Come Back

by J. A. Huss

  But the Admiral’s order to assassinate the assassins was not my only job. I have lots of jobs. Lots of invested interests. Lots of plans that don’t include the Company.

  My eyes dart around the alley as the girls cross, linger on some graffiti painted on the garage in front of Harper’s building, and then settle on my little partner-in-crime Smurf.

  Sasha. I remember that message I got about her back in March now. It turns out Sasha really does have a dirty little secret. But she was set up too, so I’m totally on board with her trust issues. Because Sasha Cherlin was promised to Nicholas Tate and that’s why he was visiting her last year. The Admiral wanted her dead, but like Merc, Sasha is not one to lie down and just die. The Admiral left her out on the Colorado prairie to keep her away from Nick.

  And even though I don’t know for sure that she was told to kill me when I showed up, I feel it to be true. And she failed, so it’s her turn to die instead.

  I watch the girls enter the gate that leads to Harper’s back yard. She’s the only one in the basement, so she will be inside and have that card in about two minutes. I’m about to get up from the roof so I can intercept her on the way back inside my condo when my gaze settles on the graffiti again.

  A mushroom.

  My stomach flips and my heart gives off one solid thump before beginning to race.

  The mushroom comes with a message. It always comes with a message. ‘Are you content now?’ said the Caterpillar, a quote from Alice in Wonderland, is written in a hippie style straight out of 1969.

  I frantically search the alley, knowing I am too late because I’m on the roof, when he steps out from behind a truck parked a few spaces down. “Tet!” he calls and then laughs. “Tet, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. I thought we got that coming-back-from-the-dead stuff out of the way back at the gas station? No? You’re still recovering? Still on vacation?”

  I think… for the first time in my life… I’m not sure what to do. So I start with his number. “One.”

  He pounds his bare chest, bronzed to a golden tan from beach living. “The one and only One. Still alive. Still fighting the good fight. Still… winning.” He laughs again. “You’re a good dog, Tet. A very good dog. Dropping the bird at my feet like this.”

  I’m confused.

  He stops directly below me in the alley. “What’s wrong, Six? Having trouble recalling our deal? That’s OK,” he says, digging a phone out of his pocket and waving it up at me. “I’ve been sending you messages all along, buddy, you just weren’t getting them. Sorry about that.”

  “I remember the deal,” I snarl. I remember most of the deal, anyway. “And the deal was I bring you the card. So why are you here?”

  “Well, brother, excuse me for not trusting you, but we’re gonna need a new deal. I want something else you have. And it’s not the little girl and it’s not the Admiral’s daughter, either.” He pops off a salute, turns on his heel, and walks into Harper’s back yard.

  Chapter Thirty-Six - Harper

  “You’re shitting me, right?” I ask Sasha as she continues to step back from me, that gun trained on my chest. “I’m on your side, Sasha! Put the gun down.”

  “Yes.” A voice from the open doorway startles both of us and I whirl around. “Be a good girl, Sasha Cherlin, and put the gun down.” I look back at Sasha and she has not put the gun down, but she’s not pointing it at me anymore, either. “Do you remember me?” the man asks her. He’s blond, tan, looks like that surfer guy I propositioned to make James jealous when we first met last week.

  Sasha nods. “I know who you are. And if you come any closer, I’ll shoot you.”

  “Awww, the little girl is all grown up.”

  Sasha growls at his patronizing tone.

  “Well.” The blond man moves two steps close to me, but steers clear of Sasha. And then he drags his gaze from her and directs it at me. “Harper Tate. We have not had the pleasure. I’m Number One. And you, I’m sorry to say”—he smiles then, and that is the most evil smile I’ve ever seen—“belong to me.”

  I recoil at his words. “I don’t think so.”

  “We had a deal.”

  “We did not have a deal,” I half snort, feeling more confident. Who the hell is this guy?

  “Not you and I, dear. Tet. Tet and I had a deal.”

  My stomach turns over. A gut-wrenching ache engulfs my heart. I have never felt such an emotional force internally as I do now. It almost knocks me over, that’s how hard this betrayal hits me.

