Chapter Ten – Kris

 

Hunter rolled left in his seat, his head drooping as he sniffed a little at the air. Eyes closed tightly, he breathed deeply and evenly, seemingly without a care in the world. He’d been asleep since ten minutes after we’d left Sea-Tac, and in our cramped quarters back in business class, I could almost hear him sleep-complaining about how I hadn’t sprung for first.

Just like a posh, spoiled dragon should act.

No surprise there, which was honestly a good thing. Surprises in this business are never good, especially when they come from a semi-trusted ally.

I closed the shitty airport paperback I’d picked up for the flight, my thoughts clearly too volatile to allow me to keep my train of thought. All the worries, all the confusion, and all the second-guessing seemed to crowd out the words on the page, to just make them paper thin and meaningless.

I had no idea why I was even upset with the way I’d found him in the shitty hotel lounge. He was a selfish prick, nearly ruled by his own self-interest. At least, he was supposed to be. It was how Col. Harrington had been able to force him into working with the PRB in the first place. And then, after that, how I’d managed to convince him to work with me on finding my old CO.

Which made it all the more surprising that he’d sent the bimbo packing. While I hoped he was turning over a new leaf, for his benefit if not mine, I was mixed on how I felt about it happening right now. Particularly with that file of his still weighing down the bag I’d checked.

I laid my head back against the headrest, and tried to close my eyes. We still had about two hours on the flight, and I figured I might as well get some sleep. But, of course, sleep wouldn’t come. I couldn’t read a fucking book without worrying about this shit, so why should getting rest be any different?

What did Col. Harrington want with me? I knew he’d said he wanted me to help him lead the PDB, but he hadn’t even really told me what the organization was. Who was funding it? What were their goals? He’d mentioned more resources, but could I really believe him? After all, they were hiding out in a bunker in the middle of nowhere, the doors and hatches adorned with old PRB runes. Not exactly cutting-edge.

I opened my eyes, sat up in the chair, and readjusted myself in the cramped quarters, missing my wings already. Something about being in the air under someone else’s control was always a little nerve-wracking. At least with my own form, I knew what was going on in the world around me. Of course, there was something to be said for being able to jump out of a plane without a parachute and still stick the landing.

“Hey,” I said to Hunter, nudging him hard in his ribs. “You awake?”

“Well, I don’t doubt that I am now.”

“Stop whining.”

“Not whining,” he said, straightening up in his seat and stretching as much as he could under these conditions. “Just, it would have been nice to be able to have more space than is allotted a cocker spaniel on these flights.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Now, why’d you wake me? Is there a hijacker or something, and you need my help? Oh, that’s right, you probably wouldn’t need any, would you? You’re G.I. Jane.”

“Oh, shut up,” I said, trying to fight back the urge to elbow him in the ribs on principle alone. “That movie came out ages ago, and I’m way prettier than Demi Moore.”

“Now, you are,” he said, his voice still slurred a little by the lingering effects of deep sleep, “but that movie came out how many years ago? And you haven’t aged a day since? I’d say you’re playing with a stacked deck, here.”

“You’d know, wouldn’t you?”

“Are you implying I’m a card cheat, too?” he asked, putting a hand to his chest as a little smile played at the corner of his lips. “Moi? I’m hurt, Kris. Why would you impeach my honor so? If this were the eighteenth century, I would call you out at dawn for your ruffian ways.”

Imagine, one of Europe’s most wanted thieves, a man with a rap sheet as long as my tail, not to mention one of the best cat burglars and con artists currently in the world, being hurt that you’ve accused him of cheating.

“Have you ever seen me cheat?” he continued. “Has anyone, for matter? No, of course not. Because I’m that good.”

“Cut the bullshit, Hunter. I need to talk.”

“About what? Going to try and make this worse by digging me an even deeper grave? Going to make me keep more secrets from our coworkers? Or are you going to somehow drag me off to another three months’ surprise imprisonment?”

I frowned and turned away, looking out the window. “You know what? You’re right.” I bit my lower lip, trying to focus on just the clouds passing by. Clearly, Hunter was still surly about not getting his piece of action last night.

“Soon as I’m back,” I said, turning back to him, the lie flowing off my tongue like it was the honest truth, “we’ll just get to work on finding that dossier and getting you free of this. You’ll be gone from Full Moon before you know it, and you can go back to whatever life you want to lead.”

He sighed, the seat creaking as he shifted. A cloudy look passed over his face as a frown creased his face. “You know that’s not what I meant, Kris.”

Elbows planted on the armrests, I crossed my arms and turned back to the window. “Sure as fuck sounded like it.”

“Look,” he said, turning a little in his seat and leaning towards me, so close I could feel his presence inches from my side, “I apologize. I was being a dick.”

“Was being?”

“Fine. I’m always a dick. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be an apologetic dick.” He paused as I turned back to him. “Now, what was on your mind?”

