I shook myself out of it and gestured to his seat, toppled over onto the wood. “Fair is fair.”
Theo stalked over, lifting the chair upright in a single arc and sitting down, resting his ankle on his other knee. “I’m not concerned that you’ll win. I’m concerned over what will happen when you lose.”
“Game on,” I said, and plopped down in my seat.
By the time Kai arrived, we were both seething at each other over the green felt table, bringing a chill to the air previously unnoticed.
“Ah. I see I’ve missed nothing,” Kai said as he approached, two highball crystal glasses in each hand.
He set the vodka at my elbow, and the bourbon at Theo’s. “Let’s do us all a favor and bite this bullet, throw the baby out with the bathwater, swallow the pill, you get where I’m going here.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said to Kai. “Let’s up the stakes.”
“One game,” Theo agreed. “Sudden death.”
“Thank the stars,” Kai said. He frowned at the mess of the table, but with a few sweeps of his hand, tidied it enough to begin again. He threw us our cards and laid three down face-up.
I took a look at my cards, then slammed my palm on top of them.
Theo’s eyes were deeply shadowed by his brows when he checked his, and he kept them that way.
“I’ll raise,” I snapped, and spilled all of my chips into the center.
“Uh, I haven’t even laid down the riv—” Kai started.
“I’ll see your raise,” Theo said, low in his throat, and had his chips meet mine. He kept one, weaving it in between his fingers in a pattern that was as if he were playing music into the air.
It was exactly like how I’d met him. The way he played with his chips was how he played my body.
I swallowed through the remembrance.
Sighing, Kai flipped the last two cards. I scanned them, calculated my odds in the time it took to bite into an apple, and revealed my hand.
“Fuck.” Theo shoved away from the table. Kai parroted the sentiment.
I smiled, then said to Theo, “When did you say our plane departed again?”
Kai pointed at Theo, though his back was turned. “You were supposed to be better than her.”
“I am the best at what I do,” Theo said.
I shrugged. “For a man.”
“Sudden death was stupid,” Kai spat. Theo still hadn’t faced us.
“But efficient.” I stood, brushing imaginary lint off my thighs as I rose. “Before we leave, I need to go back to the hotel, get my stuff.”
At last, Theo spun on his heel. “It’s already in the car.”
Good—I nearly said. My hands paused in their smoothing.
Kai met me on the same wavelength. “Did you deliberately lose to her?”
Theo stalked toward us, then easily past us. “If you’re coming, Scarlet, you’d better hurry.”
“But—but—” Kai looked to me, like I could somehow possess all the answers to Theo’s motivations.
“Dude, I don’t know,” I said. Theo’s form was slowly blending into the black of the night. “But I need to go before he disappears again.”
“Scar, wait.” Kai caught my elbow. “I have such a bad feeling about this.”
“Then why did you agree to work with him in the first place?”
“I didn’t—argh!” If Kai had fangs, I would’ve seen them. He released my arm in a dead drop. “Everything I do, all I’ve done, is to try to do right by the law, yes, but also to keep you safe, Scar. When we first started this, we totally knew it was dangerous. Probably stupid—definitely insane. But you were the only link remaining to the Saxons we had. A family growing in riches at an alarming rate, and off the backs of criminals and bodies. Even if the FBI no longer believed in using an uninformed, uneducated, barely experienced cocktail waitress—”
“Is this supposed to make me like you again?”
He palmed his chest. “I believed in you. In us. But now we’ve crossed that line from danger to definitely dead. You can’t go with him,” he repeated. “And you absolutely cannot do this alone.”
“I won’t be alone.” I pointed in the direction Theo departed. “I have him. He’s lethal.”
“Exactly my worry.”
“Sax won’t hurt me,” I said softly. “Not physically.”
“Even he admits he can’t keep you from getting hurt.”
I paused for a long exhale. A boat sounded its horn in the distance.
Kai stepped closer. “You know what this means if you go with him.”
