Chapter Forty – Hunter

 

“You really think we can pull this off?” Simmons asked as he looked down at the map he’d drawn. “Just the three of us?”

Kris and I both shrugged. “Of course we can,” she said. “There’s only two locations we need to hit. The ritual doesn’t start till midday, right? At the exact zenith of the sun?”

Simmons nodded.

“Which means,” she continued, “he probably hasn’t moved whatever he needs to move, yet. You said so yourself, it’s only an hour drive from his hacienda to the amphitheater, but last you heard there’s still a guard on that wing of the house.”

“Which means whatever this plan is resting on, that’s the weak point,” I added. “It’s the fulcrum where we can kick over his lever.”

“But, there’s like thirty guys there,” Simmons said, exchanging looks with both Kris and me. “You can’t be fucking serious about taking them all down.”

“We’re going to strike at dawn, before the place is even up and moving. Right at the heart of Cid’s power.”

“I’ll go up and onto the roof here,” I said, pointing to the west side of the house, “and access that wing through the veranda. I’ll have the radio detonator with me.”

“Just as Hunter’s going into the house, he’ll detonate the truck that he’s already rigged with C4. Won’t be enough of a shockwave to destroy the house or anything, but it should be plenty to cause a distraction, move guards away from that wing. Lots of fire from the gas tank going up. Big and splashy, shock and awe. All that bullshit.”

“Meanwhile, Kris comes in for an airstrike. You said so yourself, they likely don’t have St. George bullets on-hand.”

“That’s a big chance,” Simmons said, shaking his head. “Those things’ll take you down in one shot, won’t they?”

“If they have them,” Kris added.

“What else, then?” Simmons asked.

“Kris covers my escape with whatever we’re going after,” I said, glancing over at her, “then we both take off. We meet you back here, and we fly you out if we have to.”

“Where do I come in? In the mission, I mean?”

“You?” I asked, pointing to the front entrance on the rudimentary map Simmons had drawn for us. “You get the truck to the front of the house, and you leave the rest to us. Get a vehicle soon as you can and get out. Stay any longer, and you’re going to think Marquez got off easy.”

The mercenary rocked back on his heels a little as he looked down at the map. He put a fist to his chin, looking back and forth between us. After a second, he smiled. “You know, I think this shit might actually work.”

I grinned back at him, actually feeling good about this whole thing for the first time since we’d left Mexico City.

Good enough, in fact, that I’d almost completely shoved down my feelings from the back of the pickup, while Kris and I had been curled up together as proof against the cold.

Had almost forgotten about how I needed to tell Kris about the deal I’d made with Harrington to get my file back.

Simmons clapped his hands abruptly, startling Kris and me both.

“All right,” he said. “I feel pretty all right about this. You guys good?”

Kris and I exchanged looks, both nodded. “Yeah. I think we’re good.”

“All right, then. See you guys in the morning.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, eyebrow raised.

“I gotta get back,” Simmons replied, jerking his thumb back over his shoulder. He looked back and forth between the two of us as he continued. “They’re gonna start wondering where I am. And if they start wondering, I ain’t getting up to Cid’s hacienda tomorrow morning. No way in fucking hell. He’s too damn careful for me to pull that kind of shit.”

“Nope, you’re good,” Kris said, running her hands back through her hair as she nodded, a little smile on her lips as she turned to me. “Hunter, he’s probably right. Better to keep everything looking normal before we move.”

“I can stay,” Simmons offered, wide-eyed. “If it makes y’all feel more comfortable, and all.”

“No,” I said, crossing my arms in front of me as I nodded to Kris. “If it’s okay with Kris, it’s okay with me.”

“All right. Then, I’ll see you guys just after dawn. Er, well, kind of.” He scratched the back of his head. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” Kris said. “We got it.”

Moments later, Simmons was starting up his truck in the front yard and heading out to the main road. He didn’t turn on the lights, just drove it by memory and moonlight.

Kris and I stood at one of the windows and watched him go, our flanks pressing against one another as we looked out from beneath the sheets Simmons had hung in the windows to block any kind of lights.

And as the truck drove out of sight, I realized we were truly very much alone for the first time in what seemed like a very long time. And, now that the plan seemed solid enough, all I could think about was what Harrington had had me do in exchange for my freedom.

She glanced up at me. “Nervous?” she asked, almost as if she was inadvertently reading my thoughts.

“About what?”

“Tomorrow, of course,” she said, laughing a little. “What else?”

I stepped back from the window, going over to the cot pressed against the far wall without saying a word.

“You okay?” she asked as I sat down on the cot.

I cleared my throat. “Listen, Kris, about earlier. In the pickup, I mean, when we were beneath the tarp.”

“What about it?” she asked, coming over to where I was seated. She sat down in the spot next to me, pressed her body against mine.

Something inside me relished the closeness, and without even thinking about it, I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her to me.

She laid her head on my shoulder, even as her hand went down to my leg. “You know,” she whispered, “I never thought I’d be here with you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“On an actual mission,” she replied. “Hiding out in a safe house together, having a plan of action we put together. One that, mind you, depends on your explosives you planted under a truck.”

