Read Online Tanned Hide by R. A. Meenan - Free Book Online

the
invoice and champagne. She shut the door, and the limo sped away. I
glanced around.
    Across the street was Philip’s foster
home. I took a long look at the white shutters and brown picket
fence. The sound of children running and playing danced across the
tarmac. Then I took a deep breath and walked up to the house. Might
as well tell him the news.

Ten
    The next day I sauntered into Trecheon’s office. He glanced up
at me with a curious eyebrow. “Any luck with that social
worker?”
    I shrugged. “In a weird off-hand way,
kinda.” I handed him the Fawn’s invoice.
    Trecheon glanced over it, frowning.
“It’s. . . an invoice. For a bargaining chip.” He shook his head.
“One million dollars? What the hell does that even mean,
Neil?”
    I took a deep breath. “That’s the
price the Triple Danger gave me. For Philip.” I gave him a summary
of all that had happened yesterday. “If I pay them one million
dollars and they’ll pin Matron Fawn’s murder on someone rival mob
and clear my name sufficiently for the social worker.”
    Trecheon frowned. “Why that much?
They’re a multi-million-dollar corporation. They don’t need your
money.”
    “ It’s not about the money,
Trech,” I said, dragging the words out, trying to calm myself.
“It’s about the number. It’s way too high for me to get
legitimately.”
    Trecheon frowned and dropped the
paper. “Neil, please don’t tell me what I think you’re going to
tell me.”
    “ I don’t have a choice.” I
took a deep breath, preparing myself to say it. I had to say it or
it wouldn’t feel real. “I need to get back into the
business.”
    The color on the inside of Trecheon’s
ears faded and he furrowed his brow. “They can’t really expect you
to do that.”
    “ That’s exactly what they
expect me to do,” I said. “They told me themselves. If I start up
in the business again to get that money, they can record all of my
hits. My guilt as an assassin becomes their bargaining
chip.”
    Trecheon frowned, taking it all in.
“So you’re just trading one bargaining chip for
another.”
    “ Essentially, yes,” I said.
“But I’ll get Philip back.”
    “ Why would they do
that?”
    I shrugged. “They said something about
not wanting to break up families. I think motherhood changed their
perspective more than they want to believe.”
    Trecheon stood and glared at me.
“Neil, you spent the last ten months trying to cut your connections
and get out of the business. Don’t make the same mistake again.
Don’t do this to yourself.” He shook his head. “Let me help. I’ll
donate all my profits to you. We’ll get that number for
them.”
    I scoffed. “Will we?” I countered.
“Trecheon, we’re just skilled labor. Combined we couldn’t make that
number in our lifetimes.”
    “ Maybe we can take out
loans.”
    “ Do you really think any
bank is going to loan us that kind of cash? On my income? On
yours?”
    Trecheon frowned. He sat back in his
chair.
    “ It’s an uncomfortable
truth, Trech.”
    “ Don’t call me
Trech.”
    I bit my lip. Back to this again. “The
fact of the matter is, killing is my only good skill. I’ll get back
into for a few years, earn the money. And trade bargaining chips.
I’ll finally get Philip back.”
    “ You’ll still be just as
much a prisoner,” Trecheon said.
    “ But I’ll have Philip.
That’s all that matters.” I sighed. “I can live with them
monitoring us.”
    Trecheon pressed his ears back. “When
you came to me with this hit last year, you told me you were on the
verge of going insane. You needed that magic hit in order to keep
yourself from taking the easy way out.”
    I waved a hand. “Magic hits aren’t
real.”
    “ Neil--”
    “ They aren’t,” I snarled.
“They can’t be real. How could it be real when doing that magic hit
means I lost everything?”
    Trecheon tapped his desk. “This isn’t
the same thing as before. This isn’t working for yourself and
taking only the hits