Karma (Karma Series)

by Donna Augustine

  “If I wanted you dead, you would be. How did you get here?” He moved in closer.

  “I got a memo.”

  His eyes squinted as he tried to stare me down. “Why do you keep getting memos?”

  “I guess the universe likes me better.” This was definitely one of those moments I should be playing nice—he had something I wanted. And yet I couldn't. Sometimes I'm amazed I've made it this far in life without ever being punched in the face. If that never tipped me off to some sort of universal intervention, I guess nothing would've.

  He took a step back and then turned his back on me, looked upward, and shook his head.

  Aha! I wasn’t the only one that tried to talk to the universe!

  He finally turned back. “I don't get it, but if it wants you here, I can’t stop you.” He started walking toward the door and looked back at me. “Are you coming?”

  I pushed off the wall and followed before he decided to change his mind again.

  We stopped right outside the threshold, where we still had a view of the man. Lars was now leaning over him and looked like he’d done more than that from the swelling over Suit’s left eye.

  “This group,” he pointed inside, “what’s going on here, goes a lot deeper than a few tattoos and a couple of secrets. You walk in, and you are in. Do you understand what I mean?”

  “For what? The little time I have left?”

  “And what if, for some reason, you decide to stay?”

  “I told you. I'm not staying.”

  He looked at me and I could see the hesitation there.

  “Do you know something I don't?”

  “No. I told you, I can't see our kind's fate.”

  “Then trust me when I tell you, I don't want this gig.”

  He grabbed me by the shoulders and pressed me against the side of the building by the door. “This isn't a game that if you lose you just move on. You join and betray us, you die. Not move on, you're just gone. Are you prepared for that?”

  The intensity I felt from him was overwhelming, but I didn’t have that much time left, anyway. Did it really matter? And I wanted Suit. I didn’t care if I wouldn’t remember after I moved on. He needed to die.

  “Yes.” He said I couldn't repeat the secrets. He said nothing about taking out the mass murderer before I left.

  “So be it.” He took a step back and then paused by the door, waiting for me to follow. We walked back into the room together.

  They all looked at Fate and then me.

  “Put him below,” Fate said. There was a pause and then two of the guys left with Suit in tow, leaving Fate, Lars, another guy I didn’t know, and I alone.

  Lars spoke first. “Why is she here?”

  “She got a memo.”

  I saw from their faces, they found it as strange as Fate had, perhaps even alarming.

  But neither of them asked what a memo was.

  “If you bring her in, you're the one that has to kill her. I've got enough blood on my hands.” The one left who I didn’t know said to Fate.

  “I'll handle it, Cutty,” Fate said.

  “It's too late, anyway,” Lars added. “She's already seen us here together. It's all or nothing, now.”

  “I have to agree,” one of the returning men said.

  The two guys came back from downstairs, while I was pondering my latest decision and Cutty was eyeing me up.

  “I think we should skip introductions,” one of the returning pair said.

  “It's little late for me.” Lars stepped closer. “We’ve already been introduced.”

  Cutty, the larger one with a shaved head, spoke. “So how much we telling her, then?”

  Fate answered, “She already knows about Suit, and I’m guessing she’s figured out that no one here is human.”

  They all looked at me. Even if I’d had my doubts, he’d just confirmed it anyway.

  “I'm the only one still on the inside.” He looked at me again with a stare that said I hope you realize what you agreed to. “About twenty years ago, Lars disappeared. A week or so after he went missing, he reached out to me. He'd always been into tattoos and he accidentally stumbled onto a way to drop off the grid completely. To Harold and the universe, it just appeared like he died. But as you can see, he didn't. No one here did.

  “That man downstairs is like us, and I suspect is working with others like us, but none of us ever met him at the agency. We don’t know how he came to be, what he’s up to or who else he is involved with. The only thing we do know is he's actively recruiting.”

  The ramifications of more of us out there, playing with the outcomes of people’s lives with no upper authority, chilled me. It robbed me of words. I wasn’t sure I liked how things were running but at least there were parameters. We didn’t know what type of capabilities these people had but the idea was unsettling.

  Lars walked over and sat in the metal folding seat Suit had occupied. “I don’t think she understands.”

  “She gets it,” Fate said.

  “How do you know there’s more?”

  “That part is a hunch.”

  “I want to talk to him.” No one spoke or said anything. “If I'm in, I'm in.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  There was a storage basement below the ground level of the factory where they had Suit handcuffed and locked in a metal cage.

  “What are you?” I asked as I approached him.

  “Like I told them, I'm just an average Joe. I have no idea what you people are talking about,” is what he said, but his stare was saying something altogether different. With his eyes, he was greeting me as a long lost friend.

  I needed to get this guy alone. If I didn’t and he talked, I might be the one that ended up dead. The looming gang of bandits hovering at my back could be deadly for both of us.

  I motioned Fate over to the far end of the very long room.

  “I want to talk to him alone.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he's more likely to talk to me without you guys hovering, looking like you're going to strike him dead at any moment. I’m a single woman, I might be able to get him to let his guard down.”

  “No.” He crossed his arms and it didn’t look good but I’d known it would be a fight.

