by Matt Rogers
‘No,’ King said. ‘It isn’t.’
‘We were elite operatives,’ Slater said. ‘We retired.’
Randwick said, ‘And yet, here you are.’
‘The government asked us to rescue a fourteen-year-old girl. We take odd jobs every now and then, so we agreed.’
‘Yeah, well, she was in the hands of a bunch of rogue amateurs, so I’m sure—’
‘She’s dead.’
‘Oh.’
‘You got her killed with your little ploy to mask your true intentions. You and Aidan Parker both.’
‘Where’s Parker?’
‘Still in Nepal.’
‘I haven’t been able to contact him.’
‘That’s because he shot himself in the head three days ago.’
‘Oh.’
King looked around. ‘Judging by our surroundings, I assume you’re not going to do the same.’
‘No, thank you,’ Randwick said. ‘I’d rather not.’
‘You’re a different level of corrupt,’ Slater said. ‘You think this is the first time your business decisions have led to innocent deaths?’
Randwick shrugged. ‘It’s the first I’ve heard of it.’
‘You’re a powerful man,’ King said.
‘I guess.’
‘You seem to have it all figured out.’
‘I’d like to think so.’
‘Figure this out,’ King said, and shot him in the face.
The suppressor didn’t suppress much. A vicious cough still echoed through the empty mansion. But King and Slater barely noticed. They rose off the couch and made for the door. King tucked the gun away, and they stepped outside as if nothing had happened at all.
Slater said, ‘Three left.’
They split up and disappeared into the night.
90
Upper East Side
Manhattan
One week later…
It was their first official day back home, and they were expecting company.
They sat across from each other in King’s penthouse, resting against the backdrop of Central Park. The view was as astonishing as ever, but with a few months of ownership under their belts it was steadily becoming the norm. They were still surprised they’d been allowed to keep their twin residences, resting side by side at the apex of one of the Upper East Side’s most luxurious towers. Especially after what had happened before Nepal. One of the floor-to-ceiling window panes seemed fresher and cleaner than the others — a dramatic reminder of the private war that had played out months earlier between King, Slater, and a horde of hired mercenaries. But the damage had been repaired and the crimes swept under the table as an unsteady allegiance was formed between the U.S. government and two of the best black-ops killers to ever live.
So it irritated them to think that that allegiance might soon fall apart.
It all depended on how the following confrontation unfolded.
Neither of them expected it to go smoothly.
There was a knock at the front door. King got up, took a deep breath, and said, ‘You ready?’
Slater said, ‘As I’ll ever be.’
He went into the entranceway and answered without checking the peep hole. He knew who it was.
They hadn’t seen each other since before Nepal.
It was bound to be a shaky reunion.
As soon as he opened the door, Violetta LaFleur burst through. She was as beautiful as ever, but the intensity with which she stared at him overshadowed it all. He admired the blond hair, the piercing blue eyes, the shapely physique. Instinct took over. He loved her, and their bond had been forged through their mutually turbulent pasts and the similarity of their work. They understood each other in a way most couldn’t, and it was the only reason they were able to work together in such a demanding field and still maintain a relationship.
But right now, greeting her partner seemed to be the last thing on her mind.
Her eyes flared with anger. ‘What the fuck have you two been up to?’
He stood over her, unsure how to proceed. ‘I’d say it’s good to see you, but I’m afraid you’ll shoot me…’
‘Where’s Will?’ she snapped.
‘He’s here.’
Slater’s voice floated through the penthouse. ‘Hey, Violetta.’
She stormed down the entranceway, and said, ‘Follow me.’
King followed.
Didn’t say a word.
She strode into the open-plan living area and pointed to a vacant chair. ‘Sit.’
King sat.
She said, ‘You two are in deep shit.’
‘Are we?’ Slater said, raising his eyebrows. ‘I wonder why…’
Ever the daredevil.
King just crossed his hands over his lap.
Waited for Violetta to speak.
She paced back and forth in front of them, running both hands through her hair, on the verge of tearing it out. ‘Do you realise the sorts of favours I’m having to call in just to keep the hounds at bay?’
‘Who are the hounds?’ King said.
‘Everyone above me,’ she said. ‘You both know the drill. I’m your only point of contact behind the scenes. It creates deniability — if you’re taken on enemy soil, you know nothing about the inner workings of clandestine operations. You don’t know what goes on behind the scenes, or who’s involved, or how it’s structured. But that might all be about to change if those in charge call you in.’
‘Why would they call us in?’ Slater said, feigning innocence.
‘You know why.’
‘Break it down for us. Just in case there’s been a huge misunderstanding.’
Violetta rolled her eyes, but she obliged. ‘As soon as you told us exactly what went down in Nepal, we started our own investigation. We put all our resources behind it. Didn’t take us long to figure out exactly who was connected to Aidan Parker through shell companies. And guess what?’
