Seven Roses (Haremworld)

“We’ll be there shortly.” I kept my answer vague as I stared at my GPS.

“This is definitely a strange start to a date.” She looked over at me and shook her head in confusion.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, babe.” I grinned at her and put my eyes back to the road just in time to dodge a car in front of us that had slammed on the brakes.

There were a lot of skills required to do the kind of work I did. Pushing a car to the limit and making it do things it wasn’t built to do was just one of them. I kept cranking my foot against the accelerator as cars got in my way, weaving between them until my phone said I was nearing my destination. We had left the fancy glitz and glamour of Chicago’s upper echelon behind and we were approaching the South Side, where the kind of people I hunted always seemed to linger. I knew Lyn was from that part of town after seeing her date with John, so I wasn’t worried about her getting scared when we entered some of the more worn-down areas. When the GPS finally said we were there, I looked around and let the car slow to a crawl. I saw what I was looking for—a large black van—parked under a bridge.

The car’s tires rolled across the gravel as I came to a stop. I slammed the car in park and winked at Lyn before I opened the driver’s side. The moment I was out of the car, I saw two men step out of the van. They both worked for me—one was a tracker named Rob and the other was a private investigator named Lawrence.

“Hey, boss.” Rob tilted his chin towards me and opened the sliding door on the side of the van.

“You sure this is the right place?” I looked at Rob.

“Yeah, he’s holed up about a block from here. We got a visual confirmation this morning and he hasn’t left.” Lawrence nodded and started to open up our bag of guns.

“What the hell are we doing? I thought we were on a date...” Lyn stepped out of the car and started walking towards us.

“We are.” I slid on a bulletproof vest and picked up a pair of handcuffs. “I’m taking you on a date you’ll never forget.”

“You should put this on.” Rob grabbed a smaller bulletproof vest and walked towards Lyn.

“Wait a second.” She held her hand up. “You’re going after someone, aren’t you? You’re taking me on a mission?”

“This is my world.” I picked up a handgun and slid a clip into the bottom. “You won’t be in any danger. This is a small-time asshole that jumped bond on drug charges. I just have to put the handcuffs on him and get him down to the police station to collect my money.”

“Then why does it look like you’re going to war?” She watched as I tucked the first handgun into my belt and picked up a shotgun.

“You grew up around here, right?” I turned towards her.

“Yeah...” She nodded and continued to stare at me.

“Then you should know that you can’t ever be too careful.” I motioned for Rob and Lawrence to follow me. “Lawrence will stay with you. Rob will go around back and I’ll go through the front door. We do this all the time, babe. It won’t be anything other than a smash and grab.”

“What if he fights back?” She followed behind us as we started walking down the sidewalk.

“He won’t. He’s no

t that stupid.” I picked up the pace as we put distance between the van and house we had to raid to get our mark.

It wasn’t the first time I had to pick up Julio Vance. He was a bit of a charmer and while he would always be an addict skirting with the law, he was also very charismatic. There was always an older woman who was willing to break the bank and get him out of jail. His latest victim was my newest client. Even though I was based out of Chicago, I went wherever the work beckoned me. It was rare for me to actually get a local call. After the reality show took off, I started getting calls from all over the United States and some of the people I chased were actually dangerous.

We approached the house and I motioned for Lawrence to stay with Lyn. We had spoken on the phone and he understood that if anything happened to her, he would be left on the street with a broken neck. Rob went around back and I took my place at the front door. I didn’t hear anything inside, which meant he was sleeping or he saw us coming. I hoped it was the former. I gave Rob a signal on the radio and then sent my boot crashing into the front door. One thing that was good about raiding houses on the South Side—the carpentry was shit. The door flew off the hinges and splintered into pieces as I stormed the house.

“Julio!” My voice boomed through the house. “Don’t run!”

He didn’t listen. He came bolting down the hallway and turned towards the back door. As soon as he approached, Rob sent his shoulder through the door and Julio stopped in his tracks. He turned towards me and started running again. I swung the butt of the shotgun at him as he started to pass me. He was a quick little fucker. He got past me and darted through the smashed door. I was behind him in an instant, but he leaped off the porch. My knees weren’t going to like that, so I took the three steps as he recovered from his landing.

I didn’t like to shoot people unless they were armed, so I wasn’t going to blow out his kneecap to keep him from running. I got to the bottom of the steps as he got to his feet again. Before he could get any momentum, I closed the distance between us and grabbed him by the back of the neck. He tried to twist out of my grasp, but I barreled forward and wrapped my arms around him. I gave him a suplex that would have made professional wrestlers jealous as I took him off his feet and drove him face first into the grass. He yelled, but before he had a chance to catch his breath, I had the handcuffs on him. I stood up and hauled him to his feet, pushing him towards Lawrence. Rob came running through the door and smiled when he saw Julio in handcuffs.

“See...” I walked him towards Lyn. “Easy.”

“You motherfucker! I didn’t do anything!” Julio started to protest and I slapped him on the back of the head.

“Shut up.” I pushed him ahead of me. “You know why I’m here.”

There was definite surprise on Lyn’s face as we walked back towards the van and the car. Julio wasn’t worth a lot of money, but it was an easy job. Once he was in custody, there was no reason for me to bother with him anymore. Rob and Lawrence could take it from there.

We got back to the waiting vehicles and I started putting my gear back in the van. Lyn pulled off her bullet proof vest and handed it to Rob who tossed it in next to mine. Julio was put in a cage we kept in the back for people we caught. It wouldn’t be long before he was back in jail where he deserved to be. Rob, Lawrence and I made small talk while Lyn walked back to the car. Once all the gear was situated, I looked over their schedule and signed off on a few smaller jobs that they wouldn’t need me for. I trusted them to do it on their own, but since I was there, I figured I could give them my input. I watched until everything was closed up and then I walked back towards Lyn who started shaking her head back and forth as I approached.