by Ali Vali
The animated dragon landed and breathed out a long funnel of fire before receding to another screen when she brought the one in the middle out of hibernation. It displayed Jerry’s private numbered accounts, and she opened the withdrawal icon. It didn’t take long before she had transferred all the funds into two different but equally secure accounts. She had to give Jerry credit. He’d thought of everything in case his hobby threatened his freedom. Ten million would’ve gone a long way if he’d had to run, and he’d kept the cash from everyone, including his wife and the IRS.
The antique mariner’s clock that was her grandmother’s chimed ten times as she finished printing the account numbers and codes to access one of the accounts. Using the prepaid phone, she dialed the number to finish the job.
“Thank you.” The woman on the other end sounded rougher and more gravelly than the other times they’d talked.
“You’re welcome.” What did the woman think of the computer-sounding voice answering her? Her first rule as she entered this aspect of her career was to never speak to clients without a filter. “I take it the police have come by to speak to you.”
“They executed a search warrant after my kids left for school, thank God. The computer guy they brought with them was able to retrieve a ton of information despite the security measures my loving husband put in place. The first ones he found were the pictures I told you about. All together there were eighteen different women.”
She knew that, but hadn’t shared it so Jerry’s wife would have an appropriate response when the police told her. “He won’t be a problem anymore, and you’ll get everything in the divorce, so your plan to move shouldn’t take very long.”
“About your fee,” the woman said quietly.
“It’s been taken care of.” Jerry’s stash was missing five hundred thousand. “When you arrive at your parents’ house to settle your children, I’ll send you the information you need to access the account. Move it if you want, but I’d suggest keeping it in the offshore bank I picked.”
“I trust you, so send the information as is, and thank you for that as well. I feel like I’ve had my head in the sand to have missed all this, but I don’t have time to think about that now. I’m on my way to pick up my children and head to the airport. Once they’re okay with my parents I’ll come back to deal with the fallout, but at least they won’t have to face the embarrassment. It would’ve been easier if he’d chosen your other option.”
After they first made contact Wiley had investigated Jerry’s wife and her information, then explained what would happen. The woman had sounded hesitant at first, but their conversations always returned to the pictures she’d found. Those three women—tied, beaten, humiliated—and all the work of her loving husband of fifteen years. All the points of information that had made this woman lose any feeling for the man she thought she knew better than herself fulfilled Wiley’s criteria for taking the job. She wouldn’t spend her retirement taking jobs like some common assassin, but for a deeper reason. Whoever she took on would have to convince her that the world and the place they lived would be better off if the target lost either their freedom or their life. Her life had to have some code of conduct or she’d find no reason to live it.
“He’s the father of your children, but I understand your position. I seldom give advice, ma’am, but your son is young enough to forget his father if you find someone else soon. Don’t succumb to guilt at any point and give him or your daughter access. Your husband might’ve been able to hide this part of himself from you for a very long time, but he’ll never give up the feeling it gave him.”
During a long span of silence Wiley could picture the attractive brunette clutching the phone. “What does that mean?”
“His hunting days are over, and he’ll never be a free man again, but I know the type. Memories of the power he held over those women will feed him for years. The day will come, though, when he’ll need new conquests to quell that desire.” She’d finished the computer search she’d started a few days earlier, and the thirty-three open cases she scrolled through had every element of Jerry’s signature, starting back when he had graduated from high school.
“I still don’t know what that has to do with my son.”
“The time will come when he’ll begin the process again, but with a surrogate. Who better to continue his work than his son? Considering that he won’t be getting out, he’ll satisfy himself by guiding a puppet to commit the same types of acts. The stories will be all he’ll have left as he rots in a cell.” Wiley ran through the files, wanting to see if any of the investigators had recovered DNA from the victim or the scene. “Do not give him the opportunity or satisfaction.”
“Thank you. I can’t tell you that enough.”
“Good bye, ma’am, and good luck.”
As soon as the phone powered off, Wiley dropped it into the shredder next to her chair. After she finished the search on Jerry and read his pathetic accomplishments as a serial rapist, she released a worm into her system that would root out any mention of him and destroy it. The job was finished as far as she was concerned, and nothing physical, forensic, or electronic existed to connect her to it.
Now she could return to her canvases and bury her emotions in the art that consumed her as much as the targets in her sights did.
Chapter Two
“What exactly does that mean?”
Aubrey Tarver stared at her partner of six years, Maria Ross, sitting so calmly in their kitchen, and felt like the room was closing in on her. The pale-gray walls she’d taken three weeks to decide on suddenly appeared too dull against the black-granite countertops. The walls as well as her life were closing in on her, and she had to concentrate on her breathing to avoid panicking.
She’d met Maria, who owned a bar where she’d joined friends for drinks inside the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans, and after a few free rounds she’d given in and handed over her number. The dinner she’d agreed to as a thank-you for the bar tab turned into something comfortable, then permanent, but she hadn’t planned to end up with Maria.
“I had to agree to a meeting, Aubrey,” Maria said. “I don’t fucking know how to make it any simpler for you to understand.” She twirled her glass of lemonade in small circles between her hands. “I’m in no position to say no.”
