“That depends on what she knows, which is why I need that sound recorder.”
Kyoji sighed. “Whatever. What kind of recorder do you need?”
“Something that I can hide in her bedroom but that I can listen to remotely. Do they make something like that?”
“I haven’t purchased one lately,” Kyoji said sarcastically, “but I’m sure I can find something suitable. When do you need this by?”
“Yesterday.” It was the story of Jayce’s life; everything should have been done yesterday.
“Leave it with me but if you change your mind and decide to forget about this girl, which you should, then let me know. Sourcing a sound recorder is not high on my priority list right now.”
Jayce smiled. “Thanks, Kyoji, let me know when you have it. I don’t care what it costs.”
*
Jayce was halfway through a meeting when his phone vibrated and he denied every urge to check the message. He did not allow staff to use their phones during meetings and so he had to lead by example, but the temptation was killing him. He looked at his watch—it had taken her seven hours to respond. Was she angry that she hadn’t heard from him all week? Sleeping with a girl, leaving without saying goodbye and, other than one quick phone call the next day, not speaking to her for the next week was asshole behavior, but it was her fault and she shouldn’t have lied to him.
Jayce wrapped up the meeting as quickly as possible and just as he pulled out his phone to check the message, he had an incoming call that he didn’t dare leave unanswered:
“Father,” Jayce said, answering his phone.
“Afternoon. How are things?”
“Good. I’ve just finished in a meeting.”
“Good to see you’re working hard. How is Zahra?”
His father knew about Zahra; Jayce had told him everything. They were extremely close and he understood, on some level—his father knew the history, he knew what she’d done to him. And let’s be honest, his father, given his past, was not in a position to judge anyone.
“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t spoken to her for a few days. I’ve been busy working.”
His father laughed. ‘That pleases me.” He paused. “I will be in town tomorrow night. Organize a dinner on Monday night with the board members and all unit managers.”
Jayce halted. “Why?”
“Because I want to meet her.”
“This is about Zahra? This situation is not affecting the company. Do not underestimate me.” Jayce’s blood was boiling again now; his father should know better.
“And do not speak to me in that tone. I just want to meet her. It has nothing to do with company performance, not yet anyway. Organize the dinner, Jayce.”
Jayce wanted to refuse his father but he wouldn’t, he would organize the dinner. “Fine. I need to go, I will speak with you this evening.” He hung up and slumped into his chair. “Fuck,” he swore under his breath. He had no choice. He lifted the telephone receiver.
“Olivia, organize a dinner for all board members and managers Monday evening. Mr. Tohmatsu Senior will also be attending. Eight o’clock. Clear my schedule. You can send in my next meeting. Thanks.” His instructions were robotic-like but he cared little for pleasantries—direct communication was efficient.
“Sure. Also, your four p.m. is running late,” she said, hesitant.
Late was not acceptable and it pissed him off when people wasted his time. Jayce glanced at his calendar: it was a half-hour appointment. “Hold for one second,” Jayce said, simultaneously opening his messages:
Zahra Foster: Hi. Ok, I’ll talk to you later. I haven’t made plans for the weekend so let me know if you’re free. Xo
“Reschedule it,” he told Olivia, “and call Zahra Foster. Tell her to be in my office at four.”
“Sure,” Olivia responded, sounding less than pleased.
Jayce’s next meeting was boring but necessary and he had just enough time to freshen up before Zahra arrived. He flicked on the light switch in his bathroom and washed his face with cold water. Jayce had apologized in his message, for not calling her all week and for missing her call the night before, saying he had been overwhelmed with work but that he wanted to make it up to her on the weekend. He had to be charming now, he had to look directly at her and forget about Raven if he was going to convince her that nothing was wrong. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Zahra was an enemy now and he would have to keep her very close in order to balance the debt. He knew he could do it. He would act that same way he did during a business negotiation, he would hide his emotions and play the part. He wiped his hands on the towel and then heard the door open. He smiled: it was time to be the perfect boyfriend.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - ZAHRA
He had not been at his desk as she’d expected and she couldn’t see him at all until he emerged from the bathroom, striding toward her with long, purposeful strides.
“Afternoon,” he said, taking her hands and wrapping them behind his back. “I’ve missed you,” he said. Zahra wanted to believe him, but she wasn’t going to let him off the hook quite so easily.
“I get that you’re busy but you couldn’t spare five minutes to call?” She looked up at him, watching him carefully.
“I should have called, I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”
Zahra bit her lip, wishing he would let go of her hands so that she could step back. She found it hard to think when her body yearned for him and the scent of his cologne made her head rush. He looked genuinely sorry so Zahra forgave him this one time. But he’d better not make that mistake twice.
The corner of his lip turned up and Zahra knew he’d seen the submission in her eyes. “Don’t bite your lip like that, it turns me on and I’m trying to be well behaved right now.”
He let go of one hand and cupped her face. She closed her eyes when he leaned in and kissed her. Arousal sang in her veins and she kissed him back. He moaned into her mouth and guided her to his desk. She sat on the edge and he stepped between her legs but didn’t stop kissing her.
