15. Raven

15

RAVEN

I stared into the darkness of the hotel room, waiting for my chance for revenge. My head still throbbed and the cut on my head hadn't been stitched yet, but that was the least of my problems.

Snatch had gotten away with fifty million dollars, and he used me to do it. Not only that, he messed up my manicure. I didn't get them very often, so it really pissed me off that he ruined the last one I'd had in the past year.

I pressed the ice pack to my head, reveling in the cold spreading through me. If I managed to survive the next forty-eight hours, I would do everything in my power to ensure Snatch had a very painful—very slow death.

The door clicked open and he walked through, whistling as he flipped on the hall light. Dressed in his classic leather jacket and torn jeans, you wouldn't think to look for him at a hotel this swanky. That's precisely why I started at all the most expensive hotels.

Finding out what name he was staying under was another problem. I started with the name he'd given to Allsebrook at the party. David Clark . He would never be stupid enough to use the name. That's when I remembered a name he'd used on a previous job we'd worked together. It was from years ago, just as he was getting into the business. He was young and green, and it was very likely his real name. He didn't have the sense back then to use an alias.

That's what brought me to this hotel. Daniel Williams. I would only ever know him as Snatch, but knowing his given name was power. If I wanted to, I could call the police and have him arrested, but that went against all of my personal codes of conduct. It was just bad luck to rat out a fellow thief—even if he did try to kill me.

He walked further into the room, still whistling as he tossed his key on the table. Walking over to the bar, he poured himself a glass of scotch and came into the living room, grabbing the remote off the coffee table. His gaze momentarily flicked over the magazines I'd neatly arranged on the table and the hotel binder that sat perpendicular to the corner. It was only when he sat down that he finally saw me sitting in an armchair in the dark.

"Shit!" he gasped, holding his glass to his chest.

I flicked the switch on the lamp, smirking at the horror on his face. "Miss me?"

"Raven…" He swallowed hard. I could see the wheels turning in his head. How had I survived? I should be dead. How did I know where to find him? Had he left something behind? Would others be looking for him?

I shoved to my feet and slowly walked around to sit across from him. The panic on his face gave me a sense of satisfaction I didn't know was missing from my life. I couldn't remember another time I had ever felt this much joy just from the way someone looked at me.

"So, I see you made it off the property in one piece. I did as well, in case you were wondering."

"How—" He swallowed hard, then lifted the glass to his lips and downed the contents.

"How did I survive?"

He nodded slowly.

"Nicholas jumped in the water after me. Very gallant of him."

He looked around the room expectantly, but no one else came out. I was all alone.

"I know you're wondering where he is. You're wondering if you're safe, if you should run. I wouldn't try that if I were you."

"Are you going to kill me?" he finally asked.

I quirked my lips to the side in thought. "You know, I haven't figured that out yet. Turnabout is fair play. But I wasn't planning on working any more jobs with you where I could use you and then stab you in the back. Or throw you off a roof."

"So…you're not going to kill me?"

"What do you think is fair?"

His eyes widened as he stared at me. "Like…you want an answer?"

"Sure. What would you do if someone did that to you?"

"I would forgive them. We all make mistakes," he said weakly.

"Murder isn't something I can forgive easily." I pushed to my feet and smiled at him. "Lucky for you, I don't want to kill you. I want something much worse than that. I want you to suffer."

His Adam's apple bobbed in anticipation. Small beads of sweat formed on his brow, dripping down the tip of his nose. "How…how will you make me suffer?"

I stepped between his legs and bent over until my mouth was right by his ear. "By taking away the one thing you desperately wanted."

When I stepped away, I saw the fear in his eyes. "You…you can't."

"I already did. You should have hidden them better."

He pushed to his feet, but I was faster, moving away from him before he could do anything. I pulled the gun from the holster at my back and held it steady on him.

"I was wondering why someone like you would ask me to do a job and then try to kill me for my cut. You would have had more money than you could ever spend, yet you felt it was necessary to get rid of me. So, I did some digging. It looks like somebody's been a naughty boy."

"Raven, they'll kill me."

"Yes, they will. But that's not my problem."

He rushed me, but stopped when I gripped the gun with both hands, showing him how serious I was. I would shoot him right where he stood if he even thought of trying to come at me again.

"Raven…" He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, struggling to think of some way to negotiate with me. It wasn't going to happen. "It's the Russian mob."

"I know," I grinned. "And I hear they're in town. When are you supposed to meet them?"

