Dirty Power

by Ashley Bartlett

  “I’m sure if you ask him just one more time, he will listen.”

  “Do you think?” Breno looked up from his heating waffle iron.

  “Totally. The first five hundred times he probably just misunderstood you, but five hundred and one, he will totally get the message.”

  “You are messing with me again, aren’t you?”

  “Dumbass.” I shook my head and turned to go back outside.

  “You don’t get waffles today,” Breno said.

  “Sure I do.” I grinned. “Dad.”

  Breno fought to keep his scowl in place and lost miserably. “Damn it.”

  I laughed at him. “You’re a sucker, you know that?”

  He didn’t seem to mind.

  “Hey, Cooper?”

  “What?”

  “In case I don’t get a chance later, I just wanted to say good luck tonight.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled at him and went outside to get Christopher and Reese for breakfast.

  *

  “Don’t screw it up,” Ryan said.

  “Fuck you. Where is it?” I asked.

  “Calm down. Your ring is right here.” He tossed me a little wooden box. “But don’t screw it up.”

  “I got that the first twenty times you told me.” I turned back to the mirror I was preening in front of. Why did Ryan’s room have a better mirror than mine?

  I had on a pair of jeans and a blazer over a T-shirt. The jeans were black. That and the blazer were my nod to propriety. ’Cause I was never putting on a suit again.

  “You look fine.”

  “I want to look more than fine.”

  Ryan grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. He pulled me into a massive hug. Which totally messed up my jacket and probably my hair.

  “Get off. You got me all messed up.”

  “Well, clean, shiny Coop is weird. Reese’ll know something is up.”

  “Something is up.”

  “Dude.” He straightened my lapels, tweaked the front of my hawk just a little more to the side, and smacked my cheek. “Don’t screw it up.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Ryan.”

  “Love you,” he said.

  “Same here.”

  “Your ass looks amazing in those jeans.”

  “I know.”

  “Go get her.” And then he smacked my ass.

  I scowled at him. He grinned back. I opened the door and went downstairs to meet Reese.

  She looked fucking perfect. Standing there by the front door with the early evening light slanting through the windows onto her nearly bare shoulders.

  “I don’t know what you guys are up to, but I don’t trust it,” she said.

  “Keep your pants on.” I could have lied, but she would have known. “No, wait, don’t. Take ’em off.”

  “I’m not wearing pants. This is a skirt, sweetheart. And we have dinner reservations.”

  “Oh, yeah. That.”

  “Come on.” She held out her hand.

  “Have fun.” We turned and Breno was standing there grinning like a tool. Christopher was behind him doing the same thing. They’d probably been lurking in the hallway waiting.

  “Don’t wait up,” I said.

  Reese rolled her eyes and pulled me out the door. I brushed my hand over my jacket pocket. Ring was still there.

  “Seriously, what is with all of you?” Reese asked.

  “It’s not really a surprise if I tell you.”

  She rolled her eyes again and got into the car. As we drove into the city, I tried to focus on the road, but it was difficult. Reese was like super hot. And she smelled really good. Driving was hard.

  *

  We were a course and a glass of wine in when I started to panic. After my second glass of wine, I calmed down a bit. I could do this. We’d finish dinner, take a walk, go to that park we loved. And I’d get down on one knee and ask the girl to marry me. No big.

  I did another subtle check for the ring. Still there.

  Reese smiled at me. Oh, yeah. I could do this. I was so going to marry that girl.

  We were debating dessert—well, Reese was debating, I was nodding along—when I glanced away from her. Only for a moment. There were tons of people passing by on the street. It was a warm summer night. But one girl seemed to stand out, maybe it was the way she walked, or the way she brushed her long hair back from her face. I don’t know. But I knew it was her.

  “Oh, fuck.”

  “What?” Reese turned to see what I was staring at.

