“She’s in the news, Leo. They have to go too—regardless, they have to go too.”
“They?” It didn’t make sense to him.
“Her parents,” Mark clarified. “We can’t send any of you anywhere with your names. They want revenge on all of you now.”
“And this is why I didn’t want friends. I ruined their lives.”
Mark pulled into a gas station. “Maybe, so,” he murmured as he shut off the engine. He turned, leaning around the seat to meet Leo’s gaze. “But it’s done. At least you can start a new life with friends. Not everyone gets to do that.”
“I can’t. They’ll have to go somewhere else.”
“Why?”
Leo craned his neck to one side. “I’m identifiable anywhere I go. They need to be far away from me.”
“There’s laser surgery…”
“You know the government isn’t going to pay for that. I’ve looked into it—fifty thousand minimum. I can’t do it.”
Mark didn’t answer. Without a word, he stepped from the car, softly shutting the door behind him. Leo sighed. Allison’s hair spilled over her face as she shifted. Without thinking, he brushed it back again and curled his arm around her.
The duplex sat on the main street in Stoneyhill. Allison watched as Mark examined every inch of it, relaxing only when he pointed to one of the tiny bedrooms. “That’ll be yours and your parents’. The other is Leo’s.”
“I’ll take the couch.”
She frowned. “Not necessary. I can—”
“I’m not putting you on the floor. I’ll take the couch.”
“The beds are queens,” Mark suggested. “You could bunk guys and girls…”
“Okay. That’ll work.” Allison carried her bag to the room Mark had indicated and dumped it on the dresser. Unpacking would be pointless.
Leo followed, arguing, but she grabbed his bag and dumped it on the bed of the next room. He protested again. “Allison…”
“It’ll be weird for you, sure. But you’ll survive. This’ll give me time with Mom too. We haven’t had a chat since—how long? Two weeks now.”
“Just over one,” Mark corrected, calling out from the living room.
“But I didn’t have time with her before that either. We’d been busy.” She smiled at Leo. “Dad doesn’t bite. I promise.”
“Considering he’s a dentist, biting is the least of my concerns regarding your father.”
It was the first thing Leo had said that felt like “him” to her since the morning at his apartment. “There’s the Leo I know.”
He excused himself to the bathroom and Allison stepped into the living room again. “He’s relaxing some. Not sure what you did, but thanks.”
“We had a good talk last night.” Mark yawned.
“You need sleep. You drove for like twenty-seven hours straight.”
“Yes, and I can’t until Keith gets here.”
“Keith is coming?”
“Yeah. I sent him to Rockland to visit his not-quite girlfriend first.”
She smiled. “That was nice of you.”
“He’s my best. I take good care of my people.”
Before she could respond, they heard a tentative knock on the door. Mark pointed to the wall behind the door and waited before opening. “Hey there.”
Between the hinges, Allison saw a kid—about twelve—standing nervously on the step with a carrier bag over his shoulder. “I—I just saw your car and brought you a paper. If you want to sign—” The boy looked past Mark and his eyes widened. “Whoa—cool tatts.”
Allison froze, her eyes turning to Leo and dismay on her features. Leo glanced from Mark to Allison, visibly alarmed. “Wha—”
Mark didn’t flinch. He accepted the paper, fished a dollar from his pocket, and thanked the kid for his “excellent customer service.” “We’ll call if we want to subscribe.”
The boy turned, with one last glance at Leo, and shuffled down the drive to his bike leaning against the mailbox. Mark shut the door, pulled out his phone, and sent his fingers flying over the keys. “Grab the bags.” He peered out the window, watching the door. “We’ll go as soon as that kid is gone.”
As he passed the TV, Mark turned it on, flipping through channels until a voice came through—even if the picture didn’t. Allison sagged. “You’re kidding. If we can’t be seen, why did you open the door?”
“Because it’s more obvious if you don’t answer when you obviously are there than if you do.”
