by Tara Brown
The answer is obvious, and I have no intention of letting it slip from my lips. I drink my wine, shaking my head, certain he thinks he’s manipulating me. “You had to know someone would know, eventually.”
“No. That’s the best part. Everyone was so cocky and arrogant, we never imagined anyone was filming. Everyone there had the same amount to lose.”
That part is a bit weird; who would have installed the surveillance without anyone knowing?
I blink, realizing my lids are heavy suddenly. If I were a regular girl, I would think it was the wine and the exhaustion.
But being me means I know he has drugged my wine. I place the glass down slowly, using every bit of precision that I have, before standing and walking toward the guesthouse.
His hand lands on my wrist harshly, but I turn, swinging hard. I drop him with one punch.
“Jane!” Dash runs to me, catching me as I fall down.
“Henry drugged me. He was at the brothel in the mountains. I have him on video. He drugged me.” I blink and pass out.
25. Merry Christmas
Binx purring in my ear is the first thing I hear, but the pounding of my brain is the first thing I feel. I wince as something is pushed near my lips. “Take the painkillers. This type of drug has a harsh side effect,” Dash whispers. I know it’s him. I can tell by the rage in his whisper. He’s angry. I am too.
I manage to get one eye open as I swallow the pill. The room is dark and quiet. “Where is he?”
“Gone. My parents threw him out. My father has disinherited him. It’s bad, Jane. I barely got his confession on the type of drugs he used on you before my father nearly tried to kill him.”
I wince. “I am so sorry, Dash. I should have told you, I just didn’t know how.”
His lips press against my face. “No, I’m sorry. My brother is a scumbag and a piece of shit, and he has no remorse for the terrible things he does. My parents are distraught. They had no idea.”
My head hurts just imagining his mother distraught.
Binx snuggles against my face, rubbing Dash’s face. “Oh God, my head, and the mess of explaining to your parents that they can’t ever tell anyone what they know.”
He kisses my forehead. “Don’t think about it right now.”
I don’t. I close my eyes and let sleep take me again.
When I wake the pain is gone, but my neck is stiff. I open my eyes to find Binx and Dash sitting in the armchair in the corner, both fast asleep. The room is just light enough to see that.
I pull back the covers and grab my phone, sending a message to Antoine: You okay?
Yup, but your boys sent people to my known address.
I wince. Your mom’s house?
He sends a selfie of him giving me a face.
No! My mom’s house is safer than anywhere. You kidding?
Did you solve all our problems? Do we know who we can trust?
No. There’s the VP, and that’s about it.
I tap a finger against my head.
We need to find Rory. We need to know what they know. I could mind-run him and make him tell me.
He sends a worse photo of a scared face. No.
I hold my breath for a couple of minutes and then send the message I don’t want to.
Send it to the world. The government is going to cover it up. Send it to the world. We will lose our jobs, but I don’t care, do you? Those girls will never get the justice they deserve.
He sends a photo of him smiling with a thumbs-up. Best idea all week.
Merry Christmas, Antoine!
Merry Christmas, Jane!!!!
I put my phone away and wait for the scandal to hit the world. I know it won’t take long. He’s probably already made the report. Dash wakes, giving me a slow smile. “You’re awake. You okay?”
“Yeah.”
He sits up, lifting Binx, and comes to the bed. “You look worried.”
I nod. “I am. Me and Antoine are about to get fired.” I wince. “I haven’t not had a job since I was thirteen. I worked at this shitty chicken shack in our small town and the owner was this mean lady. She always called me useless and threw chicken at me.” I grinned a little despite the fact I was terrified of what I had done. “The funny part was her name was Mrs. Beek. She had a chicken shack and her name was Beek.” I laugh at my own joke but Dash doesn’t smile. I cock an eyebrow. “You’ll still love me jobless, right?”
He scoffs. “You are the golden girl of the entire world. What could you—” he pauses, no doubt coming to the conclusion of my worry and possible actions. “Shit, Jane, did you get Antoine to send the information out globally?”