  “I’m sorry. I’ll explain later. But I got to go.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have to go. I’m sorry.” I dug my wallet out of the inside pocket in my jacket. It caught on the ring box and I had a moment of pure terror. “Fuck. Really, really sorry.”

  “Cooper, what is going on?”

  “I’ll explain later.” I tossed a bundle of cash onto the table and vaulted over the railing onto the sidewalk.

  She was a block and a half ahead of me already. I dodged around pedestrians, practically running to catch up. My legs were still longer than hers. It didn’t take long.

  It probably wasn’t even her. It wasn’t her. It couldn’t be. How the fuck had she found me? No, she hadn’t found me. It was a freak occurrence. And it didn’t matter, ’cause it wasn’t going to be her. It was dark and I was seeing shit.

  Reese would be pissed. I would tell her all about it and she would be pissed. But we would laugh about it later. This was what would make the story of proposing tellable. I was halfway through the night when I ran away. Ha ha.

  But it was her. She turned a corner and I saw her face. Fuck. I kept going, overzealous stalker style.

  What the fuck was Ade doing in Spain?

  She crossed the street. It was darker here. Fewer streetlights. Fewer people. It was the only chance I’d get.

  We passed an alley. I grabbed her and pulled her back into it. One hand clamped over her mouth, the other holding her tight against my body. She arched her back and tried to break my grip, but couldn’t.

  “Shhhh, it’s okay. It’s me, it’s V.”

  Ade stiffened. I let her go, but kept my hand on her arm. She turned around slowly, then threw herself into my arms.

  “We thought you were dead.”

  “No, no. I’m so sorry.”

  And then she was crying.

  “You disappeared. We looked everywhere,” she said. Her voice was so low it was practically a whisper.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “Ryan, Reese. Are they okay? Are they with you?”

  “Yeah. I was having dinner with Reese just now. We live about thirty minutes from here.”

  “What?” she screamed. “You asshole. Do you know what we went through? Do you—no, of course not. You don’t give a fuck do you?” And then she punched me in the chest. I took a step back.

  “No, that’s not it at all. I swear.”

  “You fucking disappeared. Like gone. And I find you in Spain having dinner with Reese. You asshole.” She punched me again.

  “Let me explain, okay? There was a lot going on.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Seriously, Reese is a couple blocks back.” I pointed. “Let us explain.”

  “Fine.” Ade marched out of the alley and turned back the way we’d come. I caught up to her and threw my arm around her shoulders.

  “I missed you.”

  “You’re a dick.” She sniffled and wiped her face, but she didn’t push me away or punch me.

  “I know.” I figured it would be bad to linger on that detail. “So what are you doing here? In Spain, I mean.”

  “I decided to do Europe before I start college in a couple months. Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me go before I turned eighteen.”

  “Shut the fuck up. I can’t believe you’re eighteen now.”

  “Fuck you,” she said again.

  “Where are you going to college?”

  “Davis.”

  “Rea
lly? Damn. Smarty-pants. Congratulations.”

  She shrugged. “Didn’t get into Berkeley.”

  “No one gets into Berkeley as a freshman.” I squeezed her shoulders.

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” At the sound of Reese’s voice, I looked up. She was standing down the street with her arms crossed. She looked livid. “You literally ran away from proposing to me to chase some girl. Fuck you.” Then she turned and took off the other direction.

  “Reese, wait.” I let go of Ade so I could chase after Reese. This night was so not going the way I planned. “It’s not some girl. It’s Adriana. It’s my sister,” I called.

  That made her stop.

  Ade caught up with us just as Reese was spinning around. Ade threw herself into Reese’s arms and they hugged for a long, long time. Like, turning in circles, long time.

  “Wait. You knew I was going to propose?” I asked.

  “Don’t ever play poker, sweetheart.”

  They spun in another circle while I stood there grinning like an idiot. But then I saw something that made me stop smiling, stop breathing, stop everything. High on Adriana’s back, between her shoulder blades, I could see the outline of a small box.

  The bitch was wearing a wire.

