Vigilante Mine (28 page)

"Sorry,"
Romeo said.

Amanda's hearing rebounded.

"Partnership or nothing. I'm not willing to be another pet on a chain," Klepto said.

"Chain?" Murphy laughed. "If Shiv decides to take offense, I won't haul him back."

Romeo nudged her leg and a stream of reassurance flooded her mind. She was still standing. From the way the conversation flowed around her, no one had noticed her departure from reality.

"Up high. Danger."

Every instinct in her body claimed this impossible delusion was real. And if it was real, she and Klepto were in someone's line of fire. She had to act. Psych would have a field day with her when this was over.

Amanda stopped fighting. Klepto's dog directed her enhanced senses to the clanking of footsteps on metal. A fire escape? Snaps on a case of some kind. The shift of something heavy.

"Sniper rifle."

Unassembled? She recognized it then, equipment wiggled piecemeal out of its case. Click, slide, twist. High and to the left, a would-be shooter had eyes on them. Who did he belong to?

Romeo languidly pawed at her boot.
"The ugly one with the knives. Hurry, Spirit-mate his."

Her vision returned. Muted rage blazed on Shiv's face and facts aligned in seconds. A partnership with Murphy would put Klepto above Shiv in the syndicate hierarchy. The other man could have put a sniper in the wings to both take out his enemy and keep his position secure.

Confusion pummeled her mind and roiled in her stomach. She strove to keep her expression bland as Klepto's hand clasped her wrist. Did he know Romeo had spoken to her? Had he told his dog to warn her? Could he . . . could he hear the same way?

"There are other syndicates," Klepto said.

Murphy shrugged, containing every emotion within a consummate, professional persona. "I'll let you choose one gig, and then we'll talk profit-sharing. A single act of good faith, just as I've shown you by meeting like this."

Romeo leaned into her leg. Amanda had waited long enough.

"How . . . generous of you." She angled her head toward the syndicate boss as Klepto's grip on her wrist tightened. "And does your good faith always include a sniper?"

A near-imperceptible narrowing of Murphy's eyes. "What sniper?"

Amanda pointed, and Shiv took a step backward. His eyes widened as Klepto stepped around her. Blocking the sniper's line of fire.

What serial killer would put his life on the line before completing his "mission"? Amanda started. The sniper existed in reality. She glanced down, a knot twisting in her throat. Romeo rested his chin on her boot.

"Safe. Sleep soon."
The dog yawned inside her head.

"It seems my second and I have had a miscommunication," Murphy said with another shrug. His eyes belied the casual move, churning with a ferocious anger. "An internal issue I assure you will be remedied."

Shiv shrank into the shadows, but two other thugs grabbed his arms. Would Homicide find anything left of him in the morning, or would he simply disappear without a trace?

"You know what it will take for me to forgive this offense," Klepto said. He turned to face the syndicate boss, who inclined his neck graciously. "Partner."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"We're in?" Zach's
lips shaped the question in an irritatingly slow drawl.

If the poor guy wasn't doomed to another full day of rest and observation, Ryan would have called him on it. Slower speech made lip-reading more difficult, not less.

He stifled his annoyance and jerked his chin toward the other side of the hospital bed. "Turn."

Jay flicked another card face-up between Zach's blanket-covered feet.

"We're in, just like that?" Zach asked, tossing a bill onto the stack of cash spread over his shins.

"Just like
—
you kidding?" Cheap plastic should have complained underneath him as Ryan brought the front legs of his chair to the floor. Ryan had once believed his ability's biggest flaw was the barely controllable hearing. The real curse was this return to a world of indomitable, unrelenting silence. "Shiv's signature was on the guy's contract. Murphy wanted to string him up for planning hits behind his back. At the very least for ruining a shot at some big, easy-money heists."

"Gotta wonder what else Shiv does without Murphy's permission," Jay put in, his fingers smoothly flowing with silent words and letters as he spoke. He tossed a ten into the pot then reached for the foam cup he'd stashed on the heart monitor.

