The Heist (18 page)

Nancy dropped down next to her. “Yep, I’m his lady, have been for two years now.”

“Really?”

“Yep. This is my second Joker’s Wild. What about you? Have you been before?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Oh you’re in for a treat. We’re waiting for the cars to arrive; we’ll spend the day island-hopping. There are so many sandy white beaches you can retreat to. I saw you come in last night. You’re with Lee, right?”

Under the cover of her sunglasses, she watched Escobar and Lee approach the other men. Rawhead separated from his entourage and approached as well. Something was going down.

“He’s a hottie. Kind of mean, though. I mean, the entire time last year he pretty much ignored the girls and kept to himself…”

The men didn’t look happy, especially Monk Eastman. Whatever had been decided wasn’t in his favor.

“…but you know that most of these men walk on the dark side. I tell Yawi… I call Yacazza ‘Yawi,’ don’t say anything, because he’s just cute that way…”

Monk Eastman stormed away from the gathering and his men rose to follow him. If Lee was making an enemy of Monk and aligning with Escobar, then there was something else at play. How did this fit in with the Chalice? Stones? She hated riddles. Sasha was always better at them than her.

“…oh, tonight, what are you wearing? You have to be fierce. The men are all in tuxes, can you imagine how sexy they are...”

“
Callate la boca!
” Consuela snapped, bringing Michelle out of her thoughts. She and Nancy both looked over to the hot-tempered hostess.

“You just talk, talk, talk. First you talk me to death, now you’ve moved on to her. Christ, give it a rest, okay?” Consuela sneered.

Nancy blushed. Michelle seethed. Consuela was a bully, and a bully was the one thing Michelle hated most. “If she’s disturbing you, why don’t you just take your drink and that dog elsewhere?”

“
Perdón
, you are in my home,
Señora
. If anything,
you
are welcome to leave!” Consuela put her glasses in her hair and fixed her with a challenging glare.

Michelle settled back in her chair. “I’m a guest of your husband’s, not yours. I’ll leave when he requests it. You and I both know he won’t.”

“Ah, check out the mouth on this one,” Consuela sang over to the other women. She leaned forward, her bronzed silicone tits bouncing like balloons. “I knew your father. Yes, we knew each other well. It’s not surprising you’re his daughter. He had terrible taste in women. No wonder his daughter is just as, um, how do you say the word I’m searching for….” She snapped her fingers and gave a saucy grin. “Ghetto!”

Michelle cut Consuela a warning look from the tops of her sunglasses. Rage gathered like a summer storm in her chest. She felt tension move through the joints of her fingers, forming them into a fist. Consuela noticed. She smiled, and Michelle could tell she was pleased by the reaction.

“Pops was a simple man.” Consuela sat back on her hands with a mean laugh and crossed her thick thighs, the tops greased by tanning lotion. “He was always sniffing around Lee for scraps, then pissing it away in some poker room. I see you’ve come here to do the same. Lee must be bored, or desperate, to put up with the Dixons.”

The other women snickered. Michelle shook it off internally. She shrugged, reached the slender stem of her champagne flute, and sipped. The silence over the women lingered; the atmosphere was as thick as a storm cloud. She focused on the slow rippling waves of the turquoise waters of the pool. “So this is Joker’s Wild?”

“
Sì
, it is,” Consuela answered, in her singsong voice.

“Hmm…Nancy, do you know what
Joker’s Wild
means?”

“Huh,” Nancy wavered. Michelle sensed her cowardice. She was on her own with Consuela. It was apparent that Nancy wanted to retreat as opposed to picking a side. Michelle noticed that as well.

“Answer me, Nancy.” Michelle eased the champagne flute back to the deck table between the loungers.

“No…I guess it’s a wild card in poker, right?”

Michelle nodded. “Not only poker. Those men over there”—the women’s eyes followed the direction of Michelle’s nod—“pretty much run the jewel business. Each of them came this weekend with their hands tight, ready to play, but it’s the
wild card
that can make or break the winner. And that’s not about poker, baby. Consuela, care to tell Nancy what it’s really about?”

