45 - Peyton
PEYTON
The man in the trench coat registered Colson in an instant, and dismissed him just as quickly. Even as I watched, his eyes moved to me.
“It wasn’t hard.”
“Bullshit,” Theo growled immediately.
The man’s features were average. His hair, his nose, his unremarkable chin — it was all so very nondescript, he really could be anyone. The only non-average thing about him was his exceptional height, which matched Colson’s.
“Look, I wasn’t the one who found you,” the man said coldly. “You outed yourselves.”
He took a step forward, and Colson growled a warning. It was a literal growl, too. The man responded by straightening up and rolling his eyes.
“One of you made an error,” he said simply. “I’ll leave it up to you to figure out who. That part doesn’t concern me. Donovan doesn’t even know I’m here.”
At this, Colson seemed to relax a bit. Theo, on the other hand, had tensed up.
I stored that information away for the future.
“You came alone?” Ripley asked, intentionally flashing his knife.
“Yes.”
“Then either you have a death wish, or you have balls the size of artillery shells.”
“Or he’s lying,” spat Theo.
The intruder’s expression — which up until now had been all business — curled into a smile.
“Which do you think it is?”
“I’m not really sure,” Ripley answered grimly. He held the knife out again. “But maybe we should cut you open. Look for answers on the inside.”
The intruder shrugged, as if bored. “You can try.”
“Enough,” barked Colson. His expression was defiance. “What do you want, Roman?”
Roman. I turned the name over in my mind a few times, but it didn’t ring a bell. His face wasn’t something I’d recognized either. Yet somehow, somewhere, I could swear I’d heard his voice before.
“I’m here because you escalated,” Roman said, matter-of-factly.
“You came all this way for that?”
“You leaked Wayland.”
“And Connor,” Colson added smoothly. “And Granger.”
“Yes,” the man in the trench coat acknowledged grimly. “And Connor and Granger.”
“And Mengan tomorrow,” Theo said smugly. “Along with Jandris and O’Keefe. And after that—”
“Say what you came to say,” Colson ordered, cutting him off.
Roman sighed, but not in frustration. It was more the sigh of a schoolteacher trying to control an unruly class.
“You started something you don’t fully understand,” he said.
Theo scoffed. Ripley set his hands on his hips.
“And you’re here to make us understand it?”
“Donovan’s not at the top of this food chain,” Roman replied.
“We know that,” I told him.
There was an immediate change in his demeanor. His eyes shifted my way.
“Then you know exactly what happens,” he began slowly, “if you were to release everything.”
“No, what?” laughed Ripley. “What’re they going to do? Come after us?” Palming the knife, he made jazz hands, dramatically. “Chase us around the fucking world?”
Roman turned away in disgust. He shot Colson a deadly look.
“Seems like your dog is off his leash.”
Ripley dropped the knife and sprang. It happened so fast, none of us could prevent it. He reached Roman in three quick strides, but it was already two strides too late.
There was a sidestep, followed by a knee, and Ripley ended up on the floor. That didn’t stop him though. In one fluid movement he hooked Roman’s ankle with one foot and kicked out with his opposite leg. Roman grunted in pain as he fell sideways, ending up on his hands and knees.
“Ripley!”
Ripley rolled onto the intruder with terrifying speed. In that instant, I knew he’d gone down on purpose, to take the fight to the floor. It was his area of expertise. It’s what he knew best.
Ripley mounted him easily, wrapping his legs, pinning his shoulders to the floor. He brought his arms back…
“RIPLEY STOP!”
Colson’s voice shattered the stillness, just sharp enough to prevent disaster. The big fighter stopped the first of his wrecking ball fists, mid-swing.
“Let him up,” barked Colson. “NOW.”
Reluctantly, and with intentional delay, Ripley eventually relented. He pushed off hard against Roman’s chest, sending a message before climbing back to his feet.
“This is exactly what I mean,” Roman growled, brushing himself off. “You can’t be trusted with men like this working under you.” He lifted his nose Ripley’s way. “They’re too reckless. Too much of a liability—”
“This man doesn’t work for me,” Colson interjected. “He works with me.”
“So you’re a team now?” seethed Roman.
“A team entirely of Donovan’s creation,” I jumped in. “He’s the one who shoved us all in the same fucking boat, then tried to sink it.”
The man finished brushing himself off and considered this for a moment. His resulting expression told me he’d ceded the point.
