Free Cold Blooded III: Sins and Sanctions (Nick McCarty Assassin Series Book 3) by Bernard Lee DeLeo Page B

lipped angst.
    “You traitor!” Rachel accused, as Jean enjoyed the moment loudly. “Muerto won’t always be at hand to protect you, pal.”
    Deke calmly sat down, and offered his paw. Rachel turned away, arms folded across her chest. “Apology not accepted.”
    Deke watched her for a moment, then dropped his paw, and perched into rear end scratching position on Nick’s lap to much amusement from everyone, including Rachel.
    “We want you to go swimming with us down at the huge indoor pool they have, Dad. C’mon. We leave tomorrow morning for Charleston. Can you take a break for a couple hours, swim, and hit the hot tub with us?”
    Nick suppressed the excuses foaming to his mouth with an iron will. His research into the case had him in a vice of considered future mayhem, and myriad ways to bring it about. One look at Jean’s pleading face though and he was lost. “Of course I can. I have one condition though.”
    “Booze, right?”
    “Very perceptive, my love,” Nick acknowledged. “I think I will need two bottled waters with our orange flavored drink packs emptied into them. Then I will swill enough to add a double Bushmill’s Irish into each. I believe I will be ready for the pool if those terms are met.”
    “Agreed,” Rachel stated. “What about Deke?”
    Nick patted Deke down. He stood and went to the everyday pack he always shouldered while walking Deke, or moving from one place to another. He took out a huge beef bone he had procured from a butcher’s shop. Deke smelled it immediately as Nick unwrapped the prize, eyes glued to the treat with deadly concentration. “I have something to keep Deke’s attention, while cementing me into his number one human slot.”
    Nick gave over the bone to a deliriously happy, tail wagging Deke. Nick laughed at Rachel and Jean posing in arms over chest disapproval.
    “That’s bribery!”
    “Good one, Dad,” Jean admitted. “If it gets you down to the pool with us and your drug of choice, I like it.”
    “Then the hell with national security, terrorists, and mass murdering cults… down to the pool I go. I would take this time to remind both of you the reason we have not gotten near the pool together is your Mom’s nearly manic adversity to being seen in a bathing suit. How is it she’s happy to go there now? Did you two find her a burka bathing suit?”
    Rachel gasped in indignation, but received no support from her daughter, bent over at the waist enjoying the burka dig. “Yes… I look very matronly in my bathing suit. Now let’s go before you pop my self-esteem bubble completely. I find it rudely inconsiderate of you to make fun of my looks when I’m carrying your child.”
    Nick and Jean did a dual gagging response in reply to Rachel’s whine. “Fine! Let’s go before you two turn me into a closed in pariah.”
    Jean high-fived Nick’s held up hand while Rachel’s back was turned. “I heard that smacking of disrespectful hands! You two are dead to me! Dead… to… me!”

Chapter Four
    Isis
    Nick glanced down at his iPhone from his surveillance of a Roxbury, MA warehouse. He had taken Rachel and Jean to their flight, walked Deke twice, and kept pursuing the angles derived from correspondence between Zarin and James Sherazi. Nick hit pay-dirt at a huge warehouse on Clifford Street. He hit the speaker button while still keeping sight on the warehouse.
    “A little busy here, Payaso. Don’t you have something better to do where you are, like enjoy your incredible hot tub with your lusty new bride?”
    “Damn it! I knew you’d go on mission without your trusty sidekick! What the hell?”
    “You were only married a couple of mornings ago, Payaso, my unromantic stooge. You should still be sweeping the lovely Tina off her feet, while living the dream in your plush suite. Unfortunately… you’ve decided to harass your hardworking superhero friend: El Muerto. For shame, Payaso… for shame!”
    “Are you done now?”
    “Of course not.”
    “You