When the Devil Comes to Call (A Lars and Shaine Novel Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

people, getting closer. I’m not blaming you, not by a long shot. I’m just telling you so you know why I did what I did.”
    “Which is what?” Lars hadn’t touched his drink. Nikki shot his in one, steeling his reserve.
    “I made a deal. I’m going into protection.” Nikki let the news settle on the room. Lars, always calm, didn’t react. “I figured I’d go to them before they came for me. I’m giving them names, places. Some, not all. I’m protecting my friends, y’understand? All the bastards who had it in for me all these years? Those assholes are going down.”
    Lars set his drink on the edge of the desk, stood to refill Nikki’s glass. He knew how hard it was for Nikki to admit what he’d done. How hard it must have been to make the phone call, to sit with a list of his friends and enemies and decide who got to be spared. Like Santa, but instead of a lump of coal, he put prison terms in their stockings.
    Lars started growing impatient for the name of the man he had traveled nearly five thousand miles to kill.
    “But there’s one. One guy, Lars. I got nothing on him. Nothing I can give them. And when I go, he’s gonna step in and fill my shoes.” Lars delivered the drink. Nikki picked it up and swirled the scotch in the glass. “But I don’t want him in my shoes.”
    “And this is the guy who killed Lenore?”
    “He’s the guy.”
    “Who?” Lars felt the anger inside him again threaten to boil over. It was always there, but usually under control. Usually.
    “Leo Ramoni.”
    Lars nodded his head. “Bruno’s father.”
    It was Nikki’s turn to nod. Lars had been handed a crucial puzzle piece, fifteen years after he needed it. He’d suspected before, but now he knew. He breathed in through his nose, out through his mouth. Twice. Deep inhales, dropping the mercury inside his head.
    “You got an address?” Lars asked.
    “Right here.” Nikki pulled open his desk drawer.
    “I’ll need a piece. They don’t let you carry on a plane any more.”
    “Bunch a fuckin’ babysitters.” Nikki punched a button on his desk and the three bodyguards entered. “Anthony, give Lars your piece.”
    Without question, Anthony handed over his gun, a Smith & Wesson. Lars preferred his Beretta, but it would have to do. Lars turned to the other two men. “Yours too.”
    The men looked to Nikki for approval. He gave a single nod of his head. They unholstered their pistols.
    “Three guns?” Nikki asked. “You grow another arm?”
    Lars checked the clips in each gun, tested the mechanism for proper oiling and care. “One is for her,” Lars said. None of the men responded.
    “I’ll see if I know anyone who can find out when he’ll be around, and how much protection he’s—”
    “I’m going tonight.”
    Nikki watched as Lars tucked away two of the guns. Maybe it was being back in New York, maybe it was the cold, but Lars hardened. His jaw set tighter, his heart went cold. Someone had to die tonight.
    Nikki had been right. His finger had been off the trigger for two years, but it slipped right back into place as if no time had passed.

7
     
    Shaine set down her unfinished turkey sandwich. She ate another corn chip and washed it down with the ginger ale Anthony set her up with in the kitchen. Didn’t care for the way he looked at her as he explained the layout of the kitchen. Looked like he was trying to remove the many layers of her gift shop purchased winter wear to get a glimpse of what lay beneath.
    She thought about the man down the hall. The one who made her father run, who turned him paranoid.
    She knew if she had any chance to kill Nikki it would be a miracle. Bodyguards around, plus Lars. He’d disown her, or worse—kill her himself—if she ever took away his mentor. Lars believed in forgiveness. In Eastern philosophy, in the ability to change. He also believed the right people deserved to die. All she needed to do was convince him Nikki was the right person.
    Shaine hadn’t felt so