“Yeah,” Florrie nodded.
“Well, he’s coming to Pittsburgh for a charity gala and needs protection for the event.”
“He hasn’t hired his own security team yet?” I grumbled. The last fucking thing I wanted was Florrie around that asshat. “Fucking great.”
“It’ll be nice to see him again,” Florrie said, shooting me a grin. “I know Alec really misses him.”
“I miss him like the plague.”
“He’s had some problems getting reliable security that doesn’t screw him over, so he’s been going at it alone for the past few months. But he’s requesting that you keep a low profile and show up in regular clothes.”
“Why does he need security for the event?” Craig asked.
“He’s got a new girlfriend and it’s been causing quite a few problems for him.”
“How so?” Florrie asked.
“She’s the daughter of Richard Blakely.”
“The Richard Blakely?” Burg gaped. “The same Richard Blakely that owns half of New York?”
“The exact same one,” Cap grinned.
“Then what the fuck does he need us for?” I grumbled. “If she’s loaded, then why does he need to provide security?”
“Because Jamie wouldn’t be a very good boyfriend if he left all the security to her father,” Florrie said. “Besides, you should be happy. Now he doesn’t need me to play his girlfriend.”
“But you made such a cute couple the last time,” Craig grinned until I smacked him. “Ow, what the fuck was that for? I’m just pointing out that if you hadn’t fucked everything up, they would have made a very cute couple.”
“I think you mean if I hadn’t fixed what was fucked up,” I growled.
“No, I meant exactly what I said. I’m telling you, that guy is like JFK Jr. or something.”
“Alright, let’s not get into this shit right now. We have security plans to make, and Rob already started on putting together your packets. Let’s do our best not to fuck up this job, alright?” Cap said in irritation, shooting me a dirty look.
I sighed heavily. Obviously he was referring to how I snapped a man’s neck the last time I was on this guys protection detail. “He deserved it.”
“Let’s make sure no one else ‘deserves it’ on this job.”
“Why do we get this job? What job are they doing?” I asked, jerking my head toward Cazzo.
Cap grinned wide and tossed a packet to Cazzo. “They get to be the security detail for a Mrs. Laura Sutton, age sixty-nine, and her Pomeranian dog, Elise. Now, get the fuck out of here before you and I finish our conversation from earlier.”
My eyes widened and I glanced at Sinner and Burg, who both looked like they wanted to puke. I didn’t have to be told twice to leave. There was no fucking way I wanted to stick around and risk Cazzo convincing Cap to switch teams for the jobs. And there was definitely no way I wanted to finish our conversation from earlier.
“Do you think he was serious?” Craig asked. “Do you really think they’re doing security for a dog?”
“I wouldn’t put it past Cap to take a job like that just to piss us off,” Florrie said.
“Or he’s got a really good job and he just said that shit to throw us off.”
“Unless he wants you to think exactly that,” Craig grinned.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he said that shit right in front of us. Then he knew we would come out here and question the job because it sounds really fucking stupid. So, then we start to question if he’s fucking with us. But the thing is, we’ll never really know for sure.”
Craig was right. What were the chances that anyone on Cazzo’s team would tell us if they got a really good job? “He’s gotta be screwing with us.”
“Yeah, but what’s the job?” Florrie asked. “It’s gotta be something big. Like, guarding someone really high profile.”
“More high profile than Jamie Hanson?” I asked. “It’s not like he’s the richest man in the world, but he’s made a name for himself. Who would be bigger than him?”
“Bill Gates?” Craig suggested.
“Bill Gates has security for his security,” Florrie responded.
“Well, it can’t be a political figure from another country. They would be covered under secret service,” Craig said. “Maybe it’s a spy. You know, a spy from another country that needs asylum, but our country won’t provide it because of who they were spying for. Maybe it’s a Russian or an Iranian.”
“Yeah, and that would be a job Cap would take,” I said sarcastically. “Moral, do-gooder Cap decided to protect a foreign spy against his own government.”
“Hey, you don’t think they’re guarding a Pomeranian, so I was just throwing out some suggestions.”
“You know what?” I shook my head, unable to believe that I had fallen into Cap’s trap. “It doesn’t matter. They’ve got their job and we’ve got ours. We get to guard the JFK Jr. wannabe and it’ll be a cake job. Then we’ll come back here and wait for another job, just like we always do.”
“You’re right,” Craig nodded. “It doesn’t matter what their job is.”
“Exactly.”
The door opened and Cazzo walked out with a smirk on his face, followed by Burg and Sinner. I ran up to him and got in his face. “Alright, what’s the real job? We all know that you’re not really guarding a fucking dog, so just tell us now.”
“The job is the dog and the woman,” Cazzo grinned.
“Listen, we can do this all day, alright? We all know that Cap wouldn’t send you out on a job to protect a dog. So, who is it? A foreign national? A spy? A hacker?”
He laughed and slapped me on the arm, shoving past me. “I think you have bigger issues to worry about than who we’re protecting. Like why the hell you had that whole back and forth in his office.”
“There was no back and forth,” I said, my spine stiffening.
“Yes, there was,” Florrie said. “There was something else going on in there. What really happened?”
“What? Nothing,” I chuckled. “It was nothing.”
“Well, it
