Read Online The Hitman's Baby - A Bad Boy Secret Baby Romance (With extra added bonus novel for a short time only!) by Ashley Rhodes - Free Book Online
Authors: Ashley Rhodes
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A moment later the picture popped up on his heavily modified smart phone. It wasn’t what he thought at first—it was a kid. Maybe eight or nine years old, of obvious Latin descent but otherwise not familiar. But no… it was a surveillance picture of him, for sure, but that hadn’t been what triggered his query.
It was Cassandra. She was with the boy, fingers frozen in the act of brushing long hair behind her ear. She’d grown it out, and it had streaks in it now that just looked like shades of gray in the black and white photo.
“Target?” Nick sent.
“Ramon Murray aka Ramon Gonzales and mother Elena Murray aka Cassandra Gonzales.”
So. She’d been found. Nick’s nostrils trembled. After all these years. Who’d called it in? Probably one of Emilio Gonzales’ rivals. The cartels were everywhere these days. Without Emilio to focus their efforts, the power vacuum he’d left behind had never really been filled.
But after all this time, why go for her now? She didn’t pose a threat. The Gonzales cartel had to be defunct by now, there would be nothing to take over. If she was even inclined to go back, there was nothing to go back to.
Then again, Emilio had commanded a great deal of loyalty. Maybe the Cartels that held him in high regard would help the Gonzales scion take back her father’s empire if she wanted. Depending on who was calculating, it might seem like a trivial cost to take her out.
“Assigned?” he sent Alex.
“Negative. Responded to query first.”
“Pay?”
“Are you taking it?”
Nick hesitated. Of course he wasn’t, but he didn’t want Alex to reassign it to someone who would. Then again, he could always burn another identity. He’d been smarter this time. Most of his assets were cash. Of course he wouldn’t be able to use Pete this time, but he didn’t need to. He had sought out other contacts for that very reason.
“Yes.” He sent back.
There was a long pause.
“Twenty five. Happy hunting, Foxtrot. Details incoming.”
The simple text messages conveyed nothing suspicious, and Nick had never justified his query request. Just a face and name to watch for, in case it ever came across the desk. There were only a few such agencies in the world, so it seemed like due diligence.
But his history with Alex’s organization had been markedly different than his history with Lester’s. Now, he was free to weigh the implications of taking down his targets and make a moral judgment about whether or not he would take them. Alex understood, it seemed, that with quality, cleanliness, and certainty came a degree of freedom to choose that was worth putting up with.
Plus, he thought that Alex probably had some kind of moral compass of his own. It was why he’d joined the agency in the first place. They were selective, and reflected the new sense of balance that Nick had sought every day since he’d left Cassandra. Do the most good possible by doing only the necessary evil. His body count was very close to reaching three hundred—he was at two hundred and eighty four contracts closed now—but the last hundred and thirteen targets had been people that the world genuinely benefited from by not having them in it.
He stared at the picture of the boy. Cassandra’s son, clearly. And at eight or nine years old…
It didn’t bear thinking about right now. It was enough for him to know that Cassandra was in trouble; that the carefully constructed veil around her had been breached. Whoever the kid was didn’t matter yet and it wouldn’t have changed things anyway.
At least he’d intercepted the job. When it wasn’t completed, either Alex or someone else would send a follow up trigger finger but at the very least he had some time.
Cassandra. What would it be like to see her again? He’d wondered about her from time to time. He still had the picture Lester had given him years ago, hidden away with his liquid assets. For a while, he’d imagined finding her, bringing her to
A moment later the picture popped up on his heavily modified smart phone. It wasn’t what he thought at first—it was a kid. Maybe eight or nine years old, of obvious Latin descent but otherwise not familiar. But no… it was a surveillance picture of him, for sure, but that hadn’t been what triggered his query.
It was Cassandra. She was with the boy, fingers frozen in the act of brushing long hair behind her ear. She’d grown it out, and it had streaks in it now that just looked like shades of gray in the black and white photo.
“Target?” Nick sent.
“Ramon Murray aka Ramon Gonzales and mother Elena Murray aka Cassandra Gonzales.”
So. She’d been found. Nick’s nostrils trembled. After all these years. Who’d called it in? Probably one of Emilio Gonzales’ rivals. The cartels were everywhere these days. Without Emilio to focus their efforts, the power vacuum he’d left behind had never really been filled.
But after all this time, why go for her now? She didn’t pose a threat. The Gonzales cartel had to be defunct by now, there would be nothing to take over. If she was even inclined to go back, there was nothing to go back to.
Then again, Emilio had commanded a great deal of loyalty. Maybe the Cartels that held him in high regard would help the Gonzales scion take back her father’s empire if she wanted. Depending on who was calculating, it might seem like a trivial cost to take her out.
“Assigned?” he sent Alex.
“Negative. Responded to query first.”
“Pay?”
“Are you taking it?”
Nick hesitated. Of course he wasn’t, but he didn’t want Alex to reassign it to someone who would. Then again, he could always burn another identity. He’d been smarter this time. Most of his assets were cash. Of course he wouldn’t be able to use Pete this time, but he didn’t need to. He had sought out other contacts for that very reason.
“Yes.” He sent back.
There was a long pause.
“Twenty five. Happy hunting, Foxtrot. Details incoming.”
The simple text messages conveyed nothing suspicious, and Nick had never justified his query request. Just a face and name to watch for, in case it ever came across the desk. There were only a few such agencies in the world, so it seemed like due diligence.
But his history with Alex’s organization had been markedly different than his history with Lester’s. Now, he was free to weigh the implications of taking down his targets and make a moral judgment about whether or not he would take them. Alex understood, it seemed, that with quality, cleanliness, and certainty came a degree of freedom to choose that was worth putting up with.
Plus, he thought that Alex probably had some kind of moral compass of his own. It was why he’d joined the agency in the first place. They were selective, and reflected the new sense of balance that Nick had sought every day since he’d left Cassandra. Do the most good possible by doing only the necessary evil. His body count was very close to reaching three hundred—he was at two hundred and eighty four contracts closed now—but the last hundred and thirteen targets had been people that the world genuinely benefited from by not having them in it.
He stared at the picture of the boy. Cassandra’s son, clearly. And at eight or nine years old…
It didn’t bear thinking about right now. It was enough for him to know that Cassandra was in trouble; that the carefully constructed veil around her had been breached. Whoever the kid was didn’t matter yet and it wouldn’t have changed things anyway.
At least he’d intercepted the job. When it wasn’t completed, either Alex or someone else would send a follow up trigger finger but at the very least he had some time.
Cassandra. What would it be like to see her again? He’d wondered about her from time to time. He still had the picture Lester had given him years ago, hidden away with his liquid assets. For a while, he’d imagined finding her, bringing her to
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