by Erik Carter
Not that Silence would have given her an honest answer. Naturally, he wasn’t permitted to do so. But he was glad that she proceeded through the years in this wink-wink, I-don’t-want-to-know fashion. He didn’t want to lie to her, and he’d never had to.
“You were safe, though?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t drink?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Good.” She patted him on the knee. “Lola was upset that she didn’t get to say goodbye to you.”
She had told him earlier in the day that Lola had left for Tennessee only hours before he returned.
“She thinks you’re a good guy, a quality man.”
“I know.”
More of Mrs. Enfield’s wink-wink, nudge-nudge subtleties. In the same way that she never outright asked about his way of life, she’d never outright discussed Lola’s subtle advances toward Silence. She knew Silence was committed to C.C. beyond “till death do you part.” So while she never pressed him on the issue, she always gave him a subtle reminder of Lola whenever she visited.
Baxter finally broke his gaze off of Silence. He wanted his momma. He rose to his feet—four tiny points of pressure on Silence’s thighs—and a little squeak of discomfort sounded through his purring. Silence helped him over to Mrs. Enfield’s lap, and he curled into a ball in her floral print dress, the cone propping his head up at an angle that surely was uncomfortable but, again, didn’t seem to bother him.
The patch of drool on Silence’s thigh began to cool almost immediately.
Gross.
“She’ll be back sometime soon, undoubtedly,” Mrs. Enfield said. “I’m sure she’ll still think you’re something special.”
More of the wink-wink. You’ll have another chance with Lola, Mrs. Enfield had said but didn’t say.
“There are always new opportunities,” she said. “We craft our lives moment to moment by the choices we make.”
“Too true.”
Silence made the choice to cherish C.C. as his perpetual fiancée. He’d made the choices that led him to become an assassin for the Watchers, which had led him here to a quiet street in the quiet neighborhood of East Hill, which had led him to a blind old woman and her cat who loved him and drooled on his leg.
This was his life now. They were his family—the old woman and her cat. It wasn’t the life he wanted, nor the one he deserved. He should have been in a warm house with C.C. and at least one child, maybe a dog. There would be two vehicles. There would be discussions of preschool and PTA meetings. There would be savings accounts and investments and college funds.
And C.C.
Most of all there would be C.C.
That’s not the life he was living, however. Choice determined most things, but not all. Brutal fate had intervened, a savage coup that had overcome choice for a short while.
But given he couldn’t overcome this fate, he wouldn’t have wanted his post-disaster life to have turned out any differently than it had.
Doling out justice, using the hideous, cruel skills he’d forged in the face of unfathomable fate, doing so honorably, salvaging his future and his soul.
And then enjoying the moments of peace that life was gracious enough to afford him. Quiet nights like this. On this porch. With his family. The old woman. The drooling cat.
Yes, Silence was content with the life he’d created through his choices.
His pager beeped.
He took it from his pocket, checked the screen.
It was Falcon.
Back to work.
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Also by Erik Carter
Dale Conley Action Thrillers Series
Get Down (introductory novella)
Stone Groove
Dream On
The Lowdown
Get Real
Talkin’ Jive
Be Still
Jump Back
The Skinny
No Fake
Silence Jones Action Thrillers Series
Deadly Silence (introductory novella)
The Suppressor
Hush Hush
Tight-Lipped
Acknowledgments
For their involvement with Hush Hush, I would like to give a sincere thank you to:
My ARC readers, for providing reviews and catching typos. Thanks!
April Snellings, for copy editing and editorial polish throughout.
Aunt Amy, for medical expertise.
