Ash Rising (DEAd Series) (7 page)

“What, the twelve-year-old?” Ash asked with a raised brow.

“He’s seventeen,” Matt informed him. “Next on the list is Leonard Moore, a.k.a. Slick. He’s Salvatore’s driver, bodyguard, and right hand man. He’s a badass motherfucker, so watch yourself. Mercenary type, not a weapon made he’s not rated expert with, martial arts master—”

“Which martial arts?” Pete interrupted.

“Um…” Matt scrolled through the file on the laptop. “There’s a couple listed here.”

“We need to know exactly. Find out what he carries with him now as far as weapons. Let’s get a full dossier. I don’t want any surprises.”

Matt nodded, continuing with the run down on immediate family members after going through Salvatore’s known associates.

“Father deceased. Mother in a nursing home, late stage Alzheimer’s. He doesn’t visit. From all reports, they weren’t close. Two siblings, both younger. Brother, middle sibling, deceased. Sister, Gina Marie. They’re very close. No overt signs of her being directly involved with the family business. She’s college educated, keeps her nose clean, but she’s got to know what goes on with her brother. He has a condo downtown. Bought it three years ago. Gina lives in their parents’ old house outside the city. We’re looking into that, as he’s there a lot. A good location for his activities—quiet, out of the way, on some fairly secluded property. Backs up to a whole bunch of acres of woods, can’t be seen from the street, no neighbors close by. Private.”

A photo of Gina Marie Salvatore came up on their screens along with a few masculine whistles of appreciation. Good-looking girl, but a little hard-edged to Ash’s practiced eye. One of the team members gave him a nudge.

“Right up your alley, Beaulieu.”

Ash shrugged and committed the image of Rico’s sister to memory. Matt finished with the personnel review, and Daniel approached Ash with two new cellphones.

“This is your audio to replace the one we gave you earlier. Picks up anything around you, and we’ll be recording 24/7.” He placed the phone in Ash’s hand and held up an identical model phone in a different color. “This one is new. It’ll feed audio and visual—visual through the camera, but you have to turn it on, like you’re going to take a picture or video. That will also come back to us and be recorded. Audio is always on, just like the other phone. The devices inside can’t be detected by eye or scanning equipment, so no worries about it being found.”

He gave Ash a meaningful look. “The audio pickup on both of these is pretty sensitive, and it will still work even if you turn the power off. If you’ve got something going on you don’t want the entire team hearing, then you better make sure it’s put away. Know what I mean?”

Hoots, whistles, and catcalls followed the question, along with someone’s lame attempt at humming a stripper’s theme.

Ash shook his head with a laugh. “Voyeuristic fucks.”

“You know it.” Daniel grinned amid shouts of agreement. “Surveillance is so lonely and boring. Give us something to keep us up at night.”

“Please!”

“Please!”

“Why do you think I volunteered for this detail?”

“Knew Beaulieu would keep us entertained.”

“Adult entertainment!”

“No adults here,” Ash drawled, taking the new phones from Daniel and handing him the old one.

“This first job for Salvatore comes through the Russo cover.” Pete continued the meeting. “So, the person he’s got you set up to meet is another UC. I’ve got another couple jobs lined up just in case, but I’m hoping he’ll start bringing you some of his own once he gets more comfortable and sees what you can do for him. That’s when the fun will really start. He’s extremely egocentric. Wants to be the best and wants only the best around him, so we’ll set you up as the best. We need to make him want to recruit you, bring you into his group.”

“Too bad Salvatore’s not a woman.”

“Yeah, then he’d want Beaulieu for sure.”

“Wait, maybe he does. Anyone know Salvatore’s sexual preference?”

Matt consulted his computer. “Women. Definitely women.”

“Aw, too bad, Beaulieu. Looks like you’re going to have to work hard for this one.”

“I’ve got a twenty that says he can get Salvatore into bed anyway.”

“Now that’s what I call
hard
work.”

They laughed uproariously, and Ash flipped them off.

“All right, all right.” Pete brought them back to order. “You all know what to do. Go do it.”

Ash’s first job for Salvatore went off without a hitch. Rico, in high spirits, handed out smiles and slick compliments, hints and innuendo at bigger and better things. He insisted Ash come along that night to celebrate.

“That was aces, man. Absolutely aces. Come on, have a beer. I’ve got a bar I own a stake in called Clyde’s. Good for cleaning some money. Good place to conduct business without looking suspicious, not to mention just have a few drinks.”

“I know Clyde’s,” Ash said. “Sounds good.”

The bar was Salvatore’s own personal kingdom. He was served food, drink, and anything else he desired as they sat in his half-round corner booth. People came and went, meeting, greeting, obsequious, fawning, hostile, the whole gamut. Ash memorized names and faces, observing other people’s attitudes as well as Rico’s. He noted the rare moment when the other man’s expression lightened with honest pleasure.

“Ah, Genie.”

A dark-haired woman sat in his lap with a smile and wrapped her arms around his neck in a loose hug. Ash recognized Gina Salvatore before the introduction was made.

“Hey, Gina. I’d like you to meet my good friend, Ash McBay. Ash, this is my baby sister, Gina.”

