Bethany noticed it, too. “Don’t get too excited. We’re not going to hit you, but we’re not as nice as Levi.”
Carey slumped again. “What do you want? I already told them, I don’t know anything about the client. I only know the assignment came from China.”
Hannah sat down on the other side of the room, her pretty face scrunching as she examined his wounds. “Would your boss be able to tell us who the client is or confirm any information?”
Carey scoffed. “If my boss felt like it, sure. But being cooperative isn’t high on their priority list.”
Bethany sat down and crossed her legs. “Is federal prison high on their priority list? Because acting as a proxy for an international business partner and committing crimes for hire constitute federal offenses—the kind that can get you put away for a long time.”
Carey tilted his head. “I’m pretty sure my boss is aware of all that. And isn’t concerned.”
“All they care about is money?” Hannah asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t care what they care about. I do my job and that’s it. I don’t analyze.”
“I get it.” Bethany adjusted her gold bangle. “You’re just a gun for hire—you go in and take care of your assignment, and you’re out. You’re a pawn.”
“I like to think of it as punching the clock, but sure. I’m a pawn. I can’t tell you anything because I don’t know anything. Like I said, I don’t care.”
“So you don’t have any loyalty to your boss, or to your client.” Hannah smiled. “Right?”
Carey looked from one woman to the other, clearly confused. “Is this going anywhere? ’Cause otherwise, I have a nap to take before that other guy comes back for my regularly scheduled beating.”
“We want you to work for us,” Hannah said brightly.
Bethany whipped her head toward her, blonde hair flying. “That’s where we’re going with this?”
Hannah shrugged and turned back to Carey. “I’ll triple whatever they’re paying you if you can find out more information for me. I’ll give you plenty of cash so you can bribe sources on an as-needed basis. There’ll be more money after that. And I’m nice. I won’t even let Levi beat you up anymore.”
“It was the other guy I was worried about,” Carey said. “The one built like a boulder.”
Ellis.
“Ah,” Hannah said. “I’ll take care of it.”
“I’d make sure he can actually be useful first,” Bethany suggested.
Carey glared at her.
Hannah shrugged. “He’ll be useful, or he’ll get Ellis’d.”
I tried not to whine that she wasn’t offering to have him Wes’d. “Are we done here?” I asked instead. I wanted Hannah away from this scumbag.
“We’re going to get some details, and Bethany’s going to write up a little legal document for me and Carey so he knows this is legitimate. Okay, Bethany?”
Bethany fake-smiled at her. “Great. Just how I want to spend my evening: drafting an agreement between one of my best friends and a low-level assassin with questionable hygiene. Just perfect. I hope you’ll testify before the Board of Bar Overseers that the subject matter wasn’t illegal, or I’m going to be out of a license.”
“I’m not asking him to do anything illegal.” Hannah raised an eyebrow. “But if you’d rather go, Levi’s waiting outside—”
“Enough,” Bethany snapped, opening up her laptop and setting up shop across from Carey. “Let’s just get this over with.”
* * *
HANNAH
Wes came around the corner and handed me a glass of wine. “Honey?”
“Yes?”