Edge of Grey

by Phelps, J. C.

  “How do you propose I do that? White was killed trying the same thing and he’s had much more experience than I’ve had.”

  “You have an advantage, Ms. Grey. I hope you don’t mind if I continue to call you Grey.”

  He raised his eyebrows at me.

  “No. Please do. Alexis Stanton ceased to exist a long time ago,” I said.

  “Well, Ms. Grey. You have an advantage. I know Colin DeLange has been your close friend your entire life. I believe, if you ask nicely, you’ll find the security at Alan’s tomb extra lax. The men I have on this have become distracted and I can no longer rely on them to complete the job.”

  “What happens if I get him out?” I asked.

  “He comes back to the company. With the Admiral out of the way and DeLange on your side, I imagine we won’t have to hide him as deeply as we’ve had to in the past. He might even get the opportunity to take over my company after I’m gone. And, when you’re able to get him out I’m prepared to offer you a special place in the company.” He smiled a sickly smile.

  “What would that be?” I asked.

  “You could take Jake’s place at my side.”

  “What happens to Jake when he recovers?”

  “Depends on you. If you show your full loyalty to me, I could be persuaded to keep him alive.”

  “Haven’t I already shown you my loyalty? I killed my father for you,” I said.

  “No. You killed your father for White.” His eyes narrowed.

  “What do I do to show you my full loyalty?” I asked, a sick feeling rising in my throat.

  “I’ve never met a woman like you before, Alex. Someone who kills as easily as she breathes. I want to contain that, own that, own you,” he said.

  “You can’t own me,” I said and instinctively reached for my pistol again.

  Posner’s smile became wide.

  “See, that’s what I want. I want the animal.” He started to stand from his chair. I dropped the envelope and pulled the pistol out.

  “Don’t get up, Posner,” I said.

  “You going to shoot me?”

  “I might.”

  My breath was coming in fast spurts and I felt my tunnel vision kicking in as he continued to slowly stand.

  I flipped the safety off.

  “I won’t miss,” I felt my top lip curl up as I trained the gun on his forehead. I couldn’t shoot him. If I killed him, I was killing Will.

  He sat back down.

  “We’ll work on it. I don’t want to tame you. Quite the opposite. I love the feral vibe you put off. But, you did just kill your own father, so I suspect you’d have no trouble pulling that trigger right now. Just keep the offer in mind. It could be a very lucrative partnership.”

  You’re a sick bastard.

  “I’ll see what I can do about this,” I bent down and retrieved the envelope without taking my pistol off Posner.

  “You do that and the next time you come into my office leave your pistols outside,” he said.

  I backed up to the door and didn’t put the weapon away until I had one hand on the door knob. Still, I kept my hand on the pistol until I was out of the lodge and walking down the road.

  I traded the pistol for my phone and called a cab to come pick me up.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I MADE MY WAY BACK to my hotel room and dialed Posner.

  “You have five minutes to call your men and have them back off. I told you about having people follow me.” I said in threat as I looked out the window. I noticed the tail shortly after I got into the cab. Now they were sitting in the parking lot, watching me stare at them through my hotel window.

  “I’ll take care of it,” he said. “Speaking of—were you really absent when Eric shot Jake? I noticed you were favoring your left arm today.”

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  “You still didn’t answer my question. I find it strange that you were missing for two days after the shooting and you show up with an injury. I admit, Eric should not have been following you,” he said.

  “Jake dropped me off at my room and left,” I said. “Did you order Eric to follow me again?”

  “Yes, Ms. Grey. I did. I’d hoped you’d follow through with your promise. I find it odd that he’d follow Jake to your room and then leave you alone and continue to follow Jake when you were the target,” he said.

  “Are you asking me to admit to something I had no part in? I have no idea why Eric did anything.”

  “Either way, Jake’s paying for it. He’s the one in the hospital and when he gets out, if he gets out, the only thing that can save him is you,” he said.

  “If I accept your partnership?”

  “And take responsibility for your actions,” he said. “Eric had bullets in him from two different weapons.”

  I knew that wasn’t true. This guy was so full of lies he was leaking.

  “I have no idea how that happened,” I said.

  I couldn’t come out and tell him I knew that was a lie because I shot him with the same pistol Jake shot him with.

  “Joe says you weren’t there when he got there, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t get away and just leave Jake for dead.”

  “Sorry, Posner. I won’t admit to a killing I didn’t do. But I will admit I’m glad Eric’s dead.”

  “Honestly, I am too. That boy was nothing but a headache. Still, I can’t let the deed go unpunished if it wasn’t justified,” he said.

  “I’d say being shot at is a good justification.”

  “That’s what Jake told Joe, but I don’t believe that. I think Jake lured Eric away from you to protect you. I think Eric shot Jake in self defense, not the other way around.”

  “We may never know,” I said.

  “You’re right.”

  “Are you going to call off your guys or not?” I brought the subject back to the men outside my hotel.

  “Yes. I just wanted to know if you’d notice them, like I suspect you noticed Eric following you. I got my answer. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a phone call to make.”