  “And it involved that little card you have there.”

  I look down at the SD card I’m still holding between my fingertips. My out. The only thing I’ve been living for all year was this card and the promise that Nick would come back and get me. We’re gonna save everyone. We’re gonna make everything right again.

  I look back up at the man called One and shake my head. “You can’t have it, I don’t care who promised you. I won’t—”

  He’s got me by the throat before I can finish, the inner crook of his elbow a crushing force against my windpipe. I forget everything. Everything! My hands are clutching at his arm, trying to pry it away as my vision begins to black out. And then I hear Sasha scream, a sharp prick to my inner arm, and… nothing.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven - James

  “One,” I yell, as Harper’s body goes limp in his arms. She’s got a red streak around her neck, like she was strangled. “If you—”

  “Don’t come any closer, Tet. She’s out from the asphyxiation, but she’s drugged too. It was a big dose. She needs an antagonist stat.”

  Fuck. “I will fucking kill you. I will fucking—”

  He holds up the SD card in his hand and a wave of defeat washes over me. “I’m leaving, she can stay,” he says, lowering Harper to the ground. “Because it was Nicola I always wanted, Tet. And before you get all big brother on me, you should know, this was her idea.” He smiles as I internalize what he just said.

  The betrayal sinks in. The set up sinks in.

  “You think I’m lying? I’ll send you proof when we’re safely away.” And then he nods his head at Sasha. “That useless kid over there is also your problem. The Admiral gave you an order, so I imagine you’ll know what to do with her to get back into his good graces once he learns of this coup.”

  Sasha is actually pointing her gun at him, but the shock in her eyes renders her helpless.

  “I’m leaving, and if you’re smart, you’ll go get your naloxone and save the Admiral’s daughter, because Nicola doesn’t need saving, Tet. She’s right where she wants to be.” He grins. “With me.”

  “She’s turning blue, James,” Sasha says in a voice that should not be that calm.

  “Better go get it, Tet. She’ll be dead in a minute or less.”

  I bolt back into the hallway, take the steps three at a time and crash through the door that leads outside. I practically tear the gate off the hinges and slam into the garage door as I key in the numbers to open it up and get to the first-aid kit in the Hummer. I punch in the wrong code and get a red flashing light, it cycles through a mandatory waiting sequence before I can try again, and I force myself to breathe deeply as my shaky finger presses each number correctly. The door slides up and I drop to the ground and shimmy underneath as it rises. I open the cargo area and then the tub where the first-aid kit is stored.

  I grab the naloxone rescue pen and retreat at a full run back to Harper’s apartment. When I get there, Sasha is kneeling down next to Harper, shaking her and calling her name over and over again. “She’s dead! She’s dead!”

  No. I push Sasha out of the way and stab Harper with the pen, then press the plunger. I check her pulse. So weak. So very, very weak. I lean down on her chest and hold my breath as I listen for hers. Nothing.

  Sasha is screaming now, hysterical. But my world goes silent and I only see Harp. “Lionfish,” I whisper in her ear as I position her neck for rescue breathing. “Lionfish, you’re not getting out of here that
easy.” I hold her nose, cover her mouth with mine, and breathe.

  I breathe into her. I place a hand on her chest to make sure her lungs are inflating. I do this over and over again.

  Sasha is crying.

  Harper is not breathing on her own, but that’s OK.

  I’m breathing for her.

  That’s all I hear. My lungs drawing in air, then her lungs taking it from me. It’s a comforting rhythm that calms me down. A minute passes. Then two. Her heart is beating and that’s all that matters. As long as I breathe for her, her heart beats. As long as her heart beats, she’s alive. Three minutes pass, then four, and five.

  Her eyes fly open and she takes a long gasp of air. She struggles to sit up. The naloxone has dissociated the drug from the receptors in her nervous system, rendering it inert.

  I hug her. Tight. Sasha squirms her way in and hugs her too. Tight.

  Harper starts to cry and my whole body goes cold. My blood turns to ice.

