Even though it doesn't seem like it, we do have a plan. Our attempt to shake Johnson tonight is the first step into getting him to slip up. Jim wants him alive so he can extort the name out of him and I would be fairly alright if he were in prison for a good long while. I would rather he be dead but...I'm willing to compromise.
Johnson will try to go to Starling to have him clean up the mess he sees us as but when he finds out Starling isn't coming he will then make a move that will get him fucked up, be more likely to do something provable, and maybe do it publically enough that he can be caught. He's out on bond right now so it wouldn't take a lot to revoke it. What happens to him in jail is not my concern as long as he stops coming after me and Kat.
Getting into the house was easier than I thought it would be. Not for the guards but for me and Ace it was a piece of cake. Men dressed in black and white tuxes stand around sipping champagne and eating crackers with green crap on them. Women wearing so much jewelry it is hard to tell them apart from the chandlers. By my side Kat shrinks into me, trying to hide from all the bull shit gathered together in one room.
None of these people are real; none of them give a shit about making the world a better place for people. Most of these people are well aware the Senator might be involved in a sex trafficking ring, at the very least he is suspected of crimes, and still they grin and laugh with him, eat his expensive food and write large checks for him to use on legal fees. Gunnar knows a second term isn't happening for him, he isn't stupid. He is going to bilk these people out of money so he can run before this thing ever reaches the inside of a courtroom. I'm standing in a room full of idiots.
And their ring leader is right in the middle of the room with his arm around a tanned blonde woman, talking it up with two other couples. Brad Johnson doesn't look like a monster, quite the opposite in fact. He's around six feet tall with sun-kissed blonde hair that falls in a swoop across his forehead. He looks like the all-American football star instead of a politician. His eyes are clear and sparkle when he talks to someone. His smile is one that makes a person want to join in with him on whatever secret he is about to tell. The guy even has fucking dimples for crying out loud. In reality, Johnson doesn't look like the monster he is at all, which makes him even more dangerous.
Me on the other hand, I look like someone who would kidnap a puppy and steal your sister and do bad things to her like beat the puppy up and make her watch. Kat says she likes my tattoos and she did run her tongue over each and every one of them last night but in all fairness, she looks likes she should be with someone like Johnson and not someone like me. It pisses me off thinking about it.
I wind my way to him and introduce myself. He turns from the couples to greet me but when he sees my face his smile slips, his perfect white teeth finally being covered over by hard lips. It takes him real effort to pull it back up for the couples and his date too.
"If you will excuse me for a moment, I want to reminisce with an old friend who just got into town." The couples smile and nod and walk away to bull shit someone else in the room. "You too, Tai. Don't go too far and don't make me come looking for you when I'm done here."
His woman may look polished and put together but the smile hides the terror of having to be with someone like Brad Johnson. She doesn't act like my Kat, instead, she doesn't look anyone in the eyes and her hands shake when she reaches for a glass and walks away draining it all. Poor bitch.
"Mr. Dragomir, you have caused a lot of problems for me and my people recently. I can't believe you would be stupid enough to show up here at my house." He rakes his eyes over Kat and the protective part of me wants to push her behind me but I know where every guard in this room is standing and he could easily call them over to take her if she's not glued to my side. "Or maybe it's not stupidity as much as desperation at this point."
"That's funny Johnson I was thinking the same thing about this party." Again his smile drops for just a few seconds.
"What does bring you to my home tonight, Mr. Dragomir?" I'm not sure if he is trying to tell me I've upset him coming to his home or if he's reminding me I am on his home turf and should be extra careful. Doesn't really matter.
"You came to mine; I figured I would return the favor."
"This little cat and mouse game isn't how men like me and you play the game."
"Oh, and sending a goon to do your dirty work is.?"
"The key to success, Ivan, is to never get your hands dirty. It's what separates men like me from men like you."
"Interesting, I thought the only thing separating men like you from men like me was ten inches of steel buried in your lung."
"Ivan, Ivan, Ivan, threats are so petty and beneath us. Both of us are professionals we should be able to act like gentlemen."
"Clearly you misread your information on me, Brad. I'm not a gentleman, I'm a hunter." The quick spark of fear in his eyes is enough for me - for now. He may come off as some retired special ops guy who wants to help his country and is strong enough and brave enough to fight for the citizens but he's just like every other thug you meet in prison. Find what they fear the most and attack with it and you have the end result - that quick little look of prey right before the attack.
"It's not me with so much to lose." His eyes track back to Kat. "Did you find a friend to look after Ivan? Someone to take care of? That makes men like you weak."
Kat stiffens in my arm.
"It would be a shame if something terrible happened to your new friend, especially if you weren't there to protect her from all of the bad men in the world. She looks fragile, Ivan. Too many men and I'm afraid she would be one of the ones who broke."
Johnson doesn't bring the scared look out of me when he talks about my Kitten. Instead what Johnson sees in my eyes makes him step back and bump into a waiter carrying glasses. I give him my frostiest smile before I step closer to him. "You just made a decision for me I was really struggling with, so thank you. Now there's no possible way you make it out of this alive." I let my eyes run over him with his stained tuxedo and a room full of people looking at us. "Maybe you are as stupid as I first thought."
I turn to leave but before I go very far I take my last shot at him, "Your boy, Starling,"
"Who?" Gunnar looks around a little nervous about me saying the name out loud. He can't afford to be associated with men like Starling.
"You know the man you use to do your dirty work," I say it loud enough that even the music stops in the room and all eyes are on me and Brad. Like the cockroach he is, too many eyes on him makes him nervous and twitchy. "Yeah, you're gonna have to find a new guy because we have Starling. He sang like a bird. You see the thing separating men like you from men like me, is loyalty. Guess you don't have that? Have a pleasant evening."