“And we have to go, why? So what—”
“The minute that kid mentions your spider web, it puts this house in danger. I doubt it’ll be here tomorrow.”
“They can’t find out from a kid in Sticksville—”
“Stoneyhill,” Allison corrected automatically. “But Leo’s right. They’re not going to hear that some kid here in this little town happened to see a guy with a tattoo of a spider web on his neck.”
“They will as soon as Keith tells our guy that you were. We’ll use it.”
“I think you’re all nuts,” Leo growled. “This is ridiculous. Even the Kasimirs wouldn’t play these kinds of cat and mouse games. You’re just a spoiled rich dude playing Mission Impossible.”
“Leo!”
“It’s fine, Allison. I just won round one with him.”
Leo crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you figure?”
“I just got you to admit you don’t believe I’m Kasimir.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Keith parked at the end of the street and jogged through the narrow alley between fences. Dogs barked, but he ignored them and jumped the back fence without bothering with the gate. He slipped into the garage and leaned against the door, remembering. What would Erika say if she knew he was back in the same house?
Another text message came. AN HOUR OUT.
He had time… she didn’t expect it… a smile crept around his lips. Keith pulled out another phone and slipped a SIM card in it. “Hey.”
“What are you—are you still outside?”
The sounds of a door opening and cars driving past as Erika stepped out onto her porch amused him. “Nope.
“What? You totally failed the romantic comedy moment.”
“Which one is that?”
A door closed and the low mumble of the TV ceased. In his mind, he saw her sit in her favorite corner of the couch. Did she have a bottle of water there? A swallow—yep. There was that water.
“You know, the guy leaves, and comes back or surprises the girl by coming and calling from her doorstep. She answers the phone and the door at almost the same time. Cue romantic music and a corny line followed by an amazing kiss.”
“Taking notes…” Just the sound of her laughter made the call worth it. He watched the clock on the stove saying, “I only get five minutes.”
“That’s five more than we had. I’ll take ‘em. You on the road?”
“Nope.” As much as he wanted to tell her, he couldn’t.
“You’ve got to be close, then. That means when you’re done, you can come see me.”
“I’ll expect a free coffee,” Keith agreed.
“Dream on. You’ll pay like everyone else.” He heard her harrumph and grinned as she added, “I swear; the religious dude wants me to steal from my employer. Shame on you.”
“Then I’ll buy you one.”
“I’ll take one of the new tangerine iced teas instead.” Erika sighed. “I can’t believe you called.”
“I had a minute.”
“I was reading Lazarus.”
“Yeah?” Keith relaxed, leaning against the fridge as she told him about her impressions.
“Gotta say, I’m with Martha. I would have been a bit ticked too.”
“Ticked?”
Erika’s frustration boiled over. “Well, yeah! Didn’t you read it? She’s frustrated! I can hear her, ‘Look you twit, if you had been here, he wouldn’t have died!’”
Despite his amusement, Keith winced at hea
ring her call Jesus a twit. Before he could comment, her voice quieted. “Sorry. Probably shouldn’t call the big guy a twit, huh?”
“Well, I wouldn’t do it without stepping out of the path of lightning, but hey…”
“Like any god worth anything doesn’t have better aim than that,” she countered.
Keith chuckled and tried to return to the subject. Remembering her comment on Martha being ticked, he shook his head and said, “But then after that, she agrees with Jesus that she’ll see her brother again. That doesn’t sound ticked to me.”
“Sounds sarcastic to me. It’s like, ‘Yeah, duh, I’ll see him. Yep. Sure will. Thanks a lot.’”
He had to admit that it gave the story depth to ‘hear’ Martha’s words as sarcasm rather than resignation or pious-sounding platitudes. “You think she was being sarcastic… hmm… interesting.”
“You’re not mad?”
“No… it kind of fits her with Mary too.”
“Mary? Her sister or Jesus’ mom?”
