Despite his own demons, I commended Frank’s strength, his ability to guide a man like Remo, hardcore and headstrong.
“Was that the end you wanted?”
Slowly, I turned away from the hundred monitors displaying the world at my fingertips, leaned my ass against the table and folded my arms across my chest. “Yes and no.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
Katarina Petrov was bold as she was beautiful with many titles to her name. Covert Operative. Assassin for hire. Ghost and bodyguard among the few. For me, she played the role of ‘cover my ass’ literally and figurately. Although she came recommended, she stayed not because my story intrigued her, but she wanted to know the ghosts behind Remo’s darkness. They had history, and as long as it wasn’t a sexual one, I didn’t ask.
“I thought doing this would release him, give him the reprieve he needed. Bring him the closure he deserved. Yet somehow…” My thoughts drifted to that last look on his face. “Whatever his mother’s dying words were, I have a feeling they’re going to keep him locked in his past.”
“And you can’t help?” Her question gave me pause as I thought of the lengths I’d go through to help him. “Why now, though, why wait so long?” she asked when I didn’t say answer.
I looked up from gazing at the floor, my smile small. “Patience is a talent, Kat.” At her frown, I added, “to achieve true success, one must sacrifice, and you’d be amazed what a person can do with a little determination and an abundance of time. While your enemies think you’re forgotten them, you learn their ways, adapt and use their weaknesses against them.”
Slowly, she nodded, her eyes assessing. “Still. I’m a killer and I understand your need for revenge, but there are times I question my choices. You, however, I get the sense you feel nothing when you kill.”
My laugh was dry. “A woman who doesn’t have a father, a brother, a husband or society’s support, she’s not a woman anymore. She becomes a dead body, and a dead body isn’t afraidof bullets, knives or words. Regardless, my sword can’t end a story, nor can it remove sins. So, every time I rid this earth of one of them, a piece of my soul burns away, and when it’s all gone–”
“You won’t feel or care about anything anymore,” she finished for me. Silently, I stared at her. “What about him?”
I smiled. “He’ll have her.”
“Do you plan to tell them?” She stood and walked over to the coffee station.
Straightening, I approached her and accepted the mug she held out. As always, the first bitter sip hit the back of my tongue with an ugly flare before I welcomed the next. “Remember when I sought you out, asking for your help?”
“To save him?”
“To save them both. To give them lives they’ve each lost and maybe bringing them together would help them heal, exorcise their respective demons and perhaps discover love. Until that day happens, I can’t reveal anything.”
“What makes you think Remo wouldn’t figure out your end game?” She sipped her coffee. “That man’s intelligence is underrated simply because he hides behind a ‘devil may care’ attitude.”
“Then it would be a case of cross that bridge.” I shrugged.
“Well, be prepared to swim under it sooner than you think.” She chuckled, making me smile. “Coffee, pipsqueak?”
Rahul Dev, my computer genius slash hacker slash Google in a teenager’s body, looked up from his laptop and smiled. “Yes, please.”
Like Katarina, he knew Remo and when I sought his help to join my little band of merry men, he was all ears, limbs and keyboard.
“You should get some sleep, you look exhausted.” Katarina’s beautiful green eyes roved over my face. “I guess chasing after a man like Remo will do that to you.”
“Not chase. Protect,” I corrected.
“My bad.” She laughed.
Together, Katarina and I walked back to the bank of monitors, handed Rahul his mug and drank our coffee while silently observing the people I protected, and the demons I planned to exorcise. Each caught up in their respective lives and none the wiser to my surveillance.
“Can I ask you something?” Katarina asked.
I sipped my coffee. “Do I have to remind you there’s only a handful of people I trust with my life and you’re one of them?”
Slowly, she nodded. “Why her?”
“What do you mean?”
“You love Remo, right?” I nodded. “Why bring them together, why not keep him for yourself?”
