Chapter 32
Tomás
A woman in faded blue jeans and a navy shirt is sitting on an old timber bench on the porch, seemingly admiring the paddock before her, or the trees and the sky. I don’t really know but she is far calmer than she should be.
Rafael is fully armed and looking fidgety. So am I—armed anyway. Mildly fidgety. And Aaron?
The man seems to be breathing slower out here, looks more assured. He approaches her at my side.
The woman wears a broad brimmed hat, so it’s only when she looks over and up at us that I see she’s wearing a skin-colored full-face mask. Bright red hair is tucked up in a bun, and I doubt that’s her true hair color. No facial recognition is possible. Not that I have a body cam.
Aaron speaks before I can. “You’re from an agency connected to the frat?”
She doesn’t rise, just acknowledges us then resumes staring at the field of grass.
“Gentlemen, I am. This has to be short because we want you out of here ASAP.”
We, meaning there are more of them. Possibly beyond that tree line. I’m not surprised considering how she is sitting there. “Rafael?”
“Haven’t spotted them though there was some movement out there.”
“We’re good, too,” she says, dryly, from under that hat.
That was a reference to my comment in the kitchen. “So you were listening?”
“Yes. Aaron, you’re the most likely to have heard whispers about us.” She glances at him. With that feminine voice, her artificial face is a shock. “We look for errant members. We took care of a group that was into snuff films, murder, and rape. You may have heard of that.”
“Like Karsten, Shawn, and Zasha,” he murmurs.
“Yes, I have. The rumor is you have a crass acronym. ASS? Everyone I’ve heard speak of it thinks you’re just a scary story to keep us in line, all of us millionaires and billionaires.
” He tilts his head. “Hard to see how that’s possible, but since you exist, where the fuck were you for two years when they were fucking, killing, brutalizing women? ”
“We’re a very small agency. Agents with Solutions Service.
Our motto is be bloodthirsty.” She gifts us a bleak smile that’s only visible because the mask is cut away at the mouth.
“We only recently became aware of them, mostly because of the stir you created.
We also tracked the vehicle Karsten was in but arrived here after your fight with them.
Until we listened in on the conversation in the kitchen, we had no idea of the seriousness of his, and their, actions. Apologies for that.
“But now”—she rises and casts a stern look at all three of us—“you need to vacate the premises and leave us to clean up. You’re not to touch a single thing that belongs here. Not the film archive. Not the bodies. Not Karsten.”
“Ahhh—” Aaron begins, obviously wrong-footed.
“Not possible.” I’m interfering for reasons, like who the hell does this woman think she is. “I need to get the films involving Juniper and—”
“A sniper has his sights on you, Tomás. Oh, he won’t shoot but he could. Get the fuck out of here. I have the authority of the board, Aaron, and of Emma Bartholomew. We can handle this, but if you get stubborn, we can just erase you too.” She says the latter blithely and with some humor.
An odd combination.
Aaron half turns to me and pulls me away to the other end of the porch, then says quietly, “I don’t think they would, but you know. We should? Emma Bartholomew is known for being ruthless, and I’d rather stay a freaking member.”
“This Emma is someone you recognize, but that alone doesn’t mean we should trust this stranger.”
“I think they’re genuine. Is it partly a gut feeling?
Yes. Is it that her name is not splashed around where just anyone would understand who she is and what she helps govern?
Yes, it’s that. I say we trust them. You know we’ll be struggling to disappear the bodies and not get on the radar of the police. ”
“I do know that.” And I know there is no evidence any of what she said is real or true. “Gut instinct?”
“Yes.”
I’ve relied on it myself, but this concerns the lives of four people. I chew it over some more, frown at him. “Okay.”
He turns and we go back to her and he clears his throat. “Only two stipulations from us.”
I’m ready to interrupt. Two? What’s he going to say?
“They are?”
“You promise to erase Karsten, and we will leave you to it, and with some gratitude for this.”
That, I agree with.
She looks down at the floorboards then lifts her head and smiles. “I can promise he will be erased. The second?”
“If we need help for Georgia, the woman in there who they took and did things to, can you provide it later?”
“Yes, though it might not be strictly us. It’s not in our scope, but I will guarantee help for her. If you need it.”