  I will get that that motherfucker.

  I will get. That motherfucker.

  I will torture him using techniques he’s never heard of before. I’ll flay the skin off him, one layer at a time, until he’s screaming for death. He will beg for death.

  But death and I have an understanding. A deal. He can have them in the end, but I always get them first.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight - James

  I put Harper in the back of the Hummer with Sasha. They are both silent, but they are both alive. “Sasha, make sure she doesn’t fall into a deep sleep, OK? You need to check her pulse so we can make sure she’s not still drugged and give her another dose. Check her every ten minutes.” I explain how to do that and hand Sasha my watch so she can keep time. Then I give her the rescue pen, in case Harp needs more meds.

  When Sasha looks up at me, she’s crying. “I’m sorry. I should’ve shot him. I didn’t know what to do! It’s the city! It’s not the same. I didn’t know what to do.”

  Harper leans over the stupid table hump in between the two bucket seats and grabs her hand. “Don’t cry, Sasha. I’m fine, OK? I’m fine.”

  I push Harper back into her seat, lean over both of them so I can find her belt, and then drag it across her body. “Just keep still.”

  “James, that guy said he sent you to get the card.”

  “Don’t,” I growl at her. She recoils a little but I don’t care. “Don’t mention him again. I’m gonna take care of it. But I’m not gonna explain what happened, because I’m not sure. So no more.” I pull back and stand at Sasha’s door. “We’re not talking about today. Ever. Do you understand?”

  They just look at me and I guess that’s as good an agreement as I’m gonna get, so I shut Sasha’s door and open mine. Harper is on the passenger side in back, so I can keep an eye on her as we drive. She’s still drowsy so I’m hoping she’ll fall into a light sleep as we make our way to the airport. I can use some quiet time to sort this all out.

  I put the Hummer in gear and back out of the garage, then head up the alley so I can catch Beach Boulevard up to Fullerton.

  My blackouts are a problem. I’ve pushed them off as short-term and transient, but I can’t be certain.

  Too many things are missing.

  I could be missing so many details.

  I could have made more deals.

  There’s a Wal-Mart near the 22 freeway, so I park the truck and check on the girls. Sasha is wide awake, her eyeballs huge saucers as she waits for me to explain myself.

  Harper is asleep.

  “Stay here and this time, kid, if someone comes to hurt you or Harper, you shoot those fuckers.”

  She swallows and nods.

  I go inside the store and buy a disposable phone, a book about vampires, and couple of celebrity magazines, and some junk food and soda. We are camping out in the parking lot until this phone is charged and I can make a call.

  I take it all back out to the Hummer, turn the engine on so I can plug in the phone and run the AC… and we wait.

  Sasha reads the vampire book out loud as Harper drifts in and out of her post-narcotic slumber, and when the battery light on the phone finally turns green, I step outside and make my call.

  “Harrison,” I say with relief when he picks up on the second ring. “Did you get it?”

  “Shit, dude, you are fucking crazy! Sending me all the way down to Colombia for this!”

  “So you got it?”

  He laughs. “I got it. And you got a huge bill, both from me and Roberto.”

  I smile, then look back at the Hummer where Sasha is watching me. “Good,” I say, turning my back on her, “because here’s what I need.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine - Harper

  “Where are we?”

  “The harbor, Harp. You hungry?”

  “What time is it?”

  “Seven thirty.”

  “Where are we?” I’m so confused. “We’re at the beach?”

  “Yeah, the beach. To eat. I know you’re hungry.” He unbuckles my seatbelt and grabs me by the arm. Not roughly, but securely.

  “I do not feel good.”

  “I know, baby. But it’s OK. You’re gonna be OK.”

  “Where’s Sasha?”

  “I’m here,” she says. I look over and there she is. Her face is nothing but a frown. I smile at her but she does not shoot one back for me.

  “Why are you wearing a life vest?”

  Something is wrong.

  “We’re going on a boat, Harper. Kids have to have vests.”

