Monsters by Matt Rogers (bill gates books to read TXT) 📕

Mission than the Palo Alto Hills, but King and Slater wanted to get off the road as fast as possible. There was no telling how many men Heidi had ordered to take Mary, and they couldn’t be completely sure who’d witnessed what happened at Azure Waters. There’d been passing traffic the whole time — inevitable in San Francisco — and someone could’ve looked out their window and seen Slater smash an elbow into the thug’s face on the landing, then violently hurl the other two into the room. They might’ve called the cops. In relation to other cities, SF wasn’t exactly a crime hotspot. There were bad neighbourhoods, sure, but the tide usually lifted all ships. Wealth raised the bar of safety.

So they found an available rental property online in St. Francis and booked it for a night, no questions asked, and they were off the street fifteen minutes after peeling away from the motel.

Alexis got there fifteen minutes after that.

Slater threw the door open when she pulled into the townhouse’s driveway and crossed to her. He held her by the shoulders, looked her up and down. ‘You’re not hurt?’

‘Back’s killing me,’ she said. ‘But I took care of it.’

‘How many came after you?’

‘Six.’

Understanding passed between them. They could unpack it later, talk through the intricacies of the psychological effects, but for now all that mattered was that she was alive.

That they were all alive.

She said, ‘We barely spoke on the phone.’

‘Mary’s inside. They were taking her as we got there.’

‘How many?’

‘Three.’

She raised an eyebrow, asking a question with a gesture.

He nodded.

She said, ‘So nine dead in total.’

‘Yeah.’

‘And I took two out early this morning. The ones watching Mary’s place. I left them alive but they’re not going to be useful for weeks.’

They exchanged a look.

Slater said, ‘Heidi can’t keep doing this forever.’

‘She’s going to try. She called a phone in the ride I took. One of the guys left it behind. I answered and spoke to her. I get the sense she’s going to double down.’

Slater hadn’t even noticed what she was driving. Now he looked at the black SUV. ‘That’s not the car you rented?’

‘No. I drove that into a lake. Long story. This one’s theirs.’

‘Get it off the street.’

She got back in the SUV and drove it into the one-car garage that Slater opened up for her. Then they went inside. King and Mary were hunched over the dining room table. Both looked stoic, but when Mary looked up and saw Alexis she nearly broke down.

She crossed the room and pulled her into a hug. ‘Fuck, I’m so sorry. They must’ve followed me. I didn’t do any of the evasive measures you told me about. I couldn’t remember them. I panicked. I’m…I’m not used to this.’

Alexis held her at arm’s length, shook her head. ‘You’re not supposed to be used to this.’

‘You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

Alexis sighed. ‘Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.’

King got up, went to her, hugged her. When they parted he looked into her eyes. ‘Was it bad?’

‘I don’t know how to feel,’ she mumbled.

‘Focus on today first,’ he said. ‘You can deal with all that shit later.’

‘Yeah.’

They all settled at the kitchen table.

Alexis sighed, ran her hands through her hair. They could see she was looking to distract herself from what had happened. They waited for the inevitable questions.

She said, ‘So Frankie being in California isn’t a coincidence?’

King shook his head. ‘We don’t have actual confirmation, but it’s obvious enough. We wormed our way into teaching a class. He was impressed. All we had to do was hint at an unsavoury past and he asked us to come back at nine-thirty tonight. After the gym’s closed.’

Alexis raised her eyebrows. ‘To kill someone for Heidi?’

‘He didn’t say. We’ll find out.’

‘Would he really try to recruit you that quickly?’

Slater said, ‘That was our plan. We weren’t sure if it’d work. But he could see what we were capable of. He knew, if he got us on board, we’d be indispensable. He’s probably fantasising about it now. Having us go out there two, three times a night, rake in six figures for him in a single evening. Even after our cuts, he’d be making a fortune.’

King watched Alexis closely. ‘I heard you two in the driveway. You said Heidi called you.’

Alexis nodded. ‘Last I told you about was going into Vitality+. She seemed unhinged then, too…’

‘But now?’

‘It’s worse.’

Slater said, ‘Let me play devil’s advocate.’

They all looked at him.

He said, ‘King and I go for Heidi marauder-style, wipe her out. We do the same for Frankie. Then we fuck off back to Boston and get Alonzo to put another digital blanket over us, hope the police don’t track us down in the aftermath.’

By the time the words left his lips he knew it wouldn’t work, then Mary said, ‘And I could just give everything to the media, call Heidi’s bluff.’

Alexis shook her head at Mary first. ‘It’s not a bluff. Nothing matters to her besides the company, her image, her success. Nothing. If she doesn’t have it, life’s not worth living. I’ve only talked to her twice but I know that for a fact. And she’s spiteful. If she knows she’s going down, sees the PR implosion, I’m convinced she’ll kill as many of her perceived enemies as she can before she goes. And by perceived enemies I mean company employees. Men and women working their asses off for a tyrant of a boss.’

Alexis looked at Mary to see if she disagreed with any of that.

Mary nodded slowly. She seemed to agree. And she’d known Heidi for years.

King said to Slater, ‘And as for your idea—’

Slater shook his head, cutting him off. ‘I know. That’s why I played devil’s advocate. You just can’t do that shit today, not in a city like this. At work there’ll be hundreds of innocents in the mix and cameras everywhere. Not to mention the police presence the moment shit hits the fan. And we need more work on Frankie’s