Bold Tricks (The Artists Trilogy 3)

She raised her hand in the air and snapped her fingers for the waiter, who until now had been ignoring our table. “I can’t talk about this anymore without food.”

The waiter came by and we promptly ordered coffee, beer and food. Though my stomach was growling, I had zero appetite, so just munched the tortilla chips and fresh salsa that came with our drinks. Javier spent the rest of the time trying to figure out a plan for Violetta. Though she was too busy stuffing her face to talk back, I could still see she was going to try and evade this idea for as long as she could. Like her brother, she was stubborn, even in the face of imminent danger.

CHAPTER FOUR

It wasn’t until we were done with our meal – Javier taking care of the check, much to Violetta’s delight – and were walking back to her apartment that he finally wore her down.

“Fine,” she said, wiping the sweat from her brow and giving him an exasperated glance. “I’ll go pack a bag. But I’m only going for a few days. I have a job here, a life, I have no intentions of leaving it for good because of you, Javi.”

I was going to ask her where she was planning on going, if she had friends she could stay with, but thought better of it. Though we were steps from going into her building, we were still in a public place and I was starting to feel the slightest bit uneasy. As she fumbled in her purse for her keys, I paused on the curb and did a quick sweep of the area, shielding my eyes with my hand.

Jose was parked across the street, looking like a mangled wreck but two cars down there was another mangled wreck, so at least the car didn’t attract any attention here. The sun was damn strong, the air even thicker and browner than before, like hot soup. There were a few squalid looking apartment buildings across the street, white stucco like Violetta’s place, but stained with green sludge. Beside them were tiny, colorful houses in bright greens and yellows. On the balcony of the yellow house, an older woman sat in the sun, sorting through her basket of laundry. In the yard of another house, a skinny dog lapped up a bucket of water.

“Something wrong?” Camden asked quietly as Javier berated Violetta for being disorganized.

I looked up at him and gave a small shake of my head. “I don’t think so. Just had a weird feeling.”

He pursed his lips and looked around at all the things I was just surveying. Finally he nodded at Violetta who brought out her keys with a whoop of joy. “Worried for her? Or about her?” he whispered.

Though I guess I had a right to be suspicious about Violetta herself, I wasn’t for some reason. She wasn’t like her brother. Maybe that’s why I liked her. Or maybe she was like her brother and that’s why I liked her too.

“I just want to get moving again,” I said and we walked up to the door that Violetta was proudly holding open for us.

The weird feeling didn’t leave, even as we went inside the elevator and up to her apartment, Violetta protesting it was always too hot to take the stairs. Outside her door, I kneeled down and made sure my Ka-Bar knife and gun were still secure in my boots. When I straightened up, Javier was staring at me with an air of approval.

Violetta went to put the key in the lock but Javier quickly grabbed her wrist, his eyes burning into hers with warning. He nodded to the door then pushed her out of the way, grabbing his gun from his waistband and holding it loosely to his side. Camden and I took a step back.

Swiftly, Javier kicked open the door and sprung into the room, his gun drawn. I grabbed my gun from my boot and followed after him, heart racing in my throat as we quickly searched the rooms.

When it was all clear, he waved at Violetta to come inside.

She crossed her arms and huffed her way into the middle of the apartment.

“My landlord is going to kill me,” she scowled and waved her hand at the broken lock on the door.

Javier didn’t smile. “That shouldn’t have been so easy. You need to be more careful.”

“Well, I’m taking off for a few days, isn’t that careful enough?”

He grunted and told her to go pack her bag. She sighed and disappeared into her room, muttering obscenities under her breath.

“Did you think you heard something?” Javier asked me.

“Why, because I was checking my gun and knife?”

He nodded.

“I was just being cautious, Javier,” I told him, slipping my gun back into my boot. “I have learned something from my line of work, you know.”

He raised his brows in disbelief and I knew he was close to bringing up the foolish mistakes I’d made that allowed him catch me in the first place. I didn’t need the reminder that I wasn’t as good of a con artist as I thought I was.

I guess he could see the warning in my eyes because a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and he turned around.

Camden cleared his throat and I looked behind me at him. He was leaning his good shoulder against the wall near the door, observing us. I couldn’t read his eyes, though he was swallowing hard and his jaw looked tense. One hand was on his shot shoulder, pressing down lightly. I wondered if he was in pain or had been taking the pills when I wasn’t looking.

I was about to ask him when a god awful sound buzzed through the room, causing me to jump.

Javier whipped around. “What the hell was that?”

It sounded again, coming from the intercom. Violetta came out of her room, wiping her hands. She looked at our expressions and said, “Don’t worry, it’s probably just a friend” and went for the intercom. She pressed the button and asked, “Hola?”

There was no response.

That wicked feeling was sweeping through me again, causing all the hairs on my arms and neck to stand at attention. This was bad.