I didn’t answer.
“He’s a fugitive,” Kai said anyway. “And you’ll be one, too.”
An itch began at my shoulder blade. Absently, I scratched it, and the zing of pain as I broke skin was both surprising and pleasing. “It’s our last chance to get Trace. Sax probably does know something, and Trace will be in the wind by the time we figure it out for ourselves.”
“I don’t think you fully understand,” Kai said. “The FBI will consider you a traitor, they’ll come after you, too. I didn’t tell them Theo contacted me months ago. I definitely didn’t disclose that I agreed to work with him in order to try and get you out of this.”
“I don’t give a shit about that.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, aren’t you the brave one. How about this, then? I’m calling Chenko right now. Telling him we have Theo. Admitting all my wrongs.”
I reeled. “Kai, don’t—”
He lifted his phone out of my reach. “I’m not letting him get away, Scar. Not this time. And especially not with you. I didn’t agree to any of this. He broke his promise. I’m bringing him in.”
“Don’t!” I grappled for Kai’s hands, and he twisted, smacked, elbowed me out of the way as he tried to press Chenko’s contact button. “You’re making a mistake, we don’t have enough—”
“We have a Saxon!” Kai shouted, arms spread wide. “And I have you. So what more am I waiting for?”
I leapt for his phone again. Missed. When his screen flashed in front of me, I saw the ominous green call button.
“You can’t!” I cried.
Kai’s thumb hovered, then paused. His face showed genuine concern. “Scarlet, you can’t possibly still love him.”
“I don’t,” I replied.
“You’re about to push me off a dock so I don’t get him arrested.”
I thought fast. “Because this isn’t right. We don’t know where Sax has been, who he’s been interacting with, if he’s been hanging out with his brother or his father.” The last part, I knew to be a lie. Theo couldn’t stand his father. But, Kai may not have the full dossier on that, and an iota of loyalty festered at the bottom point of my heart where maybe, it was nobody’s business how Theo was abused, sold, and tortured by his sire. Not after the man he’d become.
Stop it, Letty.
I shook out of the reverie. “We don’t have enough, Kai. Two years of work can’t culminate into a lucky shot.”
“Sometimes it can.”
“You called him here, planned something with him to take me out of this game,” I said. “That makes you an accessory.”
Kai glowered. “First of all, Theo contacted me.”
He glanced back at his phone, but I recognized hesitation when I saw it.
“We need more,” I said. “Think about it.”
“You can’t…” He shook his head. Then, in a way of instinctual warning, I watched his forehead smooth out. “Maybe you can. Theo’s the best lead to Trace, you’re right. It’s why we wanted you to work for the FBI in the first place. Here’s an idea. What if you let Theo lead you to Trace, and then…”
“Spit it out.”
“You turn both of them in.”
A humming had begun in my ears the moment Kai had a change of heart. Now, all was quiet, including my mind. “What?”
“Theo and Trace Saxon, Scarlet. You’re the only one who could do it.”
My bare heel caught a splinter
as I backed away. The thwick of the way it slid into calloused skin brought tangible pain to the moment. “I … Kai, I can’t.”
“You have to.”
The only other time I’d seen Kai sport such determination and calm stubbornness was when he’d revealed to me he was an undercover agent. And I knew, the same way I was aware that Theo Saxon was different from any other person in his family, that Kai wouldn’t settle for anything less than both brothers on their knees in handcuffs in front of him.
“This would make your career.” I said it before thinking—as I was thinking—a swirl of thoughts and warnings swirling like moths in my head. “Not to mention, erase any charges that could be laid against you for double-crossing the FBI by communicating with Theo these past few months.”
“Don’t you even,” Kai said, pointing ferociously at me. “That man has brought nothing but death and destruction to me, to you. He needs to be out of our lives, you need to become the person you were supposed to be before meeting him. There are so many reasons why he needs to go. And you fucking know it.”
