Kissing Fire (3 page)

Like the heart that was in four pieces...it
represented how my stupid line of work had torn apart and destroyed
my family. Or the cross on my arm that was turned sideways. I still
had faith, even though it was a bit tilted at times. Then there was
the sunburst that was covered with a cloud of darkness...pretty
obvious that one. There were various ones of all sizes but my
favorite was the one across my lower back. It was in large old
English letters right above where they had held me down and carved
the word “Slave” into my skin. Directly above it, I had “NO ONE’S”
tattooed. That one was the most meaningful, but it was also the
most private of all of them. Most people thought it was the
equivalent of a tramp stamp, because they never saw what was
directly below it. They didn’t know how those bastards had bound
and gagged me and then...I gave my head a viscous shake in an
effort to free that memory from my mind. I abhorred those painful
thoughts. It didn’t take long for the nausea to arrive and within
minutes I was standing over the toilet, puking my guts up. It never
failed. Years from now I was pretty damn sure I would still be
doing this, dealing with this shit. That’s why I would never taint
a woman’s life with the filth that was my own.

I brushed my teeth and headed back to the bed. For
what, I couldn’t tell you. Sleep would evade me so I turned on the
TV and stared at it until it was time to get up.

A couple hours later, I was headed
down to grab a bite to eat, when my phone went off. It was a text
from Skip. That was one of Pete’s work names. It just said one
word:
showtime
.
That meant we were on for tonight.

My gut tightened but I forced myself to down my
caffeine and eat. I needed to have a clear head and eggs seemed to
do the trick for me. I was in a full fledged danger zone here and
one tiny mistake could cost me my life...not that I really gave a
damn, but it could ruin this op I was on and lots of personnel were
counting on me. I still couldn’t figure out why I was so damned
loyal to this organization. Maybe one day I would.

Usually, when I was on assignments like these, the
days dragged on. This one was no exception. Eight o’clock could not
get here fast enough. I had everything lined up. Pete had hidden a
gun in the restaurant, just in case. It was in the women’s
restroom. They would search the men’s room but not the women’s, or
so we hoped. I wasn’t wearing a wire, because they’d check for that
too.

My dark hair wasn’t shaved any more but it wasn’t
long either. It curled around the back of my neck but I shaved so
my face was unusually slick for me. I normally kept a shadow of
some kind. I suited up and took a taxi to the restaurant. I was met
at the door by a group of goons and they escorted me to the table.
Once there, they removed my jacket, searched all the pockets, did a
complete body search which was quite intimate by the way, and then
told me to sit. I was a fairly large guy, over six feet tall and I
easily carried about two ten on a light day. When I played the drug
addict, I had to keep my weight down to look the haggard role, but
now I that was able to pump iron and eat again, I was back to my
normal size. I pretty much looked like a dwarf next to these body
guards. They were huge. My target, Panit Jainukul, was sitting
across from me.

“So Mr. Shelton, my friends tell me you can be of
some assistance to me.”

“Your friends tell you right.”

“How so?”

“I want to expand your distribution,” I
explained.

My target was much younger than I
thought he’d be. He was in his mid-thirties, about my age, slightly
built and of course, since he was Asian, he had dark hair and eyes.
He wore tailored clothing and was very meticulous about it. I knew
because so was I. His silk tie was tied to perfection, the knot
absolutely ideal. His white shirt was pristine, as was mine, with
not a wrinkle or crease in sight. The cut of his jacket made me
believe his tailor was on call just for him. When he moved, his
jacket moved
with
him and not
against
him, almost as if it was a part of his body. For
an instant, I was jealous. I loved a good suit.

Mr. Jainukul looked at me thoughtfully and then
said, “I don’t need any more distribution. I am quite satisfied
with what I have.”

“Are you really? Your entry into the U.S. is
minimal. I could help you with that. If your presence grows there,
it could spell infinite wealth for you.”

My target nodded and furrowed his brow. His wheels
were spinning but he didn’t want me to know that.

