Reckoning (Blindspot #3)

Prologue

A Grave Mistake - ICE NINE KILLS

Julian settled back into his seat, fresh beer in hand and a smirk on his face that made Cliff’s skin itch.

“Who was that?” he asked, watching the sad young woman who sat at the bar, sipping the sangria his husband had just paid for.

Julian’s smirk quirked up higher, a dimple deepening in his cheek. “Someone your boss will be very unhappy to learn I’ve made contact with.”

Cliff turned to glare at Julian, the pit in his stomach growing deeper. “That girl has nothing to do with your issues with Patterson,” Cliff hissed. “Leave her alone.”

“I was too late to get my hands on the other one.” Julian shrugged, as if targeting young women in one’s revenge plots was a perfectly normal thing to do.

Cliff turned back to the girl at the bar. She looked so young. He tried to think back to how long this feud had gone on for. He wasn't sure any of them even really remembered how it had even started. He wondered if the girl had even been born yet when it began.

“Is she even old enough to be in this bar?”

“Nineteen today, according to the bartender,” Julian replied. Cliff’s stomach rolled again, turning acidic as Julian breathed, “Vulnerable. The perfect mark.”

“You’re despicable.” Cliff shook his head, watching the girl finish her drink while scrolling her phone. She ordered a third and pouted at the screen as she sipped it.

“I told you I was too late for the other one,” Julian repeated. “But this one, she’s perfect. Studying criminology at school, athletic. She’ll fit in perfectly at the agency. No one will think a thing of it.”

“She’s innocent,” Cliff urged, willing his husband to make the right choice and leave the girl alone. Julian shrugged again, changing the subject to the beach house he was in the process of buying for them in Queensland.

Cliff watched the girl the rest of the evening, barely hearing Julian yammer on about the pool with a view of the white sand beach and all the rooms and exposed beams.

The girl took the last swig of her fourth sangria and stood to leave, her legs wobbling like a baby deer’s.

She smiled sweetly at the bartender before wandering out into the street, stumbling slightly on the raised doorstop on her way out.

Cliff grabbed his jacket and followed her, pointedly ignoring Julian’s protests as he went.

He followed the girl ten blocks, watching her zigzag along the sidewalk, and willed her to stumble into one of the nicer apartment buildings along the way. She paused momentarily to pull her phone from her pocket and scowled at the screen.

“Ah, so my beautiful sister found time for more than a text on my birthday,” the girl said into the phone, her tone laced with bitterness.

Cliff ducked under the awning of a restaurant patio, straining to hear.

“I know… I’m sorry,” the girl said, her voice softening.

She continued down the street, turning toward a cheaper part of town at the next intersection.

“It’s just… It’s my birthday, and I barely get a text from you and Mom.

Stupid, shitty Aaron completely forgot about it.

I’m just… all alone.” The girl’s voice cracked slightly, splintering something deep in Cliff’s leathered old heart.

Cliff followed the girl another twelve blocks, listening to her complain about the boy who was apparently good enough in bed to keep around despite how poorly he seemed to treat her.

Finally, she came upon a rundown duplex in one of the worst parts of town.

He leaned against a street lamp, watching the girl struggle with her key before finally making it into the apartment.

“Your soft heart is going to get you killed,” Julian said from behind Cliff.

He didn’t turn to face his husband when he said, “My soft heart is the reason I didn’t kill you almost thirty years ago.” He shook his head, the swirling pit in his stomach shifting to anger. He finally turned and demanded, “What did she ever do to deserve being sucked into your bullshit?”

Julian didn’t answer, though a curious look creased his brow.

“You’re not allowed to kill her,” Cliff stated, hoping the finality in his tone would be enough to convince Julian to leave her alone.

“That’s not your decision to make,” Julian replied nonchalantly. “Besides, I’m going to be the one who kills her. Patterson’s protégé will be.”

Cliff turned back to the rundown duplex. A light now shone in the upper level, and he saw a shadow pacing around the room behind the curtain.

“Clarke will have a field day with her.” He shook his head; that sick feeling returned at the thought of what Theo Clarke might do with that poor girl if he ever got his hands on her.

Or worse, if it was Clarke’s second in command, Dimitri Fraser.

The one Patterson had longed to have as his protégé.

The best and most brutal mercenary the Canadian military had ever seen, second only to Cliff himself.

“From just the short interaction I’ve had with her so far, I’d say she’s got quite the mouth on her, so you’re probably right,” Julian agreed.

Cliff turned to his husband again, pleading, “Please reconsider whatever plan you’re working on for her. Do not hurt her. Train her. Don’t let Patterson’s protégé kill her; make her yours. Turn her into Neil Patterson and Theo Clarke’s biggest rival.”

Julian considered him for a long moment before glancing up at the illuminated window. “The first thing I’m teaching her is how to tell when someone is following her.”

Cliff’s gaze followed Julian’s, watching as the light finally went out.

“I don’t think anyone has ever looked out for that girl.

” He turned back to his husband. “Please do right by her. She has nothing to do with your beef with Patterson. Just… please. If no one else has ever taken care of that girl, tonight I am.”

Julian sighed, not hiding his hesitance or displeasure with the idea. “For the sake of your soft heart,” he finally conceded.

Cliff rolled his eyes, closing the distance between them. “It’s probably for the best that we’ve been arguing out in public.” A cheeky grin played at Julian’s lips. “I’ll see you at home.”

He turned, his long dreads whipping Julian in the face as he went. Julian squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ignore the sleight, though it ground at him. He took a deep breath through his nose, finding Cliff already a block away when he opened them again.

“Be naked when I get there,” he called after him.

Cliff raised his middle finger over his shoulder, bringing the grin back to Julian’s face. He glanced back up at the now-dark window, unaware of what consequences lay ahead.