Something flared in the boy’s eyes. “I could eat. Especially with a hot babe like you.”
She frowned at him. “What are you, like—” she figured boys were much like men, so she added a few years to her estimate of his age “—thirteen?”
He puffed his chest up. “Eleven.”
“Too young to be calling women babes.”
He grinned at her.
Shaking her head, she looked at Saxon. “You’re buying, since I ran out without my purse.”
Saxon raised a brow and shook his head. He held the door open and they moved into the restaurant, and found a table.
Daniel sat across from them and fidgeted, eyeing them warily.
A server bounced to a stop beside the table. “I’m Becky. What can I get you?”
“I’ll have a meatball sub,” Daniel said. “And fries. Chocolate shake. Large. And two cookies.”
Harlow raised her eyebrows.
“Coffee. Black,” Saxon said.
“Nothing for me,” Harlow said.
“You sure, Blondie?” Daniel asked. “Chicken sub looks good.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it. The boy looked too thin. “I’ll have the chicken sub. Extra cheese.”
The boy nodded approvingly.
“Drink?” Becky asked.
“You probably want a soda,” Daniel said.
Saxon muttered under his breath.
“I’ll have a soda,” Harlow said. “Mountain Dew. Extra-large.”
Becky bounced away.
“Give us the dagger,” Saxon said.
Daniel’s chin jutted at them.
Harlow pressed a hand to Saxon’s arm. “Daniel, like I said, I’m in trouble.”
The boy fiddled with some sugar packets from the bowl on the table. “Sucks to be in trouble.”
“It sure does. It all started with my dad.” She launched into her tale of woe. Their food arrived, and Daniel started mowing through his at an alarming rate while he listened.
“Armand.” The boy shook his head. “Bad news.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Sucks that you had to have dinner with him.” The boy eyed Saxon. “Bet your man was pissed.”
“He was. Oh, Saxon’s not my man. He works with my…man’s brother.” It felt so weird to call Easton her man.
Daniel grunted and sipped some shake.
She finished the story. “So, I really need the dagger.”
“That’s some story, Blondie.” The boy eyed her untouched sub. “You going to eat that?”
She pushed it toward him and watched him tear into it.
“You can’t unload the dagger,” she said. “I know you tried.”
His brown eyes narrowed.
“We’ll pay you,” she said.
Saxon made an unhappy noise.
“A thousand dollars,” she said.
Saxon choked.
“It’s worth more than that,” Daniel said.
“Sure, but you’ll never sell it. It belongs to Rhoda Pierce.”
“Fuck.” His nose wrinkled.
“You shouldn’t curse, Daniel.” She shoved her soda at him.
He eyed her and took the cup. “Two thousand.”
“Done. Saxon will pay you.”
Saxon cursed under his breath.
She smiled at him. “You shouldn’t curse, either.”
“I want my money first,” Daniel said.
Saxon pulled his wallet out. “I don’t carry two G around with me. I’ve got five hundred.” He slapped a wad of cash on the table. “Consider it a down payment.”
“Wow.” Harlow never had cash. “Who carries cash around like that?”
“Me. When I have to pay informants, or bribe young extortionists.”
Daniel leaned forward, and the money disappeared.
“The knife,” Harlow said. “Then we’ll go and get the rest of your money.”
The boy pulled a wrapped object out of his pocket, and set it on the table.
Her heart tripped. Her father’s initials were embroidered on the handkerchief. This was one step toward fixing the chaos in her life.
She flipped open the cloth and saw the jewels in the knife’s hilt gleam. There were scratch marks on it, so she guessed Daniel must have tried to pry them free.
“Does your mom know you’re out picking pockets?” she asked.
His chin jutted again. “She’s dead.”
Her chest squeezed. “Your father?”
“Never knew him. Just have a step. He’s an asshole, and no one can make me go back to him.”
The ugly look in Daniel’s eyes made Harlow feel sick. She wanted to hug him.
After Saxon paid for their meal, they left the shop, the dagger tucked into the inside pocket of Saxon’s jacket. They stopped at a bank, and Saxon paid the boy the rest of his money.
“Thanks, Daniel. Wait.” She turned to Saxon. “Do you have a pen and paper?”
He pulled out a pen and an old receipt.
She scribbled on it. “Daniel, this is my number. And the number of my…man. You need anything, you call us. Anything at all.”
The boy’s stony look said he’d never call, but he took the paper and pocketed it. “Stay safe, Blondie.”
“Wait,” Saxon said.
Daniel froze.
“He took your watch,” Saxon said dryly.
Harlow gasped. Her silver watch was gone. “Daniel!” Damn, the kid was good.
With a rueful shrug, he handed it back.
Then in a blink, he disappeared into the crowd.
Harlow felt a sharp pain under her heart. “I hate leaving him alone.”
“You can’t save everyone, Harlow.” Saxon touched her arm. “Let’s get back to the office.”
Harlow looked at Ace’s screens.
Surveillance work was boring with a capital B. Ace was tapping on his keyboard, running some sort of search.
Saxon had locked the dagger in the office safe, and told her that Vander would organize a meeting with Rhoda Pierce. The plan was to return to dagger and ask her for some time to pay back her dad’s debt.
Then Saxon had dumped Harlow back with Ace. She was pretty sure he was still mad about the two thousand dollars.
She tapped her nails on the desk and glanced at the screens. One feed came from directly outside the Norcross Security office. A man hurrying down the sidewalk caught her eye.
Wait, she knew that walk.
“Oh my God, that’s my dad.” She shot to her feet.
Suddenly, a car screeched to a stop in the street. Harlow stiffened.
The windows opened, and a pair of gun barrels appeared.
“Dad!”
They opened fire. Her dad jerked and fell.
“No!” There were no thoughts in Harlow’s head, just a wave of pure panic.
She raced for the door and heard Ace shouting. He grabbed her arm, but she slipped free, and sprinted through the office toward the front doors.
She heard more shouting behind her, but she had to get to her father.
He was shot. He was hurt.
She’d just made it through the front door when someone tackled her, and she hit the ground with a heavy weight on top of her.
“Don’t move.”
Vander’s voice.