“Mr. Shelton, how would you do that and how do I
know that I can trust you?”

“You don’t. I would have to earn that. I would
increase your distribution by introducing you to the right
connections.”

He suddenly clicked his fingers and the ginormous
body guards disappeared. Then my contacts showed up. They took
seats on either side of me and Jainukul asked them what they knew
of me.

After some lengthy discussion and an eight course
meal of some excellent and some not so excellent food, Jainukul
decided he needed to check me out further. I gave him my hotel name
and room number and he told me he would be in touch.

Damn, I was hoping this deal would close in a day or
so. This could drag on for a while.

********

A week later I got a call. I was told to meet
Jainukul at one in the morning at an address in a part of town that
I wasn’t familiar with. After a little investigating, it seemed it
was a warehouse district of some sort. There was no way I would
meet with Pete because I was being watched. I had the hotel send
him a message via a courier. It was cryptic and if anyone
intercepted it, they would think it was a teenager sending her
boyfriend a message through a variety of Taylor Swift songs. It was
a trick we’d used countless times, but we always changed the songs.
The letters of the words would come from the second word from the
line of each verse. It was a huge pain in the ass to figure it out,
but it worked like a charm.

When I arrived at my destination, there were several
of Jainukul’s body guards waiting for me. They frisked me up and
down, and after they were assured I was unarmed and unwired they
both nodded.

“Mr. Shelton, follow us.” That’s all they said and I
didn’t ask them anything else.

We wove our way through crates and containers and
reached a building that was well lit. The door was open so I
followed them through it and we ended up in an office in the back
of the building. Jainukul sat behind a desk and there were several
other men present.

“Ah, Mr. Shelton. Shall we begin?”

I just nodded and smiled. No introductions were
made, but I made a mental note of what everyone looked like. I had
a nearly perfect eidetic memory so it wouldn’t be a problem for me
to recognize these guys again.

“I have decided that I would indeed like to expand
my heroin distribution into the U.S., namely the Los Angeles
area.”

You have got to be kidding me. Are you an idiot?

“Mr. Jainukul, I understand how appealing that
market might seem to you, but I was thinking something less
conspicuous to start with, such as Seattle or Portland.” I had to
say that. If I didn’t, he’d know right away I didn’t know my shit.
I didn’t really care where he wanted his crap. It wouldn’t get
there anyway if I had any say in all of this. I fidgeted and folded
my hands together, rubbing my knuckles with my fingers and thumbs,
making it appear that what he suggested made me nervous.

“Mr. Shelton, you must understand my position. I
want L.A. It’s huge and offers me the most potential.”

Now I rubbed the back of my neck and looked around
the room, acting as if I were gauging the others present. Again, I
could give a rat’s ass about them.

“Mr Jainukul, you must realize that L.A. is
controlled by the Juarez Cartel. They would not take too kindly to
someone invading their turf.” I gave him a shaky smile.

I was greeted with a solid stare and dead
silence.

“Surely you understand the importance of turf
control, Mr. Jainukul?”

He slammed his hand down on the desk so hard, I
actually jumped. It startled me, as I hadn’t expected it. He was
not as mild mannered as I had initially thought. I knew he was
hardened, but I had made an error here.

I narrowed my eyes and said, “Mr. Jainukul, is L.A.
worth shutting down all possibility of ever getting product into
the U.S.?” Then I shut up.

We had a stare down. He realized I knew my stuff. I
knew the first person to speak would lose, so I clammed up.

After several extremely long and uncomfortable
minutes, he finally said, “No. But I want it. So what do you
propose?”

“One small bite at a time. We start with Seattle,
then Portland then south to San Francisco. Then, before the Juarez
Cartel knows what hit them, we are firmly ensconced in L.A.,
stealing all of their fucking business. Not only heroin, but
whatever else you wanna sell. How does that sound Mr.
Jainukul?”

