by Ali Vali
He sat across from her and put his feet up on the rim of the spotless fire pit. “That sounds about right, considering your length of service. Since you’re here, either you proved you’re not crazy or you bluff well.”
“I’m not crazy,” she said, and smiled as she took the pistol from the back of her waistband and laid it on the sketchbook. “You don’t have to worry about me killing you while in the throes of a flashback, but I’m almost always armed.”
“You need new friends if anyone thinks you capable of that.”
“I was working on it.” Soft solar-powered lights now lit the space, but despite the sun setting, the heat hadn’t broken. At this time of the year it never would, no matter how late it got, but Peter seemed unaffected.
“And we came in here and fucked it up for you?”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.” She laughed as she stood to turn the ceiling fans on. She didn’t mind heat, but mosquitoes drove her insane. “Isn’t that what people say when they’re trying to be polite?”
“We’re way beyond polite, kid.” He stretched out on the sofa and accepted a beer from her. “I know that’s what you’re thinking but you’d never admit it.”
“Did Aubrey send you up here?”
The way he looked at her made her believe that Aubrey’s problems embarrassed him. “No, but her mother’s been providing a shoulder all afternoon.”
“Ah, more reasons for Karen to demonize me.”
Peter shook his head and sat back up. “Let me explain a few things to you that’ll rip up those ideas in your head.”
“Aubrey’s already given me the long list of why I’m an asshole.”
“You think that’s the only reason I’m up here? To pile on?” He kept eye contact, a rarity for anyone she dealt with. “We could pull out of here tomorrow and I’d still want to clear the air. I’d want that because of how I feel about you, Wiley.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, and she was. “It’s been a long day.”
“I’m sure it has, and it’ll probably go downhill from here.” She tapped her bottle against his. “I don’t want to know what you and Aubrey talked about, but hear me out.”
“You can tell me whatever’s on your mind, sir, but let me go first. When I was done at Aubrey’s and got her out of there, I was confused and pissed, really more pissed. The kind of pissed that dropping the assholes in there didn’t help alleviate.” She took a long swig of her beer. Peter Tarver didn’t deserve her disrespect. “But it’s not my place to get pissed. I let her go and she moved on. What and who she moved on to was her prerogative. She didn’t owe me anything, and she won’t no matter what it takes to get you all out of this cluster you’re in. It wasn’t like she went behind my back.”
“What she wanted, Wiley, was you. That’s all she’s wanted since she was too young to know any better. The happy memories she’s made since you walked all revolve around Tanith.”
“If you were in her place, you’d open your arms and welcome me back? Remember that I have a gun before you lie and say yes.”
He laughed, then drained his bottle. “You know me better than that. You fucked up and broke the most precious thing in your life. No one can take that back, but I’m not here just because of Aubrey. My daughter’s an adult, and she’ll have to find a way to come to terms with whatever you two decide. If she accepts, good, but if she doesn’t, she doesn’t. I’ll kick your ass from here to Sunday if you fuck up and hurt her like that again, but I want to talk to you about my granddaughter. Tanith has been my concern from the day she was born.”
“She’s a good kid—smart, protective, and strong.”
“Stop me if Aubrey’s told you this already.” She got two more beers from the outdoor kitchen fridge and waved him on. “She took forever finding the right donor before she considered trying, and she got everything she wanted. As Tanith grew she reminded me more and more of you. When she was old enough to form her own opinions, Maria’s fantasy life with Aubrey started to unravel. Tanith didn’t like her and made no attempt to hide it.”
Maria’s not my mother, Tanith had told her that morning. She’d desperately wanted her to know how she felt. “She explained that to me today.”
“Tanith wants to know you, Wiley. I believe she needs, more than anything, to know you.”
“And you’re afraid I’ll shoot her down?” If this was a new strategy to get around her defenses, it was working. “I won’t, in case you need to hear me say it.”
