by Jonas Saul
But now it was time to stop and live for herself.
In the week since she had returned from Europe, Sarah hadn’t left Aaron’s apartment. He ran the errands, got the groceries, and handled the phone whenever it rang. That life had grown on her and she liked it. No one talked to her but Aaron. No one called. She had been missing for two months, and the world assumed she was dead.
Only Darwin and Rosina in Italy knew she was alive. They had nursed her back to health after her near-death experience there.
But no one else knew she was finished. It was over. No more chasing notes from Vivian, no more dealing with the police who had a severe case of never trusting her even though she had proven herself countless times. It was over. She was committing to this new life with Aaron.
The alternative was death.
One day, somehow, no matter how much Vivian led the path and protected her, Sarah figured someone would get lucky. Someone would kill her.
The door to the apartment opened and Aaron stepped inside.
“Crazy night at the dojo,” he said as he shut the door. He looked at her on the couch and stopped. “You okay?”
Sarah nodded. “Just doing some thinking.”
“About what?” he asked. He kicked off his shoes and moved into the kitchen. A moment later, he entered the living room, a beer in hand, and sat in the leather chair opposite her. “What were you thinking?”
“What if I told you I wanted to continue being a vigilante for as long as I could? Even in my fifties? How would you feel about that?”
He looked at his beer a moment, then raised his gaze to meet hers.
“Sarah, I love you. If that’s what you wanted, I would support it.”
“What if I got seriously hurt, or was killed?”
“Then I would have to live with that.” He smiled at her. “After I hunted down who hurt you, of course.” He drank from his beer. “I’d live with it because doing what you do is your decision. What we’re doing together,” he waved a hand between them, “wouldn’t work if I didn’t validate you and your decisions. I stand behind you. We’ve talked about this before. I felt it was too dangerous for you to do it alone. But I was wrong.”
He took another long pull on the bottle.
“Now flip the debate the other way,” Sarah said. “What if I told you I was going to quit? No more notes from Vivian, no more chasing the bad guys. I would stay home and make dinner and go to the movies with you.”
“Same answer. That’s what love is, Sarah. Support. You have to do what is right for you. The people in your life either understand, care for you and support you, or eventually they’re not in your life. What is all this about? You leaving me or something? Moving out?”
She studied his face, his eyes. He always hung on her every word as any good listener would.
“I’ve decided what I want to do going forward.”
“Which is?” Aaron moved closer, sitting on the edge of his chair.
“I’m getting out.”
“Getting out? You haven’t left the apartment in a week. Okay, come with me to the dojo one night. Or we can go for a walk. That’ll get you out.”
She stared at him for a moment, then laid her head back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling.
“Something tells me I’m not getting it,” Aaron said. “Are you saying you’re quitting? As in, not taking notes anymore?”
“I’m done with being a vigilante.”
“What?” Aaron sounded genuinely surprised. “Since when?” he whispered.
This was what he wanted. They had discussed this earlier in the year. He tried to get her to stop, but she had argued she was duty bound to do what was right. That’s why she went to Italy. He wanted to go to protect her if she wasn’t going to quit. She could use the backup, he had said.
But she refused. A part of her longed to continue with Vivian, but with all she had been through, and now in her mid-twenties, she wondered if there was ever going to be a life for her. Would she ever get married? Could she have kids? How much would her stab wounds and bullet holes ache in old age? She had contemplated what day would be a good day to stop and decided that now was the time, while she was still young.
If something minor came up and Vivian assured her it was important, she would be interested, but there had to be a point where it stopped completely. Going after Mafia hit men and hunting rogue politicians in foreign countries was over the top, even for her.
She explained her reasoning to Aaron. “I hope you understand.”
“Understand?” He wiped a tear from his cheek. “I’m being selfish when I say this, but I’m so happy you made that decision. Oh, Sarah.” He got up and sat beside her on the couch, wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
They sat there for a few minutes until the phone rang. Aaron didn’t move to answer it.
“Aren’t you going to get that?” she asked.
“No. Leave it. They can call back.”
“It might be Parkman.”
“So?” Aaron leaned away to look at her.
“I’m supposed to meet him tonight,” she said. “He’s in town to talk to me about something.”
Aaron leaned over and grabbed the handset on the fourth ring. He nodded when he looked at call display.
Sarah took the phone. “Parkman?”
“Oh, good, you’re home. We need to meet.”
“I know. Do you want to come up here?”
“No. I can’t. Too dangerous. You have to come meet me. Alone.”
