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“Show me what?”
“Dante recognized him.”
“Archer?”
Dante steps closer to me with his phone in hand. “About a year back, Mercer and I were in Paris for a routine hit. It was done quickly, and we still had a few hours to kill before getting to the airport, so we stopped into a safe house there for a few beers and some shut-eye.”
“Okay… and?”
“And Myra was already there… but she wasn’t alone.”
He holds out his phone and I take it from him. It’s a photo of a man standing outside of an open car door on a Parisian street corner.
Archer.
I furrow my brow. “Why did you take this?”
“Mercer asked me to at the time,” he says. “Said he didn’t recognize him and wanted to check him out. I assumed he found nothing because I never heard another word about it.”
“What was he doing at a Snake Eyes safe house with Myra?” I ask.
Dante flexes his jaw. “All I know is that he left when we arrived, and Myra was in nothing but a bathrobe and heels.”
“Oh, please. He wouldn’t—”
I shut my mouth. I don’t know nearly enough about Archer to make that kind of assumption.
“Lilah…” Elijah sidles closer. “Did he say anything to you that put up a red flag? Anything to indicate that he knows more than he should?”
I think of his story about him being buried alive. I never heard the end of it. Now, I wish I’d asked more questions instead of moaning and grunting in his ears all night.
“He’s not Snake Eyes…” I say, shaking my head. “He doesn’t have the tattoo.”
“And he’s not in the master file either,” Elijah says. “Lilah, he’s something else.”
I look at the photo again and a sharp pang stabs deep in my chest.
Dante snatches the phone from me. “We should get going. Lucy’s waiting.”
He walks off toward his car, leaving the two of us alone.
“Hey…” Elijah lays a hand on my shoulder. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, gritting my teeth. “I’m just fine.”
Chapter 17
Lilah
We drive back to Geneva Lake in silence. I periodically catch Dante’s awkward stare in the rearview mirror, but he looks away each time with that angry, big brother scowl. It’s almost enough to make me snap at him but I’m far too exhausted to pick that battle right now.
Lucy meets us on the porch in a tight top and yoga pants with a fresh layer of sweat coating her brow. Her eyes soften as the three of us climb out of the car and she grins wide as she sees me.
“Hey!” she says. “Welcome… back…”
Her head follows Dante as he brushes past her and pushes through the front door without pausing.
She looks at me and Elijah. “Do I want to know?”
