Chapter 2 - The Price of Mercy
“Miss Nolan?”
The voice came again.
Polite.
Almost friendly.
That frightened Maeve more than shouting would have.
Arthur slid from the bed despite the pain twisting across his face.
“Bathroom,” he whispered.
“You can barely stand.”
“Maeve.”
Something in his tone stopped her.
Not authority.
Urgency.
“Take Caesar. Lock yourselves inside.”
“I’m not hiding in a bathtub while you bleed to death in my bedroom.”
A knock sounded again.
“Miss Nolan, we only want to speak with Mr. Romano.”
Arthur’s expression hardened.
“They know.”
“That became obvious around the second use of my last name.”
Caesar moved toward the apartment door.
His lips pulled back.
No barking.
Just a deep vibration in his chest.
Arthur whispered one word.
“Stay.”
The huge dog froze.
Maeve stared.
“You trained him?”
Arthur shook his head.
“My brother did.”
Something painful passed through his expression, but there was no time to ask.
Arthur took Maeve’s revolver.
He checked the cylinder.
“Three bullets.”
“My father was an optimist.”
A shadow moved beneath the door.
Arthur handed the gun back.
“If that door opens, go through the fire escape.”
“What about you?”
“I’m the reason they’re here.”
Before Maeve could answer, glass shattered in the kitchen.
Someone had entered through the window.
Caesar exploded forward.
The apartment became chaos.
A masked man came through the kitchen just as the dog struck him in the chest.
Maeve screamed.
Arthur caught a second attacker coming through the front door, drove his shoulder into him, and immediately staggered from his wound.
Maeve did the only thing she could think of.
She grabbed her cast-iron skillet.
The attacker raised his weapon.
Maeve swung.
The skillet connected with his wrist.
His gun hit the floor.
Arthur kicked it beneath the table.
“You hit him with cookware?”
“It was closer than the revolver!”
The first attacker managed to shove Caesar away.
He reached inside his coat.
Arthur’s face changed.
“Down!”
Maeve dropped.
A gunshot cracked through the apartment.
Then another came from outside.
The attacker collapsed.
Silence.
Maeve slowly lifted her head.
Three men in dark coats entered through the doorway.
She reached for the revolver.
Arthur caught her wrist.
“Mine.”
The oldest newcomer lowered his gun.
“Boss.”
Arthur exhaled.
“Sal.”
The man looked around the destroyed apartment, then at Maeve holding a skillet.
His eyebrows rose.
“Who’s she?”
“The woman who apparently has terrible judgment.”
Maeve glared at Arthur.
“I’m beginning to agree.”
Salvatore Greco had worked beside Arthur Romano for nearly twenty years. By sunrise, he had moved Maeve and Caesar to a secure brownstone Arthur owned across town.
Maeve protested every mile.
“I have work at six.”
“No.”
“My landlord expects rent.”
“No.”
“I have a life.”
Arthur, pale in the back seat, looked at her.
“Not the same one you had yesterday.”
That silenced her.
At the brownstone, Maeve finally learned why.
Arthur’s convoy had been attacked after he left a private meeting near the river. His driver was killed. Arthur and Caesar had been taken alive.
“Why?” Maeve asked.
Arthur sat beside a fireplace while a physician replaced his bandages.
“Someone wanted information.”
“About?”
“No.”
Maeve folded her arms.
“You’re living in my bedsheets, your enemies destroyed my apartment, and I’m unemployed if I miss another shift. We passed ‘no’ about four disasters ago.”
Sal almost smiled.
Arthur did not.
“There’s a ledger,” he finally said. “Evidence of payments, bribes, shell companies, judges, contractors, people inside my organization.”
Maeve stared at him.
“Your organization meaning…”
“Don’t.”
“Right. Mysterious businessman.”
Arthur continued.
“Someone believes I have it.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Maeve closed her eyes.
“Of course you do.”
The physician finished and left.
Arthur looked toward Sal.
“Find out who knew the route.”
Sal nodded.
Maeve caught something between them.
A hesitation.
“You already suspect somebody.”
Neither man answered.
That was answer enough.
Later, Maeve found Caesar sitting outside the guest room assigned to her.
The huge dog leaned against her leg.
“You have questionable taste in people,” she told him.
His tail hit the floor.
Maeve smiled despite herself.
Then she noticed something beneath his collar.
A small leather capsule.
She unscrewed it.
Inside was a tiny brass key.
“Arthur?”
He appeared at the end of the hallway.
The moment he saw the key, his expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“Caesar.”
Arthur crossed the room.
Too quickly.
Pain buckled his knees.
Maeve caught him.
For one strange second, his arms closed around her.
Their faces were inches apart.
Arthur looked at her differently now.
Not like a liability.
Not like a waitress who had accidentally entered his world.
Like someone he had suddenly realized mattered.
Then Sal rushed upstairs.
“Arthur.”
His voice was tight.
“We found Carmichael.”
Maeve turned.
“What about him?”
Sal looked directly at her.
“Your boss disappeared forty minutes after you left the diner.”
Maeve felt cold.
Arthur straightened.
“Find him.”
“We did.”
The silence that followed made Maeve’s stomach twist.
Sal continued quietly.
“He’s alive.”
Maeve exhaled.
“But there’s something you need to see.”
He handed Arthur a phone.
Security footage filled the screen.
Carmichael stood in the alley hours before Maeve’s shift ended.
Beside him was one of the men who had kidnapped Arthur.
Maeve stared.
Then the video showed Carmichael accepting an envelope.
Her hands began shaking.
“My boss sold you out?”
Arthur’s eyes remained on the screen.
“No.”
May you like
He looked at Maeve.
“He sold you out.”
