The Most Dangerous Dame

“Not bad.” I finished it and lifted a finger to the barmaid for a reload. “Cognac isn’t really my poison, but I can’t argue with this blend.” I took a look around the swirling array of movement, dancing, and boisterous laughter. “Gotta say I didn’t think this type of joint would be your style.”

“Oh?” She raised a coy eyebrow as she lifted her long-stemmed cigarette holder to her lips. “And what would you say is my style, Mr. Trubble?”

“Some Goth joint with pasty-faced vamps sipping Bloody Mary and waxing poetic about death.”

She smothered her giggles behind a velvet-gloved hand. “That’s a first. Glad to see I’m still capable of surprising.”

A mime-faced barmaid dropped off a fresh drink. I sipped slowly. “Can’t blame a fellow for the misunderstanding. The word on the streets is all about the men you’ve put on ice. Not so much about your charm and good looks.”

“Does that make you nervous, Mick? Some men can’t resist a bad girl. But you — you like the quiet ones, don’t you? Like your little lost girl, what’s her name…?”

“Natasha.”

“Natasha.” A wicked grin spread on Electra’s face. “Is she your speed, Mick? Sweet, quiet — does whatever you say?”

I smiled in return. “Not gonna bait me with that, Electra. When it comes to my speed, it whittles down to a single word: woman. After that I’m not particularly choosy.”

She laughed again. “I like you, Mick. It’s not often I come across a man I like. Most of the men I meet bore me to tears.”

“Most of the men you meet are probably scared to death of you.”

“I don’t see why.” Smoke trails whorled from her cigarette holder when she elegantly spread out her toned arms. “Isn’t this what the average man looks for in a woman?”

“The baby cousin of New Haven’s most powerful Don and a notorious killer in her own right? I don’t see why more men aren’t running you down, Ms. Flacco.”

She delicately dipped her shoulders as her gaze drifted to the stage. “I suppose that might have something to do with it. It’s a funny thing, being a dangerous woman. A man can be dangerous. He can be a known killer. He can be all that I am and still find an endless stream of women fighting one another for the chance to tumble in his bed. But a woman…?” She exhaled a stream of smoke and smiled. “It’s just the opposite.”

I lit a gasper and let it dangle from my bottom lip. “Guess that means you’re trading in your handgun for knitting needles and an apron, right?”

She threw her head back and cackled. “If my brother could only see that. He’d probably die laughing.”

“I bet. So tell me — how did you get in this line of business? I’d imagine your mom wasn’t exactly thrilled.”

“My mother died when I was very young. My father worked hard and didn’t have much time to invest in making me a proper lady. I followed my brother everywhere he went. Whatever Nate did, I wanted to do too. He eventually got tired of chasing me away and started to teach me stuff. When he went to work for my uncle, I’d already learned the ropes. I proved myself by earning big and taking care of business.” She puffed on her long-stemmed holder and smiled. “That’s how I got where I am today.”

I held my glass up. “To taking care of business.”

We finished our drinks and signaled for reloads. Electra leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. “Speaking of taking care of business, how do we make sure your psychotic ex is on to us?”

I puffed on my gasper and spoke around the exhaled smoke. “I’ve been under Natalie’s radar long enough to spook her and take out her tech partner. That makes her pretty vulnerable right now. I gave the word to my tech-savvy friend to put me back on the grid a couple of hours ago. That should be long enough for Natalie to zero in on my location using her resources. I’m pretty sure she knows exactly where I am right now and has a few roaming surveillance orbots in the area. She should have a bird’s-eye view when we go upstairs and heat things up. I figure she makes a move. When she does it’ll be our best shot at nailing her.”

“Nailing her?” Electra swatted me on the hand. “Here I thought I was the sole focus of your masculine attention.”

“All kidding aside, this could turn ugly fast. You sure you’re up for this, Electra?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Her expression was deviously delighted when she stood and offered her arm. “What do say, Mick? Time to go upstairs and heat things up?”

I shook my head. My gut told me things were about to go downhill real quick. I knew our little plan was held together with duct tape and coat hangers, but maybe it was the atmosphere in the joint — a potent combination of sex and humor that made me giddy with the sense of invulnerability. Maybe it was the nonstop chain of drinks we’d downed in the last hour, or maybe it was Electra herself. She was a magnet and I was just a rusty nail unable to resist her pull. She was so confident, so fearless. So alive.

Maybe that was the reason I’d talked myself into trying to pull off the stupidest gambit of all time.