"Tonight."

"Well, I'd better be on my way. I wouldn't want to interfere with your meeting."

"I'll tell them you have it!" he shouted as I turned to go.

I slowly turned and faced him. "Go for it. They'll never find me."

"You don't know them like I do. Once I give them your name, they'll never stop hunting you. They want those pieces."

I raised one eye in challenge. "Then tell them where to find me. You're good at betraying your friends."

"We were never friends."

"You're right. But I'll give you something to consider as you wait for your meeting. If you had just come to me and explained what happened, I would have done the job for free. We both know it's the thrill of the job more than the money involved."

The blood drained from his face as he realized his error. I almost felt sorry for him. I nearly stopped and told him I would give him the eggs, but he betrayed me, and I wouldn't let him walk away this time.

I backed up until I reached the door, then stepped out and ran down the hall. The eggs were already hidden at another location. Now, I just had to get out of town before his meeting. He would give me up to save his life, and then I'd have the Russian mob coming after me. If I had any way to contact them, I might consider just handing them over to save my skin. But there was no way to know for certain that they wouldn't get rid of all loose ends.

As soon as I hit the lobby, I ran for the back exit. It was already too late to wipe the cameras, and that wasn't my specialty anyway. I shoved the back door open, but as soon as I stepped through it, I knew I was in trouble. Nicholas stood there, a smoldering grin on his face as he leaned against my car.

"Going somewhere?"

"You have to let me go."

"I don't have to do anything."

"You sort of do, unless you want to deal with some very unhappy Russians."

"Now, why does that not surprise me?" he asked, a smile gracing his lips.

"Look, I'm sorry about the car. And leaving you behind. But I'm serious, you do not want to be involved in this."

"Involved in what?"

I spun at the sound of the second voice. It was FNG. Stepping out of the light, I caught the smirk on his face as he closed in on me.

"After we came to her rescue," a female voice said from the other side of me.

Rae.

"And I didn't even get my farm yet."

The door slammed behind me as Fox walked out. He must have been in the lobby waiting for me.

Indecision warred inside me. I needed to get out of here fast. There was no reason to drag them into this mess, and the more of them following me, the worse it would be.

"I really don't want to shoot you," I told Nicholas. "You saved my life, after all."

"If you shoot me, you'll be dead in less than a second. And I still haven't quite figured you out, so I'd like to keep you alive a little longer."

"Nick, this is serious. The Russian?—"

Shots fired before I could finish my sentence. I squealed, ducking for cover as bullets pinged over my head against the brick wall. I wasn't skittish when it came to a gunfight, but this was the freaking Russian mob. I'd heard stories. That was enough to scare me away from them.

Luckily, these crazy people didn't seem at all concerned that they were being shot at. They all took cover, immediately pulling their own weapons. I considered running to my car and escaping during the mayhem, but I'd already done that once to them. That had to be some kind of bad juju to pull it a second time.

Ducking down behind a dumpster with Fox, I waited for him to take cover before popping up and firing off a few shots. From what I counted, there were two vehicles. One was blocking the mouth of the alley, and the second had blocked me in from the back.

I took cover again, noticing how the dumpster was at an odd angle. "Help me move this!" I said to Fox, moving to the other side. He followed me, bracing his back against it. "Ready? Go!" We moved it a few feet before it was where it needed to be. "Stop!"

Bullets pinged off the dumpster above our heads and Fox ran to the other side. "You opened us up to more gunfire! I thought you had a plan!"

"It wasn't straight!"

"What?"

"The dumpster! It wasn't parallel with the wall!"

He rolled his eyes, clearly not understanding my dilemma. "Cover me!" Fox shouted.

I didn't ask questions, just fired off several shots as he ran along the length of the hotel, away from the action. So much for working with these guys. He just ran away. But I was joined seconds later by FNG. His back slammed against the dumpster as he leapt over to me, grinning like a madman.

"Don't you just love this stuff?" he shouted.

"I prefer the part where I get in and out without the gunfire!"

"That's no fun! Cover me!"

"Cover you? You just got here!"

"I'm going in!"

"That's what Fox said, but he left," I snapped.

"Yeah, but I'm not going around. See, I figure I'll be harder to see if I go straight at them."

"You're fucking crazy! They'll hit you right away."

"Nah. I can't die. It's sort of a specialty of mine."

I grabbed him by the collar as he was about to jump out. "Everyone can die."