“That’s good enough.”
“Then we have this settled. You must go. The car around the corner is yours. Drive to where your friend here, Rafael, is parked. Leave it there. Good luck.”
He puts out his hand for a handshake and she obliges. “Thank you.”
I’m blinking and trying to figure the abrupt change in him, to being the authority on this, as he turns and brushes past me. He reaches out to grab my shirt. “Tomás. Come. I’ll explain to everyone.”
As we pass him, Rafael casually says, “The young lady in there, is she going to be all right?”
“Georgia? I think so,” I reply. “She’s bouncing back faster than I expected.”
“Okay.” He looks off toward the trees. “She wasn’t on the list, so I figured she might be hurt more than your woman.”
“Probably is. Sadly. Why?”
“If you need help getting her somewhere safer, I’m here.”
“Gracias, compadre. I will do this.” Someone has noticed her. Is this good? I mull it over. Rafael is sensible. It’s good. It adds a nice glow to my scarred-over heart.
Aaron stops halfway along the hallway, seems to have something else to say, so I give him time.
“I thought that was you, back there, shot after throwing in that flashbang.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“This feels unreal, everything.” He puts his palm to the wall. “We’ve all survived.”
“It’s shock. I’ve been through this. You won’t forget today, the last few days, but it’ll fade.
And we’re here for each other.” I never had that before.
The bodies, the blood, the loved ones sprawled in the dirt.
I will never forget, because forgetting is disrespect.
I place my hand on his arm and squeeze, nod toward the kitchen.
“We’re real and so are they. Come on. We owe them an explanation. ”
Once we’re in the kitchen, I check the window and find nothing planted on the glass. It’s somewhere in here.
“They’ll be listening to us, Aaron.”
“We won’t be saying anything they don’t like. Sit. We have a lot to tell you both,” he addresses Juniper and Georgia as he drags out his chair.
Juniper stretches back in her chair, while Georgia props her folded arms on the table and waits for more words. I’m still expecting her to dissolve into a blubbering wreck, but I guess I’m underestimating her. Who was she before they grabbed her?
“We have a solution to the clean-up, and to the issue of Karsten. That woman out there is a part of a secretive CNC Frat agency that I had vaguely heard of.” Aaron looks at the ceiling then at me, as if I can explain it all.
I shake my head. It’s his story.
“I’d heard rumors of a small agency within the CNC Frat that is supposed to take care of errant members in a permanent way.”
“Errant members?” Junipers spits out the words. “That’s a small word for an awful problem.”
“I don’t know what your CNC Fraternity is,” Georgia half-whispers, “but you don’t have to say. I just want to hide in a cave somewhere, for months.”
“No family?” Though, if there isn’t, the question might bother her. I have a big mouth.
She only shrugs and picks up her drink. “Keep going, Aaron.”
First time I’ve heard her say his name.
“I had heard they vanished the last errant members. They were into making snuff films. No longer.”
“Wow,” Juniper says.
“Yes, wow.” He sits back. “Can we get a glass of wine?”
“No alcohol for anyone,” I announce. “We have to get out of here soon, as in really soon. They don’t want us to take anything we don’t own. We’re not to touch the film archive.”
“Some of those involve me and Georgia,” Juniper says.
“Aaron trusts them to delete it all.” God, I hope he’s right.
“Shouldn’t we have asked for this agency before we started chasing down Zasha and Shawn? Before you both kidnapped me.” One eyebrow edges up. A bratty comment, if I ever heard one.
At that, Georgia’s mouth drops open and she stares at Juniper, then sees me looking and hurriedly slurps on her drink.
Aaron anchors his elbows on the table, clasps his hands, and leans into them. “I wish. I didn’t know they were real. I guess we should’ve asked around?”
“Mierda.” Slowly, I shake my head. I would be tempted to laugh if it were not so utterly tragic.
Still if we didn’t kidnap Juniper and chase down Zasha and Shawn, would Georgia have been rescued in time? She might have been killed long before this elusive agency found her. If they ever did.
We will never know. “That’s in the past. Wishing won’t make it true. Let’s pack up anything we brought and get out of here.”