"My thought exactly." Ryan called the bet and frowned as the thick scent of burned, over-roasted coffee assaulted his nose. "We haven't kept close enough eyes on our knife-happy friend. Tonight, Klepto made him an enemy."

"I've always wanted a nemesis." Zach's faint smile rolled the lead weight off the bottom of Ryan's stomach. It came right back with his next words. He punctuated with vigorous sign language this time. "I'm guessing Shiv's not too impressed with your woman, either."

His woman. His Spirit-mate. Ryan set his cards face-down on the tray table and massaged his jaw, wincing at the clawing, itching sensation between his ears. "Amanda's home. She's safe."

Disapproval tightened the corners of his brother's lips. "I guarantee Shiv won't find her alarm system as daunting as you did."

"Don't pick a fight you can't win." A surprising burst of aggression hurtled through Ryan's veins.

Jay twitched a look over him. "Your ears will come back, right?"

"Either I'm healing, or a thousand tiny ants have taken up residence inside my head. Whether they're online by tonight . . . " He shrugged and sent Zach a frown. "I didn't leave her alone."

"Romeo's watching her?" Zach asked.

"And keeping me updated. Her mother's there, too," Ryan said. Hovering in dwindling shadows until his spirit guide had regained consciousness had taken a new level of patience and a little creativity, but Romeo had Amanda and her mother under guard. "Amanda will be with me in the ballroom before Murphy lets Shiv off the hook."

"If you're wrong, and Shiv goes after her sooner, you'll be stuck in the middle of interviews." His brother tossed off the blanket, cash, and cards, moving too fast for Ryan to see the rest of his words.

"No, Z." Ryan stretched out a hand but Jay moved faster, grabbing Zach's shoulder. Ryan pinned Zach with his sternest look. "If you're well enough to sign out, you're on security detail at McLelas Financial, not watching over my girlfriend."

"And there it is, gentlemen," Jay said with a sly grin.

Zach smacked his toes on the bed rail and sent him a grimace. "Damn it, bro! You just cost me an even hundred."

Ryan groaned. "You were betting on my love life?"

Jay's grin widened. Then it vanished, and a grim look passed between his brothers.

Suspicion clamored in his head. "Tell me."

"Shaw Family syndicate's bringing firearms into town. Big ones." Zach nodded toward a small electronic receiver on the table next to his bed.

"That's not playing music, I take it," Ryan said.

"We've been flipping through security channels. He was bored. Frankly, so was I." Guilt flashed across Jay's face as he handed over the black and silver box.

Ryan pushed out of his chair and turned the device over in his hands. Light vibrations tickled his palms as the speaker buzzed, but feeling the sound wasn't the same as hearing it.

"You've had nurses in and out of here all night and you're listening to our bugs?" Ryan asked.

Zach crossed his arms. "It's been pretty quiet, save this."

Ryan handed the radio back to Jay as the pressure in his head intensified and the room dipped in his vision. They'd never let him hear the end of it if he passed out.

He retook his seat in a hurry. "When is the delivery scheduled?"

"Soon," Jay said. "Timeline's not definite. We don't have enough ears in their territory."

"We don't have enough time to put them there. I'm booked on news shows all day. Don't even have time to pick up my own tux." Ryan grimaced.

If another syndicate gained an overwhelming upper hand, their efforts to contain the turf war would be moot. Klepto had to stop the shipment.

"I'll go," Jay said. "Shaw'll have it coming into the bay. Torpedo can do a fly-by over the water while I'm touring the docks."

"Think you can get back in time?" Ryan asked. "You and your owl are supposed to be my eyes tonight."

He rubbed his temples as Jay shrugged. He'd thought their abilities would be enough to protect the civilians at the fundraiser. Amanda had been right to worry.

"I don't know who Cinderella is, but she must not move much,"
Romeo said with a curious blend of distaste and utter bewilderment.

