‘Shut up!’ Frankie roared, cutting him off. ‘Jesus, you really are shit-for-brains. Tell me about the job.’
Slater raised his eyebrows like it was no big deal. ‘What? What do you want to know? It went the way you wanted it to go.’
‘You got the photos?’
‘Why would I have the photos? Did you tell me to take the photos?’
Frankie’s face fell. ‘So he didn’t just run off, but he ran off with photos he knows are worth six figures.’ A long pause. ‘Why the fuck would he do that?’ He pulled a wad of cash out of his back pocket, at least thirty thousand dollars. ‘I got Carter’s cut right here. He knows that. All he had to do was bring the evidence back, clear it with me, and he’d be off to the club for bottle service.’ Another pause that felt like an eternity. ‘So why would he do that? He wouldn’t.’
Crunch time.
The wrong answer and this’d become a shootout.
Slater braced for anything.
King said, ‘Because he’s dumb, but he’s not that dumb.’
It made Frankie hesitate. ‘What?’
‘He’s hot-headed and stupid,’ King said. ‘That’s a given. He forced us out of the van for no good reason, but he saw we were pissed about it. And when we’re pissed, it’s a whole different ball game…’ He trailed off.
Slater picked up where he left off. ‘You were too transparent about our worth, Frankie. You should’ve played it down to Carter, at least at the start. We were your new star recruits and he hated that. He could see a timeline where we took all the jobs from him in a matter of weeks. So that triggered him and he forced us out of the back, made us walk. But then he would’ve realised that you would’ve blown your lid when he got back. Because we’re star recruits, right? And Carter jeopardised that. He skipped town because he’s terrified of you, terrified what you might do to him…’
It provided Frankie with an answer, but it also massaged his ego.
A potent combination.
The suspicion vanished, replaced by grave concern. ‘Heidi’s going to lose her shit.’
Without missing a beat, King said, ‘Who’s Heidi?’
Frankie’s phone started buzzing in his pocket.
He looked at his watch before he pulled it out and grimaced. ‘Speak of the devil…’
He nodded confirmation to himself as he looked at the screen, then answered on speakerphone.
Which conveyed trust, involvement in the messy details.
In the course of a single day, King and Slater had reached the gangster’s innermost circle.
Frankie said, ‘Hey, Heidi…’
‘I need the Choi photos right now,’ she snapped. Her voice was like a barb, cutting its way from the speaker. ‘And I need you for, like, four or five more jobs. Tonight. There’s a flat five hundred k in it for you if you get everything done in time. It’s urgent.’
Frankie stared vacantly into the empty space between King and Slater. Searching for words.
‘Listen, Heidi,’ he said. ‘We got Choi done. We made it brutal. There’s a slight delay with the photos, but we’ll—’
‘Delay?’
The question was cold, demanding.
Frankie said, ‘Yeah. Technical difficulties.’
‘What technical difficulties? Are you fucking kidding me?’
‘No,’ Frankie said matter-of-factly, trying to match her iciness. ‘I’m not kidding you. These things happen. The phones are playing up. Look, darlin’, life isn’t smooth sailing. I—’
‘Don’t you dare lecture me.’
Right then, King got a true sense of what Heidi Waters was capable of. Before he’d been distanced from it, hearing about her sociopathy from others, but on top of her lack of emotions was a dangerous bravery. She seemed to have no worldly experience with the intricacies of organised crime, but she was talking to Frankie — a violent and trained killer who controlled a stable of murderous fighters — like he was her child.
Like he was throwing a temper tantrum.
And to make things crazier, Frankie obeyed. ‘I’m sorry. I just need you to understand. We’re doing our best.’
‘Can you do the jobs for me?’
‘Yes. Absolutely.’ He gave King and Slater a wince, silently saying, I didn’t get your permission but there’s a whole lot of money in it for you. ‘How many people?’
‘Five.’
‘All tonight?’
‘Yes.’
‘Who are they?’
‘Employees.’
‘What have they done?’
‘They annoyed me.’
Frankie said nothing.
Heidi said, ‘Is that going to be a problem, Frankie?’
‘No,’ he said, his eyes searching for King and Slater’s acceptance. ‘No problem at all. But it’ll be seven-fifty. Not five hundred.’
‘Fine. But if I don’t have photos of Choi in my inbox by the end of the night the deal’s off.’
She hung up before he could accept her terms.
49
Endgame.
Employees were on the chopping block, so somehow shit had truly hit the fan, and Heidi was taking as many of her perceived foes down with her as she could. At least it finally gave King and Slater reason to move in once and for all on Frankie Booth.
Slater faced Frankie, who seemed shellshocked. ‘How important is it that we get this done?’
Frankie tried to shake himself out of his stupor. ‘What?’
‘If you turn her down, how angry is she likely to be?’
‘I’m not turning down seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. No fuckin’ way.’
‘You’re not getting the Choi photos. Carter’s already out of the city by now, I guarantee it.’
‘Doesn’t matter. We pull this off and she’ll forget about Choi.’
‘And then?’
‘And then what?’
‘She’s getting arrested tomorrow if five of her employees go missing overnight. Coupled with that board member in the news — Jack someone?’
Frankie froze in his tracks, stared at Slater. ‘How do you know about that?’
‘Heidi Waters. Vitality+. It’s everywhere, Frankie. You think I didn’t recognise her voice? Some board member went missing a few days back. It was in the Chronicle.’
‘Who cares if she gets arrested?’ Frankie said. ‘You think I give a shit about Heidi? She’ll