I bite my lip, wishing I could say no. I have never leaked information before. Ever. “Yeah.”
He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. “So he’s exposing them all? Every person who went there is about to become a public spectacle?”
“I couldn’t let it get swept under the rug. I couldn’t risk it.” My insides hurt, but I have to ask even though I know the answer. “Did you go there?”
“No!” He offers up his answer and a wounded look. “Absolutely not. I never pay for sex; that’s insane. Water and sex should both be free to everyone.” He looks deeply into my eyes. “You realize what this means, right? You are done. No one will ever work with you again. I am for certain done. My career is over.”
I hate that this is where he’s going with it. “But they won’t ever have their day in court. The government is going to do the national-security bullshit, and then it will vanish. It will be some urban legend. And all eleven of those dead girls will have died for nothing. My job is worth their lives. I couldn’t risk it being swept away.”
He nods, lifting my chin. “As is mine.” He kisses me, and instantly my phone vibrates.
I glance at it, wincing as I answer. “Hello?”
“Going for code. Prepare,” a man says slowly. He comes back a second later. “Agent Spears, is there a reason our entire case has just gone to every media outlet in the world with the precise list of who made it happen?” The vice president’s voice is strong and harsh, even Christmas morning.
“No, sir.”
“I think you are lying to me, Spears. I think you know why. I imagine it has something to do with the fact you have zero faith in the system and its ability to prosecute those guilty?”
I gulp. “Yes, sir.”
“You have fucked this bad—really shit the bed on this one, but I suspect this was the option you were given. I don’t suppose you regret anything?”
“Just not seeing Guthrie for the man he was.”
He grunts a little. “Yeah, that is unfortunate. I suspect he will have very few friends now. Finding him might not be so hard after all.”
My brow furrows. “Why?”
“Have you seen the media blitz, Spears?”
“No, sir.” I point at the TV. Dash turns it on and scans channels until he comes upon one with Rory’s face on it.
“Merry Christmas, Spears.” The VP hangs up on me. I lower my phone, slack-jawed and shocked as Rory is named the whistle-blower of the biggest scandal in American history.
“Holy shit!” Dash snuggles in with me as Binx finds himself a new comfy spot to rest, oblivious of the outside world around him. “He’s screwed. That organization has some of the most powerful men in the world in it, and Rory has just betrayed them all.”
Epilogue
So you’ll be a lady then?” Angie is squealing she is so excited.
I shove her a little. “No. I don’t know. Dash’s dad is still young. I don’t think I have to think about this for a few years. I’m good. Just stop. Don’t make that face.” I point.
“What face?” She beams.
“That one, right there. The huge grin.”
“What grin? Ya sassy little minx, I always knew being your friend meant I would go places. Like to see the queen.”
I roll my eyes as we walk down the corridor of the building dedicated to finding out the truth
behind the whole affair. “You hate the queen.”
“Och, I don’t hate the queen. I hate the monarchy. I love the queen. She’s mighty feisty and acts like a lady, but ya know she’d kick ass when no one is looking.” She opens the door for me with her scanner card. Mine isn’t working yet.
Antoine grins at me from the booth where we have been sorting data. My phone vibrates. I flip it over, knowing damned well it’s Dash and he’s being cheeky. It’s a selfie with an adorable black puppy, and it looks like it’s sitting at my desk. “You have got to be kidding me,” I mutter, not able to take my eyes off the picture.
I get up fast, hurrying to where I see the crowd surrounding my desk. I stop, scared, as Dash lifts a large pup into the air and gives me a sly grin.
“I got Binx a friend.”
I cock an eyebrow. “Binx doesn’t need friends. He has me. A cat’s best friend is his mother.”
“I got you a friend.”
“A girl’s best friend is her cat. You got you a friend.”
Dash kisses the dog’s little face. “I got me a friend. His name is Sirius, and he’s a wolfhound. I think he’ll look just like Sirius Black in dog form.”