  Reese had her arms around Ade’s waist, which was pulling her top tight. That was the only reason I saw it.

  I forced my smile back in place. “Can I get another hug like that?”

  “I’m still pissed at you.” Ade let go of Reese. “But yes.” She launched herself at me again. I hugged her tight, tugging at the material of her shirt. Reese was watching us and smiling. I frowned and looked pointedly down. Reese was confused, but then she saw what I was looking at.

  “Shit,” Reese said.

  “What?” Ade asked.

  “Nothing. Just I guess we have some explaining to do.” It was a cheap lie, but Ade fell for it.

  “Damn right.” Ade let go of me.

  “There’s a bar not far from here.” I nodded down the street. “Let’s go there. Sit and talk.”

  “But I want to go see Ryan,” Ade said.

  “I’ll text him to meet us, okay?” Reese lied again.

  “Cool.”

  Reese pulled her phone out of her purse. She fell back a step to text Ryan. I didn’t need to see what she was typing to know what it said. Plan C.

  Ryan wouldn’t show up at the bar. In under ten minutes, he, Breno, and Christopher would be out of the house and on the way to an apartment an hour away from here. Plan C: Run like fucking hell.

  A few blocks later, we stopped outside a very noisy and very popular club in downtown.

  “This place is kinda loud. Should we go somewhere we can actually talk?” Ade asked.

  “We can go upstairs. It’s quieter there.” I pointed at the upper floor.

  She nodded and followed us in.

  “Back stairs are this way.” Reese led us to a dark hallway that did not, in fact, lead to the back stairs.

  Two girls walked out of the bathroom ahead of us. I nodded as we let them pass. A moment later, we were alone in the very loud hallway. I clamped my hand over Ade’s mouth and grabbed her hands. Reese reached under Ade’s shirt and peeled away the leads for the wire. Ade started to scream, but I pinched her cheeks until she stopped struggling. I doubted the sound would be picked up. That was why I’d chosen this place.

  Reese left the wire and battery on a wide ledge on the wall. It would buy us a few minutes before they—whoever they were—realized that no one was attached to them anymore.

  I yanked Ade down the hall, past the bathrooms, and out the back door.

  “What the fuck did you do, Ade?” I asked as I pulled her down the back alley to the street.

  “I’m sorry. I…they just want to talk to you. Help you out. Let me go.” She tried to pull away, but I tightened my grip on her wrists.

  “Keep moving,” Reese said.

  “Who?”

  “What do you mean?” Ade asked.

  “Who sent you?”

  “The FBI. They just want to talk to you, I swear.” Ade was crying now. “You’re hurting me. Let go.”

  “No. Keep walking or I’ll carry you.” It was another lie. I couldn’t carry her. But she didn’t know that.

  “Why did they send you?” Reese asked.

  “To help bring you home. Mom and Dad didn’t want me to come, but I had to. Those people, your family.” She shot a look at Reese. “They’re going to kill you guys.”

  “If they find us they’ll kill us, but they couldn’t find us, Ade. Until you led them here.” I shot her a look of my own.

  “No, they don’t know I’m here. They couldn’t know.”

  “Why do the Feds want us?”

  “To help bring the DiGiovannis down. That’s what they told me.”

  “Be quiet for a minute,” Reese said. We were at a street now. Reese looked around until she found what she was looking for. An old car, windows down. Too rusty and pathetic to bother stealing. Reese climbed in the driver’s seat. She reached back and popped the locks.

  “Get in.” I shoved Ade forward.

  “What? But this isn’t your car.”

  She couldn’t know that. Except she did. How long had they been watching?

  “How long have they been following us?” I pushed her into the backseat. She scooted over. I climbed in next to her, still holding her wrists.

  “I don’t know.”

  “How long have you been following us?” I asked.

  “I haven’t been.”

  “You’re a shitty liar.” She always had been.

  “A couple weeks. They just want to help. I just want to help.”

  “Fuck,” I said.

