“What? Are they working for Posner?”
“I have no idea, but that’s kind of what it sounded like. Posner called me in and told me you’d taken out the target with Red and Green present. Apparently this was a test. He wanted to know if you’d go against White and Associates. He knew you might run across them down there. Immediately after the colors left Posner transferred your payment with a substantial bonus. Have you checked the account yet?”
“Yes.” All my glee was gone. I never cared for the secret tests and this one was worse than anything White and Associates had pulled on me. Posner blindsided me into taking out a target of interest to my partners. Still, I’m the one who actually did it.
“Are you coming back to the lodge? We can protect you here.”
“I’m not sure,” I said.
I wasn’t comfortable with being set up and needed to think. It was one thing to have our paths cross inadvertently, but to directly oppose White and Associates was something very dangerous. Everything I’d done since I was hired on at White and Associates had been treacherous but this— This was about as unsafe as I could get. Going back to the lodge might be my best option.
“Maybe we could have dinner tonight and you could tell me all about the job. I want to know all about it. Why did you take the target with the colors in the room?” Jake asked.
I didn’t say anything because I was reworking it through my head. Why did I take the target with them in the room? It was gratifying to see their reaction but was it necessary? These thoughts and questions had been rolling around my head since I took the shot. Finding out all of the colors were willing to infiltrate Mesa’s lodge, guns drawn, put it in perspective.
“Are you there?” Jake finally asked.
“Yes.”
I wanted to ask Jake to help me find out why the colors were talking with Garcia, but I couldn’t make myself take that leap into trusting him. This was asking him to report on Posner’s bad behavior. He’d been all for that when White had been alive, but since his death, Jake had gravitated back to Posner even more. It was as if he’d given up his dream to take Mesa away from Posner. Not that that was an honorable pursuit, but I knew Mesa would probably do well under Jake’s management.
“I know. You don’t kiss and tell,” Jake finally said. “Posner already has another job ready for you, if you want to take it.”
“I’ll meet you for dinner. You can bring along the information for the new job.”
“Great.” I could hear the relief in his voice. “Some place casual?”
“Sounds good,” I said.
He gave me a time and address and I promised to meet him later that evening.
“Watch your back,” was the last thing he said before we hung up.
I HAD A FEW HOURS to kill before my meeting with Jake so I took a shower. While I was rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, I heard voices coming from inside my apartment.
My stomach turned and I shut off the water and grabbed my pistol from the sink. I stepped out of the shower with my gun at the ready. As soon as I flung open the bathroom door I realized the voices were coming from my laptop surveillance of White and Associates.
I made my way toward my table where the laptop sat and slipped on the floor. My dripping wet state and the hardwood floors created a slippery situation. I landed on my hip and dropped my pistol.
I stayed down for a few seconds, trying to catch my breath and overheard Blue say, “We have to do something. Now. She’s too efficient of a weapon and we can’t compete with that. Posner will use her to kill every chance we have.”
“Not here,” Green said. “This meeting will be held in the war room. I only came in here to retrieve the keys.”
The feed went quiet.
I struggled to my feet and ignored the pain in my hip and my wet, naked state as I sat at the table. The war room, otherwise known as C.I.C. was a secure room and happened to be in White’s apartment one floor above the office.
“I know we’ve been avoiding it because it’s in White’s apartment, but that could be exactly why we’ve run into troubles these past weeks. We’ve been meeting here. This office is not secure from outside ears and I should have insisted on C.I.C. before. Now we have no choice,” Green said.
“Agreed,” Blue said and the rest of my partners nodded as they filed out of the office, presumably to pass my sentence.
I got up to retrieve my pistol. Moving around was painful and I glanced down at my hip. I already had a grapefruit-sized bruise forming. I grunted as I bent over to pick up the weapon then I went to my surveillance equipment near the window.
I repositioned everything to try and pick up audio and video a floor above the office. I couldn’t see anything inside the apartment because the blinds were drawn, but I heard the men enter the apartment.
No one spoke and I heard keys jingle. I pictured Green unlocking C.I.C. Then I heard water running and cupboards being opened.
A door opened and I heard Red. “Here’s the coffee. It’ll probably be a long night.”
I heard them shuffling around for another five minutes before I heard a door close and everything became quiet. They must have closed themselves up in the war room.
I turned the volume up on my laptop and finished my shower. No noise came to me as I washed the rest of the shampoo out of my hair and then stood under the hot water for another five minutes.
The next couple of hours was spent watching the live feed of the drawn blinds and hoping for either a view of what was going on up there or any audio to let me know what they were planning against me. The only noise that came from White’s apartment came shortly into my vigil and it was simply the sound of a door opening, closing and then the sound of a flushing toilet followed by doors opening and closing again.
Eventually, it was time to meet with Jake. I used my clean phone to call for a car and met my ride, hoodie up, on the street.
