No More Mr. Nice Guy (28 page)

I jumped out of the car and sped inside the building, past the heavyset guard who looked like he had taken the job just so he could sit his ass down all day long.

“Excuse me!” he called out, huffing and puffing as he came hurrying behind me. “You need to check in first.”

I backed up and went to the desk.

“Where you going?” he asked, pen in hand, ready to write my answer on the guest ledger in front of him.

“Dynamic Defense, LLC. Thirteenth floor,” I recited from memory, anxious to get there.

The guard scrunched up his face and looked down at his directory. “We don't have a Dynamic Defense, LLC . Or a thirteenth floor.”

This guy must have been new, but I didn't have time to school him. “Yes, you do. I was there a few months ago.”

He leaned across the counter. “Look, most buildings don't have a thirteenth floor. Some people are suspicious, you know? Hell, in China their buildings don't have the number four anywhere.” He acted like I had time for his lame-ass explanation.

Instead of listening to him, I turned and headed to the elevator bank.

“Sir, you can't go up there,” he shouted after me. I could hear him moving toward me, but there was no way I was leaving, not before I got the answers I had come for.

When I felt his hand on my shoulder, I lost it. In one move, I bent his arm behind his back and had him totally defenseless, wincing in pain.

“Mister, you don't want any of this,” I warned him because he was innocent, but not if he got in my way. “Not today. We clear?”

“Yeah, crystal clear,” he stuttered.

I released him and got on the elevator. There was no number thirteen button, but I knew it was up there somewhere, and I had to find answers. I got off the elevator and raced to the stairwell, taking them three at a time, until I got to twelve. I opened the door and peeked down the hallway. It did not look familiar, so I moved to the next landing, but it was fourteen. It made no sense. I exited on fourteen only to find myself in a plastic surgeon's office.

A beautiful albeit plastic-looking receptionist sat behind the desk in a pristine white reception area. “Why, hello!” she said. She gave me the Botox version of a smile, revealing her veneers as she pushed out her double Ds. I guess her boss gave her good discounts, because she looked like all her parts were man made.

I returned my most charming smile. “How long has this office been here?”

“Long time. I've been here at least eleven years. I mean, I was a baby when I started, but the perks are just too good to leave.” She flashed that Colgate smile again.

“So you'd know if there was ever a thirteenth floor? I'm looking for Dynamic Defense.”

She shook her head. “You probably have the wrong building.”

Don't ask me how the floor that I'd been to last time seemed to not exist anymore, but I knew damn well that I was at the right building, no matter what she said. Something was off, way off, and I was starting to become even more concerned about Bridget.

“Thanks,” I said as I headed out.

“Hey, I hope you'll come back. I'd love to see you again,” she called after me, but I was already out of there.

When I passed the security guard, he had a smug look on his face, but at least he was smart enough not to say “I told you so.”

Willie stood ready to open the door when I exited the building. I was sure the look on my face told him everything.

“I can't find them anywhere,” I said when I got in the car. “This is impossible. A whole company can't just up and disappear.”

“That's crazy. Like you said, they can't just disappear.”

“Neither could Bridget, but she did. Take me back to the house. I need to think. I need to find her, Willie.”

My mind was racing as Willie drove me back home. If I had known that Bridget was in trouble, I never would have left. This must have been what she promised to tell me when I got back. Now I had no idea where she could be. Dynamic Defense seemed to have vanished into thin air, and I had no idea where to turn for clues. Even going through her purse hadn't revealed any information that could help me find her.

My phone vibrated, and for a second I thought it might be Bridget, but then I remembered we had her phone. I pulled my cell of my pocket, feeling defeated.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Niles. This Frank Bush from Dynamic Defense. I hear you've been looking for us,” he said calmly, like I hadn't been searching for an entire business that vanished.

“Yes, sir. You're a hard office to locate,” I said, keeping my tone steady.

“I think if you give it some thought, you'll understand why we need to stay under the radar, which means we never stay at the same place for long. How can I help you?”

“I'm looking for Bridget. I think she's in trouble.”

He didn't answer. Suddenly, a new voice came on the line.

“Niles, this is Jonathan Green. I'm Frank's boss. I work closely with Bridget. You and I need to meet in person. There are some things going on that I don't feel comfortable talking about over the phone. I'll be in touch.”

Before I could ask any questions, the line went dead.

“Anything?” Willie asked as I sat holding my phone, feeling powerless.

“Not yet.”

