CHAPTER ELEVEN #2
Lachlan stops. ‘I know you don’t believe me. Harker’s changed your identifying marks, he’s thought of everything, but I know you. I can prove it if you’ll just open your mind for two minutes.’
‘Who says I’m not open-minded?’
‘You’re just humouring me to handle me.’
‘I’m honouring the terms of our agreement.’
‘You know, your boss doesn’t seem to care that much about you,’ Lachlan points out casually. ‘Given that he just left you with me.’
‘He trusts me. I’m his best.’
‘Or he knows who you are and knows I wouldn’t hurt you.’
‘Look, you could have been watching me for weeks before tonight, learning about me. Deep background, people on the inside. Yes, some of what you knew is weird but that doesn’t mean I believe for a second what you’re pushing.’
‘So?’
‘So prove it then. Open my mind for me.’
‘OK.’ Lachlan nods.
‘How?’
‘I’ll ask a question and we both answer at the same time to prove I know the answer and to prevent you from lying and changing it.
‘Fine.’
‘What’s your favourite colour?’
Kade rolls his eyes, but he answers immediately. ‘Rose red.’
And at exactly the same time, Lachlan says, ‘Rose red.’
‘You have someone on the inside.’
‘Have you ever said your favourite colour out-loud?’
‘Next question.’
‘Which shoulder locks when you sleep wrong?’
‘Left.’
‘Left.’
‘Best bite of a sandwich?’
‘Corner.’
‘Corner.’
‘What do you taste when you’re focused?’
‘Salt.’
‘Salt.’
‘Favourite constellation?’
‘Cassiopeia.’
‘Cassiopeia.’
‘Do you speak fluent Russian?’
‘Yes.’
‘Yes.’
‘What was the name of Mimi’s fox?’
‘Mari.’
Kade blinks, takes a swift breath.
Lachlan didn’t answer that time.
He—
‘You bastard.’
Lachlan exhales softly. ‘I knew you were still in there.’
‘You fucking tricked me!’
‘I didn’t trick you. I proved to you that you are him, that you have all these memories inside you. You are Jules. My Jules. Just… locked up in a new way.’
‘So you’ve been learning about me, big deal!’
‘You said the name yourself.’
‘You probably have someone on the inside feeding you all of this!’
‘Then why the attack? Why go to all this trouble just to fuck with you?’
‘Because you’re a psychopath!’
‘Yeah,’ Lachlan chuckles, shaking his head, ‘but I’m your psychopath, Jules.’
‘You tricked me.’
‘I brought out what’s buried.’
‘No, it’s like a… a hypnosis thing or whatever.’
‘Your name is Julian Sael Penhalyx. I called you Jules because you asked me to. Mimi called you Jewel. You were the single biggest pain in my ass imaginable. You drove me up the wall and halfway back down again, but I would’ve died for you then, and I still would. It’s you. I’d know you anywhere.’
It’s delivered so easily and yet carries such weight. He’s so fucking intense it makes Kade want to look away but he can’t, won’t.
‘You’re lying.’
Lachlan rolls his eyes. ‘Whatever you need to tell yourself, kid.’
‘I’m twenty-seven, I’m not a fucking kid!’ Kade looks away, seeking balance. ‘That’s the name of your tattoo? The fox?’
‘Yeah.’
‘You got it after she died?’
‘No. I got it done in the early months.’
‘Why?’
Lachlan considers, finding the words. ‘To make her happy.’
‘Did it work?’
‘It did.’
‘Your other tattoo has changed. The one on your chest.’
‘It’s counting down.’
‘To what?’
‘The end.’
They resume walking, Lachlan close behind Kade as they approach the small clearing he himself has carved out. ‘Will you tell me about your ritual?’
‘It’s hard to explain.’
‘Try.’
‘Suffice to say—’
‘No, it does not suffice, actually. I want to know everything. Every detail. Start from the beginning.’
‘The beginning of what? When I got out of prison? When I started gathering intel about Iron Star?’
‘All of it,’ Kade tells him. ‘Prison. Start from there.’