"Not me," he grinned, then ripped his shirt out of my hands and took off. I turned and fired off the rest of the bullets in my magazine as he raced straight at them, screaming like a banshee. I wasn't sure how that was going to help him. He was signaling exactly where he was.

I quickly reloaded my weapon, firing again as everyone else did the same. I only had a few bullets left and I moved around the dumpster for a better position. I had one man in my sights and was just about to fire when FNG leapt over the car, firing at the man behind it.

Stunned, I didn't immediately move, which was a problem when I was grabbed from behind and a knife was thrust against my neck.

"Where are they?" The voice was thickly accented, and I had no doubt Snatch called the mob as soon as I left and told them where to find me.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The eggs. Where are they?"

If I gave the man the eggs, I would probably be dead before they finished examining them. They were my only bargaining chip.

"They're not here."

"Then you're going to take me to them."

He spun me around, the knife digging into my neck as he did so. It nicked me slightly, but not enough to really injure me. The problem was, when he spun me around, Nicholas was there waiting for him.

"Let her go," Nicholas commanded.

I could practically hear the laughter in the man's voice behind me. "I think you've miscalculated. See this knife? I will plunge it in her neck if you try to stop me. She'll be dead before you can reach her."

"Not if I kill you first."

He burst out laughing, his hot breath hitting the side of my face. And then suddenly, the laughter stopped. I didn't hear the bullet leave the gun, but I saw the muzzle flash. It was so fast that I didn't have time to react. One minute, the man was behind me, laughing and threatening my life. The next…

I turned and stared at the man on the ground. He had a hole in the center of his forehead and a smile permanently etched on his face. He probably never saw it coming.

I was yanked around and Nicholas's lips descended on mine in a brutal kiss that took me by surprise. His gun pressed into my back as he pulled me to him. Maybe I should have been slightly upset by what just happened, but instead, all I could think about was his lips on mine and how much I wanted to take this further.

But there were men after us. Gunfire still erupted in the background and rain had started to fall, but none of that really seemed to matter as Nicholas had his way with me.

"Yeah, yeah," Rae said, ripping us apart. "He likes you, you like him. It's a lovely story, but we've got bigger problems."

Nicholas's eyes drifted to my neck for only a second before he turned, grabbing my hand as he tugged me across the parking lot. I briefly caught sight of Fox singing as he threw something across the lot. The man fell, but it was too dark to make out what Fox had been holding.

"I'm driving!" Rae snapped, getting into the front seat.

"It's my car."

"I'm commandeering it."

She slammed the door just as Nicholas opened the back door and practically tossed me in. He slid in behind me as FNG got in the front.

"Hold on," Rae said, turning in her seat as she hit the gas and rammed the car behind us. Fox yelped as the bumper caught his leg. I swung the door open as Rae shouted, "Get in!"

"But I was just getting started!"

She glared at him and he bent over, tearing a knife from a body before wiping it off and shoving it in his belt. Someone was still shooting at him, and without even looking, he pulled his gun and fired a single shot in the direction of the gunfire.

He slid smoothly into the backseat and nodded. "So, where are we going?"

"The Russian mob?" Nicholas said as he paced the motel room.

I rolled my head back with a sigh. He'd said that at least ten times already. I was tired of hearing it. "Can we get to the point?"

"The point?" he snapped. "The point is that we don't have enough firepower to fight the mob."

"I didn't ask you to."

"Too damn bad. We're in this fight whether you like it or not."

"Says who?"

He clenched his jaw in irritation, turning away from me.

"What he's trying and failing to say is that when you ran with our car," Rae spoke up, "we had to come up with a reason we were there. He said we were there because we suspected there would be a break-in. Now, we're recovering the stolen items to return to the owner."

"That might be a problem."

"Why?" Nicholas asked, turning sharply to me.

I hadn't exactly told him why the Russian mob was shooting at me. Only that it was them.

"Well…Snatch was supposed to steal the eggs as payment for services rendered."

"And you still took them knowing the Russian mob would be coming for you?" he shouted.

"He tried to kill me. He threw me off a building!"

"Call them!" he shouted. "Return the eggs and walk away!"

"I can't do that!"

"Why?"

"Because at this point, they probably think I'm the enemy. As soon as Snatch called them, any chance I had at making things right went out the window. As soon as they get their hands on the eggs, I'm dead."

Silence fell over the room until Fox spoke.

"I bet that chicken farm is looking pretty good right about now."

