And it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Emiliano? Is everything all right?”Jared answered his phone as he walked out of the living room.
Angie had been home for close to a week and was feeling much better. They’d kept her in bed for the first few days and other than a really bad headache one day, she’d been pretty good. Right now she was sitting on the couch with a book and a blanket over her.
North had gone to talk to the guards about security.
“Great news, Jared!” Emiliano said.
There was cheering in the background and Jared came to a stop. That seemed odd. Emiliano was usually very serious and so were his men.
“What is it? What’s happened?”
“Beltran is dead!” Emiliano told him. “We found the safehouse that he and his top men were hiding in and we took them all out.”
“Are you . . . you didn’t tell me this,” he said as he took a seat in his office.
Could it really be true? Was he finally gone?
“It happened fast,” Emiliano told him.
“You’ve got proof?” Jared asked. “You know how sneaky he can be.”
“I will send you photos. It’s over. He’s finally gone, Jared. Now, we can all get on with living.”
“Did you hear anything about him hiring an assassin to kill me?” Jared asked.
“An assassin? No. I mean, I wouldn’t put it past him. But an assassin would cost a lot and it seems like he was living on the bones of his ass.”
They talked through a few more details and then ended the call. Jared flicked through the photos on his phone.
That was definitely Beltran.
And he was certainly dead.
North walked into the room, pausing as he saw Jared’s face. “What is it?”
“Beltran is dead.” He showed him the photos and then told him what Emiliano had said.
“This is good news, so why do you look concerned?”
“I don’t know. I shouldn’t be. He’s finally dead. I guess, in a way, it feels anticlimactic. I knew I probably wasn’t going to be the one to kill him, but I guessed I hoped I would be.”
North nodded. “I know what you mean. It would have been far more satisfactory.”
“Exactly. I’m going to go check on Angie and let her know the good news. Are you coming?”
“In a moment.”
North waitedfor the door to the office to close before pulling out his phone.
If Beltran had hired The Collective to kill Jared and Beltran was dead . . . surely his mission would be called off?
N:I need to meet with you urgently about the mission.
Nothing.
Fuck it.
