Hitman vs Hitman - L.A. Witt Page 0,74

operator,” August snapped before taking the call. “Hello?”

“Mr. Mason.”

Ah, a familiar voice. “Mr. Silva, it’s nice to hear from you. I assume you’re calling with good news?”

“I am. My guy’s liaison has agreed to meet with you tomorrow at noon, at the fountain in the middle of Sanford Park. He’ll be there in a blue tie, white jacket. This is just a meeting, Mr. Mason, not a promise. He wants to know you’re serious. Bring one million dollars in cash, small bills only, and come alone. He’ll know if you didn’t.”

August gulped audibly. “He wants to meet there at noon?” he whined. “But it’ll be so hot by then! And the bank is already closed for the day. That doesn’t give me a lot of time to make a major transaction tomorrow morning. What if I don’t make it in time?”

“That’s not my concern. You either get there or you don’t. My advice, though?” He could hear the grin in Silva’s voice. “Get there. This guy, he doesn’t like being jerked around, and neither do the people who work for him.”

“Fuck. Fine. Jesus Christ, fine, but you should know that your timing is hideously bad, I just—” The call ended. August glanced at Ricardo, who from the sour look on his face had heard everything. “So. This is interesting.”

“It’s bad,” Ricardo said flatly. “Sanford Park will be a nightmare of a place to cover you.”

“It’s crowded, you can blend in.”

“That part of the park is crowded with kids and parents, because of the water jets that shoot out of the ground.” Ah, right. August had forgotten the “summer fun” city initiative that had gotten those installed a few years back. “There’s no natural high ground, and there isn’t time to get into one of the nearby buildings and find a good perch,” Ricardo continued. “Besides, that’s not a move I want to make.”

Good point. Even if his aim was perfect, which, in all likelihood, it would be, shooting someone in front of a bunch of kids would do a different kind of damage to them, and neither of them appeared to take that lightly. “So you’ll be near one of the cafés on the south end,” August said. “It’s not that far from the fountain, you can run it in under twenty seconds if you have to.”

“That’s not the point.”

August was ready to snap something about Ricardo not trusting him to tie his own fucking shoelaces, much less take care of himself for a few extra seconds if it came to a fight, when he realized what was going on here.

Ricardo was worried. About him.

That was so sweet he almost laughed out loud. He wouldn’t, because if he did Ricardo would never admit to caring about him in this lifetime, and he’d possibly try to kill him just to salve his injured pride, because of course it hurt. It had to hurt.

August had people he cared for in his life, people he’d been through hell and back with—people who he worried about, and who worried about him. He was used to the sensation, uncomfortable though it could be sometimes. Who did Ricardo have to worry about other than himself, and now August? His ex? No.

“We’ll take precautions,” August said, the best he could do for an olive branch right now. “I’ll wear a tracker, just in case.”

“Hell yes, you will.”

“And I’ll leave my phone on so you can hear every word of the conversation.”

Ricardo was starting to look a little mollified. “Good.”

“And if something doesn’t feel right, I’ll get out of there. Augustus might be a bit of an idiot, but he’s an idiot who’s been kidnapped three times. He’s bound to be wary of it happening again.” August shrugged. “I know it’s not ideal, but this is the quickest path forward to finding who’s targeting us, and we’re going to clash with them in person at some point. I’d prefer sooner rather than later.” The longer they went before finding this guy, the harder it would become, and it wasn’t fair to expect Heidi to put her life on hold forever either.

They were fucking professionals. It was time to find out who was pulling strings, and cut them with extreme prejudice.

“We should go scout the location.” August glanced at his phone. “We’ve still got some daylight left. Enough time for a quick rinse-off, I think.”

Ricardo got up and started hunting down his own clothes. “We’ll have to go to the bank tomorrow, I guess.”

“Oh, no, we don’t.”

He stopped what