Page 92 of Boneyard HEA

“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.”

33

Juniper

In a light, wraparound skirt and white linen top, I wait at the front door with Aaron to say goodbye to Georgia. A chauffeured car is pulled up on the driveway, engine humming, with an escort-slash-guard standing at the opened rear door. The fraternity is making sure she goes where they want her to go. Out of the country and far away.

I’ve never believed in therapy, but here we are, flying Georgia to someone in London.