“We could’ve released everything at once, if we wanted to,” I continued. “But you’ll notice we haven’t.”
“And that’s by design?”
“Yes,” said Colson. “We’re choosing our targets.”
“To burn Donovan,” said Roman. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” Theo affirmed. “And not the rest.”
The man in the hallway studied Theo carefully. He didn’t seem entirely convinced.
“If you don’t think I know who’s who,” Theo said acidly, “you’re gravely mistaken. I’ve found the hidden partitions. I’ve unlocked everything — and I do mean everything — that your people are worried about.”
Roman stiffened visibly at this, but he quickly regained control. It was a little too late, though.
“Did I say I was worried?” he bluffed.
Ripley laughed in his face. “You didn’t have to.”
Outside, the snow blew in an ever-churning circle. We stood in silence for a while, like gunslingers, waiting for something important to happen.
In the meantime, Roman considered us individually, one by one. This time, he decided to address me.
“Give me the locket.”
I squinted back at him, without moving.
“Not the drive,” he sighed. “Just the locket itself.”
“Why?”
“Because if I show it to Donovan, I can tell him I’m close,” explained Roman. “He’s stupid enough that it’ll appease him. I can tell him that I’ll have you soon.”
“But you won’t have me soon,” I growled.
“No.”
“So what will that accomplish?”
“It’ll buy time.”
No one moved. No one seemed convinced.
“Look,” Roman turned to Colson again. “You won’t turn over the bride, right?”
“Fuck you,” spat Ripley.
“I didn’t think so,” said Roman. “So the locket is the next best thing.”
Theo looked questioningly to Colson, who eventually nodded. With that, he disappeared from the room.
“Unfuckingreal,” Ripley said again.
Roman sighed. “What is?”
“You call Donovan stupid, yet you’re the one working for him.”
“I work for a lot of people,” Roman said coldly.
“So you’re a traitor, then.”
“I’m an opportunist,” he shrugged. “One smart enough to see the much bigger picture.”
Ripley’s face twisted in revulsion. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
Theo returned, the locket dangling between his fingers. Just as Roman reached out for it, however, he snatched it back.
“My father,” he said, looking down at the man through the bottoms of his eyes. “You’ll look out for him?”
“As best as I can, yes,” Roman answered. “I have no interest in anyone getting hurt.”
The statement was short, but sounded genuine. Theo pressed the locket into the man’s hand. Even in the dim light, the beautiful piece of silver shone brilliantly.
Something inside me was almost sad to see it go.
“Say it for me one more time,” Roman said, slipping his prize into one of the trench coat’s inner pockets. “My people will need to hear it.”
Colson’s jaw tightened, but only for a moment.
“We burn Donovan,” he said grimly. “Clean and controlled. No collateral damage.”
Roman’s eyes shifted carefully back to me.
“And you’re aligned with that?”
“Of course.”
His gaze lingered on me for an extra moment or two, before moving to Theo.
“We’ll need the drive when you’re done,” said Roman. “And make no copies. If you do, we’ll know.”
“No you won’t,” Theo said, smooth as silk.
Roman frowned. Theo returned a grin.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get your precious secrets back,” Ripley interjected. “And you can shove the drive up your ass for all we care, once we’re done with Donovan.”
The death-stare these men gave each other could strip paint. It was broken strategically by Colson.
“Go home, Roman,” he ordered. “Tell your people. Let them know that once this is done, it’s over. We have no further interests beyond getting our lives back.”
Roman re-clasped his hands in front of him and nodded. “Just one more thing. Your battleground.”
“What of it?”
“Have you chosen it, yet?”
All eyes fell on Colson. He nodded, with a hard expression.
“New York.”
The answer seemed to neither please nor displease Roman. He merely absorbed it before turning away, sweeping his long coat behind him.
As he retreated down the hallway, a long minute of silence passed. It ended with the ‘thunk’ of the electronic lock, off in the distance.
“Why did you tell him the truth just now?” Theo pressed. “About New York?”
“Because we need that message carried to the people he works for,” replied Colson. “We have a common interest now. They could possibly help us.”
Ripley shifted protectively closer to me, as he took my hand.
“And if they go against us, instead?” he asked.
Colson and Theo stared at each other, for what seemed like a long time.
“Then we burn everyone,” Theo said, simply. “Every army, every fleet. Right down to the waterline.”