She looked at Aaron. “Okay, but why all the cloak and dagger stuff? You in trouble?”
“Not me.”
Sarah’s stomach dropped a notch as it filled with acid.
“Where do you want to meet?”
Aaron shook his head and mouthed the words, no way.
“Do you remember that burned out warehouse on Keele Street? The one the Leap Year Killer blew up?”
“How could I forget? I was inside at the time.”
“Meet me in the front parking lot at midnight. Trust me, Sarah, you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.”
“And I’ve got something to tell you, too, Parkman. Be prepared. You might be in for a shock.”
“Nothing shocks me with you, Sarah. Nothing.”
“See you then,” she said.
As she pulled the phone from her ear, Parkman shouted something else. She brought the phone back up. “What was that? I missed what you said.”
“I just said to come alone. Don’t bring anyone else with you or you risk their safety.”
“Risk their safety? Great. What about mine?”
“You’re with me. Don’t worry about that. And, if anyone can take care of themselves, it’s you. Just be there. It’s important.”
Sarah hung up and handed the phone to Aaron.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“I’m meeting Parkman at midnight.”
“Why?”
“He wouldn’t say, but I’m assuming that I will know when we meet up.”
“Are you being a smart ass or just sarcastic?”
“Maybe a little of both.”
She made a funny face and stuck her tongue out at him, got off the couch and walked to the balcony doors. The darkness was split by the lights on the streets below. Straight lines cut through the inky blackness, leading people through the night.
“I heard from Vivian,” Sarah said.
“What did she say? Does she have an opinion on you quitting the family business?”
Sarah glanced over her shoulder at him and fixed him with a cold stare.
“Sorry, didn’t mean it to sound like a joke.”
She turned back to the window. “Vivian agrees that it’s time to lay low, take a break, or even quit altogether.” She took a couple of deep breaths. “That’s what scares me.”
“What does?”
Sarah walked back to the couch and plopped down. She pulled a piece of paper out of her back pocket and un
folded it.
“The fact that Vivian agreed so easily scares me.” She read a few lines of the note to herself, then looked up at Aaron. “This recent note tells me she sees something dangerous coming my way that I will avoid by quitting, otherwise she would’ve argued against it. Vivian was the one who started this message-giving business. I just got swept up and enjoyed it.” She shook her head. “This last trip to Italy proved how easily I could be killed. I almost didn’t make it this time, and all that kept going through my head was you, my parents, and Parkman. How I didn’t spend enough time with the people I love. Aaron, we need to talk about marriage, how many kids you want, buying a house one day. I’ve still got money from when my mom and dad moved to Santa Rosa—”
“Okay, okay, slow down. We’ll have plenty of time to do all that. Who else knows you’re alive and who knows you’re quitting?”
“Only you, Vivian, and the people who brought me back to health and saved my life in Italy. I planned on telling Parkman tonight.”
Aaron nodded. “Okay, are you still going to meet him?”
Sarah ruffled the pages in her hands. “Let me paraphrase some of what Vivian said.”
Aaron grabbed his beer, took a swig and sat back on the couch. “Go ahead.”
“She said that it’s important for me to have closure with all the people who have helped me along the way, and that includes Parkman as he’s been there for me for many years. More than anyone else. But if I’m really going to quit, I can’t meet him tonight.”
“What? Did you read that wrong? Can’t meet him tonight? Didn’t you mean can? Could you have misinterpreted her message?”
“I don’t think so. That never happens. Sometimes the message comes through in a riddle, or there are words I have to look up like street names, but if Vivian says it’s black, it usually is.”
“So then you’re not going tonight?”
“I am going,” Sarah said. “Parkman deserves to hear this in person.”
“I was afraid of that. Can’t you meet him some other time?”
Sarah shook her head. “How often is he in Toronto? His business has picked up recently and he’s so busy.”
“I heard he was in Greece last week solving a missing person’s case.”
“And now he’s in Toronto to talk to me. Parkman’s safe. I’m going to meet him, hear what he has to say, tell him my plans and then come back home.” She got up and walked to the closet where she pulled out her shoes. “Is my bike where I parked it last?”
“Still there.” Aaron got up and walked to her side. “I guess there’s no talking you out of this, is there?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Even though Vivian advised you to stay away from Parkman?”