“Thanks, and while you’re in a reasonable mood, can I put in a word for my kid? We haven’t agreed on a whole lot in years, but I love her. I’d like to see her happy again.”
“That’s what I want too.” She wished she smoked, if only to have something to do with her hands. “I need you to know that what I did, it wasn’t easy for me. No matter what you’ve thought of me, and how many times you’ve cursed me to hell and back, it wasn’t easy. If I’d had a choice I never would have left Aubrey.”
“Have those circumstances changed? Can you give her what she wants? Fuck, I should ask if that’s what you want first.”
“I’ll give you the file to read later, but no, nothing’s changed.”
“Aubrey isn’t going to wait forever, kid. Don’t fuck this up twice in a lifetime. No one’s that lucky.”
“Did you miss the part where I said nothing’s changed?”
“Let me explain something to you, as plain as I can make it. Aubrey and Karen are never going to understand our choices. Your mom’s been an army wife for years and she loves you, but I doubt even she understands you and your dad completely.”
She was paying attention but couldn’t stop scanning the rooftops nearby. One glimpse of Peter by the wrong people and she’d have no choice but to move them. “That’s probably true.”
“Then learn from me and Buck. Don’t punish the people in your life who haven’t drunk the army’s Kool-Aid by making strategic maneuvers without them. I have faith in you to figure out a way to napalm the landscape if whatever threat has kept you away is still out there. If you want it bad enough you’ll find a way.”
“Aren’t you the insightful one?” She stood and put the pistol back in the hidden compartment near the door. “Let’s take all our problems one at a time.”
“Let’s,” Peter said as the landline rang.
It was her parents. They were either at the airport or downstairs. It didn’t matter where. With her mother’s arrival, Peter wasn’t all she had to worry about.
*
“What’s it take to get a drink in here?” Roth Pombo screamed at the camera bolted into the ceiling in the corner by the door with one small glass square at the top and a slit at the bottom. The assholes who’d locked him in here were going to pay for the twenty-four-hour-a-day fluorescent lighting. The hum and the brightness never went out, and it was driving him slowly up the wall.
“Stand back,” the guard said in a heavy accent. Pombo had learned the hard way what he meant and had the bruised kidneys to prove it. He stood and pressed his hands and face into the wall, his back to the door. “You have a visitor.”
Finally, he thought, hoping the cameras were privy to their meeting. Walter Robinson had kept him waiting long enough. If Walter had done it to fuck with him, it was time to teach him a lesson. Once he got out of here the first thing he might do was shove a fluorescent tube up his ass.
He smiled as they cuffed his hands to his waist and shackled his feet. After they let him out he’d hunt down every guy in here who’d gotten his rocks off by using him as baton practice. Every badge he collected would be found in the mouths of the decapitated heads.
“It’s about fucking time,” he said when the guard opened the door. The chill of fear made his hair stand on end when he didn’t see Walter.
“I tried for days to get in, Señor Pombo,” said his attorney, Antonio Hernandez.
The guy could work miracles sometimes, but he couldn’t possibly cut him loose with the number of cha
rges he’d compiled. He was going to sit in his cell until his trial or they beat him to death.
“Are you okay?” Antonio asked, moving his chair to the other side of the stainless-steel table.
Pombo was panicking, so he was grateful Antonio was thinking straight. The federales had to be watching and listening. This wasn’t the U.S. judicial system.
“Where’s Walter? Did you deliver my message?” The coldness of the chains around his waist and his shackles seeped through the rough material of his prison uniform. For the first time since he’d been brought here, he felt confined.
“Señor, keep your voice quiet.” Antonio placed his briefcase on the table and came close to hiding behind it. “I sent everyone to look for Walter, but he gone. His partner say he leave for U.S.”
He wasn’t surprised that Walter had double-crossed him, not really. The story he thought would save him wasn’t a trump card here. The guys in charge would see it as a pathetic try for freedom. “Smart move, Walter.”
“What?”
