bit sheepish as he said, “We all have to take precautions in this business. I have to be sure I know who’s sending me out on jobs.”
She straightened, jaw working. “So you’ve been stalking me.”
“Call it what you will. I was protecting myself, and I think the best thing for all of us right now is to work together and get someplace safe. Because whoever is cleaning house isn’t going to just give up.” He motioned toward the door. “So let’s go before we find out who else did their homework on you and where you go when you’re threatened.”
Heidi gulped, but she didn’t argue. “Fine. Let me grab my bag.”
Moments later, she dropped her bag—laden with several varieties of weapons, judging by the heft and clanking—into the trunk of Ricardo’s car. Then Ricardo drove them all out to the county road.
“This is a hell of a hiding place,” August mused from the backseat. “I figured our mystery killer or his flying monkeys would’ve beaten us here.”
“That’s the idea of having a safehouse in a shithole like this—no one knows where it is.” Heidi turned to Ricardo. “Which begs the question, how do you know? I get that you apparently stalked me until you figured out who I am, but how did you find the trailer?”
Ricardo adjusted his grip on the wheel and focused hard on the shitty road ahead. “Remember when you got that message with a picture of your house?”
Heidi was silent, but he could feel the temperature in the car dropping by the second.
“Oh my God,” August chimed in from behind him. “Look, I know you’re technically a serial killer, but you don’t have to—”
“Can it, Auggie,” Ricardo snapped.
“Hey! Do not call me that!”
Ricardo huffed and glanced at Heidi. “I needed to know who you were so that if something went awry, I could contact you. And I needed to know where your hidey holes were in case something like this went down.”
“Why?” she growled. “So you could swoop in and save the damsel in distress?”
August guffawed, but wisely left it at that.
“So that I could warn you? So that we could work together like we’re doing now?” Ricardo shrugged. “Yes, I felt disgusting about doing it, and I’m sorry I did what I did to get this information, but I won’t apologize for doing whatever it takes to keep both of us from getting killed.”
August cleared his throat.
Ricardo glanced in the rearview. “What?”
“I believe you mean, all three of us?”
“No. Both of us.”
“Rude.”
Ricardo shifted his attention back to Heidi. “You’ve busted your ass to hook me up with jobs, and you’ve put your neck on the line just being that liaison. I’m not going to leave you to the wolves because someone is coming after me.” He huffed and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “I couldn’t even leave this one behind, and believe me, I wanted to.”
“Pfft.” August thumped the back of Ricardo’s headrest. “You didn’t want anything to happen to my pretty ass. Admit it.”
“It’s not too late for something to happen to your pretty ass,” Ricardo grumbled.
The idiot brightened. “So you admit my ass is pretty?”
Ricardo rolled his eyes for the thousandth time since he’d crossed paths with August.
Heidi laughed. “You know, we’ll just call him karma for the shady stalker shit you did to keep tabs on me.”
“Hey!” August protested.
“Deal,” Ricardo said. “And seriously, I’m sorry.”
She exhaled. “Yeah, I know. And in this line of work, it’s probably… Okay, it is forgivable. It’s just creepy. I get enough of that shit from guys who try to date me.”
“Well…” Ricardo cleared his throat. “If it’s any consolation, I won’t be trying to get anything from you that they probably want.”
A much more genuine laugh burst out of her. “Oh. Sweetie. You don’t have to tell me that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Please.” She gave his leg a playful pat. “If anyone in this car has to worry about you trying to get them into bed, I’m pretty sure it isn’t me.”
“What the—”
But his question was cut off by August howling with laughter.
Ricardo glared at Heidi, and she flashed him a don’t act like you didn’t deserve that look. Shaking his head, he faced the road again.
And as August continued cackling from the backseat, Ricardo knew he hadn’t heard the end of this.
With the car tucked safely in the garage, the