‘What?’
‘We traced it to four separate individuals. All incredibly powerful people. Three men, and one woman. All in their fifties and sixties, all moguls, all guilty as sin of practically every crime under the sun. What they did in Nepal was one thing, but we have a lot of investigative horsepower, and when we put the spotlight on their business dealings we uncovered a treasure trove of seriously shady shit.’
King shrugged. ‘They sound like scum.’
She stared daggers at him. ‘Why are they all dead?’
‘What?’ Slater said, widening his eyes. ‘You think we—?’
He wasn’t even trying to make a respectable performance of it.
In fact, he was making a mockery of the whole thing.
She nearly hit him. ‘You realise I could put you both in a military prison right now and throw away the key?’
‘But you won’t,’ Slater said.
‘Will…’ King warned.
He turned. ‘What? You want to go with her — be my guest. But I’m not going to sit here and listen to this.’
‘You’d better watch your mouth,’ Violetta said.
Up until that point, Slater had been lounging against the seat back, keeping his voice low. Now he sat up ramrod straight and stared at her with withering intensity.
‘Listen,’ he said, much louder. ‘You can storm in here with your anger and your self-righteousness and pretend like you’re going to do something to punish us. But you’re not. You’re a small cog in the machine. If you and your superiors were really going to do something about it, you would have done it already. You all fear us — and you should. Because I’m not going to apologise one bit for what we did. Yeah, that’s right, I just admitted to it. If you go after us because of this, then you’re just one more piece of the corrupt system. That system is the reason we took matters into our own hands in the first place. Because what the hell would you lot have done about it? You would have gone around in circles trying to find a way to prosecute them within the boundaries of the law, and then eventually they would have
paid the right person off and it all would have quietly gone away. Swept under the rug, like nothing ever happened at all. That’s how it works when you do everything by the book. That’s why our careers were forged in the first place. That’s the point of black operations. If you think for a second it would have gone any differently, then you’re a fool.’
Violetta didn’t answer.
Slater said, ‘What you say next is going to reveal to us who you are, Violetta. Choose your words carefully.’
She didn’t blink.
Instead, she looked at King.
She said, ‘Does he speak for you, too?’
King knew what it meant.
He knew their separation of business and pleasure was on the edge of a precipice.
One slight tip in the wrong direction, and it would all fall apart.
But he was not a man of compromise. He was a man of integrity, and he’d been operating with the same moral code for his entire life. The moment he gave in, even for a moment, the walls would come tumbling down. If he jumped into bed with the wrong side based entirely on his own personal attachments, that was something he might never come back from.
So, despite the potential consequences for both him and the woman he loved, he said, ‘Yes. He does.’
91
No one spoke.
Slater could see Violetta contemplating what to say next.
He got there first.
He said, ‘Don’t assume we play by the rules.’
‘I never—’
‘You did. You thought because you’re dating King you could walk in here and reprimand us for what we did. We don’t work for you or the government. We accept gigs because we want to help, and we agreed to lend our services to you with the understanding that we don’t operate within the normal parameters. We’ve spent our whole lives in this game. We know deep corruption when we see it. We handled it. And now we don’t expect anything to result from it if you want to keep this mutual partnership in place.’
She said, ‘And you shouldn’t assume I play by the rules either.’
Slater said nothing.
She said, ‘I could snap my fingers and the two of you no longer exist. I don’t care what personal ties I have to either of you. The personal side of things is a non-factor right now. Sure, you’re strong, and you’re fast, and you’re tough — but you’re just two men. I could assemble the resources of our entire government to take you out. It wouldn’t take much. Put a sniper in a building across the street and both your heads would go up in clouds when you step outside this tower. That’s what I can do. Don’t think you’re the only one showing restraint.’
‘That’s the route you want to go down?’
‘No. But if I punish you for what you did without our permission, then there’s nothing you can do to stop me.’
‘Oh, but there is,’ Slater said. ‘It’s real easy to give orders. But you’re here now, with us. You’re comfortable with the knowledge in the back of your mind that you can call for backup. But they’re not here yet, are they? You think because we know you we won’t hurt you if it comes to that?’
Violetta didn’t respond.
Slater said, ‘Your boyfriend might hesitate for obvious reasons.’
She stared at him.
Slater said, ‘But I won’t.’
She said, ‘Then let’s mutually agree that we have something to lose. If it comes to a war, none of us will make it out alive.’
Finally, King piped up. ‘Agreed.’
She looked over. ‘A war is not what I want.’
‘Nor do we.’
‘But you two have to understand that when you accept a job from us, we expect you to—’
‘That’s your mistake,’ King said. ‘You shouldn’t expect anything. It’s your choice to hire us. If we do good work, then use us again. It’s completely up to you. But we’ll never follow orders we don’t agree with. And we’ll never stop ourselves from following every operation to its natural conclusion. Whatever that entails.’