Antoine agrees, nodding excitedly. “It’s true. I showed Dash the photo from Harry Potter, and we both think he’s going to be identical.” He stops talking when he sees my face.
I slap my hand over my eyes. “You got a dog? I don’t even think I am allowed to have Binx in my building.”
Dash hands the dog over to Angie, who starts squealing and hugging, and hurries to me. “I love these dogs. It’s tradition for a man of importance to have one.”
I roll my eyes. “You aren’t even important, and we both know it. You’re a biological analyst for an elite task force designated to root out the corruption in a sex-slave ring. Hardly noble.”
His eyes are so green I can hardly take it. He’s clearly happy. “But my dad is handing me everything, title and houses and inheritance. My brother, who has made the Internet list, by the way, is cut off. He’s ruined.”
“He’s an idiot.” A thought entered my head with the statement. “Does this mean eventually or now? Your father handing you everything?”
“Eventually. My father is still in excellent health, despite what my brother has done to our family.“ Dash winces. “I still feel like Henry got a raw deal. I actually remember him going to that senator’s house. He should have just stayed home that weekend like Mother asked him to. I’m sure Henry was pressured.”
I twirl the ring on my finger and fight the urge to tell him he always thinks the best of people. Instead I walk to the room where we have Rory on ice, our version of ice. “I still can’t believe he turned himself in.” I glance in at Rory lying on the bed, perfectly tranquil from the drug-induced coma he has been put into. One problem with being military is that we have no rights when it comes to justice.
“I can. What else was he going to do? He can try to plead out on some of the charges, but not the rape and murder of eleven women. Especially not after being seen at the lodge.”
“Do you think he knew who made the footage?”
Dash folds his arms. “There is no way to know what he knew.”
I sigh. “There’s one way, but I don’t think we have a trained person with enough experience to do it.”
A man’s voice behind me startles me with his gruff words. “There is one person I think who could do it.”
I turn, saluting immediately. “Mr. Vice—Mr. President. To what do we owe the honor?”
He stares at Rory, narrowing his steely-blue gaze. “Just wanted to come down and personally ask you to solve this for me, Spears. I need to know it all. The data you have found is great. I feel confident we are headed in the right direction, but I need all the answers. The entire world is watching me on this one.” His eyes dart to mine. “You know what you need to do.”
I nod. “Yes, sir. I do.”
He nods back. “Good to see you’re still a soldier first, Master Sergeant. I will schedule it all. Dr. Dash, I know you will be eager to be a part of it all. And I know you’ll take good care of our girl here.”
Dash grits his teeth and nods once. “Yes, sir.”
The president, the former vice president, turns and walks from the area.
I look at Dash and shake my head. “I didn’t know, I swear.”
He sighs. “I did. I knew he’d ask. I knew it. I was so hoping you’d be fired for being insubordinate.”
“Mean! I’d lose my military pension if I got fired.”
He cocks an eyebrow, not taking that skull-eating look from his eyes. “You don’t need a pension now, Jane.”
I ignore him as Angie comes strolling over with Sirius in her arms. “He wants you to go in?” Her face is pale, and her eyes are haunted, even with a puppy in her arms.
I nod, not sure how she can work here every day with him right there.
She smiles a little. “Well, you know what you have to do.”
I turn back and look at Rory, my former partner, and sigh. I know exactly what I have to do.
DON’T MISS SOUL AND BLADE, THE THIRD AND FINAL BOOK IN THE BLOOD AND BONE SERIES BY TARA BROWN.
WINTER 2015
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tara Brown writes in a variety of genres. In addition to her futuristic Born Trilogy stories and her nine-part Devil’s Roses fantasy series, she has also published a number of popular contemporary and paranormal romances, science fiction novels, thrillers, and romantic comedies. She enjoys writing dark and moody tales involving strong, often female, lead characters who are more prone to vanquishing evil than perpetrating it. She shares her home with her husband, two daughters, two cats, and a wolfhound.