He knew the game now, and he had a small window of opportunity. “Listen carefully.” He probably wasn’t getting out, but Walter wasn’t free of him yet. Before he ran out of time he repeated his instructions again. “Do you understand?”
“I will not fail you, señor. You have my word.”
“Spend what you need, but get it done. The rest you already know.”
“I no let you down. I swear it on my mama.”
*
Wiley laughed at the silence they came down to. Her parents had all the codes to get into her home. They always had, as a precaution if she either got hurt or eliminated in the field. If that ever happened, they had accepted the responsibility of erasing the Black Dragon’s existence. The conversation had happened only once, and considering everything she’d done, it had been one of the hardest things she’d ever experienced. Now was the time to enjoy that her mother was probably in a staring competition with Karen.
That wasn’t the case. “Hey,” she said, prying her mother’s eyes off Tanith, who was acting as if the girl were the only thing in the room. “You made good time.”
“Are you kidding?” Danielle said, her arms open. “I thought we’d never get here, and your father gave his standard lecture when we went through security, which didn’t help at all.”
She hugged her mom and halfway expected either ninjas or a stripper to waltz in and add to the bizarre dream she was sleepwalking through. “Hey, Dad. You should’ve called. I would’ve picked you up.”
“You’ve got enough on your head, kid.” Buckston slapped her on the back and laughed. “Why not make introductions so this nice young lady can relax,” he said, referring to Tanith.
Wiley did as he asked, and her heart opened to Tanith when she saw how she looked at her father. Tanith had grown up with three important people in her life, but it was clear she thirsted for more. Aubrey had obviously given her a taste of information and now she wanted answers.
“It’s nice to meet you, Tanith,” Danielle said, holding Tanith’s hands. Aubrey had found a way to make her mother relentless, and after seeing Tanith that’s what she’d become. The thought made her shake her head. The scene was too surreal with her father standing behind her mom, his hand on her shoulders. To Wiley it appeared as if she’d robbed them of the opportunity to stand at the nursery window in the hospital.
“Dad,” she said, ready to get back to something familiar. “Do you want to talk now or wait until morning?”
“I’ll start dinner,” Danielle said, not letting Tanith go. “When you’re done I’d like a tour.”
Buckston followed her quietly until they reached her office. He chose the chair Aubrey had sat in earlier and steepled his fingers in front of his chest. “If I thought it was possible, I’d be cursing you for getting that girl pregnant and leaving her behind. That kid is like a ghost of you at that age. How’d she do it?”
“Wishful thinking, Pop. They’re leaving once this is over, so don’t get attached.”
“A bout of wishful thinking’s going on, but it ain’t mine.” He laughed and crossed his legs at the ankles. “You’re right to take things slow. Slow will give you the opportunity to see that walking away this time will be the coward’s way out. If Aubrey hasn’t proved herself to you yet, then I’ll personally kick you in the ass to get you to open your eyes.”
“Why is it that no one seems to understand the stakes of a happy reunion?”
He laughed along with her before taking two passports and airline tickets out of his back pocket. “I’m mellowing in my silver years, but blindness isn’t one of my ailments yet. We’ve got a lot to get to, so I’ll leave you alone for now, but I’m not sure about your mother.” He put his hands up to stall anything she had to say. “I know, ‘Shut up, Dad.’ These and an overnight bag are all you and I’ll need, so go eat your mother’s feast and give her that tour before you turn in. We leave tomorrow at zero-six-hundred hours to complete your reconnaissance. Carl hasn’t given his okay yet, but if he does, I want you to be as ready as you can be.”
“Are you sure you want to?”
“We’ll be gone two days. This place will still be standing, and while you’re finding nests, I’ll make sure your head’s screwed on straight.”
She leaned back, pressing her toes into the hardwood floor. “You think it’s not?”
“You’ve got a lot on your mind, Wiley. It’s only natural to be out of whack some. All that,” he pointed toward the kitchen, “could make you sloppy out in the field. If someone has to have your back, I’m glad it’s me.”