She looked back to Consuela who seethed silently as she continued. “No? Nothing to say? Fine, let me. Ladies, the wild card your men all have hard-ons for is the Holy Grail that my simpleton daddy beat them out of. A sweet, bad-ass opportunity to be crowned the most powerful. Pops Dixon rewrote the rules of this business. Every smuggler, any two-bit hustler, any collector in the business will have to reach a bar your men still can't grasp. Guess who holds the key to Nirvana?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Consuela chuckled, but to Michelle her laughter sounded hollow and forced.

“I know your Escobar would cut off his right nut to get a chance at me.” Michelle smiled.

Their hostess’ cheeks burned scarlet. She picked up her pooch and walked off. Nancy blew out a breath and managed a nervous, small laugh. “Geez, what a raging bitch! Are you sure did the right thing by pissing her off?”

Michelle watched the other women rise and follow their leader. She turned and relaxed once more. “She’s going to deliver a message.”

“What message? That you know where this Holy Grail thing is? Why would you want her to take that message to her husband?”

Michelle said nothing. Why, indeed. If Consuela wanted to bait her into a fight, it was pathetic. Escobar would definitely want his wife to do just the opposite, and she’d be ready. She switched her gaze to Nancy. “A woman like that is most useful when angry. She’ll be so busy trying to show me how much control she has that she’ll gladly give me the control I need. My guess is
Señora
Gallardo won’t know when she’s said too much.” She sipped her champagne and reclined. “So let the games begin.”

Nancy stared at her curiously, then looked back at Consuela, who was cursing in Spanish at her assistants. Several staff members raced after her, trying to calm her down. “I think you’re my hero,
Chocolat
. I’m hanging with you!”

“Why don’t you tell me all about Yacazza?”

***

“Is there something wrong?” Michelle asked Lee. When he looked to her, she could see nothing behind the coffee-colored lens of his gold-rimmed sunglasses. Still, she could feel the chill in his response.

They followed a caravan of seven jeeps in a private one of their own. Each man had personal transport, all of which were en route to the small boats anchored on the shore. These boats would then take them across the sea to the private party on Escobar’s yacht.

She sighed. “Am I supposed to read your mind?”

“Are you playing me?”

“What?”

“I saw your entrance, the way you pissed off Consuela. What’s going down? You writing your own script here? It’s obvious you’re flying solo, not according to the plan I laid out for you.”

“Are you serious? You’re cozy with Escobar, a man you hate by the way, pissing off Monk Eastman, a man you could use to get rid of those stones I lifted and make us both rich. You’re making your moves—moves I have no knowledge of—and you’re questioning me?”

“Stay out of it,” Lee said with deadly calm.

“The hell I will!” she snapped in a guarded low tone. “I’m not here to babysit that spoiled witch. I’m here to gain information, and how I do it won’t be dictated by you. If that makes you uncomfortable, then tough!”

Lee slid over to her and put his arm behind her seat so he could speak into her ear. “You play me, Michelle, and I won’t be held responsible for the consequences.”

“I understand, Lee, the only hustle I got going on is the one I’m doing with you, baby.” She put her hand on his thigh. She could tell he liked her touch. She secretly inhaled a sigh of relief. There were vipers amongst her, including the man she had secretly loved since a girl. At Pops’ place, she found some clues that only gave her more of a mystery to solve. Who was Billy Dwyer and what was the heist he did in Italy?

“You have no idea how much I desire you when you piss me off. If I didn’t…” Lee began.

Michelle rolled her eyes. “It’s not going to work, baby, I’m not them. You need to remember what’s real between me and you, Lee, and what’s not. I’ll never be the woman that bends to your will.”

Lee smirked. “We shall see.”

Chapter Seventeen

“You look, um….” Kumar stopped. Sasha waited for him to say more. She noticed his eyes were trained on her breasts. They looked to be double in size, thanks to the corset. Sasha just smiled at the effect they had on him.

“I look what?”

“You, umm, look the part.”

Sasha laughed. It was an infectious laugh that brought a shy smile to Kumar’s face.

“So I look like a vamp, a freak, into bondage, and drinking blood?”

“Is that what Rawhead’s people do?” Kumar’s tone pitched high with concern. Sasha liked that. She was growing so attached to him. It was gratifying to see her feelings were returned. Plus he was so damn sexy to her, with his dark brown skin and silky, black wavy hair. To be honest, she couldn’t believe how things had changed for her. How unexpected life could be. The worst moment in her life had turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her. If she were honest with herself, and she always was, she would admit she was falling in love with Kumar.

