by Ali Vali
“Don’t you mean you’re in deep shit?” Juan took another bite from the shrimp cocktail he’d ordered from room service. “Nobody knows I’m here. You, though, were right in the middle of the action, but that’s what you kept saying you wanted. Ain’t no going back to that gray suit, Mr. FBI.”
“This isn’t some joke. Your guys killed a man for no reason.”
Juan pointed at him with a jumbo shrimp and laughed. “Jesus said Cain had sent him to spy on us. In my book that means Jesus did the right thing. What I want to know is how did you let Cain know I was back? You’re the supposed expert on laying low.”
“I didn’t,” Anthony said through clenched teeth. He got up and stared out the window again. At check-in he’d insisted on a room with a view of the street. If any of his co-workers were out there, he hadn’t spotted them yet. “Did you ever consider that Jesus isn’t being completely straight with you?”
“You want out, then get the fuck out,” Juan screamed, and pushed away from his plate.
“I’m trying to keep us all out of jail.”
“Forget about that shit. I got something for you to do.”
The tone of Juan’s voice made Anthony think his gamble was finally paying off. “What do you want?”
“Emma Casey,” Juan said when Anthony sat down across from him. “I want to know everything about her, but most importantly I want to know her schedule.”
“Why?”
“Who paid you to think? I want to know, and I need to know if you can do it.”
“That should be easy,” Anthony said slowly, as if talking to a mentally challenged person, because that’s what he figured Juan was. If he didn’t want what happened at the airport to end his career, he had to stick with Juan, though. He needed him to knock down the rest of the dominos.
“I don’t know. Cain’s better at picking up a tail than you ever imagined. Just a warning before you start. If Cain finds you sniffing after her whore, she can have you to do whatever she likes.” Juan laughed as he picked his teeth with the nail of his pinky. “I’ve found nothing motivates Cain more than when any man keeps his eyes on that piece of ass too long.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll start this morning, since they’ll be easy to pick up at the funeral. While I’m doing that, why not have a talk with Jesus and see if he tells you what really happened at the airport.” Anthony tried to relax and sound as if the outcome of this meeting wasn’t particularly important to him. “And you have to trust me.”
“You don’t think I trust you?”
“You order me around but you don’t tell me what for. That means you don’t trust me.” Anthony put both of his feet on the ground and pushed out of his chair. “If you don’t trust me, then what the hell am I doing here? Like you said, if you want me out, then tell me to get out.”
“What do you want to know?” Juan asked as soon as Anthony had made it halfway to the door.
“What’s so important about Emma Casey?”
“My uncle always preached to me that everyone has a weakness—the one thing you can use against them to make them fall to their knees. For Cain it’s Emma and those bastards they have together, but in this case I can’t blame her for letting this woman make her weak.”
One of the brass bands that played for tourists in the Quarter went under the window, and Anthony wished he was one of those people milling around down on Bourbon Street with nothing to worry about except where to eat that night. “What are you talking about?”
“I want to kill Cain, but I want to keep Emma for myself. What happens to the kids isn’t my problem, but I want her alive and whole.”
The way Juan went down his to-do list as if he were planning a trip to the grocery almost made Anthony’s hands shake. “She’ll never do that.”
“Who, Emma? You may have played nice all this time because it’s what you do, but there’s more than one way to break a woman. When I’m done she’ll beg to stay with me.” Juan turned so Anthony could see his face. “And every time she does get that pleasure, it’ll only remind her how much time she wasted with that bitch.”
“How’s your uncle going to feel about your plan?” Anthony tried to talk him back from the brink with the one thing Juan still feared. “It’ll take more than killing Cain to convince her friends and those loyal to her not to come after you.”
“My uncle should’ve listened to his own advice. He’s trying to be something he’s not, and the more he tries, the weaker and more pathetic he becomes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rodolfo thinks he’s a civilized man, but he’s not. He’s just an old man chasing some sort of respectability that no amount of money can buy.”
Anthony had to laugh because, for once, Juan’s reasoning was right on the mark. “And you don’t care about being civilized?”
“All I care about is winning and control. If that’s not what you want, run back to your job or to my uncle. Whoever you pick won’t give you the respect and the freedom to do what you need to when it comes to beating Cain.” Juan stood and put his hands in his pockets. “We have a deal?”
“That we do, Juan.”
*
“Are you sure?” Remi asked. They were on the way back to her condo after a walk through the Quarter. Dallas had knocked on her bedroom door that morning, and instead of their usual forty-five-minute jog, Remi and Simon had gone for a brisk walk. “You could come in to work with me.”
“I checked my phone this morning, and so far I’ve gotten about sixty messages from Bob. To keep the peace I thought I’d have him meet me at my place, and we’ll go to the studio from there.” She wrapped her hand around Remi’s bicep and squeezed. “Please don’t be mad. I’ll call if I need to change my plan.”
“If that’s what you want to do, I’m fine with it, but don’t you think it’s strange for someone to call you sixty times a day?”