He dragged his nails up her inner thighs, the same thing he’d done to her in the bedroom, and it drove her just as crazy as it did then. “Did you miss me?”
“Yes,” Zahra whispered, hyper aware of his fingers on the edge of her panties.
He bit her lip and she moaned, her nipples hard and pelvis throbbing.
“I want you so bad.” His voice was like gravel. “But I don’t want to do this today. I didn’t call you up here to fuck you. I did genuinely just want to see you.”
Zahra wanted to be grateful that he was thinking about their relationship, but the arousal surging through her made it difficult for her to concede that sex right now wasn’t a good idea. She looked up at him through her lashes.
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not capable of stopping myself twice.” He kissed her forehead and stepped back, looking her over. He shook his head like he was shaking the image from his mind and then crossed his arms. “There is actually a second reason I asked you to come up. I’ve just found out that my father will be in town this weekend and Olivia is organizing a dinner on Monday. You need to be there along with all of the managers.”
She sat up straighter. “Your father?”
“Why are you so surprised? He does own this company, not me.”
“I know, I just… is this going to be weird?”
“No, because he doesn’t know anything. To him, you’re an employee just like everyone else.”
Zahra felt nervous already. She was not prepared to meet Jayce’s father. “How long is he staying for?”
“He didn’t say, our conversation was very brief, but probably the week.”
“Okay.”
Jayce entwined his fingers with hers. “Hey, don’t make this a bigger deal than it is. You’re not meeting him as my father, you’re meeting him as the CEO of the company. Trust me, I’m not thrilled with the idea either, but this is business.”
Zahra understood the
intention of Jayce’s words. This-is-business translated to put-your-emotions-aside. She knew he was right and she was grateful he’d at least given her some warning, some time to mentally prepare. “Right,” she said, nodding her head confidently although she felt anything but.
“With my father in town, it means I’m not going to have a lot of free time this weekend but I will call you, I promise.” His eyes darted to his computer and back to Zahra again. She stood up, taking that as a cue that their time was up once again. Time passed so quickly in his presence. Zahra couldn’t believe she’d been in his office thirty minutes, but her watch didn’t lie.
“Not so fast,” he said. “I’ve still got thirty seconds.”
Zahra’s giggle was muffled by Jayce’s mouth and he took full advantage of those thirty seconds.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Jayce said.
Zahra shot him a look suggesting that would be a very wise idea and then left his office, silently thanking the nude lipstick trend for not needing to reapply.
*
From: Devon Wright
To: Zahra Foster
Subject: Get ya shoes on
Hey Zahra.
OK, running times have been confirmed and we’ll start next week:
Monday: 5am
Wednesday: 7:30pm
Thursday: 5am
Jackson will be leading all of them, and they will vary in length depending on how far out we are from the marathon. I’m sure your schedule is a little crazy until Church St. is complete but if you can make it to one per week and then train on your own you’ll be still be miles ahead of us [pun intended].
Have a good day,
Devon
Zahra typed quickly, her response short and sweet:
From: Zahra Foster
To: Devon Wright
Subject: Re: Laced up and ready
Hey Devon
Thanks for sending me the deets. I’m in on Mondays and Wednesdays. If I don’t see you before, I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning!
Have a great weekend,
Zahra
*
A kingfisher soared above my head, singing as it weaved through air. It’s a good omen, I thought, tonight would go well. I walked along the narrow, deserted path the locals called a road. This place was a shithole and getting the job done was becoming more of a problem than I had anticipated, but that’s fine; a challenge is always good because it keeps things fresh, it keeps them interesting. And I was interested. This man was not like the others.
I’d had to stay low for a few days. I couldn’t risk him seeing me again. But I wasn’t going to wait too long either; I needed the thrill, I lived for it. Yesterday I had watched him all day; close enough to identify him but not too close. I wouldn’t make that mistake twice. He had a wife and a young child; it was unfortunate that their happy family would soon be destroyed. It was his own fault, though, I was just the messenger. Often, I wondered about what he had done, what crimes he had to pay for. That question crossed my mind with each target but just like a flash of lightning it soon disappeared. This time, though, it lingered, eating at my conscience. What did he do? I had killed husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. I really, honestly, just didn’t care that their life had to end. But something about this one was different.
The orange ball of fire was nearing the horizon, setting for the day. I would make it just before darkness fell. My target was going to be at the council meeting tonight and so was I. Goose bumps spread over my skin. It wasn’t even kill night, but still the thrill enveloped me, infiltrating every atom. I always wore my hair up, but tonight it was down and flowing. I preferred it up but, tonight, I wanted to fit in with the pitiful crowd; a bunch of miserable beings who had given up, their lives a monatomic series of days rolled endlessly from one into another until God gave them mercy and ended their existence.
