"Ready boys," she said as she headed down the street.
"We can hear you loud and clear," Tyler replied.
"Good," she said.
Right at two, the limo pulled up. She climbed in. Alex nodded at her disguise. He looked behind them to make sure they weren't followed then headed out onto the road.
He didn't say a word as they drove, but Miranda didn't expect him to.
Alex took detours to make sure they weren't followed. Miranda stared straight ahead, acting like she didn't care where they were headed, but she took in every detail.
When they reached the house she was searched and one of the men found her gun. But they let her keep the gun on Alex's insistence.
"She needs it for later," he informed the others.
Tyrone walked down the stairs to meet her. He smiled at her. "You are in disguise, good girl, and I see you wear my gift."
"Yes, I did."
"They look lovely on you, but will look even lovelier in the dress I have chosen for you to wear tonight."
She nodded. "But won't that be hard to wear, in case I need to run?"
He chuckled. "I want you in a dress so those men don't suspect anything. Besides, I will have my men right by you, so you shouldn't have to worry your pretty little head over a thing. Now, have you eaten lunch yet?"
"No, I have not."
"Good, let's go eat, then we shall discuss our plans for tonight, okay?"
She agreed with him and followed him into the dining room. They ate a very luxurious lunch, and afterward, he took her into his study again. He motioned for her to sit as he did. He smiled across at her. "I noticed the cops are not here to arrest me, so you must not have told anyone about me."
"Why would I turn in the man who is treating me so well, and paying me so handsomely. Besides what would they charge you with, they have no proof of anything, do they?"
"No, not a thing, and they never will. So, are you nervous about tonight?"
"A little," she admitted.
"Don't be, besides once you kill one person, a cop isn't so hard."
Miranda tried not to wince. This man was very heartless, but he was a drug lord, so no surprise.
"You can shoot well?" he asked her.
"Yes, I can handle a gun quite well."
"Good, because I don't want you hurt."
"I take it I won't be wearing any protection?"
"No, because I assume this will go off well. If you are shot, then you are not as good as you said you were, right?"
"You are right," she agreed.
"I already had someone tip off the cops about tonight. At midnight on Pier 20. I wanted to make sure we have a good turnout."
He stood then and held out his hand. "Let's go see how good you are with your gun." He knew she had one on her. Alex had informed him that she had carried, but he didn't care, because that meant when she shot the cop, the gun would be traced back to her, not him.
Miranda nodded at him and followed him out into the backyard. The yard was even more beautiful during the day.
"See that statue in front of you?" he pointed to one about ten feet in front of them.
"Yes."
"Good, shoot it in the heart."
She nodded and pulling out her gun she did as asked. She saw marble fly as she hit it. Then they walked over to it. He smiled at her.
"Perfect hit. That statue is dead. I think you will do well tonight."
He waved his men away that had come running at the sound of the gunshot. "Just training," he assured them. They nodded and walked away. "Where did you learn to shoot like that?" he asked her.
"My father. He was a hunter. He took me with him on several occasions, and I have taken classes."
He nodded. "You are very good. I suppose I shall not have to worry too much about you," he told her, as they walked.
He showed her around his mansion, even the pool outside. They then headed in, watched a movie, had a late dinner then he handed her two boxes that one of the maids had brought into the study after dinner. They had adjourned in there to visit. One box was quite a bit bigger than the other.
"For my lovely lady," he smiled as she sat on the couch in his study and opened them. She smiled as she pulled out a beautiful red dress from the larger box.
"I know, it is impractical, but they will be too busy staring at you to worry about fake drugs," he smirked. "I also found you a red wig it will be in the guest room when you are ready to get dressed."
"What, you don't like my blonde one?" she grinned, patting it.
"It is nice, but red will match the dress better," he told her. She had to agree with him and then she opened the other box. Inside was a beautiful necklace. It had a small red heart, surrounded in small diamonds.
"Tyrone, I cannot accept this," she told him, trying to hand it back. "You already gave me these beautiful earrings."
"I know, but I want you to look stunning, and that necklace is perfect."
"Thank you, Tyrone, so much, it is so beautiful."
"Yes, I know, to go with that beautiful face of yours." He stood then and reaching into his desk he pulled out a leg holster. "Strap this to your leg, then your gun will be hidden under your dress."
"Thank you, I will need it."
"I know. Now, go rest for a bit, and I will meet you downstairs around eleven-thirty, okay?"
She agreed, and thanking him again she left the room. She was shown to a guest room up the stairs where she laid her dress on the bed, then she laid down. It would be a long night, she would need some rest to be on her game. She didn't talk to Tyler in case there were listening devices in the room, but he talked to her.
