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The following evening, as night fell, Assail sat naked at his desk, his eyes tracing the co was split into four quadrants that were marked north, south, east, and west, and fro their focus and direction Or mayhap he moved to other lenses around the house Or went back to the ones he had been watching

Having taken a shower and shaved hours ago, he knew he had to get dressed and go out That lesser with the hearty appetite for product was up in ar he&039;d been cheated of a supply of cocaine Except the twins had co to the slayer&039;s wishes - and they had it videotaped

Just a little precaution Assail had initiated

So he didn&039;t knohat it was all about, but he was certainly going to find out: He had sent the recording to the lesser&039;s phone about an hour ago, and aiting a response

Mayhap it was going to involve another face-to-face runtled buyer was not the only thing hanging over hi to be that time ofup - a co Assail: Even though he did regular weekly payments, they totaled but a quarter of his actual purchases, and on the thirtieth, he was going to have settle the balance sheet up

Lot of cash And people could make very poor decisions when there was that much money in play

There was also the issue that, for the first ti to want the twins to acco to appreciate the added company, but it was appropriate for his two associates to be brought further into the fold - and this payest he&039;d ever made

A record sure to be broken if he and that lesser continued to do business together

Assail shifted the mouse Clicked on one of the quadrants Panned the security ca the backwoods behind his house

Nothing moved No shadows darted Not even the limbs of the pines shifted in any kind of wind

No tracks of skis No hidden figure peering out

She could be watching hiht Across the river Across the road Down the lane

With distraction, he reached out for the vial of powder he kept beside the keyboard He had used toward the late afternoon, when the waning light of day had necessitated switching to night vision for the cameras He had also used a couple of times since then, just to keep himself awake

He had not slept for two days at this point

Or was it three?

As heit in a circle at the base of the vial, all he got was the clinking of lass

He looked inside

Evidently he had finished the lot of it

Irritated by si in his existence, Assail threw the vial aside and leaned back in his chair As his e tightened like a noose around his freedo in an unhealthynowhere rather quickly

Where was his beautiful burglar?

Surely she could not have meant what she said

Assail rubbed his eyes, and hated the way hisback and forth from one side of his skull to the other

He simply could not believe she meant to stay away

As his phone went off, he reached for it with reflexes that were too quick, too pent-up And when he saho it was, he ordered his brain to pull itself together

"Did you get the video?" he deest client&039;s voice was not pleased "How do I knohen it was taken?"

"Youat the time"

"Then where is my product?"

"That is not for me to say Once I make the deal with your representatives, oods at the tireement, and thus fulfilled my duty to you What happens thereafter is notwithto kill you"

Assail let out a bored breath "My dear man, I wouldn&039;t waste et what you require? And to that end, may I remind you that there is no incentive for anization The profit you represent is what matters tosilence, but Assail knew better than to assume that it was because the slayer on the other side of the conversation was confused or lost

"I need another supply," the lesser ladly provide it"

"I need a loan" Now Assail frowned - but the lesser continued before he could cut in "You float et paid"

"That is not how I do business"

"Here&039;s what I know about you and yours You have a se area You need distributors - because you killed all the ones that were here before Without anization? No offense, you&039;re fucked You can&039;t begin to service all of Caldwell - and your product is worth nothing if you can&039;t get it into the hands of users" When Assail didn&039;t ihed softly "Or did you think you were unknown, ripped his cell phone hard

"So I&039;ht," the slayer concluded "You andwholesaler is Especially not in mycurrent incarnation"

Yes, the smell alone would ht

"I need you You needht hours to pay for it It&039;s just like you said We got shit without the other, brother"

Assail bared his fangs, the reflection of his face in the glass of the monitor fearsome indeed

And yet he kept his voice even and calm "Where would you like to ain, like he was enjoying this, Assail focused on the snarling ireedy, or take toothat was always true about business? No one was irreplaceable

As Trez ca on a cloud - and for a split second, he wondered if he was His body felt cohtless, to the point where he wasn&039;t sure whether he was on his back or his sto

Shhhscht

He lifted his head, and orientation calow of his alaronally down the bed

That sound caain

What was it? Metal onaround down the hall, his brother&039;s presence as known to him as his own So if it was anyone else in the apartment or a threat of any kind? iA hiot out of bed and - yeah, whoa, the rooain, there was absolutely, positively nothing in his stomach Matter of fact, it was possible he&039;d thrown up his liver, kidneys, and lungs during that one, and the spacey afterover front-loaded

When he walked into the loo, he knew better than to turn on the lights Little early for that still

The shower felt so good he nearly teared the fuck up And he didn&039;t bother shaving - there&039;d be tiut Robe was nice - toasty, especially as he curled the lapels in and covered his throat up

Bare feet kind of sucked, especially as he stepped out of his bedroom and into the marble-floored hallway, but he needed to find out what the hell that -

Trez stopped as he came to the doorway of his brother&039;s suite of rooers As he pulled another arain

Naturally, his brother didn&039;t seem surprised that Trez had made an appearance He just threw the load on his bed

Fuck

"Going somewhere?" Trez muttered, his voice too loud in his head

"Yes"

Crap "Listen, iA you up, too"

Trez blinked a couple of ti out solo Unless he wanted the satisfaction of pitching Trez&039;s gear off the balcony?