“Business. This is what we do. You may not understand that yet, owing to the fact you’re a complete newbie with absolutely zero sense, but we have to establish a few facts before we accept the case.”
I looked him up and down. “Bullshit. You’re going to see Helena. Just be man enough to admit to it. I’ve seen that Manila file on the kitchen table – it’s always filled with new information of your latest targets. You have everything you need – you just don’t have everything you want.”
Josh snarled and went back to driving. “When exactly did you get so much lip?”
“How do you know that I didn’t always have this much lip?”
He let out a rattling hoot of a laugh that echoed around the monster truck. “Because I saw you in that testing center, Beth – and you were as meek as a little kitten. I also got a report on you. And it said you were as prim as a Sunday school teacher. No crimes, not even a parking fine.”
“Two things,” I said as I brought my fingers up and started counting down. “I don’t think you necessarily understand what the word prim means. And secondly, if my file suggested I was so meek, why do you keep threatening me with noncompliance?”
Josh didn’t like that point, so he cleared his throat and scratched his chin. “Look, here we are. Now, before we get in to see Helena, there are some things you really need to remember,” he said as he turned his car hard to the side.
Before I could fear that he was about to smash into a parked car, somehow his truck righted itself, and he pulled into a perfect parallel park. Well, technically perfect were it not for the fact he’d done it all wrong and that physics dictated he should have plowed headfirst into a taxi.
Josh yanked the keys out of the ignition, chucked them up, caught them, and shoved them into his pocket as he opened the door and jumped out.
I did the same – okay, I didn’t jump out. I practically fell out. But the point was, a few seconds later, I was standing next to him on the pavement. He shoved his hands into his pockets in his go-to move of I’m-such-a-cool-casual-guy. “Don’t speak,” he said with a growl. “Leave all of the actual work up to me. And don’t speak,” he repeated as he leaned forward and actually looked at me from over the top of his sunglasses.
I stared at him, hoping he appreciated just how unimpressed I was. “What are you, a bully out of an ‘80s flick? Why are you looking at me from over the top of your glasses with your hands stuffed in your pockets? Do you want me to ruffle your floppy hair?” I said threateningly as I brought a hand up.
Josh darted back. He was the picture of a snarling disaffected youth. “Just say you accept the terms of this mission.”
I opened my mouth to point out how pathetic it was to refer to this as a mission. If this was anything, it was a perv. An observational outing where Josh intended to ogle the city’s hottest witch. Before I got the chance to point that out, he slammed a hand down on my shoulder and pushed me forward.
For some reason, it reminded me of the moment Max grabbed my hand and shook it – just without all of the warmth and the tingles and that, you know, allure.
When I didn’t stagger over into the streetlamp beside me at his move, Josh looked a little disappointed, then pointed forward. “Remember, zip it,” he said as he pressed his finger to his thumb and pulled it over his lips.
This guy was like a caricature out of a kid’s flick.
I didn’t bother to point that out. He walked straight toward a glistening new office block to our side.
I didn’t need to ask where we were going – it was written over the doors in big bold brass letters. Hancock Industries.
Josh strode in through the revolving doors, and immediately he started patting down his pants, rumpling his hair, and changing his appearance.
I walked in behind him, my death glare locked on the back of his neck.
He walked straight toward the large reception desk on the opposite side of the room. This building was so huge and had so much foot traffic that there were at least 10 receptionists behind the counter. They all wore impeccable black uniforms with polished name badges on their chests.
Immediately the woman who looked like she was in charge spied Josh and walked out through the small bar door behind the counter.
She strode over, bringing up a hand and neatening her hair until it was coiffed perfectly over her shoulders. “Helena is waiting for you, Mr. McIntosh.”
“Always a pleasure to see you, Maddie.”
Maddie darted her gaze toward me, a question forming on her lips.
Josh jabbed a thumb my way. “New assistant.”
Why did people keep referring to me as an assistant? I was a finder, for God’s sake. And if everyone was to be believed, that was rare enough and powerful enough to put me on a protection order – not that I fully understood what a protection order was. None of that was the point. I wasn’t his damn assistant.
I didn’t have the chance to point that out – Maddie showed her secretarial efficiency by navigating us across the packed atrium in under a minute. We reached one of the shiny lifts on the opposite side of the room, and she called it immediately. We strode in.
Josh gave her a lingering look and smiled. “Those are lovely heels, Maddie.”
Maddie had looked professional. Until now. I lost respect for her when she popped her heel and gave Josh the kind of girly grin he very much did not deserve. “Thank you. You’re always complimenting what I wear.”
“I’m an observant man. Or at least I am around things that matter.”
Yuck. I felt like throwing up all over the elevator. Or better yet – all over Josh.
Before I could shove my fingers down my throat and try, we arrived at the penthouse floor. These lifts were new, fast, and our ride was uninterrupted.
We emptied out into a corridor.
It was easily one of the most opulent places I’d ever seen. The floors were marble – actual marble. And they’d been polished to within an inch of their life. The rest of the long hallway was styled with Art Deco furnishings, right from the intricate presumably very expensive light fittings down to the carved wood paneling.