My nostrils flared a little as I tried to organize my thoughts. “The colonel,” I said, slowly at first, “and this whole new organization. What’s your take on it?”

“My opinion?” He paused, pursing his lips together as he moved his head from side to side as if he were deciding on how to proceed without hurting my feelings. “I’m honestly just hoping he doesn’t use my file to force me into helping him again. These guys seem a lot more stodgy than you lot. With FMS and PRB, at least I like you. I mean, if I were telling the complete truth.”

I paused, shook my head. “Why does it surprise me that that last phrase came from your lips?”

“Maybe because I’m a surprising individual? You hardly know me, Kris.”

I barely contained my grimace. There was that s-word again, only this time it had been uttered by him. On top of that, a mental image from the night before, of his file folder open in front of me on the hotel room bed, sprang to mind.

Unfortunately, I knew Hunter better than he thought.

“But, back to the point at hand, I never lie to the people I’m doing a job with. Ever.”

His words were a dagger straight to my gut. “Honor among thieves?” I asked, fighting back the urge to noticeably wince.

“More or less,” he said, nodding, his eyes searching my face.

“Is that what you think of me and the other shifters at work? That we’re all just part of your crew?”

He chuckled. “Initially? Yes. We’re all more or less of the same blood type, so to speak, so there’s a certain camaraderie there.” He paused. “Don’t laugh.”

I couldn’t help it. I had to stuff my knuckle in my mouth to stifle the peals of laughter threatening to overwhelm me as I turned away from him. To put himself on the same level as the team of shifters that worked under me at Full Moon Security was almost ludicrous. A thief comparing himself to a team of decorated military veterans who had all served their country with honor and distinction. Men I was proud to associate myself with, no matter what their species.

“Are you finished yet?” he asked as I was wiping tears from my eyes.

I held up a finger, asking him for one more second. “Almost.”

He rolled his eyes as I cleared my throat, using a knuckle to clear the last of the tear. “But, back to the question at hand,” he said. “I trust him in theory. Harrington’s methods aren’t beyond reproach, and he’s always been a little too reliant on the whole cloak-and-dagger way of working, but he believes he’s doing the right thing. I couldn’t see him getting on board with this organization if their motives weren’t relatively pure.”

“You can say that after what he did to you?”

His eyes grew distant, unfocused for a moment. He shrugged, and when he spoke, there was no malice in his words. “Even what he did to me, weirdly, was for the greater good, Kris.” He glanced at me as he paused. His face had changed as a sort of remorsefulness fell over his face. “How many artifacts did I prevent from falling into the wrong hands? How many lives were spared by my actions? Spared by yours? Yes, what Harrington did to me was wrong and reprehensible, but I wouldn’t have been there otherwise to help you or the unit.”

I ran my hand back through my hair, looking back out the window. I didn’t speak, just let Hunter’s words roll in my mind for a long minute.

“What about your take?”

I sighed, didn’t turn back to him. “Honestly?”

“We’re telling the truth, aren’t we?”

I frowned at the window. That word, again. In the past, I’d never had a problem manipulating assets, getting them to do what I needed them to do. That was part of the gig when it came to working intelligence. You told them as much of the truth as you needed to at the moment, but no more and no less. Sometimes, you outright lied, too. Especially if they were disposable. Even then, it had never sat right with me. But, it was my job.

What I was doing to Hunter was so much worse. He was more colleague than asset, now, and I was manipulating him just like an appendage.

“I enjoy my freedom, Hunter. It had been so long since I’d been free from it. Even when it was just FMS with him at the head. Still had a boss, but not the restrictions of a bureaucracy breathing down my neck. If I join up with him now, I’m just walking right back into it. And we’re doing good work, here. Sure, we’re working private security a lot of the time, but at least I have the choice to turn down jobs we don’t like.” I glanced back to him, but his gaze went right past me and to the port window I’d just been staring out. “You understand, right?”

He nodded slowly, his lips curled down in a slight frown. “Freedom. It’s a funny, funny thing. We all want to be birds in the sky, chasing after each gasp of wind, going where our wings can take us. But we all forget that those same birds fly north during the summer, and south for the winter. Their instincts and nature don’t care about their freedom—they still hold them to the task at hand.”

“Even birds aren’t free, then?”

“Nothing’s free. We all have our immutable nature,” he said, his eyes still fastened to the slowly passing clouds. A smile grew on his lips as he spoke. “For you, it’s to serve good. For me, it’s to see something I can’t have, and figure out a way to take it, even breaking the rules if need be.”

I didn’t reply, just let his words soak in, permeating me like soft rain on dry soil.

Could I be happy in a place like the PDB? Maybe. If they were doing the right thing, and they had more resources like Col. Harrington said they did. It wasn’t about the command, anymore. I’d had that. Maybe Hunter was right. Maybe it was about the chance to actually change things. To be a real force for good.

We only had a little while till our wheels hit the tarmac, and that deadline for my response wasn’t getting any further away.