Jinksy stepped forward, the sweet gentle giant that he was. “I’ve looked into the family, and there’s actually a lot of chatter on the internet,” he said. “There’s probably going to be a lot of infighting in the family, and then they’ll look outside to see the people who could’ve been of what happened.”
Finley also stepped forward. “They’ll have to sell off assets,” he said. “But they can’t. They’re effectively going to become homeless.”
“That’s because Sanctum now owns it all,” Mercy said. “That drive has all the deeds, and locations of deeds, alongside vault numbers and access codes. There’s a reason he was on my intel list, we couldn’t kill him without knowing where he’d squirreled away assets.”
“Jeez,” Art let out, rejoining us. “I think it’s what they deserve, for profiting so long on human suffer. The entire family is complicit in it.”
“It’s not just the Blackwell family,” she said. “They’re a singular domino in a much larger chain reaction. You’ve knocked a small one, but sooner or later, a large one will fall, and the world will feel it.” She said all of this with a huge smile on her face. “More work for us. So, in the year you’re both away, I need you to keep training, and if you’re ever in need of Sanctum, those phones are programmed with a direct line. Instructions are in the boxes. It’s hard coded.”
“They’ll reach us,” Finley said.
“But only call if you’re in need,” Jinksy said. “Not just for a chat, which would be nice.”
“We’ll send postcards,” Artemis said with a giggle. “I think we’re going to travel.”
“We are?” I asked. My mind was to lay low in Maine, but whatever Art wanted, I suppose he was going to get.
“Yeah, we’d be silly not to travel with all this money,” he snorted. “We’re definitely flying first class.”
Mercy let out a slight squeak. “The private jet is still ready. We can get you anywhere. I assumed after handing over the Maine deed, you’d head there.”
Artemis’s eye grew with the recollection of the private jet on offer. “Fuck yeah,” he laughed. “Let’s take the jet. Oh god. Do we need to decide where we’re going now?”
Glancing to her watch, Mercy nodded. “Before you get to the tarmac, the pilot has to file a flight plan. So, make it quick.”
I looked to him. “Your call,” I said, handing him the reins. But I knew the answer. We were going in the jet.
“I’ll have someone drive you to the airport then, leave your car in long-term parking,” she said. “But don’t come back here until the year is out. Or two, depending on the fall out. They might come for blood.”
Artemis smirked—not sure if it was aimed at her comment, or the fact we were about to be taken on a flight to any destination we wanted.
I’d never rested, so this was going to be new for me. Artemis would make sure I didn’t get any actual rest though—and there was the marriage, we’d be kept busy, especially with the money he would soon learn wouldn’t stretch as far as his imagination did. The world was expensive when you wanted to live like a millionaire.
***
Rio, Brazil. A one-way flight.
It was an eventful flight—between Artemis squealing about all the money, to fucking and joining the mile high club. We really managed to get a whole lot done. He was full of awe, and full of me.
Artemis decided on it. Everyone was always sayingcome to Brazilonline, and so it’s where we went. Right into it. We landed and was taken to a large mansion in the hills. All glass architecture. It was one of Sanctum’s properties, somewhere we could stay for a moment while we gathered ourselves.
A guarded area where everyone was helpful and nice. The house came with a cook and a cleaner. Two Brazilian women who spoke very little English, but made some of the most amazing food.
Dinner was prepared for us with rice, meat, veggies, and bread. There was a candle on the table, and I felt even more in love with Artemis in that moment, watching him devour the plate of food, and the complimentary red wine, which—as a somewhat drunken connoisseur of wine, I knew it was good.
“Wish we could stay here forever,” I told him. “I bet Mercy is already running up our tab for when we get back.”
“I can’t believe I’m out,” he whispered, finishing his glass of red wine and refilling it to the top. “This tastes like juice.”
“You’re notoutout,” I told him.
The cook, Manuela, came out in her chef whites, asking if it was good, using a thumbs up gesture and getting one back in return. I wondered if she was on standby, or if she had another job outside of this. “Dessert,” she said, nodding. “Now?”
“Please,” Artemis said. “I’d love dessert.”
“Ok, ok,” she said, leaving the large table with a smile.
She must’ve been used to catering for large amounts of people coming in from Sanctum having their little retreats. I knew there were active agents all around the world, some of them were even consideredroguesfrom not checking in for longer than a year. Soon, that would be me and Art.