  “Do you want to get this guy or not?”

  “I saw the way he looked at you.”

  I started to swallow but I forced myself to keep a calm demeanor. I imagined that Fate was an angry judge and I was in the courtroom trying a losing case.

  “If you can read Suit that well, you know he won’t talk. He’ll die first. But he’ll talk to me.” Calm, keep your calm.

  “Five minutes. And you tell me everything.”

  “Fine.”

  “And he stays in the cage.”

  I nodded.

  He turned and ushered everyone out. They were disgruntled but they followed him up the stairs.

  As soon as I heard the door close, I turned back to Suit. I got too close to the cage but I didn’t want to chance anybody overhearing our conversation.

  “Who are you? And before you answer, know that I'm your only shot at living, because if you haven't figured it out, there isn't a single person upstairs that doesn't have blood on their hands and none of them seem to mind.” It was all lies, except for the blood on their hands, which might have been true.

  It didn’t bother me a bit, though. This was the person who robbed me of my life, and left my parents childless. He was better off being fed to the guys who just left than with me.

  “If you want to live, you'll let me out.” His voice was so low I barely heard it.

  “And why is that?” I couldn’t wait to hear his explanation.

  “Because you belong with us, Camilla.” His lips turned up just slightly at the corners.

  “Were you always a bullshitter? Or did you put a lot of practice into this?” My words didn't match the hitch I felt in my throat. I needed to find out why he’d been stalking me before anyone else did.<
br />
  “That train wreck? That was all for you.”

  He clearly wanted to tell me everything so I’d let him, but I had a sinking horrible feeling I wasn’t going to be happy once I knew.

  “Go ahead, let’s hear the rest.” I wished my feelings matched my bravado. Inside I was a panicked mess. What was this guy talking about?

  “I know all about you, but you already know that, don’t you? You remember me. I can see it in your eyes, you know something’s wrong. And if you don't get me out of here, so will they.” He glanced at the door and then back at me to make sure I knew exactly who he meant.

  “You're off your rocker, buddy, because there's nothing to know about me.”

  “What about Edgar Radbury?”

  I grabbed the cage bar in front of me as I remembered Edgar. He’d been one of the first cases that I’d really made a name as an up and comer with.

  Edgar had been charged with assault with a deadly weapon. The case had been a slam-dunk. Edgar had been guilty as sin.

  “I didn’t do anything. I just tried his case. I did my job.” Even as I spoke, I wasn’t sure I believed it myself, not with what I knew now. I remembered the jury selection for his trial. I’d always been able to sense the people that I could twist to my needs. I knew the buttons to push, and even if it walked the line a bit, I always did it.

  I thought back to Charlie. I’d done it with him. Somehow, molding his will to mine. He would’ve married me, even though he was in love with that other woman, simply because I’d wanted it and I would’ve somehow dragged him down the path with me.

  “Edgar was your first, but wasn’t your last. I wasn't trying to murder you, I was trying to recruit you. I wonder what your friends will think about that? Do you imagine they'll still be so welcoming?”

  I was trained to stand in front of a jury and be prepared for whatever was thrown at me from the prosecution. I wasn't just good on my feet, I was fantastic. And here I was, mouth too dry to speak and a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead.

  I wanted this man in the cage dead. I didn't want to help him escape but I didn't think I had a choice. Not if I wanted to make sure I lived as well. They'd already said they'd kill me if I leaked their secrets. What would happen if they thought I was being recruited?

  I couldn't see a way out of this. If Suit talked, and they believed him, they might kill me. He would eventually; I didn’t doubt the lengths Fate would go to for answers.

  But if I got him out, maybe I could buy myself enough time. They’d be suspicious but it would be better than him telling them I was playing for the wrong team.

  Unless I killed him.

  I wanted him dead. I didn’t know if I could take him, one on one, but what if I stalled and came back with a gun? Could I shoot him like this? He couldn’t run. It would be shooting fish in a tank.

  But he was slime!

  Even still, he wasn’t killing anyone. There was no one here to defend or protect. It would be cold-blooded murder, and I just didn’t have it in me. Maybe if I hung around here for another century I’d be the kind of person who could, but that changed nothing for me right now.

  “If I get you out, I want you to swear you'll never approach me again, in any life, from this point forward.”

  “Done.”

  I knew the keys to open the cage were down here. I’d seen Lars leave them on the hook across the room. They dangled there, like a beacon to escape.

  I grabbed them before I could second-guess myself and let him out, cursing my weakness the whole time. I scanned the cement walls for some exit but I knew I wasn't going to find one. I’d have to cause a distraction upstairs so he could slip out.

  And in that space of two seconds, when I turned my back on him, his arms looped over my head and he had his forearm pressed against my neck.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I can't leave you behind.”

  I had only one choice left, or the only one I maybe truly wanted. I grabbed the metal pen I had in my pocket. I’d grabbed it on my way out of the hotel because I’d thought I might need to make notes of what I saw. I felt for the point and fisted it in my hand. With surprising ease, I violently jerked my arm back.

