The Accidental Assassin (24 page)

“You get all that from ten seconds of a black and white security clip?” Mavis looked Ava over the rim of her tea.

“Look at the way she expects people to be where they’re supposed to be. She never breaks stride when heading for a door; she knows someone will open it in time. She knows everyone will be doing their jobs, because they can’t afford not to. Anyone higher up in her business would be kept on a short leash, though. She’d want to make sure they didn’t forget who was in charge.”

I looked at Ava in surprise. I knew she was insightful, but hadn’t realized just how much she picked up on.

“Organization, not business.” Mavis sat forward. “She has her hands in anything that will make her money. It’s broken up and scattered amongst her people, but it all goes back to her. Her biggest money makers are the casinos and the girls, but she also dabbles in fine art.”

“She collects antiques?” Ava slumped back in her chair.

“My information just mentions that she collects fine art. I don’t know if that’s oil paintings, statues, pottery, or pictures of boogies.”

“Boogies.” Ava raised an eyebrow.

“From your nose.” Mavis looked away as if the whole idea was distasteful and she hadn’t brought it up to begin with.

“She’s worked really hard to keep a low profile.” I rubbed a hand along my jaw. I needed a shave. “I’ve never heard of her.”

“Neither have I.” Mavis reached forward and pressed a button on the computer. A different video started playing. “She’s good at weeding out who will get her what she wants but still be controlled. Marcus only cares about money. Unless she stops throwing jobs his way, he’ll be content.”

“No, eventually he’ll set his sights higher.” My stupid big brother. This woman would mop the floor with him.

The woman walked on the screen flanked by a well fed man and well-dressed woman—obviously a subordinate by the way she stayed one step behind Maria at all times.

“Can you freeze that?”

“That’s Mr. Song.” Ava pointed at the screen.

“That’s the man you were supposed to kill?” Mavis paused the video. “Your contact was named Maria?”

“Yes. She was a tall brunette woman.”

Mavis snorted. “A coincidence?”

Owen shook his head no. “You and I both know those don’t happen. I couldn’t get a bead on her. She never stated that she was the person that was paying me, but if that was someone’s secretary, I’d hate to meet her boss.” I looked at the profiles of both women. “A real cold fish. If I had to pick one of them, I would say that Maria really was named Maria. I wouldn’t bet that she wasn’t one of the women on that video though. They have similar traits.”

“What do we do now?” Ava looked at me and then Mavis.

“We find a way to get close to her.” I nodded my head at the screen. “That’s the hardest part.”

“Then what?”

“We ask nicely what the hell her problem is.” Mavis narrowed her eyes. “And what she’s done with Laura.”

“And when you say ‘ask her nicely’…”

“We don’t take no for an answer.” I met her eyes and waited as she processed what I meant. I wasn’t in the business of harming women, but if I thought I had to kill Maria to keep Ava safe, I wouldn’t hesitate.

Someone knocked on the back door and I slid out of my seat and pulled Ava with me. I pushed her against the wall and stood in front her, my gun in my hand.

“Relax. It’s Kenny.” Mavis stood up and walked to the door. She was holding a forty five in her left hand. Where she had been hiding that I wasn’t sure.

“And Kenny is?”

“Someone with a very promising future in electronics.” Mavis opened the door and a skinny lad walked in. He nodded his head at me and handed an envelope to Mavis.

“This is the list?” She looked at him.

“There isn’t a list. They pick them one at a time.” His voice was high, but I’d judge him to be at least eighteen. If he managed to bulk up, he’d be someone people would avoid.

“An algorithm?” Mavis opened the envelope and flipped through the pages.

“Not that I can find. No random generator, no algorithm, not an employee with any sort of preferences.” He shrugged. “Maybe they throw a dart at a map.”

“Helpful as always.” Mavis closed the envelope. “They won’t be able to tell you were in there?”

“No.” His chest puffed out a little. “I hacked harder stuff than that before I was ten.”

“This is serious, Kenny. These are bad people.”

“I’m not an idiot, Aunt Mavis. I looked through all of their stuff. I know they’re bad people.”

Aunt Mavis? I felt Ava peek around my shoulder to watch the family reunion.