“So I’m not rough and tumble enough, then?” I asked, the words spilling from my mouth.

“No,” she said with a little smile to her words, “it’s definitely not that. You’re just, I don’t know…full of surprises.”

As she spoke, I looked down at her and realized she was returning my gaze. Deep in her green eyes smoldered the flames that normally only ignited when she was angry, and I could feel the soft glow of them against my skin. My gaze flickered down to her mouth, back up to her eyes.

“Plenty of surprises,” she said, biting her lower lip.

I leaned forward, then, even as my brain screamed at me that I wasn’t supposed to be doing this. That I was supposed to be telling her about the deal between Harrington and myself. That I was supposed to be confessing my sins to her.

And as I moved, she did, too. Her lips came just as intently to meet mine. Soft pressure, a sweetness from the MRE peach cobbler dessert she’d eaten after her dinner. My hand went to her cheek as her fingertips traced my jawline, and our mouths were opening, our tongues probing gently and softly.

Her hands were down at the front of her black suit, pulling up at the hem, then her fingers were flying as she began to unbutton her top.

It clicked in my brain what was happening. What was about to happen, if I didn’t stop it. I pulled back. “Kris, we can’t,” I said, gasping for breath.

“What’re you talking about?” she asked, pulling back at first. “We sure as fuck can! We might die tomorrow—don’t you want to at least try something we’ve both been wanting, but have been too scared to do?” She pulled me back to her, and her lips were amazing and everything I’d ever dreamed of, and—

I pulled back again. This time I got up from the cot, gave myself some sorely needed distance. Otherwise, I knew I’d just give in to what every fiber of my being was telling me to do. “Kris! Please, I need to tell you something.”

“What? Is it about the woman from before?” she asked as she got up from the cot and began to cross over to me. “That’s fine, Hunter, I’ve loved other people, too. We’re practically immortal beings; it’s kind of expected.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s not that. It’s not about her. This is something else more recent.”

“More recent?” she asked, finally getting a good look at my face as I turned back to her. “How recent?”

“Alaska,” I said. “You…you might want to sit down for this.”

“No, I think I’ll fucking stand. What’s going on?”

I tried to look her in the eye, but I just couldn’t. I turned and looked at the wall behind me, instead. “It’s about Harrington.”

“What about him?” she asked.

“He and I made a deal,” I said, my shoulders sagging. “He was going to give me the file, but only if I helped him.”

“Helped him?” she asked, her voice now a growl. “Helped him with what?”

“Getting you to join the PDB,” I said, still staring straight ahead at the wall. “He was worried you’d stay with FMS, so he wanted me to get you on board.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment. “You lied to me?”

I looked back. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out. I mean, what could I say? She was right. I had deceived her about it, by omission if nothing else.

Kris groaned and went over to her cot. She slumped down onto it, slowly beginning to shake her head as she stared at the lantern. “After all that goddamn talk about ‘honor among thieves’ and ‘blah blah blah’ bullshit? You were fucking playing me the whole time?”

“Not the whole—”

“Nope,” she said. “You’re not talking. I’m fucking talking.” She turned her head slowly, fixing me with her flaming-green gaze. “I had your file, and I gave it to you. I let you go. You’ve been lying to me since I first saw you again in the bunker. This whole time.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just walked over to my cot and sat down in the middle of it.

“You fucking lied to me. You lied to me just like you did with every one of your other con jobs over the years.” She made a disgusted sound, shook her head. “I should have seen this shit coming. This is my fault, not yours. You’re a fucking thief, Hunter, and a fucking liar. That was your bread and butter, how you got your rocks off. Is that what I was to you? Is that what us getting close has been?”

I sighed as I leaned back, not stopping till my head hit the wall. I stared forward, let the shadows dance in front of me like a medieval morality play, the whole time wondering when the deus ex machina was going to come save me.

“Or is you telling me about this some kind of angle, too?” she asked. “Was that what telling me about Natalya was all about? Trying to show me your softer, wounded side?”

At the mention of her name, my eyes flashed black. I could feel the burning singe on my cheeks as the rage came up, nearly unchecked and unfiltered.

“No,” I growled, my voice like a thunderclap inside the small hovel.

“Did that kiss mean anything to you just now?” she asked, her voice much smaller than before.

I sighed. “I wouldn’t have told you about Harrington otherwise, Kris. You know that.”

Kris didn’t reply. Didn’t say anything. She just sat on her cot staring at the lantern, the same as I was.

I wondered idly, almost bitterly, if she could still feel my lips on hers the way I could still feel hers on mine. If she could taste me the way I tasted her. I wanted to go to her, then, to put my arms around her and pull her to me, but I knew it wasn’t right. That it wouldn’t solve anything. That it might just get my ass kicked.

“We should get some rest,” Kris eventually said, getting up from her cot. She bent down in front of the lantern, dimmed it down to nothing. “Long day tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

We both lay down, blankets spread over us, thin pillows beneath our heads. I stared up at the dark ceiling, praying slumber would come.

Eventually, it did. But it didn’t last long before I was awoken by the sound of Kris’s muffled sobs.