Chapter 13 JACQUES
He’d seen me, the real me, the face behind the face.
It wasn’t pretty, covered in blood, and a heart beat that barely rose as I fired a gun and stuck a knife into someone’s neck, pulling it out for full effect, and the full spray.
I’d wanted to redecorate anyway. It was in those moments I didn’t think about Ezra or how he might feel seeing me do those things.
But I didn’t want him to see them after the fact, and I was glad to see the back of that place.
In the boat back to town, I checked the comms to see if Runa was around to explain to me what the fuck had happened.
Adrian had warned me people were sniffing around, but I didn’t know we’d be ambushed.
It could’ve been avoided if I’d checked comms earlier, maybe, but I didn’t know without Runa, and she wasn’t on the other end.
But I kept it in my ear just in case she was around.
These tiny things were charged through those electronic pads they had for all the gadgets, so it wasn’t dead.
“Once we’re back, we don’t stop for anything,” I told Ezra.
He was sitting on the firm cabin seating, staring right ahead, squeezing Mr. Thimble.
He seemed to be going in and out of shock, almost like one moment he processed it, and another time it was a fresh wound and he needed space to heal.
“We head straight for the car. Adrian has replaced the plates for us, so we can head right on out.”
Ezra nodded. “I know,” he whispered. “I’m excited to be somewhere else.” He looked up at me. There was a redness in his eyes, like sadness, and I really wanted to just squeeze it out of him.
Growing up, that type of stuff—emotions—they were beaten out of me, to the point I didn’t know if I would die the moment I expressed anything but anger. And I didn’t explode, or die, or fail, the only thing that happened when I expressed myself was happiness. It was Ezra. He’d brought it out of me.
By the time we were approaching the harbor, he’d found his voice and was asking more questions again. It was only natural for him to want to know how this entire thing was working, especially since it effected his life the most. I’d already explained we were in hiding, trying not to cause trouble.
“We’re getting in the same car,” I told him. “Different plates. They won’t know where we are.”
“But won’t they know to check the places you own?” he asked.
“They will,” I said. “But these are owned by shell companies, so only if you were able to trace back a long way would you find me. It’s how a lot of the world works. Hiding behind shell companies to hold assets.”
Ezra looked a little disappointed. “I took a business class in college, it was full of rich fucks—”
“Kitten,” I said, brow furrowed to remind him about his language.
“They were horrible. I almost quit, several times. They were teaching very basic stuff in that class, and most of the students were heirs of some sort. Just waiting around for a parent to die or inherit their family business. Most of them just paid for their degrees. Doubt they ever took exams.”
“That is how a lot of the world works,” I said. “People don’t care about people. People care about money.” I bit the inside the inside of my cheek and tsked. It was like my body was warning me I was being a bit too self aware, since money made my world go round, and I still needed it.
He stared at me with a certain type of intensity and slowly nodded. “So, what do you care about?”
“You.” It was simple. It was straightforward. I cared about Ezra. Making sure he lived, making sure we survived, and making sure I could get to know him more than what I’d seen online—and partially stalked about him.
“You’re gonna go broke then.” He giggled as if he’d been reading my thoughts.
Going under the radar cost money—paying people off, paying to go under the radar, and if all else failed, paying for new identities. I knew a handful of forgers out of Sanctum’s reach, so they wouldn’t be able to get their hands on it.
A crackle came through my earpiece. Runa was live. “She’s back,” I whispered to Ezra as we made our way into the port. Adrian was already waiting to receive the boat.
“Jacques,” she said, her voice quiet. “You know I can’t be doing this. I didn’t know about the attack. Apparently they’ve hired a second company. Sanctum is protecting Victor, but they’ve got some other people on the attack. They’re searching for you.”
“Thanks, Runa,” I replied. “I’ve left a nice mess at my really nice house. But we’ve left. I’m not saying where to. We’re going out of the country. But we’ll be back when we’re needed for Ezra to testify.” All the while, Ezra was looking at me, probably wondering what I was talking about.