‘Whatever that entails,’ Slater said.
She didn’t say a word.
King said, ‘If you don’t like what we did, and you think we deserve punishment for it, then that makes us enemies.’
Silence.
Slater said, ‘Do you want to make us enemies?’
‘No,’ Violetta said. ‘I don’t.’
‘Do you understand why we did what we did?’
‘Yes. But that doesn’t make it right.’
‘Nothing is right. This world is dark and murky and corrupt. That’s the way it’s always going to be. If you don’t let us stand against that, then you’re no better than they are.’
‘You realise you haven’t changed a thing, right?’
They raised their eyebrows inquisitively.
She said, ‘You think modern empires fall apart just because the person at the top meets an untimely demise? Each and every one of the four people you killed will be replaced. Life will go on.’
‘Then let’s hope their successors take a closer look at their business practices,’ King said. ‘I think we delivered a fair warning.’
‘And if they don’t get the message?’
‘Then they’ll have us to answer to.’
‘You’re going to keep tabs on all the corruption in the world?’
‘We didn’t say that.’
‘You’re sure acting like it’s a possibility.’
Slater shrugged. ‘We’ll just do what we’ve always done.’
‘And that is?’
‘Our best.’
She brooded, still pacing back and forth.
Mulled over what to say next.
The seconds ticked away.
One.
Two.
Three.
She said, ‘I — and by extension, the government — would like to maintain this partnership. You’ve proven yourselves to be morally rock solid time and time again. So we’ll let this slide. Thank you for everything you did in Nepal.’
‘Are we done?’ Slater said.
She nodded.
He got up, brushed past her, and said, ‘I’ll give you two some alone time. I’m sure you have a lot to talk about.’
He was deep in his own head by the time he made it to the front door, and barely noticed someone following in his wake.
When he turned around with his hand on the doorknob, Violetta was there, staring up at him.
She said, ‘You’re a good man, Will. I don’t want you to forget that.’
‘I try to be,’ he said. ‘It’s the only thing I can hold onto after… you know…’
She said, ‘Ruby is looking down on you. I’m sure she’s proud.’
He nodded.
Tried to stop himself from showing emotion.
She said, ‘If you’re feeling alone, you know you can talk to someone. We have many respected therapists—’
He looked past her, and saw King hovering at the other end of the hallway.
They exchanged a wordless, knowing look.
Slater said, ‘Don’t worry. I’m okay. I have all I need.’
I have a brother.
He turned and walked out, and closed the door behind him.
92
They stood at opposite ends of the corridor. The space felt a hundred times larger.
King put his hands in his pockets and bit his lower lip.
Violetta folded her arms over her chest.
He said, ‘Does that wrap up the professional side of things?’
She said, ‘Hard to move straight on from something like that.’
‘We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we agreed to this. We knew it wouldn’t be a smooth road.’
‘I didn’t think it would be this bumpy.’
‘That’s the life. That’s the job.’
A pause.
She said, ‘What if that had gone differently? What if it had taken a turn south? Where would we be right now?’
‘It didn’t.’
‘But it could have. You said it yourself. You aligned with Slater.’
‘He’s my brother.’
‘What does that make me?’
‘It’s different.’
‘Is it?’
He said, ‘I love you.’
She froze. ‘Do you mean that?’
‘Yes.’
‘But you would have waged a war against me if it came to it.’
‘I know.’
‘No apology? No explanation?’
‘I can’t apologise, and I can’t explain.’
Silence.
He said, ‘It’s just who I am. I stand up for what I think is right. I don’t waver. If I did, I’d never forgive myself. If I did, I wouldn’t be here.’
‘What does that say about the future?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t care.’
‘You don’t?’
‘If life’s taught me anything, it’s to live in the present. I might not be here tomorrow. That’s the nature of what I do for a living.’
‘And you’re at peace with that?’
‘As much as I can be.’
‘How do you think that makes me feel?’
‘I was never going to be the perfect partner, Violetta,’ he said. ‘I’m just who I am.’
‘Do you ever think about quitting?’
‘Not anymore.’
‘You could. I could. We could go to the Caribbean. Spend the rest of our lives making love in a beach hut.’
‘Sounds idyllic.’
‘But it’s not for you.’
‘No. I tried it.’
‘And you ended up right back here.’
‘I can’t escape it.’
‘Does that disturb you?’
‘Not anymore.’
She said, ‘I think I’m stuck doing this forever, too.’
‘You don’t have to be.’
‘But then I’d have to leave you.’
‘You could. If you wanted to. You deserve better.’
‘But I’m good at what I do. And I’m in love with you. So where does that leave me?’
‘Right here. You can’t escape either.’
She shrugged and said, ‘At least we’re both as fucked up as each other.’