  “Shit.” Reese had her hands so far under the steering column that I could barely see her head.

  “Are we stealing this car?” Ade asked.

  “Trying. Will you be quiet?” Reese asked. She had half the wires out of the dash now. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the car came to life. Limping, coughing, dying, but life. We took off.

  “Please, guys. This isn’t who you are. You don’t steal cars and hurt people. Just come talk to Agent Ogilvy. She can help straighten this whole thing out. You can come home.”

  “We don’t live there anymore,” Reese said. She was weaving in and out of traffic. I didn’t bother glancing back. I pretty much always figured someone was following us. Reese would lose them. She was good at that now.

  “But you can come back.”

  “Sorry, not happening. It’s not our home.” Reese sounded pissed. She should have been. We’d found whatever peace we could. And Ade had just destroyed it.

  “What do you mean? It’s home. It’ll always be home.”

  “You wouldn’t understand,” I said.

  “Oh, right. Of course not. You sound just like Mom and Dad. When the Feds showed up they were all happy you guys were alive, and then they wouldn’t help bring you back. It’s fucking bullshit.”

  “And you turned eighteen and jumped on a plane, right?” I asked.

  “Damn right.”

  “You couldn’t just let me live, could you?”

  “I want you home. Why is that bad?”

  “Because I’m not going home.”

  “Yes, you are. That’s why I’m here,” she said.

  “Listen, darlin’. If they catch me, I’m going to prison. Not back to EDH. Is that better? You can visit me. I’ll always be somewhere you can find me. Behind fucking bars. Is that what you want?” I finally let go of Ade’s hands. She wasn’t going anywhere. And I didn’t want to touch her. Or be anywhere near her.

  “It’s not like that. Those DiGiovanni people want to kill you. The Feds will protect you.”

  “They lied,” Reese said. “They don’t want to help us. They want to help themselves.”

  “Screw you. I’m not some naïve fifteen-year-old. I know how this works.”

  “You’re a naïve eighteen-year-old, and you�
�re going to get Coop killed,” Reese said.

  “That’s it. Let me out of the car. Fuck you guys,” Ade said.

  We were on a curving country road. It was late. There was no one behind us and no one ahead of us. Reese pulled the car over.

  “Okay. Get out,” Reese said.

  “What? Here?”

  “Out now.”

  Ade looked at me, desperation in her eyes.

  “You have a cell phone?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “Cell phone?” I leaned over and checked her pockets.

  “Hey!”

  But it was too late. I’d found the phone. I tucked it back into her pocket, leaned over her, and opened the door.

  “You heard Reese. Get out.”

  “But you can’t do this.” More tears.

  I pushed her until she climbed out of the car.

  “Ade, I love you,” I said as she slammed the door.

  “Fuck you!” she shouted one last time as Reese drove away.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Fuck!”

  “Yep,” Reese said.

  “Fucking stupid bitch!”

  “Breathing, Coop.”

  The therapist I’d seen for our first six months in Spain had been all big on breathing when I got angry. Instead of beating on people. I hadn’t been big on breathing. But Reese still thought it was helpful.

  “I don’t want to breathe,” I said.

  Reese shrugged. “We need to contact Ryan.”

  “Yeah, cell phones are in the kitchen.”

  We were in a studio apartment about thirty miles away from the larger safe house where Christopher, Breno, and Ryan were. There were two such apartments in Spain because we lived close by. Another was in Sweden. And a fourth in Ireland. We also had a big ass house in Brazil. But only Christopher and Breno had been there. Reese and Ryan and I hadn’t visited it yet. There were two apartments near that place too. Each had supplies in case we needed to run.

  Apparently, we needed to run.

  We had ditched our stolen car a few blocks away and walked here. By the time they found the car and tracked down this apartment, we would be gone.

  “Got ’em.” Reese walked back into the small room. She tossed me a box and started tearing into a second one.

  I left mine on the table and went in search of clothes.