Again, Keith grinned. Despite herself, Erika had become interested in the Bible. He couldn’t ask for a better night. “Her sister. There’s another spot where they’re having this big gathering and Martha’s working herself into a frenzy and Mary comes along and sits down to hear what Jesus is telling the disciples.”
“Leaving Martha to do all the work. Bet she was the baby of the family.”
“You know, you sound like Martha now. I’ll never be able to read anything she said without hearing it coated with your particular brand of sarcasm, thanks to you.”
“You’re welcome. I just spiced up the Bible for you.”
The clock screamed for him to disconnect the call. “I have to go, Erika.”
Her sigh—something in it stirred him, but her words said it all. “I know a dozen expletives that I would use right now if I didn’t care more about not offending you than expressing my opinion on that subject.”
“Thanks. Talk to you soon.”
“You too…” He heard something in her voice—something that told him she had something else to say. “Keith?”
“Yeah?”
“I want to believe—for you. I want to.”
“I want you to believe too, but um… I want it for you.”
“And that’s why I keep reading,” she murmured. “I can’t comprehend that.”
The Wahls arrived first. Keith led them to their bedroom and assured them that Leo and Allison weren’t in any danger. “Just a precaution. We’d rather err on the side of an unnecessary move than risk someone finding you.”
“I think what you do is incredible,” Eva murmured. “I’ve been thinking about it, and it’s really quite fascinating. You’re like the SEALs of the FBI.”
Though he knew they wouldn’t believe him—they obviously hadn’t the last time he said it—Keith explained once more that The Agency did not belong to any branch of government. “We’re a private company in the business of protection. That’s all.”
“I know that’s what you have to say. I figured that out—black ops or whatever you call things—but we all know the money for this kind of thing has to come from somewhere, so…” Eva smiled at him. “You’re a nice boy. If Allison hadn’t met Leo…”
Rod stared at his wife as if she’d lost her senses. “Eva!”
“Well, he is nice and he’s religious too. That’s important to her.”
Shaking his head, Rod tried to apologize. “I think the stress is getting to my wife. It’s so unlike her I don’t know what to say.”
“I’m flattered, Eva. Really. Allison’s a beautiful woman. Leo’s a lucky guy.” As he followed them back down the hall to the living room, Keith tried to keep the subject on Allison and Leo and away from himself. The comment about his “being religious,” making him a good candidate for their daughter, hit a bit too close to home for his comfort. “She sure comes alive when he’s around, doesn’t she?”
“You see it too?” Rod sank into a chair and popped back up again. “Amazing how sitting in a living room is such a habit, but after being trapped in that car for a day and a half…”
“I’ve never seen Allison light up the way she does around Leo. You know, I know she’s beautiful,” Eva insisted, “and it’s not just because I’m her mother. But he brings something out of her that no one ever has.”
“Never thought my daughter would fall for a ‘bad boy.’”
Keith’s head snapped up as Rod’s words sank in. “You know, I envy Leo that.”
“What?” The Wahls spoke in unison.
“That his ‘badness’ is mainly in appearance. I know he’s not perfect—who of us is—but most of us look pretty good on the outside. People trust us because of it.”
“And there’s something wrong with that?” Rod sounded unconvinced.
“Well, not really wrong, per se, but—” Keith didn’t quite know how to explain himself. “I guess I mean that I can look nice and normal on the outside. Put on a suit and people would probably trust me with their money. Put on chinos and a polo and they’d probably trust me with their secrets. People trust the appearance of acceptability.”
“I don’t see the problem.”
“Well, it’s just that I’m just as bad as the next guy. C’mon, I kidnap people for a living.”
Eva sank to the chair shaking her head. “But you said you don’t do that very often.”
“I don’t, but if you hadn’t come willingly, Mark would have taken you in a heartbeat. I do that sometimes. I met my—friend that way.”
“Why won’t you call her your girlfriend?” Rod asked, leaning against Eva’s chair. “It’s obvious that you care about her.”