There was art everywhere, too. Though it looked at first like a hodgepodge, there was one thing uniting all of the various paintings and vases and statues – their worth.
I don’t think I’d ever been somewhere that looked more expensive.
“Have you been keeping well, Josh?” Maddie asked, dropping his last name and making things more personal.
“Lonely,” he answered.
I almost stopped. Really? Lonely? Had Josh dragged me along to this so-called meeting to listen to his pathetic pickup attempts?
I started to lag – you would too. But as soon as I got too far behind, Josh turned over his shoulder and looked at me pointedly. “Hurry up,” he mouthed, bringing a hand down and pointing beside him as if I was a dog he was expecting to heel.
I shot him a death glare. It was one he returned with interest.
After a few twists in the corridors, we finally reached a room. Maddie stopped in front of it. “Helena is waiting for you in there. Call me if you need anything,” she said, her tone very specific on the word anything, making it clear her offer was generous indeed.
Josh brought a hand up, patted the back of his head, and shot her a boyish grin. It almost worked on me. After all, his lips curled in just the right way, and his face lit up with enigmatic energy.
Its effect on Maddie was instant. She almost blushed. I lost any remaining respect for her. Anyone who could fall for Josh’s crappy charms was someone who needed a head check.
She whirled on her foot, her hips swaying as she walked out of sight.
When the clip-clop of her heels was out of earshot, Josh turned on me. The move was hard. But not as hard as his lips as they curled around his teeth. “You won’t say a word, got that? Not a single damn word.”
I stared back.
“Say it, Missy – say that you won’t say a word.”
“If I did, that would be violating your stupid rule, idiot.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Touché. Now zip it,” he added as he did it again – brought up his hand and pretended to zip his lips like he was a cartoon character.
I rolled my eyes.
He opened the door and walked in.
I have a real thing for Art Deco and Art Nouveau architecture. I just like the glamour, the color, the forms.
This office – if it could count as an office considering its enormous size – fit my tastes down to a T. Or at least what my tastes would be if I had an unlimited budget.
The windows were arched, there were liberty pattern wall panels, and every inch of space was pretty much taken up by some piece of artwork.
A lot of people would think it was too much. For me it was just right.
But while my attention was completely taken up by the room, Josh had tunnel vision that locked on the stunning blonde sitting behind her desk.
Helena Hancock was wearing a slim, perfectly fitting white shift dress. Though a lot of women can’t pull off white dresses, Helena could. It hugged her every curve and made her eyes sparkle all the more. “Mr. McIntosh, it’s been a while.” She walked over and held her hand out to Josh.
He ticked his head to the side, that boyish look back. Times by a thousand. Josh’s attitude had completely changed. He looked like a different man. Smooth, suave, and oh-so-charming.
The change could have given me whiplash. As soon as they’d finished shaking hands, Helena switched her attention to me. Her brow didn’t crumple. She didn’t look confused, either. Nope. She looked at me as if she knew exactly who I was. She brought an arm up, placed it around her middle, and tapped her elbow. “So this is the new finder, ha? It’s been a long time.”
I blinked. “Ah.” I had no idea what she meant. I’d never met her – so it hadn’t been a long time since we’d seen each other or anything.
Josh cleared his throat pointedly. “Helena means it’s been a long time since there was a new finder in Madison City. Well, here she is.” Josh made an awkward gesturing movement toward me, as if I was a prize on a game show. It was clear he was wanting to shift the conversation back to Helena and him.
Helena?
She shifted forward, dropped her arms, and held a hand out to me.
I looked at Josh before I accepted it.
She did all the shaking. When she was done, she took a step back, and she didn’t even bother to look at Josh. “How are you settling in? How…” she drummed her fingers on her leg, “are you going with developing your powers?”
It was the first time someone had asked me that question. I shifted around uncomfortably and looked at Josh. He’d been so adamant that I shouldn’t say a word.
When I stared at him mutely for several seconds, he clenched his teeth into the world’s least happy smile. “There’s no need to be mute, Bethany – Helena’s asked you a question.”
I arched an eyebrow, then turned to her and smoothed a smile over my face. “I don’t have that many powers at the moment, to be honest. I only really found out I was a finder two days ago.”
“I see,” Helena said, as if she genuinely did see. That is to say, her comment seemed to suggest she knew more about my situation than I did.
An uncomfortable itch started to develop between my shoulders, and I shifted them around awkwardly. I cleared my throat. “We’re here to—” I began, wanting to shift the conversation from me and onto Howard.
“Forgive me for being a little prying,” Helena said as she picked up a strand of her blond locks and played with it between two fingers, “but you’re the only other finder in town.”
My brow condensed. “I didn’t realize you were a finder. I thought Max was the only other finder.”
A very strange kind of smile spread across her lips. “You’ve met him, have you?” There was something about her tone that suggested it was a question that she already knew the answer to. “He is so very specific about those who can use his nickname. But no – I wasn’t referring to myself. I was referring to Max. Rare to have two finders in the same city at the same point in history.”