  I knew I’d hit my target. I didn't need to see the blood spurting in my peripheral vision to tell me. My aim had been uncanny. And unlike in my mortal life, I knew it wasn’t just luck, anymore. Without seeing what I was doing, I’d managed to stab him in the jugular.

  His wrists still handcuffed together, I was pulled back with him, knocking over a chair and clattering some other things with us. We fell to the floor, me lying on top of him, facing the ceiling.

  “What are you getting me into?” I murmured out loud, having a funny feeling that it would be heard by my intended target, not the dying man below me.

  I heard the rush of people running through the door, Fate in the lead.

  He was on me before I had a chance to extricate myself.

  “Are you okay?”

  I was covered in Suit’s blood and I wished at that moment I could claim an injury.

  “I’m fine. It’s his blood.”

  I crawled out of Suit’s embrace and got to my feet. My victim was lying on the ground with a pen sticking out of his neck. I didn't need to be a defense attorney to know that this looked bad, really bad.

  He wasn't moving, and his blood was oozing out, not spurting to the rhythm of a heart. He was definitely dead.

  “She killed him,” Cutty yelled.

  He lunged for me but Fate stepped quickly between us, making a human shield between me and the men.

  “Back off,” Fate said.

  “She screwed us!” Cutty was pointing in my direction. “She knew we needed him alive. There’s something wrong with her. She let him out!”

  All four men that faced in my direction had varying degrees of distrust written on their faces.

  “That’s a gigantic leap, Cutty. She’s not with them,” Fate argued.

  “How do we know?”

  “This is a problem,” Lars said, staring at me in a very unsettling way. I would have put him at the lower end of the distrust scale a minute ago.

  “Clean this up and get rid of him. I'll handle her,” Fate said. He pushed me in front of him, always maintaining a buffer between me and the guys.

  I hustled up the stairs quickly, happily putting distance between me and the men down there. I knew a lost cause when I saw one, and they all looked like they wanted to kill me, and not like “let’s ponder the thought and get around to it next week,” but “rip my limbs off and use my bones for some broth.”

  I didn't have a guarantee that Fate didn't want the same thing, but “handle her” didn't sound anything like “kill her.” I could be grasping at semantics, but Fate was my best bet, right now.

  He pushed me toward the door, another good sign. If he wanted to kill me, he'd probably do it here. And he’d defended me. I didn’t know what to even think of that.

  I took a shot and decided to head toward the car I'd stashed further back, but he grabbed my arm and pushed me toward his. I didn't argue or fight. It was time to do damage control. Keep everything calm until I was out of this situation.

  He grabbed a towel from his trunk and laid it on the passenger seat, obviously looking to avoid the blood stains.

  “I guess you have this problem regularly?” The words slipped out before I thought better of it.

  “Get in.”

  I shut up. This wasn't about playing nice, I was in pure self preservation mode. I’d messed up badly and I knew it.

  “What happened?” he asked after he started driving.

  “I was trying to get answers. I wanted him to think I was on his side and I was going to get him out so he'd talk. Then he attacked me.”

  “You know that story is ridiculous.” He shot me a look that dared me to deny it.

  “It's what happened.” I mean he did dare me, everyone has their limits. Plus, I certainly wasn't going to come clean. I cou
ldn't. He had towels in the back of the car for sopping up blood and I wasn't sure how much the universe liked me. Was it I’m head over heels for you, or more of a passing fancy without any real commitment? Did I want to find out while Fate was choking the life from me that the universe had found a new favorite?

  I could just imagine trying to explain to Fate how I, someone whose position is supposed to handle karma, had saved criminals that would've been sent to jail so that I could build a name for myself. It seemed so much worse now but it hadn't then. I’d never really thought it was me. Yeah, I knew I could be convincing, but I didn’t realize I’d been actually swaying them beyond what was natural. Hell, I still didn’t know how I’d even done it, exactly.

  I used to think as a judge, I would make a difference and it would all be worth it. I'd rationalized it away, right up until Suit had just tried to recruit me. What kind of monster was I that a mass murderer wanted me on his team? I was in the ranks of someone like Maxwell? If I were human, what would I have looked like? I lifted a hand to my skin, as if I could feel the pus already.

  “Do you know how long I've been trying to get a lead on this guy?” He punched the dashboard of the SUV. I’d never seen him this upset.

  I shivered and he probably thought it had something to do with him. It didn't. I shrugged off the image of my face covered in cracks, at least for now. I couldn't change or fix what I'd become if I didn't make it out of this predicament.

  “From the moment you showed up, you've been nothing but a walking disaster. Cutty is right, there's something wrong here. And then I’m forced to defend you when I know it too.”

  “I’m sorry but threatening to kill someone doesn’t inspire confidence.” But the more he talked, the more I realized he never would’ve done it.

  “You take nothing seriously, but that you decide to listen to. How many times have you heard someone say that?”

  “You said it with a very scary tone.”

  “You think this is funny? That it’s a joke you thought I’d kill you?”

  I could see how much it insulted him. I didn’t know what to say and the way he was looking at me made me feel like a worm, squirming around. How could I explain that, for some reason I didn’t get, I went stupid around him? I missed cues. That I knew it wasn’t funny but I didn’t know how to take it back?