“That’s kind of my point. I look like a decent guy, but I kidnap people and hold them against their will. The fact that it’s for their protection is really a moot point. It’s still illegal.”
“That’s something I hadn’t considered. Illegal and a Christian. Interesting.” Rod nodded for Keith to continue.
“I have a girlfriend, for lack of better word, who isn’t a Christian and whom I can’t have a serious relationship with. But, she and I both know I’d do it in a minute if she was. I should cut it off, but will I? Nope. So, add hypocrite to the mix.”
Confused, Eva’s head swung from man to man as she listened until she finally asked, “But what does this have to do with Leo?”
“Well, with Leo, his worst parts are all on the outside. You have visible proof of the scars on his soul. With me, I look pretty good. You don’t know what kind of past I have, or what I might be hiding. Leo’s scars, tattoos—you know, the ones that scream ‘I was a gang member’—and general appearance remind people that he might have something to hide.”
“Still, I don’t see what’s so bad about protecting people. You make it sound like it’s criminal or something.”
“But Eva, how we do it is criminal. Well, not usually, but it can be.”
“But to save a life…” she protested.
“He’s right, love. Two wrongs don’t make a right. His job lets him choose which wrong happens. If it’s someone else, his hands are clean, but I suppose that’s of little comfort.”
“Right. If I choose to do wrong now and then, I’ll take the consequences. To me it’s worth it.” Keith peered through the curtains before he sank into the overly soft couch. “But, it doesn’t change the fact that I broke laws to do it—like with my friend.”
“Is she glad or sorry for your assistance?” Rod raised his eyebrows as he added, “And I don’t mean in specific regards to you.”
Laughing, Keith assured them that Erika understood. “It was an unusual abduction. We were paid to do it, just not by her.”
Eva interjected before her husband could ask another question, “What does your minister think of your job?”
“As far as he knows, I’m a bodyguard. It’s true without getting complicated or messing with security issues.”
“That’s an interesting thought,” Rod mused. “How d
oes this not get out there? You’d think people would talk. Few people know how to keep a secret these days.”
“Oh, it does. There are entire websites about us—how we’re really part of the CIA or the FBI or the NSA. They have all kinds of conspiracy theories.” Keith shrugged. “We don’t mind them. It means people tend not to believe something if anyone says anything—and most don’t. Primarily because they know no one would believe them.”
“They don’t?” The Wahls stared at him, surprised.
“Would you? If your employee went on a three-week vacation and returned telling you that she was really abducted by some group for her own protection because she saw a guy go into a building and didn’t know it had significance, would you believe it? Really?”
“You make a good point,” Eva conceded. “I’d be more likely to want to believe her, and then Rod would show me a dozen reasons why it was impossible.”
“And I would.” Rod leaned over the chair a bit to wrap an arm around his wife. “I hereby apologize for it. Obviously, I would have been wrong.”
Keith watched them, a yearning for the kind of relationship they obviously shared tugging at his heart. “I’d say you balance each other nicely.” Another thought prompted him to ask, “How will you feel about Allison marrying Leo?”
“She’ll be happy,” Rod said confidently. “That’s all that matters to us. I like him, which makes the awkwardness with the unfamiliar easier to handle.”
“I was rude to him when I first met him,” Eva whispered. “He was—” the woman ducked her head, “—it sounds so weird to say it when you picture him in your mind, but the right word is gracious. Leo was very gracious about it.”
“Looking at him, gracious isn’t quite the word you’d expect to fit him, but I’ve seen what you mean.” Keith reached into his pocket as a text message buzzed. “They’re almost here.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The text arrived as Ernie powered down his computer for the day. LEO SIGHTED IN STONEYHILL—GET PROOF.
Frustration mounted. He flipped open the laptop again and as it booted, he pulled a CD from a hidden pocket in his laptop case. “Like I have time for this,” he muttered as he slipped in his Linux disc and waited for it to load. Once ready, he clicked online, went to the private email account, and read the message. More work and at the end of the day. Great.
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