"Good luck tonight Miranda, be safe, and we will try and keep the bullets to a minimum so you don't get shot."
She slept for a little while then around eleven she got up and dressed into the red dress and wig, put in brown contacts, and a lot of makeup, changing her looks completely. Good, no one would recognize her, she hoped, especially Cole. He didn't need to know that she was there, or he would have her head. She strapped her gun to her leg and then went down the stairs to meet Tyrone. He was waiting by the door for her. All heads turned her way as she descended the stairs.
"I knew that red was your color," Tyrone grinned at her as she met him by the door. The guards all ogled her as she walked up to Tyrone.
He handed her a briefcase. "These are the fake drugs, so here is what you do. You pull up to his car, you exchange. Cops show up, there will be a shootout. You kill a cop, get the money and get back here, okay?"
"Okay, you're not coming?"
"No, I never come unless I am dealing with another big dealer, but this guy is small-town news. So do as you are told and you should be back here in a while, okay?"
"I would rather you come with me," she said.
He smiled. "I am sure you would, but there are five men right there who will make sure you make it back safely, okay?"
She nodded. "Fine, they'll have to do," she pouted, making him chuckle.
He kissed her on the cheek as she walked out. "Good luck," he told her and watched her get into the limo, all five men following.
Miranda looked at the four burly men and smiled. "So, what are your names?" she asked, "I need to know, in case I need any of you."
"Trent, Hagen, Tristan, Bruce, you already know Alex," Trent said, nodding at the black man.
She nodded. "Good to know."
She took a deep calming breath as they pulled up to the pier a few minutes later. The men knew how she felt, killing someone for the first time was not fun.
Miranda got out of the limo. The other men were already waiting for her. They nodded at her as she headed to them, ogling her as she did so.
"Where is Tyrone?" one of the men asked her.
"He was feeling under the weather," she replied with an Irish brogue, "so he sent me in his place."
"We don't mind," one of them chuckled.
"You his girl?" the main guy asked.
"Could be," she smiled as she put the briefcase onto the hood of the limo and popped it open to show the drugs inside. The men nodded and opened their briefcase to show the money. One of Miranda's guards then took the briefcase with money in it as the other drug dealers took the fake drugs.
"Nice doing business with you gentlemen," she said as bright spotlights shown all around them.
"Hold it right there, FBI and police!" came a shout.
Several cops came running towards them. Tyrone's men started to shoot at the cops and agents, Miranda spotted Cole among them. He pointed his gun at the man next to her. "Don't even move," he said. He looked very mean and very serious. Her heart jumped into her throat, as she grabbed her gun.
Suddenly she spotted Chad running towards her. "FBI put down the gun," he warned.
More gunfire erupted around them, and taking the opportunity, Miranda shot her weapon, hitting Chad in the chest. He fell to the ground.
"Put your gun down now!" Cole yelled, aiming his gun at her, but she hurriedly climbed into the limo. "Get out of here now!" she screamed, but as she was closing the door, a bullet hit her leg. She frowned, as they pulled out of the lot, bullets riddling the limo, as they tore away. She was very grateful that Cole had only shot her leg, and not shot her in the head. She took a deep sigh as Alex drove. That had been too close.
Trent held up the briefcase. "Nice work Lara, and shooting an FBI agent? Tyrone will be very happy."
She nodded and then looked around for something to stop the bleeding on her leg. Hagen handed her a hankie from his pocket. "Sorry, it's all I have," he said.
"It'll do for now," she said, wincing as she put the hankie onto her leg. It didn't help much and the hankie was soon red with blood.
"You know you will be on the FBI's most-wanted list," he told her, "they will come and hunt you down."
"Hunt who down? They won't even know who they are looking for," she pointed out.
She looked back then to see cops chasing them. "Better step on it," Trent told Alex. After several agile moves, he lost the cops and agents and headed back to Tyrone's.
Miranda was sure it wasn't that the cops gave up, but that they were letting them go because they knew who was in the car.
"Nice work detective," she heard in her ear. It was Tyler. "Chad will be okay. He is being taken by ambulance to the morgue," he chuckled. "I'll come by later to check on you, I know you were shot. If Cole knew it was you he had shot, he would not be happy," he chuckled. "Hope you are okay. I'll see you later."
She didn't answer, she couldn't, but she was glad that Chad would be okay, and Tyler was right, Cole would not be happy if he found out who he had shot. She was surprised that Tyler knew she had been shot. Cole must have told him that he had shot the redheaded woman. She closed her eyes seeing in her mind the look of pure anger on Cole's face when he had aimed his gun at her after she had shot Chad. What had him hesitating? Was it because she was a woman? Or had he recognized her? She hoped not. One thing for sure was that she was happy to be alive.