“Um, Keisha's not here.” Debra answered the door, acting all jumpy, like I was going to force her to produce Keisha on the spot. “She went somewhere with that boy Pooh.”

I gave her my most disarming smile. “That's good, 'cause I'm not here for her.”

“You're not?”

“Nah, I came by to see you—unless that's not okay,” I took her in like she was my next meal. If she could have snapped her fingers and made her clothes fall off, she would have.

“You came to see me?”

I nodded. “Yeah, Deb. I been thinking about that phat ass of yours a lot lately. You got the kinda hips a brother could ride all night.” Well, you would have thought I had offered her a diamond ring and a wedding date from the size of the smile on her face.

“So what's up? You gonna leave me standing out here, or you gonna invite me in so I can tighten your fine ass up?”

“Shit, if you gonna put it that way, come on in, baby.” She stepped out of the way, twisting and posing, trying to look cute as I entered. She took my arm and led me into the living room, where she sat so close to me that she might as well have been in my lap. She was making my job easy for me.

“I hope this isn't weird for you,” I said, pretending to be a sensitive thug, although I'm not sure Deb even cared.

“Baby, let me tell you, the only thing weird about this is the fact that you ain't came over here to do it sooner,” she teased. “But I wish I knew you were coming. I would have put on something nicer than this old sundress.” She started smoothing out her dress. I ran my fingers over her bare arm and felt her whole body tingle with desire.

“Deb, it don't matter what you have on, as long as you don't have a problem with me taking it off.” I leaned in to let my lips graze her neck. Next thing I knew, she was all over me, like it had been way too long since she'd gotten any and she was pressed to make up for lost time.

My hands found her waist, and I brought her closer to me as our kiss grew more passionate. Yeah, I was looking forward to being inside of her.

“Wait! Hold up!” she cried out and then pushed me away. “I'm not some young girl hooking up with every brotha on the block. I don't wanna be just some side bitch. I wanna be your only bitch.”

I had to stifle a laugh. “Have I ever treated you like you were some side bitch? I'm tired of being alone out here with all these chicken heads who just want my money. I want a real woman. Somebody who is down for me. You think you can be that for me? My ride or die?” I asked with all the sincerity I could muster.

Her head was bobbing up and down. “Yes. Yes and yes. I can be that for you.”

God, she was making this so easy for me, I thought.

“Then why don't you show me the kind of woman you plan to be to your man?” I said.

She took my hand and led me into her bedroom, and the next thing I knew, she had removed all my clothes and was down on her knees, giving me a level of head that could only be learned through experience. This woman knew what to do with a dick in her mouth. She had her hands moving up and down, and the perfect amount of saliva and suction on my dick, like she was putting in her bid for ownership.

“Okay, I've shown you what I can do,” she said after a while. “Let's see what you're working with.” She crawled up on the bed and backed that ass up. I wasted no time granting her request.

“Oh, shit! That's what I'm talking about!” she screamed as I pumped away from behind, slapping her ass as it met me with every motion. Damn if she wasn't giving those twenty-somethings a run for their money. I'd forgotten how much better sex could be with an equal who knew how to get down.

“Damn!” The word slipped out of me as she tightened the walls of her pussy and then started loosening and tightening them while I rode her.

“You like that?” Her voice, husky with desire, drove me further to the edge.

I slapped my hand over her mouth. “Please. Don't speak.” I kept entering her until I couldn't take it, and then I pulled out, exploding my wad all over her ass. The whole thing was almost like an out-of-body experience, because as soon as I released, any positive feelings about her were gone, and I was my old self again. I might have appreciated her a minute ago, but now Deb was just another ho, and I was there with only one thing really on my mind: business.

“Damn! That was the best sex I ever had,” Debra gushed, totally unaware that my mood had changed.

She got off her hands and knees and sat next to me on the edge of the bed, finally noticing my somber expression. “What? Didn't you enjoy that?” she asked, looking worried.

“Nah, baby, that was off the chain. But I need to know that I can trust you. That you're really going to look out for me.”

“Of course.” The words spilled out of her so fast that I almost felt sorry for her. She was so damn eager to please. The information I needed, though, was much too important for me to waste time with feelings.

I picked up my pants and took my phone out of the pocket to show her the photo. “So who is this?”

Her eyes started darting around the room like she was scoping out the emergency exits or something. It took her a while to speak up, and then she basically said nothing.

“You know I like to stay out of Keisha's business.”