“Damn it, Kenny. I told you not to call me that in public. It makes you a target. How am I supposed to believe you’re taking this seriously if you can’t remember that simple rule?” She stood on her toes and poked his shoulder. He backed a step away. I didn’t blame him. I’d only seen Mavis lose her temper once and that time she had calmly told the guard she was pissed before putting a bullet in his chest.

“Do we gotta kill them now?” He looked over at us and I felt my eyebrows rise.

“I swear that if I ever see my sister in the after-life I am going to strangle her.” She threw the envelope on the table and put her hands on her hips. “No. We don’t ‘gotta kill them.’ They’re good people. If you need help and you can’t find me, you find Owen. And if we were going to kill them, we wouldn’t want to announce that and start a panic.”

“Yes’um.” His cheeks turned red and he looked anywhere but at his tiny aunt.

“Just go in the living room.” She shook her head.

The boy made feet for the front of the house.

“Aunt Mavis?” I holstered my gun and moved so Ava could escape the tiny corner I’d stuck her in. She rolled her eyes at me and went back to her seat.

“Shut up, Owen.” Mavis sat back down and opened the envelope. She started separating the pages into stacks.

“Any other siblings?” Ava sat down and craned her neck to look at the pages.

“No.” Mavis ground the word out.

“How long?” In the five years I’d known Mavis I never would have guessed she had a kid tucked away somewhere. I guess in my world you never truly knew anyone.

“Eight years.” She sighed and looked up at us. “Do we really have to do this?”

“Yes.” Ava answered the same time I did.

Ava’s voice took on a kind tone. “Obviously, Owen didn’t know about him. We need to be able to trust you.”

“Fine.” She lowered her voice. “My sister died and I got the kid. Et cetera, et cetera. The end. Stop prying.”

“I’m sorry you lost your sister.” Ava was smart enough to not reach out to touch Mavis. I could see all of the muscles tensed along her neck and shoulders. “It must’ve been hard to lose her and find yourself in charge of a ten year old.”

“Eight year old.” Mavis looked up. “He’s only sixteen. His father was the bloody Green Giant. He’s been taller than me since he was nine.”

“How did you manage to take care of a kid?” I tried to keep the disbelief out of my voice. “Our job isn’t exactly something you can list on the contact form for his school.”

She cocked her head to the side, almost like a bird. “Assassinating people isn’t my only business. When things were bad I didn’t need to work. I only took the occasional job when I needed to let off steam. Now that he’s older it’s easier.”

Huh.

“You can tell you two are close.” Ava smiled. “He might be taller than you, but he still looks up to you. And it must have been nice to have someone to come home to.”

Mavis smiled a little. “Sometimes. Other times I’d come home to find out he’d done something stupid, like getting kicked out of a private school.”

“Being a parent would be hard.” Ava shook her head.

“You have no idea.” Mavis cleared her throat. She handed me a stack of papers. “Previous places the casino was held. Illegal gambling never goes out of style.”

“You think this is the best way in?” I glanced over the list. Geneva, Moscow, Hong Kong, Singapore, Morocco, Samoa, Quebec. It didn’t look like they avoided any particular countries.

“It’s invite only. Everything else we would have to infiltrate slowly over a couple of years.” She looked at me. “We don’t have that kind of time.”

“And how do we get an invite? And how do we know Maria will be there?” Ava leaned forward. Her hair fell in her face and she shoved it out of the way. I had flashback to this morning, when all of that hair had been hanging in my face while she moved on top of me.

“Maria is always there. And they seem to send the invites out to prominent businessmen and women. People with connections. Though it looks like those people are allowed to bring guests with them as well.” Mavis slid some photos of people dressed in finery walking out of an abandoned building. “’Hey, come with me to an illegal casino that’s full of sex slaves and expensive drugs.’”

“They’re compiling blackmail.” Ava pursed her lips.

“Exactly.” Mavis’s eyes flicked in my direction. She wasn’t easily impressed.

“Why would they go?” Ava looked from me to Mavis.

“Brains.” Mavis shrugged. “They lack them.”

“Are they really all that stupid?”

“No. Some of them don’t care. Some of them are shady anyway. For a lot of them, it’s pride. Something to boast about.” I spread out the pictures. “A lot of them are bored. They’ve seen it all, done it all. This is exciting. Forbidden.”