  “I’m so confused. We’re eating on a boat?” And sure enough, when I look around, we’re in a marina. Have we always been in this marina?

  “It’s the drugs, Harp. They’re still wearing off. I had to give you two more doses of antagonist.”

  He helps me down from the Hummer and I’ve never noticed how high up it was before. My legs are not working right, my head is all fuzzy, and my whole body is hot. I look around. “There’s a lot of boats on the water.”

  “There’s a boat race going on in the harbor.”

  “Which harbor?”

  “Newport. You ready?” James smiles at me. I smile back. “We’re gonna walk this way, OK?”

  But Newport rings a bell for me for some reason. I’ve never been here, but I’ve heard of it. Where? Why? Why have I heard of it? I rack my brain as James leads me along a dock and stops at a charter. He helps me get in and I have to admit, I like this trip. “Are we gonna watch the sunset tonight?”

  “You bet, babe.”

  I’m irritated with his answers and now that I’m coming out of my drugged-up stupor, none of this is making sense. James is not manning the boat. He’s facing me and Sasha is sitting up near the bow, in front of the captain. It’s a little boat, only seats four, so we’ve filled it all up.

  We are going very slow because of the boat races. There must be a hundred sailboats in the harbor, all following their pattern. We weave in and out between them and the salty air refreshes me and starts to lift the confusion.

  God, I’ve missed being on a boat. I smile and then laugh a little when we pick up speed and I get splashed with saltwater. I am hungry. I open my eyes and spot a nice-sized yacht anchored off to the side. “Where are we going again?”

  But just as the words are out of my mouth I remember why I know of this harbor.

  Megayachts.

  Megayachts can anchor here if they get permission.

  I look at James and he’s staring at me intently. He’s got hold of my wrists and he reads the understanding on my face and squeezes them tightly. “Don’t fight me, Harper. I won’t put up with it.” His face is deathly serious.

  I stand up and he stands with me. My head turns, looking. And there she is. It’s pretty hard to miss a two-hundred-twenty-foot sailing yacht. “You sold me out.” I don’t scream it or get hysterical. It sorta comes out matter-of-factly. Like it was inevitable. Like I’ve always known I was nothing to him but a mission.

  We slow down again as the boat cap
tain tries to weave his way through the sailboats to get to the open garage of the yacht. It’s the High Summer. My favorite. The one I left last summer. The one where I committed all my crimes. My father is waiting. He actually smiles, and then he frowns. I follow his gaze and it lands on Sasha. She’s ignoring everyone. Me, James, the looks my father is shooting at her. The seat she’s sitting on is way in the tip of the bow, and she’s leaning over. I look back to my father and catch him nodding in my direction.

  But it’s not me he’s nodding at, it’s James.

  When I look back to James he’s got a gun out. It’s a big gun with a silencer thing on the end of it. He points it at Sasha, just as she stands up on her cushion and turns to smile and wave at me.

  James shoots her in the chest, the fluff from her life vest flies up in the air, and then her body falls overboard.

  All I hear is my scream and then I’m being hauled out of the boat and into the garage. Four men are holding me by my limbs. I’m not even allowed to walk, I’m carried. I squirm, elbowing one in the neck as he loses his hold, my feet get free, and then James is in front of me. I lift both legs and give him a two-footed kick to the chest. He stumbles backwards, the breath knocked out of him. But he never stops looking at me.

  His eyes are saying something, but it’s not anything I want to hear.

  “You’re a traitor,” I spit at him. “You are a traitor!” I scream it this time.

  He says nothing. My father walks up to him and claps him on the back. “Well done, James. And the card? Did you find the card?”

  James shakes his head. “No, sir. But I know where it is. I’m going there next.” He drags his eyes from me and stares at my father. I’m being carried away, my arms and legs again captured by the security guards, and some of his words get lost in the bustle.

  But then I hear it.

  “Ten days,” he says. “I’ll have your son and the card in ten days.”

  He looks straight at me and lowers his sunglasses.

  And that’s the last I see of James Fenici as I’m dragged into the interior of the ship.