"Shut up," Nicholas grumbled.

"Hey, I'm just saying, a chicken farm would be a great place to hide out. And there would be plenty of space to bury bodies. Besides, think of all the eggs we'd have on hand."

"You realize it takes like six months for a chick to lay eggs, right?" FNG said.

"Six months? That can't be right."

"And it's sporadic at best until they're a little older."

Fox's frown deepened. "But…that wasn't in the plan. Maybe we need to rethink this whole chicken thing. Maybe we should go for cattle. Think of all the shawarma we could make."

"I'm sorry," I cut in. "What is it with you and this farm?"

"Well—"

"No," Nicholas cut in. "We're not doing this. We have bigger things to think about than farming."

"Yeah, like how we're going to keep the Russians off our back and keep our promise to the owner. It's officially a job now. We can't brush it off."

"Ooh!" Fox piped up. "You know what we should do?—"

"We're not watching a musical," Rae said blankly.

"Hey, Oklahoma is full of great ideas. They sang a song and killed the bad guy just minutes later."

"It's a movie," Nicholas snapped. "It's hardly the same thing."

"So, we steal three more eggs and then everybody wins," I suggested. "It would be easier than trying to keep everyone off our backs."

FNG grinned. "I like the way she thinks."

"You want to solve this by stealing from someone else? That's sort of how you got in trouble in the first place," Nicholas retorted.

"You know, I liked you at first, but you're kind of killing the whole dangerous vibe I had going in my mind."

"Same here," he muttered.

"What?" Fox said, walking around to step in front of me. "You can't give up on each other that quickly. You're like Maria and the Captain."

"What?" I was completely perplexed by what he was saying.

"You know, Maria and Captain Von Trapp. They were totally attracted to each other but had harsh opinions about each other. It wasn't until they had this moment that it all finally came together. You just need that moment."

"There's no moment," I told him. "We're too different."

"Yeah, she's a thief and I'm not."

"Hey, you stalked me. That's not much better."

"I wasn't stalking you to hurt you. I was just curious."

"You put trackers on my car and in my purse!"

"And because of me, you ended up safe."

I laughed at that. "Hardly."

"You were thrown off a roof. If I'd lost you, you'd be a floater right now."

"Ooh, good point," FNG nodded.

"Or maybe, I wouldn't have been distracted by you and I would have noticed Snatch had something else going on."

"Another fair point."

"You couldn't have known he was going to double-cross you. It didn't happen until you were on the roof. I saw what happened."

"You know, he's right," Fox cut in. "I saw it too. I jumped also, in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't," I retorted. "And if you weren't there, he wouldn't have been so pissed. Maybe he would have told me what was going on, but when he saw I wasn't taking the job seriously, he decided to cut his losses.

"Yeah, that's true," Fox sighed.

"Alright, instead of arguing about who was right?—"

"It was me," I cut in.

"Let's figure out how to solve the problem," Rae continued. "What you need is something to get the mob off your back. You can't hand over the eggs. It's not enough."

"I don't have anything on the mob. I'm not in the business of collecting information."

"Then let's find something we can use. That happens to be my specialty."

"And we need to find out if Snatch is still alive. If not, we might be able to use him," Nicholas pointed out.

"Ooh, we could hang him mafia style," FNG grinned. "You know, have some bait to?—"

"We're not killing Snatch or offering him to the mafia," I said.

"Why not?" Nicholas asked, narrowing his eyes at me. "Do you have a thing for him?"

"Ooh," Fox said in a low voice.

"I don't have a thing for him. I just don't believe in killing people."

"You were shooting at the Russians just fine."

"They were shooting at me. There's a difference."

"Well, it's nice to see where your priorities lie," he bit out. "You're fine with stealing, but you draw the line at killing."

"Uh, yeah," I said incredulously. "One is worse than the other."

"Enough!" Rae snapped. "Geez, I already regret coming out here. It's like wrangling cats."

"She started it," Nicholas muttered.

I glared at him but wasn't about to stoop to his level of catty remarks.

"Everyone get some sleep. I'll see what I can find out about the Russians. There has to be something we can use to get the upper hand."

I pushed out of my chair and headed for the door, stopping to fix the drapes. I was just opening the door when I felt it ripped open by Nicholas. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of responding, I walked out of the room, opening my own motel room. But before I could slam the door in his face, he pushed it open all the way and backed me up against the table.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"This," he said, slamming his lips down on mine.