“Oka., If there’s anything I can help you with, please let me know,” she said. “And if I hear anything urgent, I’ll send it to your phone.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket at that moment. It was Runa from an unknown encrypted number. “Comms are compromised. The other agency is in Sanctum. I think they tracked the comms.”
Without a second thought, I plucked the comms from my ear and tossed it from the open window of the cabin out into the river water. Ezra still looked at me with confusion, but that would have to wait until we were in the car, somewhere I knew we were safe to talk—and alone.
Adrian greeted us, climbing aboard. He was all smiles until we were in the cabin.
“It’s not safe,” he said. “Groups of men in black SUVs, no plates. They’ve been up and down the slip of the road just outside here.
I’ll fix the boat. Your car is all ready.
New plates. And I did a sweep, as you asked. No bugs.” He handed me the keys.
“That’s great,” I said. “If they ask you anything, we went out of the country. Mention Canada, but also Europe.” In truth, there were a lot of places we could be, and we needed them looking everywhere but where we were.
“Got it.”
Before we left the boat, I found our disguises from the storage compartment beneath the pull-out sofa bed. A choice of baseball caps, shades, and windbreakers.
“Have they always been there?” Ezra grumbled, switching between all the different caps.
“Had them in the house too,” I said. “Everyone needs a disguise sometimes.”
“No fake nose and mustache?” Adrian chuckled.
Ezra grabbed at my nose and beard. “All real there,” he giggled.
I pulled him into my arms and kissed his head. “I’m all real everywhere, remember that.”
“Good luck out there.”
“We don’t need luck,” I told him.
It was a cheesy moment, but I stopped myself from saying that all we needed was each other.
* * *
It was over two hundred miles of driving to reach Sugar Bay.
We stopped a couple of times on the way, refueling and grabbing supplies.
I paid in cash for everything, teaching Ezra how to stay under the radar and how to pinch the rim of his hat so it would keep his face obscured.
It was nice out, summer had ended and the fall chill was in the air.
When we eventually reached Sugar Bay in Vermont, the trees were beginning to change color—only slightly.
It was a small, modest-sized town that had Ezra’s face glued to the window, looking around at the row of shops we passed, and the large arena which boasted an ice rink. His puppy dog eyes looked at me, as if he’d already asked the question.
“Once we’re settled,” I said, and hoped this time we could settle for longer than a week.
“You think they’ll find us here?” he asked, leaving a streak of fingers down the window. “If it’s as safe as you said, maybe we’ll be fine.”
That had been the hope. “Only time will tell,” I mustered.
I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. I was such a planner.
Everything in my life had a plan to it, even when I was in Sanctum—it was cage match, make money, then relax for a couple of days being bandaged up and using all the new tech, and being forced to drink the sometimes awful health smoothies.
“We’ll probably have neighbors coming over.
I remember buying this place. The people were very friendly. ”
Ezra continued to look out of the window, but his hand searched for me, swatting it around and almost knocking the gearstick before finding me. “It’s a really nice place.”
The house was a small cabin-cottage off a small road, currently covered in leaves and pine needles.
We had a view over the river that ran alongside the town and into the bay.
As we parked outside, I could see already see a couple—a man and woman in matching green and orange fluorescent beanies and sweaters.
“What do we do?” Ezra asked.
“For starters, we’re married,” I told him. “Your name is—”
“Uh—fake name?”
I nodded, smiling at his innocence. “I’ll be James.”
“I can be Zack, it’s my middle name,” he said with a shrug.
“Perfect.” I leaned and gave him a kiss before we were forced to get out and greet the couple.
They were happy, like super happy, the type where you could see the whites of their eyes from how wide they were opening them. We stood to greet them as they speedwalked up the path to us. I wrapped an arm around Ezra’s shoulders.
“Hi there, I’m Marcie,” she said. “And this is my husband, Rory. He’s got a little Scottish in him.”
“It’s not usual for people to talk about the little Scottish people in them when they first meet,” I said, unable to hold my tongue.