Jake was already at the restaurant and stood to greet me when I walked in.
“Good to see you, Alex,” he said as he held my chair.
This was unusual.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he helped me scoot into the table.
“Treating you with the respect you’re owed.”
His smile was broad.
Our waiter came as soon as I sat down so we ordered our drinks and food at the same time.
When the waiter had left us in peace, Jake said, “So, tell me about it.”
“The job?”
“Yeah. I want to know what happened.”
He already knew I’d called them, but he wanted to hear it from me so he didn’t have to admit to having put a bug in my phone.
“I was set up to take the target, but there were two men in the room with him. When I realized it was Green and Red, I called Green’s phone. I didn’t know if he’d answer me or not, but he did.”
Jake gave me an encouraging nod.
“I asked them if the man had anything to do with the investigation into White’s death. I don’t want to compromise that at all. Everything else is their problem,” I said. “Anyway, he said the guy had nothing to do with that so I took the shot.”
I couldn’t help the slight smile that found my lips when I remembered them covered in all that gore.
“They were close to him so they got a little dirty and I flew home.” I shrugged.
“I would have loved to have been there for that. Posner is more than pleased with the outcome, especially since you showed loyalty for Mesa above White and Associates.”
After our food and drinks arrived, I asked him about the next job Posner was offering.
“Posner will only offer this one in person. There is no paperwork involved. Highly confidential,” Jake said over a mouthful of steak.
“I’m not sure I want to go anywhere the colors might find me,” I said.
“Don’t worry. We’ve stepped up the security at the lodge. They won’t get within a couple miles of the place without us knowing about it.”
<
br /> What about the men they have inside Mesa? I didn’t say it out loud, but I wondered it.
“Still,” I said.
“It’ll be okay, Alex.”
He was very confident in that statement.
“Fine. I’ll go back with you, but you have to bring me back to town after I’m done talking to Posner. I won’t be staying at the lodge.”
“Okay.”
The rest of the meal was spent talking about what the colors might do and how Jake thought I should go about laying low.
When I tried to pick up the bill for the meal, Jake took it from me and said I could get the tip if I felt I had to spend some money.
“Jake, I’ve probably been making more money than you have lately. You should let me pick up the tab,” I said.
He shook his head, refusing my logic.
Within half an hour, we were at the lodge and I followed Jake to Posner’s office.
“Ah. My favorite killer. Please excuse us, Jake,” Posner said after we walked in.
I didn’t like being addressed like that, but I assumed the parade rest position to hide any body language that would give away my disgust.
As soon as Jake left us alone Posner gave me a sickly carnivorous smile and waved his hand toward a chair.
He waited to speak until I’d sat.
“I have to admit I had my reservations about you when Jake rallied to hire you. I’m glad he did and even more pleased I listened to him. What you did in Lima proved to me I can trust you and that’s a rare thing in this world.”
“You do realize this job has made it harder for me to move around and do others? I’ll be surprised if I’m not going to be hunted now.” I said.
“And that’s why I’m going to offer you this next job. It should pull some of the pressure off you when you complete it.”
“Okay. What is it?”
“I need Admiral Stanton out of the picture,” he said and then narrowed his eyes.
I knew he was trying to read my expression so I worked hard at keeping a straight face.
“And how will that help me? If I recall, White and Associates get most of their jobs from him. I’ve already screwed with them by taking out someone they were questioning, and with them in the room. If I take out their meal ticket, I can probably expect their full army to be hunting me, and they do have a full sized army of men at their beck and call.”
“That’s the beauty of it. White was Admiral Stanton’s way into the company and now that White is gone and a young man stands in line to take Stanton’s place we would all benefit from this removal. They could groom this young man, I believe his name is Colin DeLange, to their liking and I get what I want.”
“And what exactly do you want?” I asked. I was fighting with myself to remain calm during this conversation.
“I simply want a man the Admiral is holding captive.”
“I’m not sure I’d be a good fit for this job. The Admiral has been very gracious to me over the years and very generous when it came to jobs.” I assumed Jake had already told him I’d done jobs for Stanton.
“If you need motivation I can give it to you,” Posner’s tone became ominous.
“Are you going to try to force me into this?”
“No. Ms. Grey. Simply provide some motivation. I have a little story to tell you first.”
I sat quietly as he cleared his throat.
“I contracted White some months ago to locate and retrieve a specific person. White tracked him to a prison set up by Stanton and used some of my men to try to retrieve him. No one returned from that mission. The End. Now, there’s your motivation.”
I was speechless for a full minute while Posner stared at me. I had to take several deep breaths before I could speak. White wouldn't work for Posner. Why would he? My shock and anger were tempered and I pressed for more lies.
“Are you saying Admiral Stanton is the one who had White killed because White was trying to retrieve someone for you?”
