“You work a lot?’
“Six jobs a year, no women, no kids,” he said, looking into the other room. Exit followed his eyes, arching a brow in askance of the situation. “Yeah, she was a job, but Beauty didn’t know about the kid. I asked for confirmation and the bastard wanted the kid gone too. So, I became husband and father and went back and took care of him.”
“Sociopath,” Exit mumbled.
“Pot,” he said, pointing to himself then at Exit. “Kettle.”
A quiet fell between them as Exit looked about the office, a clean, neat space, devoid of any semblance of what the man did for a living. The same as his house. He’d finished the two fingers of liquor, which made his forehead warm and belly hot.
“So, how do I get to bring my kids on this waterpark shit next week?” Exit said.
“Your kids, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m going to have to marry that woman, because when I get home, I’m going to ruin her,” Exit said, chuckling, “when the Archangel arrives and ask if I fornicated with Willow, I want to make sure I gave it my best. I’m not serving a life sentence for stealing a single cookie. I’m going to eat and gorge myself on every sweet morsel in the jar. I’m going to have chocolate all in my damned teeth, grinning, saying, yes sir, sure did. Fornicated her real good, too.”
“Dude, it’s been a while for you, huh?”
“Can you tell?” Exit asked, lowering his head and laughing at himself.
“Just a bit, but marriage, are you ready for that?” Mann asked. “You can’t put a bullet in her when you get tired of looking at the lady every day.”
“That’s the thing, I don’t get tired of looking at her, and she can cook. I mean, melt in your mouth omelets, and they are soooo good,” he said. “She wants me, but I was worried and still am. Now that I know she’s damned near 40, Willow can handle being in bed with a grown ass man.”
“A grown man...”
“Yes, I’m not some punk who wants to bounce up and down on her all night until her pocket is puckered. I’m going to go slow and deep, showing her how that thing works,” he said, lifting his glass, blinking several times, and realizing the glass was empty. “You know, I don’t really drink dark liquor.”
“Let me get you settled for the night. I think you’re a bit buzzed,” Mann said to Exit, whose eyes were drooping.
The adrenalin had worn off, and he was coming down. Exit had taken all morning to prepare for a job, then the getaway, followed by the drive to meet a counterpart that he was uncertain about had taken its toll on his body. Mr. Exit was crashing hard.
“Mann, we need more,” Exit said, getting to his feet.
“More of what?”
“Resources among the Crew,” Exit mumbled. “The Boss Man hooked me up with a shrink after a bad job, but we need to be able to meet once every six months. Maybe have a vacation spot for our families to go on big holidays, you know one of those houses that sleeps 20.”
“I’m not cool with that,” Mann said. “All of us in one place makes us easy targets. Plus, some of those guys on the Crew are actually quite frightening. I say this with all honesty after helping Stop and Yield rescue a young Colombian dude who was truly scary. I put a coin or two in the Karma jar as you say with that young man, but still, he kind of freaked me out.”
“You scared of some kid and a handful of assassins?”
“Once you meet One Way, you’ll see what I mean. Him and Falling Rocks, I don’t want at my dinner table with sharp knives,” Mann said, adding, “and the kid, he’s the son of the Drug Czar of the Americas.”
“You met Delgado’s son...whoa, what was that like?”
“You know Delgado?”
“We had a few missions in Central America, and came close to entering his territory, but he sent us a warning ahead of time to stay the hell away from his shoreline. We didn’t listen. The next time we got close, he came in person and dropped a bunch of snakes on us that looked poisonous but weren’t. He said if we got close again, the next ones would kill us with one bite. That fucker was scary as hell. Tell me, is his son mean and ornery like the father?” Exit asked, his eyes shimmering.
“No, the kid is scary, like I said. He’s seen a lot for someone so young, and he killed men with ninja stars. That little bastard plucked the stars out of the dead bodies, wiped them off, and stuck them back in the slotted pockets of his pants custom made to hold his flying blades of death,” Mann said, shivering. “One Way and Falling Rocks are the older adult versions of that kid. Nope. Don’t want to be in a room with them.”
“Good to know,” Exit replied, leaning against the door jamb and waiting for Mann’s next question.
“Mr. Exit, may I ask how many jobs do you do a year, since you asked me earlier,” Mann inquired.
“Sometimes two or three a month, depends,” he said.
“Wow, with the tailor made shirt and $3,000 suit, plus the $400 bottle of wine you brought me, I can easily surmise that you’re pretty rich,” Mann replied.
“No, Mr. Mann. I’m very wealthy. Rich is a temporary state of hustling and grinding to hold on to what you earn, but wealthy is long term, generational planning,” Exit answered with a mock salute.
“Well, maybe we can get together and talk financial planning kind of stuff. I want to do some investing, get a few Blue Chips in the portfolio, and dabble in emerging markets kind of thing. Can you help me with that?” Mann asked. “I want to leave my family in good standing with estate planning, taxes and the like also. I think we could all use some of that since we have no retirement plan.”
“Can my family come to the water park next week with you guys?”
“Sure, we’re going to the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, North Carolina on Tuesday and staying through Friday,” he said.
“Then I shall help you with the portfolio,” Exit nodded, pointing towards the hallway. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Chapter Eleven – Similar Duplicate
RAPHAEL NEEDED TO CALL his family. He also needed to check in with the Archangel on the documentation for the ladies. Plus, he needed to book a suite at the place in North Carolina that he couldn’t remember the name of in his current state. Dark liquor really threw him off. He could sip gin or tequila and be fine, but a dark liquor in his body was like giving sugar cookies to a diabetic. His tongue felt fuzzy, but he dialed home.
“Hey there, is everything going well?” he asked Willow when she came on the line.
“As well as can be expected with a precocious 10-year-old and a teenage girl who has just discovered she’s pretty,” Willow said.
“Let me guess, Stan Jr. I’m going to kick that kid in his dick if he touches my Punkin Puss,” Raphael growled.
“Slow down there, Papa Bear. She’s making friends. Stan is introducing her to a normal teenage life. Most of the day they are here on the patio, listening to music and just hanging out,” Willow added. “Trust me, Dusty is constantly where I can see her.”
“How is Karli?” he asked.
“Missing you and wondering when you’re coming home?”