I felt Olly’s muscles cord under my hand and looked down; his hand had made a fist.I slid my own hand down to it and squeezed it, trying to get him to cool off.I knew how angry he was – I was angry, too – but fists weren’t going to make this situation any better.
“Let me get this all straight in my head,” Olly said.“Quijada made sure Keaton applied for the role because he thought he would be bad at the job.”
“And because he makes those little films or whatever,” Brody supplied helpfully.“We thought he might take you down from the inside before we even had to.”
I took a deep and unsteady breath.Fernando had deliberately used me.
As soon as we were out of here, I had to warn Clara.He wasn’t the man she thought he was.
“You should make sure that Chinese fellow vets people properly,” Helen tutted sanctimoniously.“You could have ended up withanyoneworking for you.”
No one bothered to remind her that Ace was Korean, not Chinese.It was like we’d all written her off.She was a nasty, racist, homophobic old lady.There was nothing she could say that would be relevant.
“Then you delivered fake contracts to the office and to our sponsors setting up a fake deal,” Olly continued, thinking it all through out loud.He was talking so much, it was almost odd to hear.This was what he was like, I realized, when he was too stunned to vet every word that came out of his mouth.“You waited for Ridley to go to his usual bar so you could let Helen in to drug him.Quijada filmed him stumbling around and leaked the story to the press to ruin his reputation.What exactly were you going to do once the client you wanted had no sponsors?”
“Redeem his image,” Brody shrugged.“We knew he’d been drugged.If he switched quick enough, we could get his blood tested.If not, we could get a fake confession or just a witness statement.Then he could go volunteer at a homeless shelter for orphans with a few cameras around and we’d be back in business.”
“And then?”
“Then once we had Ridley, all your other clients would realize we were the hot new ticket and you were an old dinosaur, and we’d poach the whole lot of them.”
“Dinosaur?”Olly repeated with incredulity.
“That’s a little out of turn, Mr.Driver,” Helen muttered.“But I knew they were wrong, Mr.Harvey.I was always going to be there to support you no matter which way this all went.You see, I’m loyal.A quality the younger generation clearly lacks.”
Brody took a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one up.“Whatever,” he said.“Obviously, if Quijada was in on this last bit, I’m not joining him now.Besides, you pretty much knocked every challenge we threw at you out of the park.I gotta say, you proved yourself to be the better agent.”
“Don’t expect my gratitude,” Olly warned him.I was glad.As much as I always wanted to be even and fair to everyone where I could, I didn’t think Brody could be trusted enough for a second chance.
Brody smiled wryly around the cigarette.“I won’t,” he said.“Guess I’m out of a job.”
It was hard to feel sympathy for him – but there was one more thing that was playing on my mind.
“Where’s Fernando?”I asked.“Was he supposed to meet you here?”
Brody shook his head.“I went by his apartment before I came,” he said.He took a drag and blew out a funnel of smoke to his left.“Couldn’t get hold of him.I don’t know what he’s planning, but he’s not answering my calls anymore.”
“You!”All four of us swung our heads to the exit Olly and I had taken to get here.Ace was framed in the doorway and glaring at Brody with absolute fury.His hair had been neatly tied back earlier, but now strands were working their way loose, framing his face.He was alone; whatever he had done, he must have managed to distract or delay the press.“You fucker!This was you?!”His tone was less surprised than hurt, which struck an odd note in my head.
“It was her,” Olly said coldly.He pointed right at Helen.“Call the police and tell the security guards to lock down the office so she can’t have anyone remove the evidence.I’ve got to get out of here before the cameras catch up with us.”
Olly turned and put his hand on my back, gently urging me towards the car, and this time I didn’t resist.I got into the passenger seat as he walked around to drive.Through the window, I watched Ace stalk right up to Brody and start shouting at him.
The parking lot exit was set up in such a way that we had to drive away from them and then circle back around, coming almost past them again; I wound the window down as we made the exit onto the road, getting one last glimpse of them.Ace was talking into his phone, pointing at Helen who stood primly with one hand clutching her purse against her shoulder; Brody was walking away from him; Ace lifted the phone away from his ear to shout something I couldn’t make out after him.Brody walked back and pushed Ace right in the chest, and I opened my mouth to say something.
Then I caught Olly’s reflection in the glass beside me as we entered a brief tunnel out to the street, and I closed it again.Ace was an adult and he had security on the way.Not only that, but I’d already seen with my own eyes that he could handle Brody in a fight, even if only to hold his own until help arrived.They weren’t going to kill each other.
In fact, as I thought back to that strange note in Ace’s voice, maybe something was going on there above all of this other stuff – something none of us knew about.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Olly said.His tone was full of regret.
“I wouldn’t have believed it if you’d explained it to me later,” I said.I shook my head.“I’m glad I was there.I’m glad I was able to stand by your side through it.”
“Not that,” Olly said.He shot me a sideways glance.“I mean – Ace and Brody.”
I frowned.“What do you mean?”
“They were fighting.”