  He hung up and less than a minute later the car in the parking lot drove away.

  I immediately struck out on foot. I wasn’t staying in that hotel room another second now that they knew where it was. I suspected I’d have a tail again real soon if I stayed. I didn’t check out. Instead I made a mental note to pay in advance for another month when I got back to my computer.

  I walked into the lobby of White and Associates. I strongly considered going to my apartment across the street for some time to myself but decided against it.

  I had to let my partners know I was okay before they stormed Mesa again.

  I rode the elevator up to White’s floor, hoping someone would be in the war room. I didn’t think they’d still have the Admiral in the office, but I didn’t want to take that chance. I wasn’t ready to face him. I’d used the staged hit as therapy and I wasn’t ready to face the fact that I hadn’t truly gotten any justice for White.

  White’s door was unlocked and I walked into a room full of men, my father included.

  “There you are,” Green said. “What happened?”

  “Posner used his normal methods of asking to meet with me.”

  I looked at the Admiral and scowled.

  “Now that you know I’m fine I’ll be in my apartment,” I said.

  “Wait,” Green said.

  “If you want to talk to me, come see me in my apartment.”

  Red stepped out behind me while I was waiting for the elevator to come back to White’s floor.

  “Alex? You okay?”

  “I’m fine. Any progress on your Ruiz investigation?”

  “Yes. We’re just starting to build a plan for retrieval. Surprisingly, Stanton offered to help.”

  “Good. Take his help and then come tell me when we leave.”

  “You’ll be staying behind on this one,” he said just as I stepped onto the elevator.

  “Of course I will,” I said.
/>
  Red joined me in the car.

  “Ruiz knows you. We are still trying to suppress your involvement with us.”

  I shook my head. I should have seen this one coming. It made sense they’d not include me because of my past relationship with Ruiz and my current deception of working for Posner.

  “What’s that?” Red indicated the envelope Posner had given me.

  “A butt-load of cash,” I said. “And a new job from Posner.”

  “May I?” he reached for the envelope just as the doors opened to my floor.

  I ignored his reach and stepped off the elevator. Red followed and I allowed him into my apartment.

  I tossed the envelope on my kitchen bar and went directly for the coffee still on the burner.

  “You’d think people could shut off a coffee pot when they leave an apartment,” I said as I grabbed two cups from the cupboard.

  “It’s probably burned, but I’m having some. You want some?” I asked Red as he sat directly in front of the envelope.

  “Sure,” he said.

  “Go ahead.”

  I nodded at the envelope. Poor guy, he was itching to peek into the envelope.

  “You weren’t kidding,” he said as he poured the contents out onto the countertop of the bar.

  “A bonus for taking out the Admiral and a down payment on the next job,” I said.

  “He’s hired you to retrieve Alan?” Red held up the photo of Alan.

  “Yep. That means you better hurry up and find Will. Posner has lost interest in your operation and is starting to hire outside help. I doubt I’m the only one with this job.”

  “How does he expect you to get to him?”

  “He knows who I am,” I said.

  “What do you mean.” Red’s voice was hesitant.

  “He knows who I am,” I repeated. “He knows I’ve known Colin my whole life, he knows the Admiral is my father. He knows who I am.”

  Red was quiet as I set his coffee down in front of him.

  I took a sip of mine and I was right. It was burned. I turned around and dumped the remaining coffee down the drain and started another pot brewing. I took Red’s away from him and did the same with his coffee.

  After the pot finished filling I refilled our cups.

  “How can he know that?”

  I smiled. “Maybe you should go ask my father,” I said.

  “You think the Admiral told him?”

  “No. I know my father and Posner have known each other for years. Plus, the Admiral was extremely interested in your SEAL team. Doesn’t he have some kind of relationship with your parents, like he does with White’s?”

  “Yes.” Red nodded.

  “I’m sure Posner has always known about me. Especially since he thinks the Admiral has been using Alan against him all these years. Maybe he’s just been looking for a way to use me against my own father. What better way than to get me to remove him from the picture?”

  “This is a dangerous situation. How do you suggest we handle this?” Red said.

  “We need to find Will.”

  I shrugged.

  I’d drained my coffee down to half a cup before Red spoke again.

  “I don’t see why you can’t join us to question Ruiz now,” he said.

  “Me either.”

  “Come back down to C.I.C. with me and we’ll work it out.”

  “Not with the Admiral there,” I said.

  Red gave me a questioning look.

  “I can’t face him and keep my mouth shut,” I explained.

  “You really would have completed the job to remove him.” It was a statement, not a question.

  “No. I would never have been able to do it, but the staged hit was great therapy. I’m not ready to let go of the fantasy yet. I’ve not gotten past my anger and I don’t know if I ever will.”

  “We still don’t know if he had anything to do with White’s death.”

  “But suspicion is high. Right?” I asked.

  Red nodded.

  “I can’t be in the same room with that man. I’m still having trouble being in the same state as you,” I said.

  Red chuckled halfheartedly.

