Hitman vs Hitman - L.A. Witt Page 0,54

house, each outfit wrapped in a see-through plastic bag so if the odor of humanity did penetrate through the floor, at least it wouldn’t seep into the fabric. The clothes might be casual, but they were Giordenti casual, thank you very much.

Ricardo had mocked him. August had not cared.

“Really, though, try not to—oh.” His phone went off almost immediately. “Someone’s hungry,” he muttered, opening the message.

Name the place and time. I’ll get it done.

“Oh, Bubba, not over the phone.” August tsked. “My God, how dumb are you?” He typed in There’s an envelope on the third story of the parking garage across from the bar. Find it, read it, confirm.

A minute later came What about my advance?

“For the love of God and money, you take over, I’m done with this idiot.” August thrust the phone at Ricardo, who took it and read the message, then began to chuckle. “It’s not funny! He’s just so…ugh! Whoever gave him this job clearly didn’t think much of Heidi’s abilities, if they thought Bubba boy was the man to take her out.”

“He’s disposable enough,” Ricardo said, typing in a quick message and pressing Send. “There. Try not to die of irritation before you get him into the car.” They had a freshly-stolen van on the first level of the parking garage, not far from the most likely entrance for Bubba to use. August would do his best to get the guy to walk to it before he knocked him out, because he did not want to have to drag that fucker across concrete if he could help it.

August glanced at the message and grinned. Where’s my body? Chop chop, asshole. “You’re a dick,” he said cheerfully, putting on his Bluetooth and setting up the phone so he and Ricardo had an open line of communication. He tucked the phone into his jacket pocket, right next to his favorite knife—the one he had no intention of soiling yet if he could help it. Bubba would get an expandable baton to the back of the head and like it. “I bet that’ll do it, though.”

“Seems to have,” Ricardo said mildly, so mildly that August immediately knew something was up. He glanced over the edge of the wall and swore. Bubba was on the move, and actually moving pretty fast for such a beefy guy. “Better get down there.”

“Fuck you,” August said as he took off for the far side stairwell. He felt thoroughly mussed by the time he got to ground level, and it was all Ricardo’s fucking fault. “Thanks for that, you—”

“Incoming.”

August frowned and moved toward the main entrance. “What, he’s here already? Is he running?” Nah, big boys like that didn’t run unless they had to.

“No, incoming on Bubba. Third party, following three meters behind.”

“Damn it.” This was inconvenient. “Does he look like a rival?”

“No visible tattoos, a full head of hair, and no leather to be seen. Probably not a rival.”

“Why now?” August demanded. It was mostly out of pure frustration, but Ricardo went ahead and answered.

“Neighborhood with lots of violence and few cops, the day after his job went south, with him outside of his immediate sphere of influence. We drew him out, but someone else is taking advantage. Probably his former boss.” His former boss, exactly the person who August and Ricardo needed information about.

“Shit. Okay.” This was fine, they could work with this. It wasn’t like they had a choice, anyway. “Can you take the third party out?”

“Not without Bubba noticing, and at this distance he’d just run right back into the bar. Sight lines get tougher the closer they get.”

“Okay. If they were hired by the same person, does it matter which one we take?” August pulled his custom stun gun—good up to twenty yards, and bonus, it was shaped enough like a cell phone to throw most people off at that range—and looked around the nearest concrete pillar. Neither man was in sight yet.

“We know that Bubba was hired in conjunction to taking us out,” Ricardo said. “The other guy is an extra layer away, and could have been hired through intermediaries who have no idea who we are. We need Bubba.”

“First time in his life anyone’s ever said that about him,” August muttered, rolling his shoulders out a little. “Ugh, can you imagine being with a guy like that in bed?”

There was a long pause, and then—“Oh, fuck you.”

“You’re picturing it, aren’t you?” August said gleefully. “You’re picturing it! Isn’t it hideous? I mean, the world loves