Page 13

But then it wasn’t a relief at all, not when he heard her words. Move on? She had to be joking. Jack might not be alive, technically speaking, but he was still living, and he didn’t want to give that up. Not yet. Not until he had one more chance to prove himself as the man he knew he was: the leader, the hero, the one everyone else looked up to. The man the world knew as Jack McCoy. Even if he was also currently Margaret Chen.

“I cannot believe I’m getting an afterlife intervention right now,” he said. “Seriously? You’re telling me that if you had the chance to not be dead, you wouldn’t take it?”

At the group’s collective silence, he changed tactics. “Listen, you’re all struggling right now, right? And maybe I carry some responsibility for that. So I’m here to make it right.”

Greer rubbed at her temples. “What are you talking about?”

“Dale and I, we’ve got a great idea for one last job. And it’s not just the last job because we’re dead, it’s the last one because you’ll never need another one after this. After this, you’ll all be set for life. And then you’ll never have to see me again. One last big job, like I always promised.”

“You’re fucking kidding me,” said Carter.

“He doesn’t get it, dude,” said Eli. “I told you this was pointless.” Then, unmistakably and unavoidably to Jack, “We’ve all lost enough thanks to your jobs. We’re done. If you won’t fucking rest in peace like a proper dead guy, then you can leave us out of whatever the hell you’re planning.”

For just a fragment of a moment, Jack felt as if he was back in his old body, a freshman getting kicked from all angles by the senior boys whose lockers he’d stolen weed out of. It had felt worth it then. He and the gang had all gotten high in Fort You Again, and the pain in his ribs and stomach was soothed by the memory of laughing so hard at Eli’s impression of their math teacher that he almost threw up. But now, the metaphorical stomps on his solar plexus had no payoff. Now it was the people who’d always made the pain worthwhile doing the kicking. And for the life of him, Jack couldn’t understand it. Eli’s prison stints only occasionally resulted from one of Jack’s schemes. Carter was doing some real job out in the world that he’d never complained about. And Greer, well, last Jack heard, she was still married to the guy she’d run off with after everything happened with Jules, and was a mom of two or maybe three. None were especially rich or successful, but that couldn’t be blamed on Jack. He was just trying to make their lives better, just like he always had. But for some reason, none of them seemed to want his help. He winced at every bruise blooming under the strikes of their collective rejection. This was new.

Jack held up his hands. “Okay,” he relented. “Okay.” It wasn’t, of course. As much as he appreciated a new life, what he actually wanted was a final taste of the old one. But it wasn’t worth doing one last job without the people he did it all for, and they’d made it perfectly clear that wasn’t going to happen. So being Margaret Chen would simply have to be good enough. “I’ll leave you alone, then.”

Greer’s hazel eyes landed heavy on him. “That’s it, huh? You’re really just going to go back to living a stolen life? To keep taking from people. That’s the plan?”

“You never used to mind.”

“We’re not dumb kids anymore,” said Greer.

“Maybe that’s the problem,” said Jack.

“You need to move on,” Greer said again, but Jack decided not to hear her.

• • •

Dale was still on the white leather sofa when Jack got home, still glued to the same game Jack had left on before going back to work. Jack let a small smile touch his lips. Now this was a true friend. This was someone who knew how to let Jack look after things instead of telling him he shouldn’t go around possessing people.

Jack flicked the TV off, summoning Dale’s attention.

“Oh, hey, Jackie,” Dale greeted. “You just get in?”

“Yeah.” Jack tried to run a hand through Margaret’s hair, but it promptly got stuck in product. “We should get going.”

“Oh,” Dale said again. “Okay.”

“Sorry.”

Dale shrugged. “Hey, I got more time to hang around than most dead guys, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Jack said again.

“You okay, Jackie?”

Jack sniffed. Of course he was okay. He was always okay. That was his role in life. The guy who was okay, and who would make sure those he cared about were too. Even if he couldn’t make things okay for Dale. Even if he was no longer allowed to do as much for the others. Being okay was all Jack had left.

“I’m okay,” said Jack.

“Okay,” said Dale. “I guess this is it, then.”

“I’ll take the scenic route to processing,” Jack said. Both dead men tried a smile, but neither could quite manage it.

• • •

Jack found himself watching Dale from his recently blurry peripheral vision. Had he done right by Dale? He must have, or else Dale would never have been so loyal all these years. Sure, Jack was currently driving him to the last place he’d ever experience on this earth, which was a bit of a dick move if you really thought about it, but Dale got to watch that game, which was probably nice. And he was right, most dead guys didn’t get to hang around this long. That was thanks to Jack. Jack even had to play fast and loose with company policy to make it happen. Granted, fast and loose was his favorite way to play most things, but still. It was objectively pretty generous.