“Not so much a baby,” she murmured, her eyes blinking wide before narrowing and examining him from head to foot. She licked her lower lip and leaned forward. “I’m one hundred percent grown-ass woman.”

“I can see that. Hello, Gina.” Ash winked and took her hand, holding her fingers longer than appropriate for a casual greeting. She melted off her brother’s lap and slid over to sit next to him, never releasing his hand.

“You haven’t known Rico long. I’d remember you.”

She flashed big, wide eyes at him and hugged his biceps to the side of her breast. Ash patted her thigh, which slid right alongside his, and threw his arm over the back of the booth to skim her shoulders. The move was casual enough to take the gleam out of Rico’s eye and insinuating enough to put one in Gina’s. A parade of women came and went, ostensibly to talk to Gina who preened at the attention, but wrangling for an introduction. Ash gained valuable information from Salvatore and enjoyed himself at the same time. Nothing better than multitasking.

When they rose to leave, a group of girls trailed after them out onto the street.

“You’re not done for the night, are you?” Gina pouted prettily at him.

“Hardly.” He stopped next to his motorcycle parked out front on the curb to grab the helmet and dig the keys out of his front pocket.

Gina stared. “This is yours?”

“Yep.”

Her wide eyes narrowed with greed and speculation. “Care to take me for a ride?”

“Think you can handle it?” He shot her a roguish grin and settled into the seat with a wide-legged stance, then fired up and revved the motor.

“Oh, honey. Give me your best shot.”

“Come on, then,” he challenged.

She swung a leg over the seat, hands slipping underneath his jacket to caress through his thin T-shirt. His libido leapt at the attention, but common sense reared its ugly head. Gina was Rico’s sister. Very bad idea.

“Gina! What the fuck are you doing?” Rico stomped toward them. He grabbed Gina’s arm and yanked her from the motorcycle. “You know how I feel about those damn things. I don’t care what you do when I’m not around, but no way in hell you’re getting on that and riding away right in front of me.”

“Jeez, chill, Rico. I’ll be fine. I’m sure Ash is very experienced.” She gave him an arch look before turning to her brother.

“Not a fucking chance—on either count.” Rico sent a fuming glare toward Ash, who shrugged.

“I’ll go.” One of the girls who had been with them all night took advantage of Gina and Rico’s argument and jumped onto the motorcycle behind him. Ash couldn’t remember her name, but she was soft and curvy. His favorite. Her arms wrapped low around his hips, and he leaned back so her breasts flattened enticingly against his shoulder blades.

“You ever ridden one of these?” he asked.

“Not my first time, ace,” she purred, giving his earlobe a nip for good measure.

Laughing, he meet Gina’s furious glare as he braced to start the bike and flashed his brilliant smile. “Sorry, sweetheart. Maybe next time.”

Another laugh was pulled from him as the girl on his bike gave his dick a firm squeeze, as if to remind him she was there.

“Hang on,” he told her with a grin at his double meaning. “Gonna give you a ride.”

“I hope so,” she murmured, the words ending with a delighted cry as he gunned the bike and they shot down the road.

A few days later, Ash responded to Rico’s summons to meet at his parents’ old home on the outskirts of town. His team’s intel was good—Gina had been living there since their father passed away and mother moved into a nursing home. Rico stayed at his condo downtown, but he liked to conduct business at the house to take advantage of the privacy. Ash pulled up on his bike, and Rico emerged from the house to meet him in the driveway.

“Hey, man. Good morning.”

“Morning?” Rico snorted, but amusement lifted the grim lines of his face. “It’s afternoon, you dumb motherfucker.”

“Lost track of time. Sorry.”

“Yeah, I know all about your reasons for losing track of time. What’s her name?”

“I never fuck and tell.” Ash relaxed when Rico bought the excuse with a snorted laugh and then moved on to business. “Everything’s set for the delivery on the eighteenth.”

“Aces, my man. Pure aces. This isn’t as big as some you’ve moved for me, but it’s coming from the States and a guy we need to impress.” Rico leveled a stare on Ash. “Be pretty convenient if I could talk to this contact you have direct.”

“Convenient for who?”

A stilted silence fell between them, challenging and calculating, before Rico responded. “You’re a real sonofabitch, aren’t you?”

Ash tipped his head and held Rico’s gaze. “That and more.”

“You’re sure you can trust this guy? This contact. One hundred percent?”

“That and more,” Ash repeated.

Rico maintained his calculating mien for another few seconds before chuckling and reaching out to slap Ash’s shoulder.

“A real sonofabitch.” Rico glanced up at the sound of voices coming from the house. “Look, Gina’s got company, so let’s talk later.”

“Sorry. Wouldn’t have said anything if I’d known.”

Rico shrugged, zipped the large duffel he’d dropped at his feet, and slung the bag over his shoulder. “Drive me back to my place. We can go over details.”

Ash glanced at the Triumph. “What about my bike?”

Rico cursed. “Slick can bring you back for the fucking bike later.”

“Okay.”

He followed Rico out to the driveway, but turned his head when female laughter drifted across the yard. Gina and another girl Ash didn’t recognize came out the front door and paused when they spotted him and Rico standing by the car. Oh, yeah, he would’ve remembered that woman if he’d seen her before.