Rory went red in the face and laughed, holding out his hand for me.
“I’m—I’m James and this is my husband, Zack.
He’s not currently occupied by any members—or plugs.
” The last part was supposed to be a whisper, but when you were surrounded by all this nature, sound could travel.
“So, what bring you fine folks to Sugar Bay?” Rory asked—or the small Scottish member inside him said.
“We own this place,” I told them. “Investment property, thinking of making the move.”
They glanced at each other, then back to us. “Oh really?” she said. “Well, this place has been vacant for a while. I mean, we did wonder when that godawful for sale sign went down. But we just assumed the owners took it off the market.”
“You knew the previous owners?” I asked.
Once more, they looked at each other. I looked to Ezra, and he was grinning so wide I almost laughed.
“Not really,” Marcie said. “We usually walk the trail through the woods, so we see some of the signs around the base. We live just over there. It’s nice and close, if you ever need a cup of sugar. You know, a little Southern hospitality.”
I had sensed a twang. “Oh, you’re not from here.”
“No, no,” she said. “I’m from Georgia. Couldn’t you tell?”
Ezra cleared his throat. “I could hear a twang, but I didn’t know for sure,” he said.
“Oh, you’re American,” she said with laugh. “I thought you were . . . Chinese.”
“Korean,” he said. “Half Korean and half American, white. So you were close.”
Marcie let out this awful squeal. “Gosh, I’ve put my damn foot in it. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have even tried to guess. Well, it’s nice to meet you.”
I continued to give Ezra the necessary reassuring arm and shoulder squeezes, and we stood there as they left. Once they were gone, he looked at me and laughed.
“You okay?” I asked.
He wrapped his arms around me and held me for a moment. “It’s fine,” he said. “I just didn’t want her to test me on my Korean, it’s rough.”
“I guess she won’t be coming back around asking questions, though,” I said.
“I think she was just being nice,” he grumbled.
“Hey,” I whispered. “Don’t diminish yourself or your feelings. People need boundaries.”
His eyes as they turned to a squint looked wickedly at me. “Even you?”
“Sometimes me,” I said, but that didn’t count for the stalking I did.
That was the most necessary think I’d done for us, and without it .
. . I didn’t want to think what would’ve happened without it.
For one, I wouldn’t have coped in that hospital bed for all that time being rubbed down with lotions for my skin, or their poison pills. “How about we go inside?”
“It looks nice from the outside,” Ezra said. “Oh, wait. Before we go in. Need to get Mr. Thimble. We’re not coming all this way for him to be stolen out of the passenger seat.”
“Good call.”
This place, like every place I owned, was outfitted with a central nervous system of technology that made sure I was warned if anyone got to close, or even broke in.
It gave people in a five meter radius around the property sixty seconds before alerting me.
Mostly because of the wildlife setting it off when it was first installed.
The metal on the door handle slipped across to reveal a fingerprint scanner. With my thumb pressed against it the door unlocked, and two mechanical crunches sounded.
Ezra stepped back. “Jeez,” he grumbled. “You did all this?”
“I hired a team,” I said. And thankfully, not Sanctum. I’d bought this after questioning all the information Sanctum had on me. I didn’t mind them knowing most of what I did, but there were parts that had to be hidden—especially when all I wanted sometimes was to be left alone.
Inside, the house was a regular home. We walked into a hallway that led to a large open room with a lounge, kitchen, and dining area all in one, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows looking out at the river.
It was one-way glass; the other side was reflective.
There were two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a secret tech room, much like the one on the island.
“It’s so nice,” Ezra said in whispers as we walked around. “It’s gorgeous.”
“And that’s a real log fire,” I said. “We’ve got a hutch around the side for wood. Or you can help me collect it, and watch me chop it.”
He bit his lip gently. “Are you going to become a lumberjack for me?”
I flexed my arms for him as he went to wrap a single hand around one—and failed miserably. “Gotta put these muscles to use somehow.”
He giggled. “I know another way you can. Those bedrooms looked comfy.”