The beaten down town hall was full when I arrived. I walked in calmly, confidently. I played my part well, not a single useless resident raised an eyebrow at a woman they’d never seen before. I walked the room, even stopping to chat idly to one gentleman with a fat waist and beads of sweat lining his forehead like little soldiers. But my target wasn’t here. I could feel my anger rising—I hated it when things didn’t go my way. Why wasn’t he here? I scanned the room again. Every other useless bastard but him! And if he wasn’t here, I sure as hell wasn’t staying.
“Looking for someone?”
I stopped cold. Dryas was here. “Good evening, sir,” I said, turning on my heels. He was two heads above me and even in the dark night, illuminated only by the dim moon rays, he looked handsome. His baby-blue eyes sparkled.
“Why have you been following me?” he asked.
I played dumb. My only focus was to get out alive and then come back and kill him. “I don’t know what you mean.”
His hands shot out, grabbing mine so tightly that my skin burned. “I don’t want to kill you, although I’m sure you deserve it. Leave this town, leave my family alone, leave me alone. And I’ll leave you alone. If I see you again, I won’t be so kind.”
I looked at him with wondrous stupidity. He was insane if he thought I would ever walk away from a job unfinished. But I also wanted to live, so for tonight I would play another act. “Thank you.” The words were like acid in my mouth. I hated thanking anyone for anything: I took care of myself, I didn’t need anyone—my family had made sure of that.
He held on for a minute longer and then released me. “Leave town tonight.” He turned his back and walked away.
I should kill him now, I thought, throw my knife deep in his back, or maybe two knives just for fun. But there were too many witnesses tonight and I didn’t want to cause a scene. His death would come, though, because I had no intention of leaving and I had every intention of killing.
It was Jayce. Even without the blue eyes, Zahra would have known it was him. She had been sent to kill him, but he was smarter than her usual targets, more shrewd, and Zahra doubted he had let her kill him that easily. But on the contrary, she had never failed before. Christ, she swore, this is bad, very bad. Her hands shook as she held them to her temples and her stomach bubbled like a volcano ready to erupt. She ran for the bathroom for the second night in a row.
Slowly she peeled herself off the porcelain and brushed her teeth. Her head throbbed as it comprehended the situation she was potentially in. The vivid dreams, the flashback in the elevator, the feelings of familiarity—it all pointed toward the reincarnation theory. If Jayce and Zahra were soul mates, how many times had they reincarnated together? If they had been together in other lives, had she been kinder to him or just as evil? She had only seen him in Raven’s lifetime but if dreams were suppressed memories, Zahra was positive she had closets full of skeletons buried in her mind.
She thought back to Jayce again. Had he dreamed of Raven? Was that why he was so interested in her dream? Zahra decided it was possible, but if he knew who she was, would he be able to look at her, let alone have a relationship with her? He can’t possibly be that good of a liar, she thought. And if her theory proved to be true, she wasn’t going to tell him anything. She didn’t want him to see what she was capable of; she didn’t even want to see her own true colors. And even if she did want to be a better, more honest, woman, what was she going to say? ‘Hey, Jayce, you know we’ve actually reincarnated together before, and I may or may not have killed you. If I did, I probably sliced your throat with a knife, my weapon of choice.’ No, he would think she was crazy! In this case, honesty would not be the best policy. Zahra had become very good at hiding her dreams and burying the unpleasant emotions they brought with them. She could do this again, she could keep her secrets from Jayce.
*
Her stomach dropped as she looked at her phone. She’d made such a big deal about Jayce not calling, and now, when he did as he promised, Zahra didn’t want to answer it. She had spent the entire day at her computer researching her theory and reading article afte
r article on past life regression therapy. Subjects who, during the regression session, were able to speak languages they didn’t know in their current life. Subjects who traveled to new countries and were able to navigate around it like they lived there. Subjects who had realized they possessed a level of skill that should only be available after years of dedicated training. It was compelling and overwhelming, and Zahra struggled to process it all.
The call rang out but a second later her phone started ringing again. She answered it that time:
“Hi, Jayce.”
“Hey. Any chance you’re home?”
Zahra could hear traffic in the background and she prayed he was not around the corner.
“I’m home,” she said, her voice a little tight. She’d had a hard time answering his call, let along facing him tonight.
“Great. I’ve just finished a meeting about two blocks away. Can I stop by real quick?”
Oh, shit! Zahra thought. She would have to face her boyfriend sooner or later so she supposed it was best she got it over with. Her eyes scanned her apartment, which was thankfully tidy. “Sure, I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She hung up, closed down every Google tab and ran to the bedroom to change.
CHAPTER TWELVE - JAYCE
It arrived via an unidentified courier, in a white box with a printed letter of instructions and a telephone number for technical support—straight out of a James Bond movie. No company name, no return to sender address, nothing. And Kyoji was as covert about where the recording device came from as the package itself: “It doesn’t matter where it came from but trust me, these guys know what they’re doing and they work with nothing but the best. I would hedge a bet that the device you’re holding in your hands right now is not even on the commercial market. All you need to do is peel off the adhesive layer and stick it to the back of her bedside table.”
The Secrets of Their Souls Page 9