Chapter Twenty-Two

Atlas

“S o, what are we doing again?” Rage asks me, yawning.

We had a late night last night, and we wouldn’t have if we had known that Alaric was going to call on us today. That was bad timing on everyone’s part. He had to call several times, in order to wake us up and it’s taken so long to do so, that he’s now waiting outside of the gates of Blackbreak for us, and it’s late afternoon.

We didn’t get in until the early hours of the morning, so I think he’s lucky that we are up now.

“We have got to grab our gear and meet Alaric by the gates,” I remind him for the fourth time, “we’ve got a job.”

“Right, got it,” Rage replies, his hair going in all directions.

We both quickly grab our stuff and chuck into my car. We will drive to the gates since they are quite far away from the house and then we will leave it in the lot there. It will be safe and make it easier and quicker to get back to the house when we get back from whatever the job is that Alaric has for us.

“Did he say anything about what the job was?” Rage asks.

I shake my head, “No, but by the time he actually managed to get hold of me, he was pissed and already outside, so he wasn’t really in a sharing mood.”

Rage chuckles, “Fair enough.”

It doesn’t take us very long to get to the lot by the gates and park, grab our shit, and head out of the gates.

“Hey,” I say to Alaric as we get in the car.

“Have a good night last night?” he asks, as he immediately starts the car.

I grin, “Yes, we did.”

“Sorry, we missed your call,” Rage adds, now a bit more awake.

Alaric chuckles, “No problem. It does put us on a little bit of a time crunch, so I’m going to have to debrief you now.”

“That’s okay; I prefer to get straight to it rather than wait around anyway,” I reply with a shrug.

“We will stop and get you guys some coffee in a second, we are going to need you two firing on all cylinders.”

“Sounds interesting, and you know I will never turn down coffee,” Rage replies.

After we have gotten our drinks and we are settled back into the drive, I ask, “So, what’s the job?”

“We have had some intel that says that one of Liam’s main people is going to be in the bar that I am taking you too. He is there to make a deal and we want to make sure that we either have the details of the dealer or get the guy himself.” Alaric explains.

“Okay, that sounds simple enough,” Rage replies, and then adds, proving that he still isn’t quite awake, “are we hanging around outside the bar, or are we observing from within?”

“Inside the bar,” Alaric confirms, “we are hoping that you will be able to overhear something.”

“When is the meeting due to take place?” I ask.

“At nine. We want you there for at least an hour before he is due to turn up so you blend in more and so that he is less likely to notice you,” he replies.

I look at the clock, “It’s only four now.”

Alaric nods, “Yeah, we are at least a four-hour drive away. I suggest that you boys get some sleep because I’m going to be driving you straight there.”

“No problem.” Rage says as he crosses his arms over his chest and slouches down in his seat. His eyes pop open for a moment, “It does make the fact you bought us coffee a pointless endeavor.”

Alaric chuckles, “Fair point.”

Rage just shrugs and closes his eyes again.

I’m still tired, I could sleep, besides we have no idea how long we’re going to be at the place for and we may as well get some sleep where we can. With this in mind I adopt the same position as Rage, and close my eyes.

**********

We actually managed to arrive at the bar just in time. Calling it a bar is a bit of a stretch; it’s more like a dive, and it is fucking tiny. It’s also packed full of people, so it’s popular. We sit ourselves at the bar with a good view of the entire place; it is really that tiny. We got a few looks when we arrived since this is obviously a local place, but people quickly dismissed us when we didn’t cause any trouble and just sat down at the bar.

Nine has been and gone, and I’m starting to think that Alaric was given bad intel because the guy isn’t here yet. Just as I am about to text him and suggest that we leave, our target walks through the door and takes a seat in the booth in the corner, the one located just behind where we are sitting, facing the bar. It has stayed empty despite how busy the place has been, and that’s why we chose to sit at this end of the bar; we figured that it might be kept for them. He scans the room, and Rage and I immediately turn back to our drinks and start up a conversation again, much like most of the bar is doing.

There is now a slight sense of nervousness in the air that wasn’t there before, and that only heightens when the guy that our target is meeting walks through the door. I don’t recognize him; however, I did recognize our target when I was shown a picture of him. He was definitely a part of Liam’s inner circle, and I’m hoping that he won’t recognize me. He shouldn’t, it’s been years since he may have seen me, and longer still since we know for sure that he did see me. Which is the reason why I was deemed safe enough to do this job, especially since he would have definitely recognized Alaric.

The room is obviously loud, but we are right in front of the booth, the only thing separating us is a hallway that goes to the restrooms. This means that if I concentrate, I can just about hear their conversation. Frustratingly though, the conversation has been kept to pleasantries for the last twenty minutes.

Alaric has said, we listen and find out what we can and then when he leaves, we take him in. We are not going to let him get out of here, a free man. He’s been talking pleasantries for so long now that I am not only bored out of my freaking mind but finding myself hoping that he gets up to use the bathroom or something soon so that I can grab him.

“This is not what I thought we would be doing tonight,” Rage says quietly, making sure that he doesn’t give anything away or say anything that could make them suspicious.

“Tell me about it,” I reply. “Makes you wish we had gone to the other party.”

I’m referring to one that we got invited to tonight, and that we had intended to attend but obviously haven’t because we came here instead.

“Yeah, it does.” Rage chuckles. He picks up his beer and just before he takes a sip, he says quietly, “Heads up.”

My eyes follow our target as he weaves his way through the crowd and to the other end of the bar, which is curious because why wouldn’t he come to the part of the bar that is closest to where he is sitting?

A shiver of apprehension goes down my spine.

I watch as he calls the bartender over and orders a drink, as soon as it’s put down in front of him, he picks it up, his eyes meeting mine, as he winks.

“Shit.”

Before I can do anything, all hell breaks loose as a bar fight seems to start from nowhere.

“He made us. We need to follow him.” I tell Rage quickly as we both get up.

We move through the fighting masses, ducking punches and even a flying barstool. Jensen would have fucking loved this. I stop a hit as it comes in my direction and strike back, sending the guy flying and bringing a grin to my face.

I love a good fight.

We fight our way through the bar, and I am just getting to the edge of the fight when my eyes land on the target again. He is standing by the exit and as soon as my eyes meet his, he smirks and waves, heading out of the door.

I rush after him, Rage hot on my heels. We really need to take the fucker in. When we finally get outside, I realize that we are too late, and I watch as he drives off.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I hit dial. “He knew we were watching him.”

“Fuck,” Alaric curses, “I’m coming to get you now; I’ll be there in two minutes, max.”

He hangs up, and I turn to Rage, “Well, that was a clusterfuck.”

“At least we got a fight out of it,” he grins.