Her new romance would be hard to explain to her sister, especially since communication between them always ended with someone storming off. Sasha smiled every time she thought of the kidnapping. She retreated to her room to wait. To wait for Kumar to come for her, just as Lee said he would. Sasha couldn't stomach the sight of Lee. This job he gave her was the biggest thrill and challenge she's ever faced alone. Part of her was giddy with excitement. However, the other part could not let go of Lee's deception. She would never forgive or forget the way he tricked her and made her indebted to him. Lee on the other hand didn't seem concerned one way or the other on the matter. He dealt with her as if she were just another one of his thieves on the payroll. But she’d seen the gleam of danger in his eye when she voiced her concerns. He had her and her sister right where he wanted them. That was her fault. Instead of dwelling on her guilt, she focused on the reward. Maybe her plan would work, after all? Money, power, infamy in the jewel game was as seductive to her as it had always been.

Lee’s orders were specific. Despite her guilt when Kumar arrived, she scribbled a lie that she would go stay with friends and stole away. Soon her sister would learn of her dealings with Lee and it would be too late for explanations. So what? The best scenario was Michelle finally treating her like an equal.

“There they are,” Kumar noted.

Sasha watched as the limo slowed to a stop. A blond man emerged in a dark cloak. He was accompanied by a strangely attired woman with a blonde Mohawk that rose at least six inches off the top of her head.

“Now I see why I’m dressed like this,” Sasha mumbled.

“I’m going to be with you the whole time. Just wear this.”

Her eyes dropped to his hand. It held a tiny silver hoop for her to take. She clipped it to the top of her ear. He handed her another, which she discovered was a lip ring. Frowning, she clamped it down on her bottom lip, adjusting the pinch. “So I speak and you hear it instead of all the noise?”

“That’s right.”

Sasha opened the map of “The Lair”. The place had a labyrinth of chambers that ran far underground. She had to get inside Rawhead’s private chamber to access his safe. This job would require her to go old school, since she couldn’t take in her tools. That made her confidence waver and her courage slide.

“So his name is Casper?” she asked, re-reading the file on the major players. “And that freak vampire woman of his is his mate, Trixie?”

“That’s right, they call their partners
mates
. They’re serious about this vamp stuff. Remember, they think you’re just a blood babe, what they consider a thrill-seeking groupie, so keep it light. These people are extremely loose with women. Casper would consider you his fresh meat.”

“Kumar, I read the file. I know this.”

“Well, it needs repeating.”

Sasha frowned. “Geez, you sound like I’m going into hell.”

Kumar looked back at the club and so did she. Neither said it, but if there was hell in this city, it had to be in “The Lair”. Even the cops avoided the place. “I don’t think you should do it. We can tell Lee that you couldn’t get in. I’ll take the blame.”

“I can do it, Kumar.”

He rolled his eyes upward then leveled them on her. “Okay, then the question is why would you? Why would you do this? Is it for kicks? Money? What?”

“Can we have our first fight after I come out with those diamonds?”

Kumar sighed. “Damn it, Sasha.”

She reached over and touched his hand. “I’ll be okay.”

He squeezed her hand. “I can’t be your eyes, but if you tell me what you see, I’ll do my best to navigate you. Remember the pipeline that runs under the club? It’s the way out.” He opened the map and showed her how she could reach it from Rawhead’s room.

“That doesn’t make much sense. I’ve never been good with logistics.”

“Well, you will have to be. We’re solo on this. Lee gave us no backup. I think he thought it was too dangerous. These people would probably smell the setup a mile away.”

“Kumar, calm down, I didn’t say I couldn’t do it, but I’m going to leave this part to you. We’ll pull it off, trust me.” She leaned over and kissed him softly, but flinched as the lip ring pinched her flesh. “This thing hurts,” she complained. He smiled at her and moved in to help adjust it. He kissed her again softly. “How does that feel?”

“Mmm…as good as it gets.” She rubbed the side of his face. “Okay, it’s time to do this!” She reached for the door.

Kumar grabbed her hand. “Wait.”