Ryan swallowed a startled laugh. All at once, his mind grasped for a mental image of Amanda's formal gown. It settled on the daring nightie she'd worn for Klepto.
Fancy attire too frou-frou for your discerning doggy tastes?

"Can't fight in a dress."

She won't have to.

"These women chatter more than Torpedo. You owe me."

Ryan laughed aloud, then noticed Jay was watching him expectantly. "You'll have to repeat that. Romeo was complaining about your owl again."

The corner of Jay's mouth kicked up and Ryan paid closer attention to the words he mouthed this time. "I said, if I'm lucky, I'll find a dated manifest that says 'guns and sundry' and have enough to tip off Organized Crime from this one trip. I'll hit our balcony before dinner's plated. No worries."

"Go in armed, and wear a vest." Ryan swallowed a litany of cautions as dread climbed his ribcage like latticework. He hoped to God they could counter the evening's threats with Kevlar.

Ryan personally handled
the extra round of staff ID checks as dusk approached, shaking hands and verifying security badges. Nothing was allowed to go wrong tonight. He'd promised Amanda. He was determined to get at least one date with the woman that didn't end in catastrophe.

Still, his hearing held focus like an untuned short wave radio. He couldn't count on his brothers for backup, but an active array of monitoring equipment and a small legion of McLelas Financial security and Relek City police officers stood with him, the same goal in mind: no one would be hurt. If only he could trust the zealot wasn't part of the enforcement team.

The tasteful emerald of Lilah's ball gown caught his peripheral vision and he sent his assistant a smile. Her eyes lit up, green flashing with pride. Hugging the shadows under an archway behind her, a tall, sharply dressed, and oddly familiar man had his gaze fixed on her rump. Ryan lifted an eyebrow as she sidled up to him, her voice frustratingly faint.

"Would you say I spent my bonus well, boss?" she asked with a half-twirl. The mermaid cut of the gown flared out around flat, contoured slippers.

"You look stunning." He smiled and adjusted his glasses on his nose as he nodded over her shoulder. The wallflower looked chagrined to be caught staring. "Your bodyguard's about to swallow his tongue. Is that Isaac?"

"Security chief's orders. Holing me up in the office overnight wasn't enough. I needed a plainclothes date." She sent a small grin over her shoulder, then leaned in with a conspiratorial whisper he had to strain to catch. "Miss Leblanc helped me pick one who could dance."

Ryan's eyebrows jerked upward. "Brennan stuck around?"

Lilah winked. "All night. Don't worry. Your ex didn't corrupt me. Much." The playful words belied the shake in her hands as she smoothed her palms over her hips. "Zach's still under observation? Who's watching you tonight?"

Ryan nodded. He wasn't the only one worried about his brother's extra hospital time. "I'll have plenty of eyes on me." Just none that he trusted implicitly. "I have a good bit of mingling to do, and News 9 will have me posing for pictures all evening
—
"

"Posing for pictures? So a lunatic can take his time aiming at you?" Lilah's eyes gleamed with renewed humor. "Detective Werner's in the car line. Your itinerary includes dancing, and plenty of it."

Ryan's gut flip-flopped. As much as he liked that idea . . . "Lilah, I won't be able to spot a security threat if I'm dancing."

"We don't want this maniac to know what's up, do we?" She jabbed a tiny finger into his upper arm. "Let those eyes do their job and look out for you. The most important thing tonight is to keep things from looking staged. Low tension, lively party. That's your job. You get out on that floor and look like you're enjoying yourself."

"My job is to help Amanda's precinct recover from its recent attack," Ryan said as he turned away from the last catering station. "Won't be many funds to put toward that goal if the host is hiding on the dance floor instead of personally delivering the charm."

Lilah patted his hand. "Just not too much charm. There'll be a lot of single ladies here and I don't want to deal with the logistics of a catfight." She closed her eyes and drew in a slow breath. "Be a moving target."