Red

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y T W O

Ace had me pull into a roadside service station where he bought a burner phone and changed cars.

He took back control of the drivers seat and after a few miles of driving he pulled into an off-road woodland area.

“Stay here.” He demanded before stepping out of the car. He opened the trunk and I climbed out, joining him to see what was in the trunk. He gave me a disapproving look but I ignored it and just watched him rummage through someone’s suitcase.

He took out some navy sweat pants and a plain marl grey T-shirt and a hoodie, then dumped the case on the road side and closed the trunk. He bent down and pulled off the number plate.

“I’m hungry Ace, where are we going?” I groaned, leaning back against the red Audi. He ignored me, just offered me a five second glance with his piercing blue eyes.

“Get back in.” His tone was demanding and dominant. He grabbed my arm and pulled me round to the car, once again pushing me in forcefully before getting in himself. He hooked his burner phone up to the car speaker and started driving again.

“Boss?” A voice said on the other end.

“Barney, I’m in the car and I’m not alone.” He glanced my way and I rolled my eyes. “I’m heading to my Northbrooke location and I’m going to need decoys all around the area and situated in the hotel.

The attack didn’t go as planned, we took down twenty five percent of their men but I got shot,” he glanced at me again before uttering “twice” between gritted teeth. I smiled at him coyly.

“I escaped but they retaliated, followed me to Willa Atkinsons apartment and they’re gonna keep coming until I agree to give them the package.”

“You need medical at Northbrooke, sir?” Ace glanced at me again, hesitating to answer.

“No. It’s taken care of Barney.” I smirked at him and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Need you to look into something for me.” He continued, keeping his concentration on the road.

“Anything Boss.” I grunted at his kiss ass attitude and Ace raised his eyebrows at me.

“Willa Atkinson is not who she says she is and the background check is too clean. I’m giving you DNA samples, finger prints, hair follicles, blood anything that you need to find out who the fuck she is.

Pull up all of the CCTV around her apartment area from the past month, find out where she goes and who she meets in her spare time. There’s a tracker in her neck, barcode 777333. Pull up all the locations she’s ever been since I put it in.

Go through all of the cameras and audio from the club since her arrival. Threaten Toni and that blonde chick she’s often seen talking to. Permission to kill them for information. I don’t care what you do, just find out.”

“Yes sir.” The voice said, a little breathy like he struggled to keep up with the conversation.

“Keep me informed, you’ve got forty eight hours.” Ace hung up and kept his attention focused on the road.

“A tracker?” He clenched his jaw and I touched the back of my neck. “It’s not a bomb?”

He sat silently, ignoring me.

“You fucking dick!” I whacked him and he swerved the car but I kept hitting him. “All this time, it wasn’t a bomb?”

“I wanted to see how you’d combat that scenario. You handled it well. Calmly. I wanted to know what resources you had at your disposal. Did you even try to get it removed?”

“Of course I did and I would’ve, I was just waiting on my people.”

“Thought you worked alone.” I zipped my mouth up and just moodily looked out the window. He dialled another number.

“What?”

Well that delightful voice was a ray of beaming sunshine.

“Adrian, I’m in the car, I’m not alone.” Ace started the conversation up with, again.

“They know.” Ace kept his voice stern and if I’m not entirely mistaken a little bit guilty.

“What? Why? How? What happened?” Adrian asked.

“I got shot, twice. Petrov is after me and I have a new threat, everything is just really complicated my end. I have no choice but to haul myself up in the hotel for two days to make sure the threat is gone. I can’t bring the threat back, you know I can’t.”

Aces features tightened, like the thought alone pained him worse than the gunshot. I studied his expression so intensely, trying to work out what was actually happening. I didn’t get why this bothered him so much, it was just business.

“Fuck, Ace.” Adrian sighed with disappointment.

I recognised his voice but I couldn’t place it.

“I know.” Ace agreed.

“Okay. I’ll do damage control, but don’t get yourself fucking killed.” The line went dead and the car fell quiet.

“Fuck!!” Ace shouted, banging his palm aggressively against the steering wheel.

He looked at me for a second and then took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Usually his every day expression was casual, disinterested and impassive. Seeing Ace genuinely upset and angry about something was new.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

“You’re the problem.” He replied snarkily. “Don’t speak to me or I’ll gag you again.”

I rested my elbow against the window rest and looked out at the moving road. Everywhere was dark now and Ace seemed to be driving us further and further away from town.

Eventually he pulled into a hotel under construction. Scaffolding stood erect outside and builders vehicles sat parked up.

Rubble and other work supplies lay scattered around and sign posts read ‘not yet open for business’ and ‘danger, building site, keep out.’

Ace unbuckled his belt and pushed the door open, I followed behind him. We pushed through some plastic dust sheets and entered the lobby.

It was like steeping into a completely different building. The lobby was gorgeous, all marble and lavish exterior. No building supplies, bricks or scaffolding in sight. A lady sat behind a desk and nervously smiled at Ace as he approached.

“W-welcome back b-boss.” She said with a frightened stutter. He nodded once, she shakily handed over a room key without saying anything more. Ace grabbed my arm again and pulled me towards the stairs.

“I can walk myself you know.” I told him.

“You might walk in a direction I don’t want you to go.” He answered back abruptly. “If you think I’m letting you out of my sight for even a second you’re sorely mistaken.” We got to the elevator and he pressed for the fourth floor, not the penthouse suite as I expected.

He slid his key card into room slot 406. I stepped in, looking around. It was just a standard room, nothing special about it.

A double bed, not hard up against the wall - a good indicator there was a weapon case hidden behind the headboard.

A fancy dressing table with a thick-framed mirror fixed to the wall. I stood looking at the edge of the mirror, it appeared to be a secret cupboard of some kind.

I opened the closet and glanced inside, nothing but empty hangers. But the curtain pole looked suspiciously wide. I pulled on the drape, letting the metal eyelet hole knock against the pole. It didn’t sound hollow, there was something shoved into the pole - my guess was a knife or even a few of them.

I turned back to face Ace, he was watching me closely as I located all of his hidden weapons. I sat down on the bed, pretending to be causal.

“So what are we doing here?” I asked.

“You just mentally located every weapon in this room.” He pointed out dumbfoundedly, I bit into my lower lip to stop a growing smile. “Your shooting aim is impeccable.” He complimented me, however it sounded like an insult. “You fight like you’ve been trained as a high ranking mobster.” I stood up again and opened up the mini bar but I could hear him following me. “You’re deceptive, fearless, intelligent.” He grabbed me and spun me around to face him. “You’re -”

“Horny.” I finished the sentence for him.

His eyes widened and then narrowed, he breathed deeply in through his nose and then grabbed my shoulders, pushing into them.

“You think I’m going to fucking touch you now?” He roared, digging his claws into my arms, hard enough to break the skin and make me bleed. “I’m going to fucking kill you Red.”

“So we fuck first and then we fight or we fight as we fuck, I don’t care... I just need to be fucked.” His breathing got deeper and his pupils dilated with his desire. He pushed me down onto the bed and I wiggled my way up, excited about the possibilities.

“I’m going to make you pay, Red.” He warned and I smiled smugly.

Please do, boss.