“You’re right, so thanks for answering my call.”
“I’m glad you trusted me enough to ask, and I hope you know how I feel about you all the time, but I’m proud of you for getting them out of harm’s way. Damn proud.”
“It’s funny how things turn out.”
Buckston looked at her with a smile that softened his face. “Not really. You’ve been angry a long time and the army’s reaped the reward of that. When you came back here, I knew you needed to lay those feelings to rest. I love you, Wiley, and I’ve always been proud you’re my kid. All I want, all your mother wants, is for you to be happy. It’s time for you to want that too.”
“You’d take that chance?”
“It don’t matter none what any old goat tells you, but I know you want an answer.”
“I already heard Peter’s, but I’d like you to share whatever’s on your mind.”
“The girl didn’t call me, kid, so my feelings don’t count. I’m asking you to be honest with yourself. Do what’ll make you happy and bring you peace.” His chair creaked when he stood and hugged her. “You’re too special to be alone. It’s time for you to rejoin the living, and I have every faith in you to keep what’s yours whole and safe. I’m not knocking the others who went into that jungle with you, but no one alive is better at what they do than you. If you run this time, it’ll be because you’re too afraid to take the chance.”
“I’m going to have to put a whole lot of people down before I get to think about happily-ever-afters.”
“What’s the problem, then? Not enough bullets?”
*
Wiley stepped into the kitchen and smiled at Tanith before going to stand next to her mother. Danielle had rummaged through the bags of groceries that had been delivered and was making as quick a meal as she could from the ingredients. They didn’t exchange a word as Wiley took the knife away from her to chop her onions to add to the stir-fry Danielle had well under way.
“Do you know how to cook anything, Tanith?” she asked.
“Mom taught me how to make her famous brownies, but that’s all.”
“You’ll have to make me a batch. I miss them.”
“Maybe tonight,” Tanith said, smiling and acting more relaxed than Wiley had ever seen her.
The rest of her company was sitting in the den listening to Buck and Peter catch up. The ringing phone was the only thing that broke the ca
lm, since it was Peter’s cell. “It’s a local number,” he said to Wiley, holding up the phone.
“Let it go to voice mail if you don’t recognize it.”
Peter held the device as it rang three more times, then went silent. “I can’t stand this much longer,” Karen said, pressing her hands together. The phone dinged once about a minute later. Whoever it was had left a message.
“Let’s see, but call your voice mail from the phone in my office,” Wiley said.
Tanith’s good humor looked to have evaporated and Wiley took a chance to make it better. Before she walked away she opened her arms and kissed Tanith’s forehead when she quickly stepped into them. “You okay?”
“I’m glad I’m here.” That was all Tanith said as she clung to her.
“Me too.”
Tanith stayed with Danielle while everyone else followed Wiley to her office, where they listened to the message Detective Barry Smith had left. “The second line in here will register as a business outside Detroit, Michigan,” Wiley said, when the short order to call him back had played. “Tell him you left your phone in Louisiana by accident, so you’ll have to call him whenever you can without giving away your position. Unless there’s something I’m not seeing, they should’ve cleared Aubrey by now and he’s just following up. If that’s the case, tell him you expect another call once they have someone in custody.”
“What if he traces the call?” Peter asked.
“Like I said, he’ll think you’re in Michigan. He won’t be able to break through my firewall unless you keep him on the phone for an hour.”
Peter dialed the number and put it on speaker so Wiley and Aubrey could listen in. “Detective Smith, Peter Tarver.”
“Mr. Tarver, where are you?”
“We’ve been over this already. I’m not telling you something that could endanger my family. We’ve lost enough in the last few days, so what can I do for you?”
“We checked out your daughter’s story and it seems to have panned out, and in the amount of time she had I don’t think she could’ve dug out every bullet that hit those guys in the house.”