I swallowed.
“You’re doing this,” he said, and held out his phone. “Or I’m calling Chenko right now. Your choice.”
Chenko’s face flashed in my mind’s eye, the way he’d leered over my hospital bed, the smile he’d held over me. If I didn’t do this, buy enough time, he would come through on his threats, and all my work would be wasted.
The direction Theo had walked was empty, but I pictured him there, hands in his pockets, his broad back, the confident stride and measured control he possessed.
He once was mine.
“I have nothing in my life except for this,” I said to Kai. “Finding Trace, making him pay for the damage he’s caused…” I absently rubbed at the raised bump underneath my right breast.
“You still have your freedom,” Kai said. “If you leave right now, you’ll no longer have the FBI backing you. I’ll be the only one who knows your motives. Or, I can finish this. Bring Theo in the minute you give me the go ahead.”
“Is this what liberty is supposed to look like?” I tipped my chin up to seem taller, even if my eyes sheened over. “I don’t have Sax, I don’t have my sister”—my voice broke—“Verily can’t stand to be around me anymore, I have no career, no future.”
“You have parents that love you. Me,” he pointed in the middle of his chest, “who loves you.”
“My parents can barely look at me without…” My breaths were ragged, but I mustered enough strength to say, “I’ll do it.”
“Even if you’re forced to betray the man you love?”
I nodded but kept my stare. Theo wasn’t mine anymore. “Even that.”
Kai shoved a hand into his hair and rubbed, sending it into ruffled spikes. “All right. Then we’re doing this.”
My shoulders drooped, unsure if winning was supposed to feel like losing so badly.
“On one condition.”
I grimaced. “Of course.”
He dug into his pocket, pulling out something that sparkled like sunlight even though there was none to speak of. “Wear this.”
Unconsciously, I reached for it. “What is it?”
“A necklace. Used to be my mother’s.” He shrugged.
“Kai, I couldn’t.”
“Wasn’t finished. Used to be my mom’s, until the techies at the FBI turned it into a tracer.”
I squinted at him in confusion.
“Back when you were in the plans, I mean, back when there was a task force and every effort to arrest Trace and bring him back to the U.S., this was made for you. In case you were ever sent into something that the rest of us couldn’t tail you into. We just—everything ended so fast, the whole mission was scrapped, so there was never a need for it. But I kept it, for obvious reasons.”
“And it still works?”
“On my laptop, yes.”
“But why…” I shook my head. “Have you been carrying it around, waiting to collar me like your pet, since we first decided to do this?”
“Maybe,” he conceded. “But you’re slippery.”
I curled my fingers over the jewelry, the metal now warm from my skin. “Am I going to put this on and have the FBI’s air force surround the plane I’m on with Sax? They’ll take us down before I even have a chance to find the other brother.”
“First of all, the FBI doesn’t have an air force.” At my sneer, he continued, “Secondly, they reduced spending on this task force a long time ago. I’m not about to show them my hand when we haven’t even seen the river.” He winked.
I brought the necklace closer to my face.
“Besides, it won’t be on constantly. As soon as you have—if you have Trace, press this small button on the back. See?” He turned over the medallion, and just barely through the detail, I spotted a pinhole.
“You’re gonna need a pen or a safety pin to push it,” Kai said.
“I’ll be sure to do that,” I said. “In the midst of a tense confrontation with Trace, I’ll ask him if he has a ballpoint handy.”
“It’s a failsafe. Don’t scoff at the only thing that is allowing you to continue on without me.”
“Fine,” I said. “So I push the button and then what?”
“A tiny light in the front will light up green. My phone will receive an alert, and I can track you, or send any cavalry you need to contain him. Ideally…” Kai eyed me warily. “Both of them.”
“All right.” I sighed. “I really should go.”
“I’ll put this on you first.” Kai spun me around, hooking the necklace at my nape. He then held my shoulders, pivoted me back toward him, and pulled me into a tight hug.