That was a bald-faced lie. I had heard her telling that girl what to do too many times before. I needed to push a little harder. “You know, this ain't what I call ride or die.” I got up and started to put on my clothes.

She grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back onto the bed. “Bruce, please. I have to show some loyalty. She's my kid, you know.”

“And you want me to be your man. Ride or die, remember?”

She hesitated then finally said, “Yeah, I remember. Look, ain't nothing going on with that man and Keisha. She used to be friends with his sister, and then he left to go in the military. When he came back in town, he got in touch to see how she was doing. They may have hooked up a few times while Majestic was locked up, but ain't nothing went down since Majestic's been home. I swear.”

“Okay, baby, if that's all it is, then cool.” I leaned down and kissed her. “So what's this dude's name, anyway?”

“Niles Monroe. He used to live over on Twentieth Street in that blue house, but I think he moved. You need me to find out where?”

“No, that's good. That's real good,” I told her as I peeled off five hundred-dollar bills. “Buy yourself something nice.”

She beamed like I was her knight in shining armor. “I can make you something to eat. You think I got skills in the bedroom, you should see me in the kitchen.” She hopped up, ready to show off her other talents.

“Next time. Right now I gotta make a couple of phone calls. These streets ain't gonna make money on their own.”

“All right, then,” she said happily. “You go take care of business. I'll be right here waiting for you whenever you get done with your calls.”

“Yeah,” I said gruffly. “I'll be back. I gotta make sure I take care of you real good before I leave.”

“So Winston says this guy Jonathan is legit. He was Bridget's partner and her boss for years. But he also said she didn't trust him all the way, so you shouldn't either,” Willie warned me as we passed a sign on the highway informing us we'd just entered Connecticut.

His words barely fazed me enough to elicit a reaction. My mind was laser-focused on only one thing.

“Let's see what the guy has to say.” If this guy had information that would help me get her back, I wouldn't care if he was Satan himself.

I pulled out my phone and looked at the photo of Bridget I'd taken the night before I left town. We'd just finished making love, and she was lying on top of the covers looking so peaceful that I had to snap a picture. She looked beautiful and innocent and sexy all at once, and I think it made me start to fall in love with her right then and there.

“This is the exit. We should be there in five,” Willie announced as he maneuvered the car off the highway and took a sharp right. “You a'ight?”

“Yeah, I'm good,” I assured him as he parked the car at the foot of the bridge and let me out.

As I started across the bridge, I looked up and spotted a handsome guy, about forty, waiting at the top.

“Niles.” He spoke my name as we shook hands.

“Do you have any information on Bridget?” I asked him eagerly.

He handed me a folder from under his arm. “Take a look at this,” he said and then stood there staring at me as I read the contents of the file.

It was filled with Dynamic Defense internal documents, most of them dealing with interior and exterior investigations of Bridget's activities. According to these documents, she was not just a big-time thief, but a spy and a traitor to her country.

“I'm supposed to just believe this?” I questioned. Bridget had taught me to approach everything I heard and read with a healthy dose of skepticism, and the shit that I was reading in here, I definitely did not want to believe. These documents did not describe the Bridget that I knew. This person was a complete stranger. It had to be a mistake.

“I don't know you from Adam,” I said, challenging him. “This could all be bullshit. Show me some real proof.”

He gave me a pitiful look, shaking his head. “Wow. She really put that Kama Sutra shit on you, didn't she? I bet she even told you she wanted to run away with you,” he said. “She did that with all her marks. It was like her signature, for Christ's sake.”

I felt my blood pressure rising, and I didn't know if it was because he was talking bad about a woman I cared for, or if it was because part of me feared there could be some truth to what he'd just said. Was it possible she'd been using sex to lull me into a false sense of security?

“C'mon, Niles,” he said, sounding like he thought we were buddies or something. “Admit it. She's been acting a little funny lately. Am I right?”

My mind flashed back to our recent conversation, when all of a sudden she had started talking about getting out of the business.

Jonathan had an explanation for that too. “That, my friend, is because the noose was starting to tighten around her neck.”

“This seems impossible,” I said, fighting the sinking feeling that it wasn't, in fact, all that impossible. The words in those pages and what I knew of Bridget didn't add up, except there it was in black and white. And if I was being honest with myself, I hadn't really trusted her all that much in the beginning. The way she roped me into taking the job, the way she tricked me into fucking her the first time . . . those were the actions of someone who would do anything to get what she wanted.