“Even though.” She rested a hand on the door handle. “Parkman’s safe. I know him. There’s no danger with Parkman. I think the reason Vivian warned me away was because Parkman has something he needs help with and that’s why he wanted to meet with me at this late hour. Vivian’s worried I will acquiesce, give in and help Parkman one more time. When I tell him I’m out, he’ll respect my wishes and let it go at that. We’ll part ways with no hard feelings. The next time we see him will be over Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner with the family.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Sarah stuffed Vivian’s note back in her pocket.
“You taking a gun with you?” Aaron asked.
“No need. It’s Parkman. Why would I need a gun?”
“Better to have one and not need it, than to—”
“I know, I know. But this is different.”
“Okay. If you say so.” Aaron looked at his watch. “Almost eleven. You’d better get this over with. I’ll wait up for you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Sarah, I can’t sleep without you. Missed you for too long when you were gone. I will be up and waiting.”
She leaned in and hugged him. They kissed, long and hard. Then she pulled away, opened the door, and stepped out into the hallway.
“See you soon,” Sarah said.
Aaron nodded and closed the door.
Sarah took the stairs, always eager to exercise the leg that took a bullet two months ago in Italy. In the underground garage, she wiped off her BMW motorcycle and started the engine. It purred as it if hadn’t sat for the last three months.
In her tenure as a vigilante, responding to the prophetic notes that came to her from her dead sister, Sarah had lost a lot of people. Esmerelda was gone. Drake Bellamy was dead. Dolan, and her cousin Russell. It was time for a change. It was time to stop.
If Aaron only knew another part of the reason she was quitting, he might convince her not to. He would want her to quit because it was something she chose to do for her. He would say she had to quit for the right reasons.
Sarah swung her leg over the bike’s seat, revved the engine, and pulled away.
Eventually someone would get to Aaron or Parkman and hurt them because of her. Maybe even kill them. She couldn’t live with that on her shoulders. She had allowed herself to fall for Aaron deeper than she intended and now it was time to quit the vigilante business to be with him before someone took him away from her.
It was her time to be happy in a world filled with misery and pain. Her time to go to the movies, read a book and listen to classical music on a Sunday afternoon with a hot cup of coffee. She’d earned it.
The reason she paraphrased Vivian’s note for Aaron was because she couldn’t allow him to read it word for word.
Vivian had talked her into quitting. Something was coming that Sarah wouldn’t be able to fully recover from. Something was coming that was altogether too big and if it didn’t kill her, she would never be the same again. Whatever was coming represented darkness.
Now was the time to stop and take a chance at a new life. Anything other than that was to risk her life. She had thought about it long and hard and decided Vivian was right.
The last part of the note told Sarah to meet with a girl named Tam Rood. Once they met and talked, things would be okay. That darkness would go away. Sarah was to help Tam with her family issues through diplomacy and dialogue, not anger and weapons.
Talk to Tam and do not meet Parkman were the note’s final words.
But she had to meet Parkman.
It was the right thing to do. Parkman deserved it.
Then she would locate Tam Rood.
After that, she would find out when Aaron was going to propose and she would get on with her new lease on life.
Sarah pushed the bike harder, not willing to wait any longer on her new life, the whole time wondering if she was making a mistake by violating her sister’s last message.
Chapter 2
Oliver Payne gasped and sat up in bed as the sun broke through the thin orange curtains, warming his skin. Clammy sweat covered his arms and back and his pulse beat to the rhythm of a jogger. Another nightmare, another horror, relived in his nightly ventures after four months of freedom.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. This was freedom, this was peace. It had ended months ago when he escaped her.
Having to remind himself that he made it out alive was a daily chore. The car accident, the beating at the office when he stayed late one night, the cardiac arrest, all brought on by his ex-wife. The carefully planned attacks that had escalated over time.
None of the events of aggression had been accidents. Violeta knew the route he drove home. She knew what street he would be on and when he would be on it because she was on the phone with him the whole time that night.
Then a car, minus the driver, was pushed into his way as he rounded a blind corner. Air bags deployed, and he cracked a couple of ribs.
The beating after work was unprofessional. The two skinny idiots, meth-diet punks, pretended to rob him, but it wasn’t his wallet they were after. It was him.
When he woke in the hospital, Violeta offered fake platitudes.
But that was all four months ago
and he was free of her and all her insane fantasies. Her wild goals of being one of the super rich and her determination to get there at all costs. Even if it meant removing him. The one person she claimed stood in her way.
He didn’t put it past her that she was still hunting him. Even though they were separated, she needed him for the business to thrive. With him gone, she was stymied. But if he was dead, it would all fall into her hands.