“What? They don’t watch reality TV like everyone else?” When she smiled it lit up her face.

Fuck, I had it bad. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt like this. Maybe as a teenager, but no, even then it wasn’t more than overworked hormones. Ava was different. I liked the way her facial expressions changed as she’d read that stupid Christmas book. I enjoyed watching her think, for fuck’s sake. Who sat around and watched someone else think?

“Owen, dear, we’re not in remedial health class. There’s a lot more at stake than your GPA right now.” Mavis slapped a paper down in front of me.

It was a list of flight numbers.

“Zone out on your own time.” She tapped the paper. “Do you notice anything about the numbers?”

“I’m going to guess they correspond with the list of casino locations,” I said. Mavis rolled her eyes. She was brilliant, gorgeous, and clearly missed out on a career as an angry librarian.

“Oh, you’re awake now. I thought I was going to have to ask Ava to step out of your line of sight.”

“Get on with it.” I frowned.

From the corner of my eye I saw Ava look down at the table with a small smile. God, I didn’t deserve to be in the same room as her, but she’d let me love her this morning. I’d fallen asleep with her in my arms and I wasn’t sure I could go back to not waking up next to her.

I looked back down at the paper and cleared my throat.

“They keep track of all the flight records for their guests. Why?” Mavis tapped the table excitedly.

“I haven’t a clue.” It wasn’t that I didn’t do my research like a diligent little assassin, but I didn’t derive the same amount of satisfaction out of it that Mavis did.

“Me either.” She smiled.

“And this makes us happy because…”

“This could be how they go through customs, or how they arrange for the guests to arrive at the casino. If we figure this out, we’re a step closer to weaseling our way in.”

“Then I’ll be happy when you figure it out.” I shuffled through the paperwork. “What do we know about their security?”

“Guards, cameras, the works.” She turned back to her list of flight numbers.

I found a picture of the interior of one of the casinos. It was a lavish setup with enough guards to start a small war. Cameras were all well-placed, exits were monitored, and plainclothed guards were placed strategically around the room. Whoever was handling their security knew what they were doing.

“Is there footage from the security cameras inside?” I set the photo down.

“Hm. Ask Kenny. He can help you.” She chewed on the end of her pencil, dismissing me from thought. “Ava, why don’t you look at the guest lists, see if you notice anything.”

“Like what?” Ava picked up a stack of papers.

“Recurring names. Important names. If they’re compiling blackmail material, maybe we can use the same tactic to get in.”

“Okay.” Ava peered down at the pages and sucked in her bottom lip.

“Highlighter, dear?” Mavis pulled a marker out of her laptop case.

“Thanks.” Ava tucked her hair behind her ear and narrowed her eyes at the paper.

I stood up and went to the living room. This was good. Ava was doing something she would feel was useful.

Kenny was sitting on the sofa, his boots up on the table in front of him. He bobbed his head at me when I walked in the room and turned back to the television.

“Mavis said you could get me footage from security cameras inside the casinos.” I leaned against the doorframe and crossed my arms.

“Sure.” He stood up, his lanky frame bending in sharp angles. “My stuff’s in the car.”

I followed him through the house and out the kitchen. Ava was now in possession of three different highlighters and Mavis was humming to herself. If I didn’t know they were trying to figure out how to break into an underground gambling ring, I would think they were catching up on work or doing a word puzzle.

The black car Mavis had used to save us yesterday was gone and a silver minivan sat in its place. Kenny pulled out the keys from his pocket and hit the unlock button. It beeped twice and he pulled open the back door.

“You should disable the noise.” I watched as he shuffled through bags and tossed around computer parts.

“Huh?” He looked up at me with a disc hanging out of his mouth.

“I said you should disable the noise on the unlock feature.” He took the disc out of his mouth. “No need to draw attention to yourself.”

“I never thought about that.” He looked at the van in interest. Probably deciding what else he should do.

“If you can’t figure it out, let me know.”

“Thanks.” He handed me a black duffle bag full of cords and other bits and ends. “It’ll take a while for me to set up here. Do you know what the internet is like?”

“No.” I looked down at the stuff in the bag. This wasn’t typical teenage game gear. Kenny was well funded.