“I don’t want to leave you,”Bayani signs with an edge of desperation.
“You don’t want to be here for this, sweetheart.”
“I’ll look away when you tell me. Don’t make me leave, John. Please?”
John mulls it over for a spell, sighs a little, then finally nods. “Grab my phone out of my pocket. You can monitor the building while I work. It’s going to be a long night for both of us.”
* * *
John wasright that the business of dismembering a dead body is unpleasant, but Bayani is able to distract himself for the most part. John is a professional about it, methodical and measured. Once Emile’s father is reduced to what closely resembles sausage, John packages it up as if it were any other sort of meat for sale. John says he’ll dump it in the bayou and let the gators take care of the rest.
They check into a La Quinta Inn just off I-10 the next day–Bayani, John, and Miss Priss, drowsing inside her pet carrier because John gave her a kitty downer on account of her resisting confinement and also not traveling well. Bayani stays in the car while John negotiates the room. They each have a single duffle bag containing their guns, a few changes of clothing, their burner phones, and enough cash to get them out of the country.
Bayani feels as if he’s in a free-fall, infused with adrenaline but also a healthy dose of fear. Still, he trusts John to know what to do. The big man hasn’t let him down yet.
Once inside the room, Bayani lets Miss Priss out of her cage and feeds her a can of her favorite cat food to appease her. She wolfs down the food, then sets to inspecting all four corners of the room, keeping both John and Bayani in her sights.
John and Bayani showered separately before leaving the apartment, but neither have slept since the night before. Now, they are lying in bed, the only bed in the hotel room, Bayani with his head on John’s chest and John softly caressing his hair. Bayani is exhausted but he cannot rest, not with all of the unanswered questions still churning in his head.
He hates to trouble John when the man is so clearly wiped out, but he’s anxious about their future and their safety. As soon as Matthieu is reported missing, the Hand will be out in droves trying to track down his whereabouts. Likely, they’ve already started the search. It won’t be long before they wind up at the butcher shop and find them both missing. John was smart to leave his delivery van behind. After disposing of the body, they traveled by taxi to a warehouse where John had a late-model compact car in storage. Bayani doesn’t know how or when John acquired the vehicle, but he’s thankful John is thinking two steps ahead.
“Where will we go?”Bayani asks.
“To the airport. We’ll pick a place at random and lay low for a while. When the dust settles, and we know we’re in the clear, we’ll visit your grandmother in the Philippines.”
“My grandmother?”Bayani signs, heart so full of joy he can hardly bear it.
“We may have to surprise her, and leave as quietly as we came. We’ll still need to keep a low profile.”
“She’ll understand, if we tell her our reasons. What about money?”
“I have enough money for us to get settled somewhere.”
“When will we go?”
“Soon. There’s something I need to take care of first.”
Bayani stares at him. The “something” John speaks of, can only be Emile Fournier.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,”Bayani signs.
“I won’t. I’ve trained for this sort of thing. I’m a soldier, remember?”
“He has people protecting him.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“Please, John.”
“It’s the only way we’ll be safe, sweetheart. If Emile takes over the Hand, his first order of business will be to hunt us both down. We stand a much better chance of getting away if Emile is dead. It’ll throw their organization into chaos, and they’ll be so focused on keeping order that they won’t bother looking for us.”
As usual, John is right, but at what cost? Bayani would rather them take their chances than potentially lose John forever.
John smiles softly at Bayani, his eyelids growing heavy. They are blue-black with exhaustion, and Bayani knows he should let the man rest, but he still has questions.
“What happens if you don’t come back?”
John drags Bayani to him, kisses his forehead, then his cheek and says, “You’ll go on without me.”
