Inamorata

Chapter Thirty-One - The Raid

Chapter Thirty-One - Author's note: My apologies for how LONG this chapter is. But I just couldn't break it up. Besides, I've posted some short chapters recently, so hopefully this makes up for them. Oh, and even though this is the raid, this isn't the end! More stuff has to happen yet! As always, votes and comments are lovely!

Update! Gorgeousness on the side there courtesty of the equally gorgeous sylverlady96. Kudos to her!

On Saturday afternoon, Nightingale was pressed up against her door, ear jammed up against it, trying desperately to hear the conversation going on out in the hall. Behind her, Peppermint and Silk were sitting still as statues, having been roughly told to shut it by a panicked Nightingale.

"Listen, Bobby, I don't know where you're getting this information, but it's obviously false," she heard a voice plead. 

This time, she did not recognize the sound of Hank's voice with disgust but, instead, nervousness. He sounded desperate, begging, as though something terrible were about to happen.

"I don't care. Even the rumour is bad enough," Nightingale heard Bobby reply. Her blood practically ran cold as her stomach twisted itself into a complex knot with worry. Bobby sounded panicked. He never sounded panicked. Had the unthinkable happened? Had he-

"Yeah, but don't do anything rash," said Hank. He sounded as though he was aiming for a calm air of composure, but Nightingale could hear the anxiousness behind it.

"Anything rash? I heard that it's possible I might have agents storming the bordello tonight and you want me to be calm?" shouted Bobby.

The sound was loud enough that it was not only Nightingale, but also the sharp-eared Peppermint and Silk that heard him, too.

Nightingale had only to glance their way to see that their faces were pale with fear. Silk gave a little whimper and Peppermint shushed her, though Peppermint's own eyes were wide with terror.

"And who the fuck did you hear that from?" they all heard Hank reply. His voice was raised too now, not the soft, entreating tone it had been before. "Not the Corp, I can tell you that for sure. Trust me, if something were going to happen tonight, we'd know. Half the government is on our payroll."

There was a short pause and Nightingale prayed silently to any God that would care to listen that Bobby would accept Hank's argument. After a few moments, during which Nightingale swore she could hear the beating of her own terrified heart, Bobby spoke.

"I guess you're right," he said. Nightingale gave a sigh of relief, closing her eyes and sinking down against the frame of the door. But at his next words, she stiffened once again. "But I'll be hiring some security, just in case. God help me, if government agents come through my fucking door, they'll be sorry they did."

Now it was both Peppermint and Silk who gave whimpers of pure terror. Nightingale though briefly of using her gun, but then remembered not only that she'd given it to David for safekeeping until that night, but also that using it would probably get them into far more trouble than they were in already.

And so Nightingale, though a similar terror battered at her, rounded on Peppermint and Silk. "Shut up," she snarled. Her expression must have been quite terrifying, for the two Inamoratas jerked back and were immediately still.

"Security?" asked Hank. "Where are you setting up these hired guns, then?" There was more than polite, professional interest in his voice. The question was too prying, to nosy to be something he could be justifiably asking in his capacity as Bobby's Inamorata salesman.

Luckily, Bobby was thick enough not to hear this in Hank's tone. "Don't know," he replied. "But I'm going to protect my investments, you can be sure about that."