“Stop trying to make yourself feel better by trying to make me look stupid.” Arguing was the only thing Aubrey would ever describe as passionate about their relationship. Maria took every possible opportunity to touch her, but she’d never really touched her in a way that made her want to share not only her life, but her dreams with her. “What exactly does that mean to me and Tanith? You promised this crap wouldn’t touch our lives.” Her chest constricted and bile lurked at the back of her throat.
“It won’t, but don’t pretend you don’t like the money. This whole place is a shrine to how well you know how to spend it.”
The job Aubrey used to have in the mayor’s office now belonged to someone else, but she should have tried harder after it disappeared following the election. A new administration meant a new media manager. She had made enough connections to land a new job, but she was eight months pregnant when they’d handed her a pink slip. After Tanith came so had Maria, and she’d put off a new search month after month, always at Maria’s urging. Her stupidity wasn’t Maria’s fault, though, but all hers.
“I didn’t realize it bothered you.” She didn’t speak in anger or use sarcasm, and mentally she was already packing.
“Come on, baby, you know it doesn’t. I’m just jacked because of this meeting. After it’s over we’ll laugh about how it was nothing.”
Aubrey stood and pulled her shoulder-length black hair into a ponytail with the hair tie that had been around her wrist. It was time to go, but it would take a few days of planning to keep off Maria’s radar. “Mention something once and I’d let it pass, but that’s been a common theme with you lately. You don’t have to worry about anything. It’s all in your name, a
fter all. The house, cars, and bank accounts—all of it.”
“We can change that. I keep telling you I will, but you never accept my offer,” Maria shot back, spilling a bit of her lemonade when she jerked her hands.
“You don’t have to change anything, and I’m sure you’re right about this meeting being nothing. Let me know if you need anything.” She picked up her purse and keys, putting her hand on the doorknob before Maria’s voice stopped her.
“I love you, you know that, so don’t take this as a threat, Aubrey, but you owe me.” Maria wouldn’t look at her as she spoke. “Don’t think about leaving me now.”
They’d been through this before, and she placed another mark against herself on her tally of mistakes due to laziness. Fuckups happened to everyone she knew, but doing nothing to change her life meant she couldn’t get upset with the past, only work to move on.
She walked out without adding anything to their conversation, letting Maria have the last word. The BMW sedan Maria leased for her sat gleaming in its usual spot, but she walked by it to the ten-year-old Accord she’d insisted on keeping. After a trip to the shop it was running like the day she bought it. Until she found a job, the little luxuries she was used to would be a memory.
“Fort Hood, how can I help you?” the man who answered her call asked.
“The personnel office, please.” She parked in one of the visitor spots of the private school six blocks from the house and kept the engine running to stay cool. The greeting from the person who answered brought her attention into focus and away from childhood memories. “I need the contact information for Major Wiley Gremillion, please,” she said, spelling the last name.
“Can I have your name, please?”
“Aubrey Tarver.” It had been years since she’d made this call, and it’d be a miracle if Wiley was still stationed at Fort Hood, and a bigger miracle if her name was still on Wiley’s contact list. After Wiley had left that last time, she’d warned her about calling unless it was a real emergency.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re going to have to leave a message.”
“Did you check the list? I said my name is Aubrey Tarver.”
“The contact orders have been changed, ma’am. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to leave a message and wait for a call.”
She panicked and almost turned off the car to let the heat rush in because of the chill. Had something happened to Wiley? “Is she okay?”
“Major Gremillion is fine, ma’am. Just retired. The contact orders were changed to protect her privacy. I’ll send your request out immediately, so she should call you in the next few days, depending on her availability.”
Retired? Wiley had retired. She kept repeating the statement in her head and it still sounded wrong. That had been their biggest disagreement from the day Wiley returned from her first assignment. Aubrey had seen the fire in her when she walked into the hotel room she’d rented for the weekend. The excitement had hooked Wiley and would own her forever.
That’s why Wiley had severed their relationship. She’d cut all communications without much explanation, leaving only a sliver of an opening between them. “Call me if your life depends on it,” Wiley had said. She hadn’t left room for her to call and talk about Tanith, Maria, and the million other things that had shaped her life in the years since they’d last seen each other.
“Thanks, and could you tell her it’s important,” Aubrey said before leaving her cell number.
The recess bell rang, and the mob of kids in the playground meant she had to leave her air-conditioned cocoon. Before she did she waited for Tanith to make it outside. The tall eight-year-old was hard to miss with her shoulder-length black hair and smooth stride.
For so long Aubrey’s life had been about the next cocktail party, the next contact that would help her career, and the next time she’d see Wiley. One afternoon, though, sitting in a staff meeting in the mayor’s conference room trying to pay attention and not show the emptiness she felt after Wiley had ended their relationship, she made a decision. One that for her, who prided herself on order in all aspects of her life, was completely irrational.
It had taken three trips to the fertility specialist before the home-pregnancy test showed a positive result. Staring at the blue plus sign she’d doubted her choice at first, but as her waistline grew bigger, so did her excitement. When the doctor put the large squirming kid on her chest she fell instantly in love, and not even her parents could talk her out of the name she’d decided on, no matter what the sex turned out to be.