I was floundering here – I honestly didn’t understand a thing she was saying. No – I could comprehend her words. It was that I was lost on this topic. All I knew about finders is that we were rare. No one had ever bothered to tell me how rare.
I tried to hold onto my emotions as a stab of alarm shifted through my gut. “Surely it’s not that unusual. I mean as the city gets bigger—”
“It’s quite unusual,” she spoke over the top of me, that smile still spreading her lips.
I wasn’t sure whether to be awkward, embarrassed, or just plain anxious. I’m not making this up – the way she was looking at me was unsettling.
For the first time ever, I was thankful for Josh as he cleared his throat and came to my aid. “She’s still settling in. A lot to learn. Anyhow, I guess you know why we’re here. It’s a shame to hear Howard ran.”
“Hmmm,” Helena said. She was either still too distracted by the fact I was in the room, or she didn’t give a single hoot about the fact Howard had run. Finally, however, she pulled her attention away from me and gestured toward two lavish chairs sitting in front of her desk. “I apologize for being a poor host. Please sit down. Can I get you any drinks?”
Josh looked torn. He clearly, clearly wanted a drink, because if he had a drink, he would be able to stay here until he finished it. But at the same time, I got the impression that he was regretting taking me here. Either it was because I was too much of a distraction and Helena no longer had eyes for him, or – just as had happened with Max – he wasn’t particularly happy with the attention one of the kingpins was showing me.
“We’re fine,” Josh said, every inch of him making it obvious just how much he hated having to say that. “We’ve got a busy day ahead of us. Plus, Howard’s got a two-day start. Why exactly,” he began, but he shook his head.
“If you were about to ask why exactly we didn’t call this in for two days, it was because we didn’t know. He was on holidays. It was only when he failed to check in the second night that we realized something was wrong. We called the police as soon as we confirmed he’d left.”
I was following this conversation, which was a start. At the same time, it was making it apparent how much I didn’t know about how the bounty hunting world worked.
How exactly had Helena and her other employees figured out that Howard had run? Why were they so certain he’d broken his employment contract and hadn’t gotten blind drunk and fallen down somewhere? Or had an accident, or been kidnapped, or any other excuse for a person going missing.
I went to ask that question, but then quickly realized there was no point. It would only bring Helena’s attention back to me.
Instead I sat perfectly still and quiet like a mouse hiding from a cat.
“I’m assuming it was a sanctioned holiday, or did he request leave?”
“He requested leave,” Helena answered.
“Do you know why?”
“To attend the soccer match. The Western Chargers are coming to town. He’s a fan.”
“That game is tonight if I’m not much mistaken. Why did you give him three days off?” Josh asked.
I got the impression that Josh was never usually like this with Helena. It wasn’t just the wincing way he delivered his questions. It was the look of almost total mortification when he did. And the only reason I could come up with as to why Josh was asking Helena this and not one of her other staff members, was that he wanted to keep Helena’s attention locked on him and not me.
“He’s an extreme fan, Josh. And those are his own words. He got a pass to help out at the stadium. He is one of the volunteers from the Western Chargers’ fan club – or something like that. I’m not entirely sure of those details. The point is, Howard was a great employee,” she said, emphasizing the word was, “and he had an exemplary record up until now. He was given leave, be
cause he had earned it.”
“I see.” It was clear Josh didn’t see and he would prefer to press Helena for more details, but he started to flag.
When Helena looked back at me and opened her mouth, Josh cleared his throat and straightened up.
“I’m taking it he had no problems at work?”
“As I said before, he was a high-paid employee who always did as he was told.”
I didn’t like that answer. Did as he was told? Howard sounded more like an obedient animal and less like a person. More than anything, I didn’t like the dismissive way Helena was talking about him. Was Howard just an object to her? Hell, it sounded as if she’d known him personally. And yet she couldn’t muster a scrap of compassion for the fact the man ran, broke the law, and gave up his life.
The only person who’d showed any compassion thus far was Josh. And if Josh was the only guy doing the right thing, you knew you were screwed.
“I see,” Josh said. Maybe it was just me, but his tone was stiffer than usual. It made me wonder whether he’d picked up on what I had – that Helena seemingly couldn’t give a stuff that Howard had run away.
“Just how much of a diehard fan was he again?” Josh tried.
“If you’re thinking that he’ll show up at the game tonight, I guess it’s a possibility. He seemed to live and breathe the Western Chargers. A couple of my staff members heard him say a few times that he lived for them. So yes – I guess there’s a possibility. Would you like some VIP tickets? I can arrange some. I’m a patron of the stadium, not that I particularly like sports.”
What she’d just said had settled in my body. That Howard lived for the Western Chargers.
I get it – even though I’m not that into sports – I appreciate that some people revolve around them. Sports are what gives them their greatest entertainment.
But that’s not what Helena meant. Or at least, that’s what my intuition was telling me.
The Western Chargers were the only thing that mattered in Howard Rush’s life.
They were literally the only thing he had to live for.
Forgotten Destiny Book One Page 7