“I’ll wear it because I trust you,” I said into his neck. My arms wrapped around him just as firmly.
“I mean it. I love you.” He kissed my cheek as he let go. “And call me. For anything. Ever.”
I nodded, and after one final hand squeeze, turned and strode after Theo.
“I still think this is a shit-for-brains idea!” Kai called out.
“I’ll wait for you to repeat that when I see you again!” I replied over my shoulder.
“You better.” Then, as his voice was trailing off, I heard, “Hey, who’s going to clean all this poker paraphernalia up?”
I tossed a smile his way as I kept walking, but he didn’t see that it fell as soon as I turned around and entered into the shadows.
10 Low Blow Fly-By
A low, sexy rumble sounded to my left as soon as I stepped off the wooden dock and onto the concrete of the deserted parking lot.
A sound that could only be the purr of Theo’s very expensive, very seductive car.
I paused, putting on my heels. Although grit was still caught on the underside of my foot, I thought my steps were just as alluring and powerful as I hip-swayed over to the car.
A blur of movement within the interior and the passenger door was pushed open. I slid in, gritting my teeth at a pebble nestling between my pinky-toe and the tight leather of my shoe. As soon as I was comfortable, I subtly coaxed them back off.
“Last chance,” Theo said as the engine roared. He stared straight ahead.
I mimicked his body language and replied, “I’ll take the gamble.”
A flick of his wrist, a spin of the wheel, and we burned rubber out of the lot and into the unknown.
* * *
We were silent for most of the drive, because we didn’t know what to say to each other.
What words should be spoken to the lost love that was somehow found again, damaged and incomplete? I supposed we weren’t going to talk about the kiss.
I chewed on my lower lip, staring out the passenger window and pretending like these questions didn’t matter.
When we slowed at a stop light, the only car on the road, Theo said, “We’re almost there.”
“Where?” I asked.
“We’re taking a plane. Private. It’s ready to go as soon as we arrive.”
I fidd
led with the air conditioning controls, but to be honest, I had no idea if it controlled the air or the gas in this techno-monster-mobile we were in. “Automobiles, planes … all I need is trains, then I’ll be complete.”
“That will come,” he said. Cryptically.
Giving up on the pilot controls, I fell back in my seat.
“Cold?” he asked.
Since my arms were more snakeskin than human, I was forced to nod. It took him a full one second to cut off the air blasting at me and replace it with heat instead.
“Your bag is in the backseat.”
I loosened the seatbelt and folded toward the back, finding my bag in the dark and unzipping it one-handed. Right on top, where I laid it this afternoon (which already seemed like it was three weeks ago) was my ratty old heather gray hoodie. Actually, not mine originally, as I had no plans to go to NYU. It belonged to my sister, one of the last remaining vestiges of her that I possessed. It no longer smelled like Cassie, but it fell across my shoulders exactly as it had over hers, and was so stretched out, the sleeves caressed my knuckles, just like they did on her. The drawstring was missing, the U was becoming unstitched, but it was my most prized possession.
When I had it settled over my body, I caught Theo staring. He immediately went back to keeping us alive by directing his attention to the road, but I couldn’t help but sizzle under the attention.
“Not many people smile so sadly when they put on sweatshirts,” he said in a low voice.
Fizzle.
“I told you I was chilly.”
“Mmm,” was his reply, then made a wide left turn through an open metal gate.
We motored down a long roadway into an airstrip where a charter plane awaited.
Planes had the most powerful presence out of all man-made machines. Their sheer girth and ability to block out a horizon, the fact that they could cut through and float on air despite weighing a thousand tons. This “small” aircraft was no different, painted all white with a navy blue belly. Its wingspan still made up at least eight of me.
A man stood by the stairs leading up to the aircraft, hands gently folded.
Theo parked our car with the wheels opposite to the plane, and after turning off the engine, he put it in park.
WIN THE GAME Page 7