The breeze was picking up along the river, and Dallas moved one hand down and took Remi’s, then pulled her hair away from her face with the other. As they approached a bench, she pointed to it and Remi nodded. “I know you don’t understand why I don’t tell him to get lost. I would if I could.”
“Why can’t you tell me?” Remi lifted their hands and kissed the back of Dallas’s. “No matter what it is, I’ll still want to be with you.”
“Let’s get through this meeting today, and tonight we’ll talk.” When Remi moved closer and kissed her, Dallas went willingly. “You make me feel so much.”
“You can trust me, Dallas. Even if you decide this isn’t for you, I can help you get to a better place in your life, no strings attached.”
“I’m not sure how I lucked out by having you be so kind, but I’m grateful. I’ll tell you as much as I can and after that, the same applies to you. You can walk away—no hard feelings.”
Remi kissed her again before she stood up and helped Dallas to her feet. “Let’s get ready so you can get home to meet Bob.”
“Considering how you feel about him, you’re being good about this.”
“I trust you to handle Bob, after all you’ve been doing it for a long time.” She had to laugh when Dallas peered up at her like she didn’t totally believe her. “I’m sending some added insurance, and before you turn me down, remember you said you’d go along with anything I wanted.”
“You’re saying I might regret that promise, aren’t you?”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” They crossed the intersection between the aquarium and the Riverwalk Mall, and Remi spotted Emil sitting on the rim of the fountain in the middle of the courtyard that led to her building. When Emil stood up and started toward them, Dallas moved closer to Remi. “See, I told you. You’ll be fine because that’s the reaction this big guy always gets.” Remi smiled.
“You know him?” Dallas asked, still glued to Remi’s side.
“Dallas, let me introduce you to Emil, who works for my father. Actually he’s his Simon,” she pointed back at her own guard, “and until
things calm down, he’s going to work for you.”
“I appreciate your thinking about me, but there’s no way I can accept.”
“This doesn’t have to do with Bob, but with what happened to Rick and what it means to me and our business. Things happen that I can’t control, and if something happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to accept the fact that I could’ve prevented it.”
Emil stood with his hands behind his back until Remi finished. “Ms. Montgomery, you’re not even going to notice I’m around.” Remi had to cover her mouth with her free hand when he said that.
“Do you really think someone’s going to come after me?” Dallas asked.
“You met Nunzio Luca. Do you think he’d be the type to do that?” Instead of having this talk outside, Remi walked them toward the elevator. “Once this is over we’ll go back to normal, if that’s what you want, but please consider my proposition.”
“Does he have to start today?”
Dallas glanced back at Emil, and Remi could tell she wasn’t thinking of her well-being, but of Bob’s reaction. “If you have to, blame it on me and the studio. Tell him it’s a new section of your contract.”
“As long as you think he won’t have to stay with me forever.” Dallas looked back again and smiled at Emil. “Not that I have anything against him, but this is a bit out of my norm.”
Dallas kissed Remi good-bye, still feeling uncertain as Emil followed her out. When she met Bob, she asked Emil to wait outside for a minute while she explained his presence. Emil agreed to stand outside the door but not to a closed door.
He explained, “Not that I don’t trust you, Ms. Montgomery, but I can’t do my job if we have too many barriers between us.”
“Everyone at the studio is getting their own security?” Bob asked in a low voice.
“That’s what they told me when they sent Emil over here.”
Bob got close enough to put his lips to her ear. “Before the day’s out, find a way to ditch this guy so you can tell me where you’ve been. You know how much I don’t like it when you disappear and don’t return any of my calls.”
“Ms. Montgomery, are you all right?” Emil asked, poking his head in the door.
“Fine, thank you.” Dallas pushed away from Bob.
“This isn’t going to work for me,” Bob said.
Dallas held her hand up toward Emil. “Just a few more minutes and we’ll be ready to go.” She took a deep breath before facing Bob again. “My next job is the sequel, and if I want to do that, I don’t have much choice. Do you have a better idea?”
“Let me do all the talking at the meeting, and I’ll take care of this.”
The studio offices had been set up one block into the French Quarter in a building that had started as a coffee-roasting plant. Like Remi’s condo, it had a good view of the river, and the top floor, where the management team was housed, was opulently decorated. After walking around the waiting area to admire the collection of movie posters, Dallas stopped at the large window at one end of the room and tried to forget the two men watching her intently for two different reasons.
They had driven over with Emil and hadn’t spoken a word, and Bob acted more uncomfortable than when he went off about something. She pressed her fingers to the glass and thought about her relationship with him and how it would affect her relationship with Remi.
“Hello, Dallas,” Steve said, then turned his attention across the room. “Dick, I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
“We just arrived, thanks,” Dallas said, returning Dwayne’s wave.
“Can we get you anything?”
“No, thanks. How about you, Bob?” she added, to be nice and avoid an argument on the way home.
“Actually we need to borrow Dickey for some preliminary stuff that we don’t need to bore you with,” Steve said.
“Then I shouldn’t keep you. Should I wait here?” she asked, earning a glare from Bob when she didn’t correct his name.
“Enjoy the view. Let’s go, Dickey, we’re set up in the conference room,” Steve said, and slapped him on the back so hard the much-shorter Bob stumbled.
