“She’s wild, isn’t she?”
“Wild…” Who? Harper?
“Her father was an important man at one time, but his loyalty was questioned. Never proved, obviously, or he’d have been dead a long time ago. So I expected the girl to have a similar nature.”
Sasha. He sent me Sasha as a gift. To do what? “Yes, sir, she’s a little shit. But fairly easy to manipulate. Do you have something specific you’d like me to use her for?”
“Her father was wild as well,” the Admiral says, ignoring my words once again. “So the apple and the tree, right?”
We share a small chuckle. Ha ha, yes, the apple and the tree. I have no f**king idea what he’s talking about.
“And my son?”
I shake my head. This I can answer and it’s even the truth. “No, sir, nothing on his location.”
“Well, I have to say I’m a bit surprised by that. You haven’t done much, Tet.”
The Company name stings a little, I have to admit. I’ve always been James to him. Or Six, but only once that first day. It’s always been James. “My time’s not up, so I’m not worried.”
“If the child has not given up his location yet, then she’s of no use to you. Have you questioned her about it?”
I feel like I’m coming in on the middle of a meeting, that’s how confusing this shit is. Did I miss a message somewhere? What the f**k was I supposed to do with Sasha? “We were just talking about it at the table, actually. So she’s close.”
“Good. Get that location tonight and I want her eliminated before dropoff.”
“Yes, sir,” I say automatically. “Drop off is still on schedule.”
“Don’t cut it too close, understand?” His dark eyes bored into me. “I have a deadline too.”
“Sir, I understand. We’ll be on our way tomorrow.”
“Excellent.” He smiles at me and I force one back. “I’ll see you soon. Please bring me good news.”
“Yes, sir,” I say, but he’s already turned his back, walking out the door.
I wait a few seconds, then follow and make my way to the bar. “Pack of Reds, please. And a lighter.” The bartender walks off and returns a few minutes later with my smokes. I am not a big smoker these days. In fact, I officially quit three years ago. But ever since Tony, I’ve been using them to think things through.
And right now, I need to do a hell of a lot of thinking to understand what just happened.
You know what happened, Tet says in my head. “Elimination order,” I whisper to myself. The bartender is only a few feet away and he catches my words, shoots me a terrified look, and quickly walks off.
There’s no smoking indoors in California, so the only thing on my mind right now is getting the f**k out of this place so I can get a nicotine fix. I slip my pack into my pocket and walk calmly back to our table.
Harper and Sasha are laughing about something. They clue me in and I laugh too, but I have no idea what was said. The Admiral’s words are echoing through my mind. I want her eliminated before dropoff.
The girls stand and I throw some cash down on the table for a tip. My meals here are complimentary, there is no check. But the girls won’t know that, so when Harper starts questioning me about what took so long, I tell her I paid already.
She buys it, laces her hand in mine, and she continues her conversation with Sasha as we start walking out. The windows are on the left and I look out over the valley, towards the looming mountains.
A feeling of doom washes over me. A leftover reaction to the Admiral’s order, maybe.
Or maybe it’s from the approaching darkness.
Because that sunset I wanted to see so badly is long gone.
Chapter Twenty-Five - Harper
James is quiet the whole drive home, and this bugs me. So much about him bugs me. It’s like one second he’s everything I need right now, then that gets turned off and he’s back to being the job. Plus, I admit, I’m falling pretty hard for him. All it takes is a look and I’m wet between my legs, secretly begging him to touch me. And after he said all those things to me last night about trust—if I tell you to walk through fire, it’s because I know you are fireproof, and the ten days’ promise—it’s like he knows just what I need. Like he’s got the inside scoop on how to make me feel desirable. And safe. He knows how to push all the right buttons. He takes the anxiety away. Hell, the past few days have been so easy for me in terms of keeping the anxiety in check.
But why them? Why am I here with these two? It’s just weird. There has to be something the Admiral wants from James to give me to him. The only other explanation is that the Admiral is setting James up.
But for what? And why? The Admiral made that offer twelve years ago, so how can all this be related?
Shit, I have no idea.
James turns into the long driveway that leads us back to the house, and I notice Sasha is quiet in the back. I turn around in my seat and she’s sprawled out across that table thing that separates the buckets. “You didn’t make her put her seatbelt on?”
“No?” James answers absently as he parks the Hummer. “Well, hardly matters now. We made it home and she’s still alive.”
Maybe this is a stupid example, but earlier he’s demanding she buckle up and sit straight, like her safety is second nature. But now he’s… distracted. Sasha is off his radar.
James gets out and then opens Sasha’s back door. I watch from the front seat as he nudges her. “Wake up, Smurf, we’re home.”