Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Kairo was trying to reassure him, but West couldn’t buy it. Mostly because he’d taken one look into Jin’s eyes and he felt…fuck, he didn’t know. Maybe this town was screwing with his head, convincing him that he’d stumbled across an actual prince charming, but he was face-to-face with the best con artist of all time.
West sighed. Coming out here on his own might have been a giant mistake. He wasn’t equipped for this kind of thing. The job had looked easy from the surface, but he hadn’t expected a place like this. “Yeah, okay. But could you do your hacking thing? Dig for me a bit. For real dirt. You’re better at finding this stuff than I am.”
“Of course. Just let me grab a few more hours of sleep.”
“If you gotta,” West taunted with a smirk.
“Asshole. Yeah, I gotta. I’ll send over whatever I find later today. Well, it’ll probably be morning for you.”
“Thanks,” West mumbled, already shifting the phone in his hand to end the call.
“Hey, West. Don’t beat yourself up about this. I read up on Gaoxing before you jumped on a plane. The country has been ranked as one of the happiest, healthiest, and all-around best places to live in the world for like six years running. It might sound crazy, but there’s a chance it’s real and there are no lizard people.”
West huffed a laugh. “If that’s true, I’ll start looking for a place to build a house right now, because I’m never leaving.”
“Ha. Ha. I’m going back to bed. I’ll send you stuff later.” With that, Kairo ended the call.
Wouldn’t that be crazy? A peaceful place to call his own.
West snorted at himself and pulled up Alexei’s number. He attempted to figure the time difference between Jin and where Alexei was in Colorado, but gave up. He was pretty sure it was early evening.
“Hey, West! I was just planning to call you,” Alexei greeted in his usual cheerful tone. The young man had returned to his uncles’ home in Colorado for an extended visit and dragged his boyfriend Soren along to torture him. Or rather, the “former” assassins were torturing Soren. Not that Soren couldn’t hold his own. Regardless, the idea was amusing.
“How go things in Gaoxing?” Alexei inquired.
“Weird.”
“Good weird or bad weird?”
“Bad. You wouldn’t like it here. Too clean, and everyone is too nice. No one worth shooting.”
“Nooooo,” Alexei drawled out in his shock. “Now I’m so glad I didn’t tag along for this little job. That sounds boring as fuck.”
“Unlike cooling your heels in Colorado?” he teased.
“No! This is good. Relaxing. The snow hasn’t started yet, so we’ve got some hiking planned. Maybe some fishing. Good outdoor stuff to clear the lungs.”
“I can’t imagine it.”
“Screw you! I can totally do the outdoor stuff.”
“Without killing someone?” West drawled, earning a huff out of Alexei.
“Well, that’s usually the best part,” Alexei mumbled. “But this is the first time I’ve tried it with a boyfriend. This could be a different fun.”
West rolled his eyes. Alexei had two modes—death and sex. But weren’t most twentysomethings like that? At least the sex part. He had to admit, though, that since coming to work with the team, Alexei was developing a strong sense of family and protectiveness with the group.
And God help anyone who even dared to look at Isidore funny. Alexei was ready to skin the person alive. He’d even earned a few warning glares from Alexei for his teasing of Izzie.
“Anyway, I asked my uncles about Gaoxing and if either of them did jobs there, but neither one has been there.”
“So they’re useless.”
“Yep, pretty freaking useless.” Alexei broke off a moment later to shout something in Russian. He couldn’t make it out, the sound was muffled as if Alexei had covered the phone with his hand. Likely, his uncles had overheard his useless comment.
“But the reason I wanted to call you,” Alexei came back, “is that I talked to Marilyn. She said that at least two assassins have taken on the contract. These are not good people, but on the plus side, they aren’t known for being skilled. I have a feeling they’re taking the job so they can say they popped royalty. Fucking trash is what they are.”
West bit his bottom lip to hold in his laugh. When it came to assassins, Alexei was one hundred percent snob. Of course, freaking assassin royalty raised him in the first place, and second, the kid had skills and he knew it. Not to mention, both his uncles had a sense of honor, something far too few assassins in the business had. As a result, Alexei looked down on anyone who didn’t have the same code of honor.
But in the end, it didn’t look as if it was going to matter whether these assassins had skills. Their freaking target was walking around the city without a single bit of security. How hard was he going to be to hit?