“I know you’ve been shut out of the investigation into White’s death and I know that does not sit well with you. I’m assuming the men over at White and Associates haven’t told you that the investigation is closed because then they’d have to tell you why. They didn’t want to tell you that your boss and theirs killed your lover. Yet none of them have the balls to take Stanton out but I’m betting you do. I trust you’ll make the right choice and realize the man who’s been paying your bills is nothing but a bully and worse than you ever suspected. He killed the man he groomed to run his personal private military corporation just because he hates me. I, Ms. Grey, won’t leave a man behind, but Admiral Stanton will kill his own men to get what he wants. So, what is it, Ms. Grey, you want to avenge White’s death or not?”
He was really working it. It sickened me that he'd use my grief against me to hire me to kill my own father. Though he didn't know that’s what he was doing. Still, I didn’t suspect I could walk away from this meeting if I declined the offer.
“Who was White supposed to retrieve?” I asked as calmly as I could.
“My son, Alan.”
Posner’s chin jutted out, his nostrils flared and his top lip went up into a snarl.
That was the name of the man my ex-partners were talking about retrieving. They were working with Posner. How could they work for Posner and condemn me for the same thing? Anger boiled in my veins. Still, they weren’t all on board with retrieving him so I assumed he was probably deserving of incarceration. But, if they were working for Posner then it was possible White was too and this wasn’t as big a lie as I thought. Did my father really have White killed? It fit with everything now.
“Admiral Stanton has been holding Alan in hopes of getting me to admit to crimes I didn’t commit,” Posner continued. “Using him as bait and a bartering chip. Did you know it’s been one of his goals to own Mesa someday? He practically owns White and Associates, but White and the rest of the colors only get in his way. If he owned his own personal PMC, he wouldn’t have to go through them any longer.”
Posner obviously didn’t know my father’s true relationship with White and Associates.
“White and Associates will lose their company if Stanton gets his claws into mine. The way things are works just fine. White and Associates handles one end of the job, the military contracts, and I do the other end, training local law enforcement and working in the private sector. It might not be ideal, but it works out. Stanton wants to combine all aspects of the business, but he can’t with both White and Associates and Mesa in the picture. He’s gotten rid of White, making that company an easy take down when he’s ready to do so. All that’s left for him to do is take me out in any way he can. He put his plan in motion when he finally acquired Alan. Stanton’s been holding threats to Alan over my head for years now. I’ve kept Alan hidden because of this. A few months ago Stanton managed to track him down and has been trying to use him as leverage against me.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around everything he was telling me. Could my father truly do all this? I knew he wasn’t above doing whatever it took to get a job done, but for his own benefit? I wasn’t fully convinced. But what if he really did have White killed. That would explain my partners’ anger and distrust of him. Still I wasn’t sure Alan was as innocent as Posner wanted me to believe.
“That doesn’t explain why you had me take out a man you knew White and Associates were questioning,” I said.
“What’s to explain? I wanted to be certain you were a loyal employee and not still working with or wanting to work with White and Associates. This is your chance to avenge White’s death even though his other partners aren’t going to take the opportunity.”
“The Admiral’s not taking my calls. I don’t know if I’d be able to get to him,” I said.
“I imagine it’s because you are working for me. I’m prepared to put out the word that I’ve fired you or that you’ve quit. That might get you back into his good graces, giving you the opportunity to make this right.�
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Did my father really have White killed?
I stood from the chair. “I’ll do it.”
Posner’s look became even more devious.
I reached out and shook his hand. I’d never done it before, but for some reason it felt like the right thing to do in the moment.
“I’ll be in touch after the job is done,” I said and left his office.
Chapter Fourteen
JAKE DROVE ME AWAY FROM Mesa in silence. He’d tried to ask me what was going on, but I hadn’t trusted myself to speak.
Posner wanted me to kill my father and my father had possibly killed White. I had to find out, without a doubt, that my father was the reason White was dead before I could make a decision.
I didn’t even notice where I was until Jake stopped the car and shut the engine off.
“Why are we here?”
He’d driven to the local make out spot. It was the same place White had brought me after I’d killed for the first time. I’d wondered about White’s motivations as we watched the sun rise that morning, but he was just doing what he thought I needed. Being there for me. Taking me to a neutral space to let it all wash away.
“I figured you could use a quiet place to do some thinking and I was sick of driving around without a destination,” Jake said.
“Oh,” I said.
I stepped out of the vehicle and leaned back on the hood, looking down over the city. Jake joined me and we stood there quietly for a long time. I was remembering the time spent up here with White and feeling too much like I did back then. The only difference was the name of the man who stood next to me.
“Did you accept the job?” Jake asked.
“Yes.”
My stomach churned. I’d said yes that I’d kill my father. I didn’t know if I would or not, but I knew I couldn’t walk away from that meeting if I’d have said no. I was sure of that.
“What is it? Posner wouldn’t tell me anything,” Jake said.
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