He slammed his hand down on his desk again, only
this time it didn’t startle me. This time I smiled. “Do we have a
deal?” I asked.

“I think we do Mr. Shelton. How will you get
product?”

“Oh, I won’t be getting product, you’ll be sending
it the usual way. We can work out the details. Is that good with
you?”

“That is good with me. How long are you in
Bangkok?”

“Another week. Is that enough time?”

“More than enough.” He smiled.

Then I smiled. I rose to my feet and let the
bodyguards escort me back to my taxi. My job would be done in a
week. Then I would be in the wind for a month. That was how we
operated. We would disappear. I had so many aliases, so many
passports, birth certificates, driver’s licenses, social security
cards that I kept them filed in a safe at my home in Montana. I
carried several sets with me when I traveled but they could be
destroyed at a moment’s notice. After next week, Mr. Shelton, would
cease to exist. When I disappeared, there were only a couple of
people that knew how to find me, Pete being one of them. I usually
went to large cities where I could blend in with the people, where
no one would notice me.

I left Bangkok ten days later, after Mr. Jainukul,
his front men and his connections had been arrested. I traveled to
Katmandu, then back to Delhi, and I ended up in Istanbul for a
while. When I figured it was safe, I booked a flight to Washington
D.C so I could spend some time with my mom. Then I decided it was
time to go to Seattle. It was time that my sister Caroline and her
husband saw the wedding pictures that they thought their
photographer had lost.

Chapter 3

Ava

“Jeez, Melissa, don’t break it! That’s my fine china
in there.” She was slinging my boxes I’d filled with china like
they were filled with air.

“Oops. Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “I don’t own
anything that’s breakable.”

I’d gotten most of my kitchen things packed up in
the morning and all the boxes would be put in storage. My clothes
would be moved when I found a place to live sometime in the near
future. Or that was my hope anyway. I was mostly worried about all
the stuff in my cabinets so that’s why I’d tackled them first.

“So what are you taking with you now?”

“Just clothes for about a month or so. I’ll be back
here, hopefully to close on this place and if not, at least to move
my stuff into my new place out there.”

Melissa looked at me for a second and then asked,
“Where are you gonna live until you find a place?”

“I think I’ll stay in a hotel for a few nights and
then maybe rent a furnished apartment for a month or so.”

“Why don’t you stay with your brother?”

I kind of wriggled a little when she asked me that
question. “Well, I’m not sure he’d really want me to. A night or so
maybe but not for a month.”

“Why not? He’s your brother isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but we sort of had some problems in the
past.”

“Oh? What kind of problems?”

I groaned really loud. I hated to even think about
how awful I had been to him.

“If I tell you, will you promise not to hold it
against me?”

She looked at me kind of funny and said, “Well
yeah.”

“A few years back, Justin had a lot
of women chasing him. I mean, I guess they all thought he was
pretty hot or something. He’s my brother so I don’t think of him
that way. Anyway, to me it seemed he was breaking hearts
everywhere. In reality, the women were chasing
him
. He’d actually been the gentleman
about it and was honest with them and all, but they were so darn
relentless. I accused him of being an asshat and all sorts of
things. We had words and well, things never were quite the same
between us. I apologized and all, but I think I really hurt him. I
didn’t stand up for him and he was my brother. I was wrong. So, I
really don’t think he’d want me around his new wife and
all.”

Melissa was super quiet for a long time. That was
unusual because she always had something to say about everything.
She finally nodded and said, “I can see why you would say that. But
maybe this is your big chance to redeem yourself in his eyes...to
show him that you were an idiot, you were wrong and that you love
him. Blood is always thicker than water, Ava. I’m bettin’ he’ll be
happy to have you close to him.”

I smiled. Maybe she was right. Maybe I could find a
friend in his new wife, Caroline, and everything would be perfect
between us all.

“I hope so.”

“So, what are you gonna do about a car when you’re
out there?”

“I’m just gonna do a month long rental until I come
back here and get the rest of my stuff.”