Tanith Wiley Tarver was her daughter and had been the center of her world from that first moment. So as bad as she felt about herself for falling for Maria’s bullshit, it had been worth it, since she’d had the time to concentrate exclusively on Tanith.
“It’s your day?” Tanith asked, her fingers looped through the chain-link fence that surrounded the playground.
“No, I’m the classroom helper tomorrow,” she said, touching the tips of Tanith’s fingers. “I came to ask if you wanted to take the afternoon off.”
“You serious?”
“I want to talk to you about some things, and I don’t want to wait until you get out of school.”
“You okay?” Aubrey nodded and pointed toward the office. “I’ll meet you there, Mom, as soon as I get my stuff.”
When she finished signing the form to take Tanith with her, her daughter arrived, out of breath, as if she’d run from her classroom. She threw her backpack into the backseat and made no comment about the change in vehicles. To lessen the blow of what she had to say, Aubrey headed to the Camellia Grill for a couple of chocolate freezes. It was one of Tanith’s favorite places and had recently reopened after the storm.
“What’s up?” Tanith asked after they’d ordered.
“How would you feel about it being just the two of us for a while?” She studied Tanith’s face for reactions.
“Did Maria hurt you?”
She smiled at the protective tone. “You and I have always been honest with one another, and I want it to always be that way.” She brushed back the stubborn lock of hair that obscured Tanith’s eyes and kissed her forehead. “Maria didn’t hurt me, but it’s time to go. Unless I love someone like I love you, it’s not fair to stay.” The pang of telling the lie made her nausea return, but she didn’t want to make Tanith carry the load of what she knew about Maria. The woman hadn’t hurt her, but she was positive that wouldn’t be the case if they stayed with her much longer.
“You need me to do something?”
Tanith was young, but to Aubrey, she was wise beyond her years. Aubrey cherished all these talks and their time together because she was certain that when her little bird flew from the nest, she would most probably never look back. Tanith had been born with an adventurer’s heart. She had looked for that quality in the list of possible sperm donors. Her exacting list had made the search for the perfect donor three times as long as actually getting pregnant.
An adventurer’s heart was in the top three things she wanted, but she realized that also translated to a wandering spirit. She’d always believed, though, that for every gift God gave, he required a sacrifice. Tanith would have a solid foundation, but she had to build on it when her time came. If she did it right some lucky soul would pine away for her like she had for Wiley.
“I want you to keep this between the two of us until I make some arrangements, but I hate to put you in that position.”
“I can keep a secret, Mom.” Tanith pushed the fries they’d ordered between them. “It’s not like we’re that tight, since Maria likes you way better than me.”
That was another reason to go. When she’d agreed to Maria’s arrangement, Maria was thrilled but warned her that kids weren’t her thing. Considering she was holding a six-month-old Tanith at the time, she should’ve walked right then. “We might have to start out at Grandma and Grandpa’s, and they love you way more than me, so it’ll balance out.”
“Waking up to G
randma’s biscuits every morning won’t be hard to get used to.”
“I’m sorry, honey,” she said, dragging her fry through the ketchup so much it made a valley.
“For what?”
“For making you stay somewhere you didn’t feel welcome. I know Maria wasn’t the best to you, but I stayed because I could be home with you. It would’ve killed me to put you in daycare right off.”
“Don’t sweat the small stuff, like Grandpa says. You’re my mom and I love you. I just want you to be happy.”
“Thanks, sweetheart, and no matter what, I love you more than life.”
*
Wiley stood back from the canvas and studied the early-morning mist she’d added to the Big Sur landscape. When she’d made the trip she’d walked along the coastline and seen it in every possible light. Of all her choices, the mornings shrouded in wet fog and quiet made her appreciate the beauty of the area the most. At the moment the fog dissipated and all that was left was the slight mist, the steep inclines and water didn’t have to compete with anything.
She looked at every inch of the canvas slowly and found nothing else to add, so she dropped her brush into the jar of fresh mineral spirits to clean after she hung the painting on one of the hooks along the wall to dry. That would take a few weeks, but she’d call her client to let him know she’d finished ahead of schedule.
As she stepped away from the wet painting, the front-door buzzer rang and the screen in the studio came on. She’d configured the security herself during the construction phase. Every room in the house had a screen large enough to display every space in the building.
Wiping her hands, she stared at the two men who stood at her door looking up at the camera above their heads. She recognized the guy on the right but had never seen the pale blond man with him. Colonel Don Smith was part of the deal she’d made with the military when she’d decided to retire, and he was casually dressed, as she’d requested when he came to meet with her. People tended to notice a guy in uniform with a chest full of medals. The army had invested a lot in her, so walking away had come with strings, or at least a handler, which was Don. The slew of psychological tests had been extensive, but the U.S. government felt reasonably comfortable that they hadn’t released a WMD into society. She wasn’t about to remind them they had trained her to pass those as well, even if she was swimming at the deep end of the crazy pool.
