Chapter 45 #2
I shake my head at her. “I don’t need the practice.
Some things you never forget. I did a lot in the war.
Patched a lot of guys in the field, kind of like a medic.
Felt good, you know, to help instead of…
” I sit back, surveying my work. “You should eat something. And take these.” I shake two of the expired painkillers into her palm. She dry-swallows them with ease.
Then I pull back the covers of the bed, dust flying in the air from disuse, and make her get under them. Thankfully she’s taking my orders pretty well, though I think maybe she’s just too weak to be snarky about it.
My suit won’t take long to dry, it’s been designed that way, but in the interim I find another robe in the house and put it on, then head to the kitchen to try and find something for Mia to eat.
I find the kitchen well-stocked with non-perishables—canned soup, crackers, peanut butter, the kind of stuff that survives a winter in an empty house. I heat up the soup and bring it to her in bed, and she eats slowly, mechanically, like she’s forgotten how to taste.
“We can’t stay long,” she says between spoonfuls. “They’ll be looking for us.”
“We can stay long enough for you to heal.”
“I don’t need—”
“A few days. A week. However long it takes for you to walk without falling over.” I take the empty bowl from her hands. “Then we figure out next steps.”
“I don’t know if you remember this, but I managed to hold my own just fine against all those guards.”
“I know. And it took a goddamn toll on you.”
She looks like she wants to keep arguing, but exhaustion wins. Her good eye is already drooping, her body listing sideways toward the pillows.
“Now get some sleep,” I tell her. “Still have a few hours before the sun comes up. I’ll keep watch. I think we’re safe here for now but I’m not about to let my guard down.”
“Where are you going?” she says, eyes wide.
“Just the other room. There’s a bed there but I won’t be sleeping anyway, I—”
“No.” Her hand finds my wrist, fingers cold even after the hot shower. “Stay. Please.”
I don’t hesitate.
“Okay.” I ease onto the bed beside her, on top of the covers. “I’m here.”
She’s asleep in seconds, snoring soundly. The noise is comforting, making me forget for just a moment what a fucking mess we’re in.
I lie awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering where the fuck we go from here, when my watch buzzes against my wrist.
My whole body goes rigid. I glance at the screen, half-expecting Julia’s name, but it’s an unknown caller.
I slip out of bed carefully, not wanting to wake Mia, and move to the hallway before I answer.
“Hello?” I whisper.
“Jesus Christ, Nate.” Danny! Thank fuck.
His voice is low, tense as he continues, “Where the hell are you? What happened?”
Where do I fucking start?
“How much do you know?”
“Enough. I got an alert that there was a breach at a Global facility in Jersey, they were trying to hail you but there was no response. Couldn’t get through. Like your line was jammed.”
Jammed. Julia must have done that as soon as I entered the facility, a way for no one else, no emergency, to pull me away from what she had wanted me to do. Kill Mia.
“I couldn’t reach you either, I went to your penthouse, you were gone,” he continues.
“I thought maybe something happened, you know, with the guy you…the body I disposed of. Thought maybe you got in trouble. Then I called up a guy I know in security to get more info, you know, and he said that the alert was because Conrad Marsh is dead.”
I swallow hard. “Do they know how he died?”
He pauses. “Not really but like, he’s in pieces, man. Like a fucking beast monster tore him to shreds.” Another pause. “Look, I just need to know that you’re okay.”
“I’m okay. What about Julia? Did they find her…is she dead?”
“They didn’t say anything about Van Veen,” he says and that makes my breath hitch.
Maybe telling employees that both the CEO and CTO were killed is too much for the company.
It would definitely be too much for the stock market.
It would immediately plunge, Global Dynamix would be thrown into chaos, triggering that same chaos across the world.
“Nate,” Danny says. “I gotta ask…what kind of trouble are you in?”
“Is this a secure line?”
“I’m using a burner, if that’s what you’re asking. I knew what kind of call I was making.”
“Good,” I tell him. Then I take in a deep breath and tell him everything, from the moment I got that call from Julia.
“Jesus,” Danny breathes after a moment. “Nate, I…”
I wince. “You regret making this call now, don’t you?”
“Hell yeah I do!” he cries out. “I could have remained in my ignorant bliss, at least for another few hours. Fuck, boss. How are we going to get you out of this?”
I let out a sad-sounding chuckle. “That’s kind of you to think you can help. But I’m afraid I’ll have to figure this out on my own. I can’t involve you, and you certainly don’t need to call me boss anymore.”
“No way, you’re the strongest man in the world, and now that I know what you did to Conrad Marsh, you better believe you’re still my boss, and I’m going to be on my best behavior. Tell me what I can do, I’ll do anything to help you and your little spy girlfriend.”
“Well for one, try not to mention to anyone she works for British intelligence.”
“Right, right, right. I won’t. But listen, there’s already one thing you need to do.
Your watch that I’m speaking from? You’re going to have to destroy it.
You know they can track you that way. I know with Conrad and Van Veen dead, there’s no one to call the shots and pull on your leash.
But make no mistake, by tomorrow someone else is going to be in charge, they’re going to know the truth, and they’re going to try and find you. ”
I look down at the device on my wrist. So many years of my life, linked to this little piece of technology. Mission briefings. Check-ins. Julia’s voice, calm and controlled, telling me where to go and what to do.
“I destroy this, I’ve got no way to contact anyone.”
“You’ve got a way to contact me.” Danny rattles off a number.
“Memorize it. Burn it into your brain. When you’re somewhere safe—really safe—you get a new phone and you call that number.
Then I’ll do what I can from this end. For now, I’ll pretend I haven’t heard from you and you guys get far away, to another country if you can.
As of today, no one is asking where Vanguard is and they’re making Marsh’s death look like an accident.
Any real knowledge of what happened is staying a secret.
But that’s for now. Any minute the real truth could go public. ”
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll do that.”
“Stay safe, Nate. Don’t forget who you really are.”
The call ends.
I stand in the hallway for a long moment, staring at the watch. Then I walk outside into the night, onto on to the deck as it totters under my weight, and I crush it in my fist. The metal groans, crumples, the screen shattering. I keep squeezing until there’s nothing left but fragments.
I toss them into the dark lake.
When I go back inside, Mia is still asleep. I ease onto the bed beside her and I stare at the ceiling, and I don’t sleep for a long time.