“Why’d you want this printed anyway?” Saint asked then. “Kicking it old school?”
“I don’t want it on my multi-slate.” He’d been careful, but his Tiny Terror was admittedly crafty. If he ever managed to slip his chains and get to Flix’s multi-slate instead of going for his own, Flix wanted to be sure there wasn’t anything on there that could tempt him into fleeing the city.
He’d tell Ani about his brother once he had more information, and then he’d figure out the best way to proceed from there. The thought of letting Aneski leave to find him, even with Flix at his side, didn’t sit right. It made him uneasy thinking about keeping Ani away from anything potentially dangerous while on the road.
There’d need to be another way.
“You can’t find any proof of life?” The information in his hands seemed to stop after the first five months. Had the letters lasted that long as well?
“Not yet,” Saint said. “But I’m still searching. Want me to send a guy? From what I have found, Russ was definitely at that address for a while after he fled. If he’s not there now, there might be someone around who knows where he’s run off to since.”
“Yeah,” Flix agreed. “Send Hael.”
“Don’t you want to run this by Baikal first?” Berga suggested.
“Nope.” He stood. “He’ll be fine with one less underling.”
“What about what you wanted to tell him? You should confess.”
“Confess?” Saint propped his elbows on the table and leaned in conspiratorially. “Ohh, confess to what? What could the most loyal soldier in Baikal’s army have done that needs confessing?”
Loyal?
Yeah right.
“Thanks for the info.” He slid the file back to Saint’s side of the table. “Keep this somewhere safe where no one else will find it.”
“Sure thing.” He waited a beat and then, “You’re really not going to tell me what it is?”
“Why the fuck would I do that?”
“At least let me know who your Onus is.”
“When the time comes, I will.” There was still the whole Shepard thing that Flix needed to deal with first. Baikal had agreed to allowing him claim Ani but had ordered him not to let Aneski quit the Shepards just yet. Flix knew what he was thinking. He was trying to figure out if there was an angle he could utilize here.
Baikal wanted to be sure he didn’t need to use the Shepards for anything before he ordered Ani to cut all ties with them.
Flix couldn’t even be annoyed about it because he not only understood that logic, he also agreed with it. He was waiting until Baikal called him with a decision, and depending on what the decision was, he’d either tell him about his Shout powers or bury the secret all over again.
Before, when Aneski wasn’t a part of the picture, Flix had been willing to take that risk finally, but now?
If Baikal felt threatened, he could go after Ani. They were friends, and Flix wanted to believe he wouldn’t, but…
Pretty nightmares.
That’s all any of them really were. Monsters with beautiful visages meant to disarm their prey. With Baikal’s abilities? His Shout powers allowed him to control and create shadows, and Flix had seen him use them to tear apart men before.
Just the thought of that happening to Ani made his stomach cramp.
There really was no longer a reason for him to tell anyway. With Aneski tied to him, there was no way he’d ever tattle to Baikal, even if he was ever released from the chains.
Unless he had a death wish…
Did he have a death wish?
Flix didn’t believe so, but obviously when it came to the other man, Flix struggled with seeing things clearly. If it’d been anyone else that day, the second they’d picked up the knife, he would have known exactly where they were going with things, but not Ani. He’d actually thought the Tiny Terror was going to try to threaten him with it—threaten to cuthimwith it.
He’d thought they’d go another round where he’d eventually subdue Aneski and then he’d leave him there to go sort through his chaotic thoughts. After the way he’d abandoned him after the sex they’d had, he’d figured Ani would eventually show before him to complain, but he’d never even imagined he’d risk his own damn life just to make a point.
