Remi leaned into his side as she pointed at various things. “I hooked the camera feeds back up for you and turned the alerts back on. And Brannigan wrote up an out of office auto-reply, so that’s set up for his inbox. Oh, and I set up an alert too, for his contract on the website so we know if someone registers that they took it.”
The terror before subsided. Kyou had never thought he’d be so grateful to have a smart niece. He kissed her forehead. “You’re the only one I can count on, Rems. Ari! Your daughter is mine now!”
“Over my cold, rotting corpse!” Ari shot back from his position at the stove.
Remi giggled and snuggled in a little further into Kyou’s side. “What can I do to help?”
“Well, to start with, grab the laptop I was working on earlier. There’s a couple of things we need to set in motion. I want alerts on Brannigan’s family, just in case. I’ve got basic protocols in place for them, but we need to kick it up a notch.”
“Yeah, okay.” Remi darted for the laptop, still at the table, and brought it over to him.
Kyou made room for her on the edge of the table so that he could both monitor and help her. This was still somewhat of a training exercise, but she knew in theory what to do. As she booted the laptop up, Kyou stole a minute to check in with her.
“So…I take it you’re happy about Carter becoming an official dad?”
Remi lit up. “Yeah! I hoped he would. Daddy said we’d take his name after they get married. So I’ll be Remi Harrison.”
Somehow, that didn’t surprise Kyou.
“And Daddy said I’d get a puppy soon, after this job,” Remi added with utter satisfaction. “They’ve been talking about what to get me, but there’s this place that sells guard dogs and they offer training too, and they said that’s the best way to do it.”
Carter joined the conversation on the other side of the monitors. “Well, I grew up with a family dog, but I certainly wasn’t in charge of his training. Ari’s never had one. We figured it was better to get one with an expert training it.”
Kyou had heard about this debate off and on for months now. “What did you end up with? I know you were debating between about five different breeds.”
“German Shepherd. Patches, our family dog, was a GSD. So I’ve got some experience with the breed. That factored in.” Carter shrugged. “Of course, Aiden’s making sad faces because he can’t get a puppy too.”
“Yet!” Aiden called from the table, where he was making a salad. While still dressed in his scrubs, no less. “After my residency is over, we’re so getting a puppy.”
That was probably a wise decision, considering Aiden’s shifts could go thirty-six hours at a time.
A beep drew Kyou’s attention back to the screens. He clicked on the alert window, and it took him directly to the screen in question. Specifically, the website hosting Brannigan’s open contract for a hit. It had just been accepted by two assassins. Kyou read the names and swore, loud and long.
Carter came around in a split second and read over his shoulder. “Well, that’s problematic.”
Kyou wanted to punch him for the understatement. “Gentlemen, we have trouble. When we decided to focus on the O’Conner family and not the assassins, we forgot to tell the assassins that. We’ve now got two pros to worry about.”
“Possibly only one,” Carter disagreed ruminatively, obviously thinking out loud.
Brannigan and Ari joined them, crowding into the limited space available. Brannigan seemed less worried than he should be, but there was a frown gathering like a dark cloud over his face as he read what was on the screen.
Ari, used to the layout, read through it faster. “Figlio di puttana. That’s not people I want on this. They’re good.”
Brannigan turned to give him a sharp look over his shoulder. “You know these names?”
“Yeah. Ghostshot is one of those that’s been around so long, no one’s sure if it’s the same guy. Could be a hereditary name. He’s scary good. If he’s ever failed to get a quarry, we don’t know about it. Redmark is also good, but newer. Maybe been around as long as I have, a little longer? I’ve never met the guy in person.”
“I have,” Carter announced, still staring thoughtfully at the screen. When everyone turned to look at him, he gave a shrug. “What? I meet people. Redmark and I paired up once to get a target. Broker paired us. He is good, but he’s also…sensible, I think is the word. He doesn’t take stupid risks, and he will walk away if he feels that’s the better option. Let me call and talk to him. I think if he knew the full situation, he would back out of this job.”
That sounded viable enough to Kyou. He clicked through the pages until he found Redmark’s number. All assassins listed a secondary phone, usually a burner, so that people could contact them if necessary. Kyou held out his hand, and Carter put his own phone into it. Kyou did the necessary tricks to spoof the call and then handed it back.
Carter spoke with a slight smile. “Hey, Barry.”
Kyou blinked. Carter knew the man’s real name? He really did have the charm of the devil.
“Yeah, long time. How you been? Yeah? That’s great, man, I know you were hoping for that. Yeah, I’m good. I’m better than good. No, I’m not calling to recruit you for a job. I’m warning you off of one. I saw that you took the contract for Brannigan Genovese. No, no, you misunderstand me. I’m calling cause you’re a friend and taking this contract is basically suicide. See, Brannigan Genovese is under K’s protection. Yeah, that K. Now, what not a lot of people know is that I formed up a team about two years ago. K is a member of it. Yup, me and Malvagio and Eidolon.”
Even from this distance, Kyou heard the heartfelt “SHIT” from Barry the Redmark.
“No, it’s not a job,” Carter answered, and for some reason he was smirking down at Kyou as he said this. “K is very attached to Brannigan. He will take it personally if you attack him. You see where I’m going with this? No, no, no hard feelings. You didn’t know. I’m just calling to give you a head’s up. Yeah? I’ll tell him. Absolutely, you call me in on the next job, we’ll make it a party. Sure thing. Night!”
As Kyou watched, the contract acceptance for Redmark disappeared with an almost audible snap. “Carter, I’m so glad you make friends easily.”
“Comes in handy from time to time,” Carter agreed blandly. “For the record, he had no idea we’d formed a team and was panicked hearing about everything. He said he was very sorry, he’d spread the word about not taking the contract, and he’ll invite me on the next shindig he takes to make up for it. He’s really a nice guy.”
Brannigan drawled, “Except the part where he’s an assassin.”
“Man’s gotta pay the bills somehow.” Carter shrugged. “So that’s one down. Possibly more, depending on how many people Barry tells. Kyou, think we can scare Ghostshot off?”
“With how long he’s been in business? I doubt it. I’m not even sure I can find him easily, although I’ll damn well try. I’m of two minds whether to warn him off or not. If he is coming, I don’t want him to know how much protection Brannigan has. I’d rather surprise him.”