“Still think it's impossible?”

“I don't know what to think,” I answered.

“When was the last time you checked your bank balance?”

“Not since last night. Why?”

“Because this morning Bridget wired five million dollars from her last three partners' private accounts into her personal Cayman Islands account. I don't know about you, but I trusted her with my personal account information, and this morning the bitch wiped me out.”

“Bridget wouldn't do anything like that,” I said, hoping like hell I was right.

“Yeah, I told myself the same thing, and now I'm three million dollars light. Look, I'm not here to force you into anything, but if you agree to help us, Mr. Monroe, we will make sure that you are more than compensated, including being reimbursed for any money Miss St. John might have stolen from you. And then, I promise you will be free to walk away from the agency if you choose.”

It felt like I was having an out of body experience when I found my voice. “Help you how?” I asked.

“We need you to take out Bridget and her accomplice,” he said.

In this job, I'd gotten used to receiving assignments where the murder of another person was talked about as calmly as if they were just placing a lunch order. Hearing talk of murder associated with Bridget, though, was another story. “I need to think about it,” I said. “This is a lot to take in.”

He kept talking. I guess he wanted to help me make up my mind faster than I was. “People who do this job, they are able to be whoever the other person needs them to be. It's like being an actor, and every job, every exchange, is just another role.”

“So you're telling me that I didn't know her at all?” I asked, my voice rising.

“None of us knew her. She fooled all of us, if it makes you feel any better. She was one of our very best operatives, smart enough and cunning enough, but I promise you that she will pay for what she did to you and to us.” Again, his voice took on that aura of camaraderie, only this was not a brotherhood I wanted to belong to: a group of men duped by the same woman.

“I don't know. This just doesn't make any sense.” Despite his efforts, I still couldn't see myself hurting Bridget. “She told me she wanted to get out of the business and retire.”

“Of course she did, because she realized we were on to her. We've already been over this,” he said, a little impatience creeping into his voice, like he thought I was stupid. “You think if you were to meet and she knew that we sent you she wouldn't take you out without a second thought?” he challenged me. “You're just another job to her, and the sex and the fake emotions, it was all a distraction so that she could steal your money without you becoming suspicious.”

He tilted his head and looked at me with curiosity. “You gotta be smarter than this—or was the sex just that good? I know for me it was, but it wasn't good enough to let her take advantage of me.”

Man, I wanted to smash him in the face. “Look, I said I need to think about it.” My voice was trembling, and I felt myself getting ready to flip. “I'm not even sure any of my money has been taken.”

“Well, I hope it hasn't,” he shot back, “but I wouldn't be too optimistic on that.” He waited for a second, and when I still didn't give him the answer he wanted to hear, he said, “I understand your reluctance. I'll call you tomorrow, give you a chance to check your accounts.” He turned and walked away.

I had to take a moment, staring out at the water, to get myself together. It felt as if I'd been punched in the gut. I couldn't believe that the woman I'd been falling in love with had been using me like I was just a fucking mark!

Willie read the disturbed look on my face when I got back in the car. “You don't look so good. What did he say?”

I handed him the folder. “It's all here in the file. They're saying she's a thief and most likely she set up her own abduction to fly the coop. She's been ripping them and me off from the start.”

“You believe him?” Willie looked like he wanted to say something more.

“I don't know what I believe. I mean, he's been working with her a long time. I've known her less than a year. Maybe I really didn't know her at all. Plus, she has been acting a little weird lately. He said it's because she was feeling the heat.”

Willie was scanning the paperwork as he listened to me. He looked up and said, “I hate to believe that about our girl, but I have to admit that there is some logic to it.”

I took out my phone and opened my bank app so I could check my account balance. I felt like my heart was breaking in pieces when I saw the row of zeroes.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

“What?”

“She took my fucking money, Willie. Bridget stole my money!”

“Shit! What are you gonna do, man?”

I clamped my mouth shut. I did not want to admit to him the assignment Jonathan wanted me to accept. This was all just too ugly for words.

“Niles, man. Talk to me. What are you gonna do?”

“I don't know, Unc. That guy wants me to take her out—her and her accomplice.”

He gave a low whistle. “That's fuckin' deep, man. Do you think you could really do that?”

I shook my head. “I really don't know. Right now, the only thing on my mind is that my mother needs me to take care of her, and I can't do that without my money.”

“Well, shit,” he said, starting the engine. “Then let's go find this bitch and get your money back.”