Chapter Twenty-Four – Kris

 

“The enemy has been met, sir,” I said into my cell phone as I rode in the back of the rideshare car, “and they have been found wanting.”

The driver, a younger guy in his early twenties from the looks of him, gave me a look in the rearview mirror at my words. He quickly returned to his driving, though.

“Already?” Harrington asked, concern in his voice.

“They came after me with St. Georges, sir,” I said through clenched teeth. “Right into my home. Any idea how they found out about me?”

“More concerned about how they found out about us, period.”

“Your end secure?”

“As secure as it can be.” Harrington growled a little into the phone, and I pictured him shaking his head in frustration. “There’s no telling, though. With an organization this size, there’s always someone who thinks they can get away with it. We’ll find them, don’t worry. Yours?”

“Mine? The only people who know about you are Hunter and Tabitha, and she hasn’t been in the loop for more than a day. She’d never work with someone like that. Besides, not enough time to leak.”

“Good point. Has to be on my end, then. I’ll look into it.” He paused, licking his lips audibly into the receiver. “What does Hunter think of this whole thing?”

“Hunter?” I asked, staring out the car’s rear passenger side window as St. Louis went rolling past. “Why should he care? I gave him his file and told him to get the fuck out. That he’s free.”

The colonel didn’t reply for a long moment. He was always inscrutable, even in person, and so over the phone it was nearly impossible to tell what he was thinking.

“He take your advice and get out of town?”

“Not sure yet, to be honest. I hope he does.”

“Why’s that?”

“You my fucking counselor, now?” I blurted out with more vehemence than I intended. “Shit, sorry, sir. Not a lot of sleep last night.”

“No, I don’t imagine so. And you’re fine, Cole. Part of what I like about you is that you’ll tell me to fuck off when I need to be told to fuck off.”

I grinned a little. “Yeah, well, guess you’re getting that in spades here in a little bit.”

“Good.” He paused, and I heard papers shuffling on his end of the line. “All right, my counterpart will be meeting with you shortly at the office.”

“Already?” I asked. “Figured you wouldn’t have anyone on the ground for a briefing for a couple more days. If at all.”

“Call it commander’s intuition,” he replied. “Knew you’d come around eventually, Kris.” He coughed dryly into the phone. “One other thing, Cole. Office still secure as I left it?”

“More, sir. Tabitha’s learned a few new tricks, and we keep access to a minimum. Between her and the guys, we’d need someone as good as Hunter”—I stumbled for a second over his name, had to pause before continuing—“to place anything. Any kind of briefing will be secure.”

“Excellent. Time’s short, and I’ll need you moving soon as you can. No time for dilly-dallying, or else we’re gonna be caught with our pants down on this one. I’ll save that part for your briefing, though.”

“Yes, sir. Not exactly looking forward to it, but I’ll be ready.”

“I know it, Cole. Best damn operative I’ve ever met, and I wouldn’t accept anything less from you.” He paused. “And, Cole, if I don’t talk to you before you leave…good luck.”

“Thank you, sir. But luck’s not exactly what I’m betting on.”

He hung up on the other end just as I hung up my phone. I dropped it in my lap and kept staring out the window as I pushed my stray strands of hair back behind my ears. I shook my head at myself over the way I’d tripped myself up on just one mention of Hunter.

Giving him the file and telling him to leave had been the right thing to do, hadn’t it? I knew it was kind of shaming to tell him he couldn’t fight like I or the guys could, but what else could I do?

Same went for the file. He’d met his terms of the contract, and it was well past time for me to meet my part of the bargain. He didn’t deserve to be shackled indefinitely to FMS, or me. Had never deserved to be chained into servitude for the PRB, even. Sure, maybe he’d spent time atoning for his crimes, in a sense, but none of it had been in a prison. None of it had been in actual restitution to all the wealthy assholes he had ripped off.

Not that they’d really missed it, anyways.

Regardless, the colonel had stepped over the line when he’d brought Hunter on board the way he had. As far as he was concerned, Hunter was probably just as bad as the rest. But because he didn’t eat his victims, he could be utilized. He was nothing more than a tool in the fight against evil. Harrington didn’t give two shits about the dragonkin, one way or another.

If anyone was making restitution and atonement for what had been done to the dark-haired cat burglar, it was me. After all, I was the one who would never get to see Hunter, or Harrow, again.

I blinked, trying to preemptively clear the tears before they had a chance to arrive.

“New job?” the driver asked as I rubbed the back of my hand across my eyes.

“Huh?”

“Your phone call? Sounded like you were accepting a new job.”

I grunted, waving a hand dismissively. “Oh. Right. Kind of. New job, old boss.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Those old connections, man, those are the way to go. Always gotta be networking, you know?”

“Yeah,” I said, not bothering to look forward. “Networking. That’s right.”

“Got my last two jobs that way, you know.”

“Uh-huh,” I replied as we turned onto the road with the FMS office building.

“Course, one of them brought me here. Then, they ended up laying me off right afterwards, and I’m stuck in this town just driving, you know.”

“Life’s full of risks,” I mumbled. “Gotta know when it’s worth it to take them.”

“You’re telling me,” he replied, putting on the brakes as he came up in front of the building. He turned back, one arm on the passenger seat’s headrest. “First day, then?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head as I turned to face him. I slipped my hand inside the strap of my backpack and hefted it higher on my shoulder. Hand already on the door handle, I smiled grimly at him. “Last.”