  “I know this is tough. And, I know it’s not all that helpful, but I’ll back you if you want to exclude Stanton from the planning. I led the fight to push you out and all you did was prove, every day, that you were loyal to us above and beyond what you should have been. To me in particular. It was a lesson that took me a while to learn, but I learned it. I’ve always got your back, Alex.”

  “I’m still pissed at you, Red,” I said.

  I believed his words, but I couldn’t completely let go of the hurt and anger I felt.

  “I know,” he smiled. “Can’t blame you at all if you never get past it. But, I do think we can still work together.”

  He lifted his coffee cup toward me and I just shook my head. I wasn’t going to promise anything, not even with a gesture as meaningless as this.

  Red called Green and told him to have Stanton brought back to the apartment they’d set up for him. Green must have demanded to know why because Red explained I refused to come back down with Stanton in the room.

  When we arrived in White’s apartment Green was still gone so we refilled the cups we’d brought down from my apartment and promised information when Green returned.

  “HE’S IN THE APARTMENT AND I’ve got men outside the door. What’s going on?” Green said as soon as he re-entered White’s apartment.

  Red looked at me when I didn’t say anything. I thought he was going to do the explaining.

  I sighed.

  “Posner knows I’m the Admiral’s daughter and offered me a job to retrieve Alan.”

  “Why couldn’t you give us that information in front of the Admiral?” Green asked.

  “Because I’m pissed off at him and if he was sitting here right now I’d be asking him if he killed White. Did any of you want that to happen?”

  “Actually, I’d like to see that,” Brown said.

  The rest of the men smiled evil grins telling me they would all like to see me getting after my father.

  “He’d never tell me. It would be very unsatisfying. He has a way of always winning,” I said.

  “The important parts in all of this are the facts that Posner knows Grey’s identity and the job offer to retrieve Alan. Alex put it right when she told me that Posner has lost faith in us. None of this is good news,” Red said.

  “We can move up the retrieval,” Green said.

  “Let’s do that then,” Black said.

  “I see no reason why Grey can’t join us in this now. We don’t plan on letting Ruiz go after we have him so he’s not going to run to Posner. And, if this pans out and Ruiz is able to give us a location, Alex is going to fulfill her contract for the Admiral,” Red said.

  His suggestion wasn’t met with any resistance so they filled me in on the plan in less than thirty minutes. Green left orders with our security team on site that the Admiral wasn’t to leave for any reason and called in extra security to make sure that didn’t happen while we were gone. Then I found myself in Black’s SUV riding to the airport.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  TEN HOURS IN THE AIR was stressful, even when it was a private flight. Thankfully I was able to sleep at least half the way down to South America.

  When we stepped out of the plane and into the thick air I thought about the long days on the wall back at the refinery. This very air helped create who I was today. The heavily perfumed, thick air that was hard to take in. Everything had been pretty hard to take in for a long time now and it felt normal.

  “We have a long drive ahead of us yet and then a long hike through some rough jungle,” Blue said as he handed me my pack and a brand new .338 rifle in a soft case.

  “I figured the .338 would be easier to haul around than your Barrett. You think you can march with all that gear?” Blue asked me.

  Black laughed.

  “Can you, old man?�
� he asked Blue.

  “I was thinking of her injured shoulder,” Blue replied.

  “If she needs help, we’ll help out,” Brown said as he slid behind the wheel of the oversized SUV we had waiting for us at the airport.

  “Won’t be my first trek through the jungle,” I said to myself as I slid into the back of the vehicle. It had two bench seats in the back as well as two bucket seats in the front and a large enclosed bed. I dropped my pack over the back seat and struggled a bit to get the rifle over the seat with just one arm. I finally had to use my hurt arm to help lift it over the seat and lay it safely in the back.

  We drove into the forest as far as the vehicle would take us. When we stopped, it was dark.

  “We should wait until morning,” I said.

  “Good idea,” Black said. “Make camp.”

  “I’m sleeping in the vehicle. The bugs and snakes out here are scary,” I said.

  “No. I called it first,” Brown said.

  “When? I didn’t hear it,” I replied as I climbed back into the vehicle and stretched out on the back seat with my pack as a pillow.

  “Sleep in shifts,” Black said. “You can have the other seat, Brown.”

  TWO HOURS LATER BLACK WOKE me and told me it was his turn on my seat. I kicked the bottom of Brown’s foot as I moved past him.

  “Get up. It’s someone else’s turn,” I said.

  “Five more minutes, Mom,” he said.

  I stepped out of the vehicle and moved to the fire the men had started while I’d been napping.

  “Who’s turn is it?”

  “Mine,” Red said.

  “Good luck. You get to wake Brown.”

  A couple minutes later Brown stumbled out of the vehicle.

  “Two hours isn’t enough,” he complained.

  “You still complain too much,” I said.

  “You still sound too much like Black,” he smacked the back of my head as he walked by.

  Normally, the fight would be on with a move like that but I was extra aware of my shoulder after sleeping on that hard bench seat.

  “You’re lucky I’m hurt,” I said.

  “No. You’re lucky.”