“If you need anything, Dallas, just ask,” Dwayne said, and winked on his way out.
Dallas walked to the windows overlooking the river and watched the steamboat make its way downstream. After a few months off she was anxious to return to work. Getting swept up in a new project would help clear her mind of everything wrong with her life, like it always did. She was a good actress because she could pretend to be something she wasn’t. Before she got too lost in thought, she felt the heat of a taller body behind her and knew instantly who it was.
“Do you have an appointment to see someone?”
“I’m here to see the boss, as a matter of fact.” She placed her hands over the ones that had pulled her into a hug from behind.
“Are you okay?”
“Are you asking if Bob hates that you’ve hired Emil to keep an eye on me? I’m okay with it and he’s not, but we’ll all have to deal with it, won’t we?”
“Would it make you feel better if most of the time I’ll be the one keeping an eye on you? Unless you go home because you’re sick of my company. Now that Emil’s with you, you can do that if you want.” Remi turned her around, not letting go of her hand, and walked Dallas to her office. Once the door closed, she pressed Dallas to her and kissed her.
Dallas could immediately tell Remi had let go of whatever was holding her back and kissed her like she wanted her in her life. “You’re safe for now, since I’m not quite ready to go home. Not that I’m afraid of anything, but I don’t want to give up the time with you. The one thing we have to talk about, though, is this cigar-smoking thing,” she said, looking at the smoldering cigar in an ashtray on Remi’s desk.
“I’ll try to keep that in mind, but bad habits are the worst to break.” Remi led her to the sofa in the office and offered her a seat while she put the cigar out. “The fact you’re here is a good sign you’ll renew your contract.”
“You had doubts about that?”
“After dealing with people in this business, I’m learning anything’s possible.”
“I want this part, so no worries from this talent. Bob might not be so easy on you, but I’m going to enjoy having you as one of my bosses.”
“It’s good to know someone likes me. I’ve made more enemies in the last week than I have since I started working for my father, and that’s going some. Let me walk you to the conference room and get you squared away on the paperwork, and we can take off early.” Remi kissed her forehead, then ran her thumb over Dallas’s lips. “Can I interest you in a quiet evening at home with me?”
“Best offer I’ve had all day.”
When Remi led Dallas into the conference room, all the occupants looked up. Dallas had never known Bob to appear so full of hatred, but it oozed off him as he watched Remi pull out a chair for her.
“Since you’re talking about her, I thought I’d let her come listen in.”
Bob forced a smile and held his hand out. “Hi, Remi, nice to see you again. I’m looking forward to working with you on the upcoming project.”
“We’re looking forward to having Dallas on this project,” Remi said.
He let his hand fall since Remi never accepted it. “I also wanted to apologize for any misunderstandings between us. This is a generous offer you’ve proposed for Dallas, and I don’t want any of my attempts at humor to stand in our way.”
“If you’ve been trying to be funny, your act needs work. Guys, take care of the paperwork and call me if you need anything. Once you’ve gone through all the fine points, we’ll arrange to have the contract delivered to Dallas for her signature, but unless you need us we’re taking the rest of the day off.” Remi held her hand out for Dallas, who readily accepted it.
“Self-righteous bitch,” Bob hissed under his breath, though loud enough for Dwayne and Steve to hear him.
“If you’d like any contract signed with this studi
o in the near future, you’ll keep your opinions to yourself. Do I make myself clear, Mr. Bennett?” Steve asked from his side of the table.
“Crystal.” Bob enunciated the word clearly, making it obvious how he felt about Remi. “As long as Remi understands that anything to do with Dallas comes through me.”
“I’m sure she has Dallas’s best interests at heart,” Steve said. “Maybe that’s something you can learn from her.”
“Is advice part of the contract?”
Steve shook his head and twirled his pen through his fingers.
“Then drop it. It’s not like you and your boss are lily white.”
“That might be true, but we’re worlds apart from you, Dickey.” Dwayne pushed the contract back in front of Bob and pointed to where they’d left off. “Do you have any questions so far?”
“How do we lose the big ape following Dallas around? She said she doesn’t like it, and I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“The studio hired him and he’s a reality, so learn to live with it,” Dwayne said. “Think of it this way. Dallas will have to get rid of you before she gets rid of Emil.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“There’s your answer then,” Steve said. “Everyone’s staying put for now.”
Chapter Forty
Muriel had been watching the monitors they had trained on the building where the feds were housed. She wasn’t surprised that Shelby came out right after Cain, but she was surprised that she still missed Shelby. “Learn anything at the café?”
“So much I could take the rest of the day off and still feel like I accomplished something,” Cain said in a joking tone. “But right now we need to get to the bat cave and go over a few things.”
“What, no hints?”
“Better yet, I’ll give you the whole story, but first, Lou.” She glanced back at him.
“Name it, boss.”
“I need Katlin in here.” They stepped into Cain’s office and she pointed Muriel into a chair. “Before she gets here, are you sure you want to be included? I won’t stop you from doing something you need to, but once you cross the line you can’t turn back.”