While Violetta tried the buzzer again, I ran to the window and looked out. The glare from the sun and the dirt on the glass made it hard to see through so I quickly went into Violetta’s room and out to her balcony.

There was a sea of roofs spreading out before us, the one right next to the building one story below. I craned my neck to look up at the building. I didn’t even know what I was looking for, someone who didn’t belong, I guess.

“What is it?” Camden asked, standing in the doorway.

“That feeling I had?” I asked. “I think we have to get out of here. Now.”

Suddenly the apartment erupted in gunfire and I heard Violetta scream. Instinctively, I ducked, pulling down Camden, and brought out my gun again. Violetta burst into the room as another round of gunfire went off and I quickly motioned for her to come onto the balcony.

“What happened?” I asked her frantically.

She was shaking her head and screamed again when more shots went off. The window in the living room exploded into a storm of shattered glass and then seconds later, a tall man went flying out of it. He landed on the roof below, only a ten foot drop, and then staggered to his feet. The minute he looked up at us on the balcony, he yelled something and pulled out his gun.

I was faster. I aimed, said a prayer, and squeezed the trigger. The gun roared in my hands and the bullet hit the man in his chest, causing him to fly backward. My first thought was, thank god I was better shot this time.

Then Violetta let out a small sob and it hit me.

It was a good shot.

And I’d actually killed a man.

Me.

Suddenly I heard Javier’s voice ring out from the apartment amid the gunshots.

“Run!” Javier yelled.

Right. I quickly shook my head, trying to focus. There’s was only one place for us to go.

Camden was already climbing over the railing and helping Violetta over.

It was only a twelve foot drop or so. It wouldn’t kill us but it wouldn’t feel good either.

“Ellie,” Camden yelled, “come on!”

I nodded absently, still dazed, and brought my legs over the side of the railing just as Camden and Violetta dropped to the roof. Camden’s large frame landed with ease, sending the terracotta tiles of the roof flying, while Violetta quickly crumpled to her knees, her flip flops providing no traction. Within seconds Camden was helping her up.

The roof was almost totally flat, just peaking a bit at the spine, but I still had to be careful how I landed.

“Jump!” Camden yelled up at me as a bullet whizzed past my shoulder.

I turned to look in time to see Javier bursting through Violetta’s bedroom, simultaneously running toward me and shooting at someone who was in pursuit, the assailant’s gun aimed at me. Javier shot them in the shoulder and in seconds he was beside me, yelling “What the fuck are you waiting for, the circus?”

I stared at him for a moment, wondering why I felt relief coursing through me at the sight of him.

Then he put his hand on my back and pushed me off the balcony.

I screamed in surprise but managed to land in the right spot, my shins taking a beating but I still remained on my feet. Gunshots followed and Javier landed beside me seconds later.

“You ass!” I yelled at him.

“Keep running!” he yelled back and started sprinting past me.

Another bullet went screaming past my ear. Too many close calls and too soon. Too dangerous to even think about it.

I started running, the tiles sliding under my boots, following behind him. Camden and Violetta were a few paces ahead, slowing down as they came to the edge of the roof. Luckily the next building was the same height and there was no gap in between them. In fact, the sea of roofs on the block all seemed to be together, like one giant, distorted house.

Another gun shot rang out and beyond the thudding of my heart in my ears, I could hear the assailants landing on the tiles behind us. Motherfucking shit, they were persistent whoever they were.

We kept running and I willed my legs to move faster as we went from tile, to shingles, to gravel, to stucco, roof to roof to roof. Somewhere in our retreat, Camden and Javier got ahead of us and Violetta started to stagger, her flip flops causing her to stumble so often. I grabbed her by the arm and kept her upright and ran alongside her.

But I knew the men were gaining on us. And I knew we would run out of luck.

I squeezed her arm and told her to keep going and then I stopped and spun around.

A few yards behind us was a lean, dark-complexioned man with an eye patch, ready to take a shot at us. I pulled my trigger before he could, getting him in the stomach by accident.

The man went down with a scream, his gun shooting at nothing. Fucking Mexican pirate.

Unfortunately there were three more men behind him, albeit further back. I didn’t have much time to try my luck. I tried to take in a deep breath, my lungs burning from the air pollution and the exertion, and aimed at them. I fired off three rounds and hit only one of them. The remaining too kept coming.

Time to move.

I turned around and started running again, surprised to see that not only were Camden and Javier further away but that Violetta had stopped and was looking down at something. I booked it up to her and saw what made her pause. There was a large gap between this roof and the next, though it fortunately was half a story shorter. We could make it if we had a running start, a running start we’d both just lost.

“Fuck!” I yelled then whipped behind me to see how much time we had before our pursuers were at us. Not much. I grabbed Violetta’s arm and started running with her back a few steps.