They head into a sparser area, less trees, more bushes.
They’re not close to the no-go-zone yet.
Lachlan stops to lean against an old oak.
‘All right. Prison.’ Kade waits, arms crossed.
‘Prison was seven difficult years of my life I’d happily forget, but the whole time I was inside, I had one focus.
One singular thought getting me through. ’
‘Revenge.’
Lachlan nods. ‘The day I was released, I had nowhere to go, literally. I don’t have family in this country anymore. No ties. I started watching your Tower two weeks ago.’
‘How long had you been out?’
‘Same day.’
‘Just right back into it.’
‘I had no life outside of crafting revenge for the both of you, so I started gathering what I needed. Money, equipment. I still had a few contacts, but it was about three days ago I realised I couldn’t make it to the top without being killed.
I could get to a certain point, but your security was intimidating.
I knew I’d be dead before I ever got close to Troy Harker, so I thought. ’
‘No one ever told you he was dead?’
‘I was kept in solitary most of the time and whenever they let me out it wasn’t for social pleasantries.
They tried to trick me into lengthening my stay.
Each new death inside picks up at least a dime, so I had to walk the line very carefully.
No one talked to me about the outside world and I wasn’t stupid enough to ask given that Iron Star had put me away in the first place. ’
‘Iron Star didn’t put you away.’
‘How would you know?’
Kade wants to answer but it’ll just sound like he’s defending Riley, when he has no need to do that. ‘OK so three days ago, what happened?’
‘Three days ago I was trying to locate kidnap potentials, anyone Harker cared about. My priority was his son, Riley, but far as I knew, he kept him locked up in the top room, so I didn’t think I’d get close.’
Kade’s curiosity spikes sharply. ‘You knew about Riley before?’
‘I knew he was the psycho son of a kingpin thug, so out of control that he had to be locked up. Harker told me once that he wished his son was like you.’
‘Julian knew him?’
‘Harker came to the Estate a couple of times.’
‘Why?’
‘Overflow. Anyway, I was debating just firebombing the Tower, but I didn’t want to kill anyone who didn’t deserve it. I got desperate enough that I reached out to an old friend.’
‘Who?’
‘Had to swallow my pride,’ Lachlan says, mouth twisting, ‘but she was waiting for me anyway. She gave me a book.’
‘What kind of book?’
‘Something old. It had a lot of pages inside. She told me to find the animal that made me stop. I flipped through. As soon as I saw the kestrel, I stopped.’
‘And?’ Kade prompts when Lachlan says nothing.
‘On the page, there was a ritual.’
‘Like a fucking magic spell?’
‘Pretty much.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘It seemed simple enough once you waded through the poetry. Blood circle, speak aloud the words, that kind of thing. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was willing to try anything.’
‘You actually thought it’d work?’
Lachlan opens his eyes, gaze moving slowly over Kade as though he needs to make up for every second he spent not looking at him. ‘I was open minded.’
‘Why?’
‘Why wouldn’t I be?’
‘So it’s Paranatural shit, then?’
‘It’s magic.’
‘Oh come on.’
‘You wanted to know.’
‘Have you always believed this kind of thing?’
‘No.’
‘What changed your mind?’
Lachlan stares at Kade for a beat and then looks away, leaving the question unanswered. ‘The ritual required a sacrifice.’
‘I asked you a question, Bodyguard.’
‘And you won’t like or believe the answer. When everything was set up, and I signed my name while sitting in the blood circle—’
‘Are you fucking kidding me?’
‘When I was inside the blood circle,’ he repeats like an impatient teacher, ‘the instruction said that I had to sacrifice a single memory. I don’t know which one it was.’
‘This is such bullshit, man.’
‘Were the bullets coming out of my chest bullshit?’ Kade falls sullenly silent.
‘The blood circle lit up and then I was talking to myself. A different version of me. Grotesque, demonic. He asked what I wanted. I said I wanted to kill everyone responsible for what happened to you and Mimi. He said… well, he said a lot and most of it rhymed, but then he touched my chest. The tattoo blossomed underneath my skin like a bruise.’
‘So what then?’