“Hey,” Whip said, gathering me up in a big bear hug, which hurt like hell. “You okay?”

I stared up at the three giants, eyes slanted, my gaze one of suspicion. “Yeah, I’m good.”

The three mountains didn’t smile, blink, move, or even appear to breathe. They just stood there, blocking out the sun.

“You asked for muscle, I brought muscle,” Whip said. He looked absolutely elated that he was finally able to provide something I needed. “Let me do the introductions. This is, uh . . .” He stopped, suddenly embarrassed. “I’ll stick to Christian names, how’s that?”

He pointed to the first guy, about six five, dark, bald, a gold hoop ring pierced through his nostrils like a bull. “This is Phil.” He moved to the second muscle—Hispanic, dark, heavy eyelids, jowly, a thin surgical bandage under his right eye. I knew instantly why. He was having the teardrop tats removed from his face, in stages. “That’s Antonio.” And the third—one brown eye, one blue, white-blond hair cut short, eyelashes to match. “And this is Seamus.” He turned back to me, his arms akimbo. “Good enough?”

“You understand I only want a deterrent,” I said. “A safety wall? No one comes near the house who shouldn’t be here.” I made it a point to make eye contact with each guy. “No one gets hurt. No one dies.” I got no reaction at all.

“Yeah, I explained all that coming over,” Whip said. “We blanket the house and stick here till we hear from you.” He frowned. “You look worried. What’s up with that?”

I stepped away from the group, waving for Whip to join me. “You said you knew guys who specialized in security. You brought me ex-cons?”

Whip looked at me like he didn’t see the problem. “Yeah? So? I’m an ex-con. Who’d you think I was going to bring? Harry Potter and the rest of those baby wizards? This is the best security I know. All totally straightened out, by the way. Phil works construction, Antonio’s an ace mechanic, and Seamus is a personal trainer. Besides, who knows better than a bad guy how to stop a bad guy? And they don’t even half mind that you used to be a cop.”

I took one last assessing look, then got my head around it. I needed the house covered and I didn’t have time to do it myself. I had to get to Marta to see if she had Spada on ice.

Whip draped his arm over my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Bean. We got this. Not even Santa Claus could get into that house while we’re sitting on it.”

Chapter 40

Chapter 40