He’d seen me, the real me, the face behind the face. It wasn’t pretty, covered in blood, and a heart beat that barely rose as I fired a gun and stuck a knife into someone’s neck, pulling it out for full effect, and the full spray. I’d wanted to redecorate anyway. It was in those moments I didn’t think about Ezra or how he might feel seeing me do those things. But I didn’t want him to see them after the fact, and I was glad to see the back of that place.
In the boat back to town, I checked the comms to see if Runa was around to explain to me what the fuck had happened. Adrian had warned me people were sniffing around, but I didn’t know we’d be ambushed. It could’ve been avoided if I’d checked comms earlier, maybe, but I didn’t know without Runa, and she wasn’t on the other end. But I kept it in my ear just in case she was around. These tiny things were charged through those electronic pads they had for all the gadgets, so it wasn’t dead.
“Once we’re back, we don’t stop for anything,” I told Ezra. He was sitting on the firm cabin seating, staring right ahead, squeezing Mr. Thimble. He seemed to be going in and out of shock, almost like one moment he processed it, and another time it was a fresh wound and he needed space to heal. “We head straight for the car. Adrian has replaced the plates for us, so we can head right on out.”
Ezra nodded. “I know,” he whispered. “I’m excited to be somewhere else.” He looked up at me. There was a redness in his eyes, like sadness, and I really wanted to just squeeze it out of him.
Growing up, that type of stuff—emotions—they were beaten out of me, to the point I didn’t know if I would die the moment I expressed anything but anger. And I didn’t explode,or die, or fail, the only thing that happened when I expressed myself was happiness. It was Ezra. He’d brought it out of me.
By the time we were approaching the harbor, he’d found his voice and was asking more questions again. It was only natural for him to want to know how this entire thing was working, especially since it effected his life the most. I’d already explained we were in hiding, trying not to cause trouble.
“We’re getting in the same car,” I told him. “Different plates. They won’t know where we are.”
“But won’t they know to check the places you own?” he asked.
“They will,” I said. “But these are owned by shell companies, so only if you were able to trace back a long way would you find me. It’s how a lot of the world works. Hiding behind shell companies to hold assets.”
Ezra looked a little disappointed. “I took a business class in college, it was full of rich fucks—”
“Kitten,” I said, brow furrowed to remind him about his language.
“They were horrible. I almost quit, several times. They were teaching very basic stuff in that class, and most of the students were heirs of some sort. Just waiting around for a parent to die or inherit their family business. Most of them just paid for their degrees. Doubt they ever took exams.”
“That is how a lot of the world works,” I said. “People don’t care about people. People care about money.” I bit the inside the inside of my cheek and tsked. It was like my body was warning me I was being a bit too self aware, since money made my world go round, and I still needed it.
He stared at me with a certain type of intensity and slowly nodded. “So, what do you care about?”
“You.” It was simple. It was straightforward. I cared about Ezra. Making sure he lived, making sure we survived, andmaking sure I could get to know him more than what I’d seen online—and partially stalked about him.
“You’re gonna go broke then.” He giggled as if he’d been reading my thoughts.
Going under the radar cost money—paying people off, paying to go under the radar, and if all else failed, paying for new identities. I knew a handful of forgers out of Sanctum’s reach, so they wouldn’t be able to get their hands on it.
A crackle came through my earpiece. Runa was live. “She’s back,” I whispered to Ezra as we made our way into the port. Adrian was already waiting to receive the boat.
“Jacques,” she said, her voice quiet. “You know I can’t be doing this. I didn’t know about the attack. Apparently they’ve hired a second company. Sanctum is protecting Victor, but they’ve got some other people on the attack. They’re searching for you.”
“Thanks, Runa,” I replied. “I’ve left a nice mess at my really nice house. But we’ve left. I’m not saying where to. We’re going out of the country. But we’ll be back when we’re needed for Ezra to testify.” All the while, Ezra was looking at me, probably wondering what I was talking about.
“Oka., If there’s anything I can help you with, please let me know,” she said. “And if I hear anything urgent, I’ll send it to your phone.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket at that moment. It was Runa from an unknown encrypted number.“Comms are compromised. The other agency is in Sanctum. I think they tracked the comms.”
Without a second thought, I plucked the comms from my ear and tossed it from the open window of the cabin out into the river water. Ezra still looked at me with confusion, but that would have to wait until we were in the car, somewhere I knew we were safe to talk—and alone.
Adrian greeted us, climbing aboard. He was all smiles until we were in the cabin. “It’s not safe,” he said. “Groups of men in black SUVs, no plates. They’ve been up and down the slip of the road just outside here. I’ll fix the boat. Your car is all ready. New plates. And I did a sweep, as you asked. No bugs.” He handed me the keys.
“That’s great,” I said. “If they ask you anything, we went out of the country. Mention Canada, but also Europe.” In truth, there were a lot of places we could be, and we needed them looking everywhere but where we were.
“Got it.”
Before we left the boat, I found our disguises from the storage compartment beneath the pull-out sofa bed. A choice of baseball caps, shades, and windbreakers.
“Have they always been there?” Ezra grumbled, switching between all the different caps.
“Had them in the house too,” I said. “Everyone needs a disguise sometimes.”
“No fake nose and mustache?” Adrian chuckled.
