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There were other options? My pace slowed a hair. If I did end up stuck…
“What kind of package are you talking about?”
“Well, let’s start with the family plan. If you come with me, your family could be lotto winners after signing with me. Parents, cousins, extended family, and friends will all be taken care of.” He smiled and shrugged. “I can also offer them long lives. I don’t like to brag, but I do have connections in other departments.”
Other departments? He was going to extend their lives? Weren’t we meddling enough? How far did these people take it, and how many of these tinkers were there?
“That’s just the family bonus. You’ll be set up handsomely as well.” I stopped, sipping the last of my chai as I listened. He held out a travel cup toward me. “I took the liberty of ordering you another before I came.”
“Oh, well, thank you,” I said, taking the hot refill. He motioned for my empty, took it, and tossed it. It landed in the trash can fifty feet behind him.
“As I was saying, top-of-the line penthouse in Nowhere, or a rural estate if you prefer. Houses wherever else you would like. Retirement package is amazing as well. When and if you do decide to stop working, or you want to retire Topside for a while, you’ll have your choice of options: CEO, artist, filthy rich and doing nothing? It can all be arranged. I don’t know what your current plan is, but I assure you I can match and go above anything Kaden has offered.”
Kaden hadn’t offered anything, not that I’d tell him. One, it was embarrassing now that I was hearing this offer, and two, I didn’t want this guy to know how cheap I’d come. They’d stuck me in a broom closet.
Still, as he stared at me, waiting for some response, my head was going to fall off my shoulders from the weight of it all.
“I need some time to think this over.”
“Of course. You have my card. It has my contact details on the back. Hope to hear from you soon.”
He smiled and nodded to me before leaving.
I dug his card out and flipped it over.Dial Alaric.
I walked into the outpost lounge, and Kaden was there, talking to Dice. Kaden turned to me. Dice looked in my direction, his eyes owlish, and shook his head in the universal message ofyou’re going to get it now.Then he took off into Nowhere.
What had I done this time? Kaden walked over calmly, but the tendons in his neck looked stretched to breaking.
“How was your afternoon stroll? Did you enjoy the sun and your tea?” he asked.
“How did you know where I was? What I was drinking? And you accusemeof being a spy?” Now we were both strung tight enough to break.
“Earth is an easily trackable place when you don’t know how to hide your trail,” he said. “How do you suppose Alaric found you?”
Note to self: learn how to hide my trail, and fast. Too bad there weren’t instruction manuals for this stuff. How many people were watching my every move? Was there nowhere safe to go?
“What did you say when he offered you a position in his organization?” Kaden asked.
Kaden might be intuitive, but mind reader he wasn’t, or he’d know I wasn’t a spy. This place seemed frighteningly like the corporate world, where stealing talent was par for the course.
“I told him I’d think about it, and I am. Not like you mentioned a family plan. You and your people were ready to dump my body into the river and then stuck me in a broom closet. Far from loyalty inspiring.”
“Did you not realize that you can do your own family plan at this point? You’re a tinker. That’s what tinkers do.”
One of my biggest pet peeves in life was when I didn’t notice the obvious, like now. I hadn’t thought of that at all. If I was going to tinker other people’s lives, why not help out my mother? How to go about it, though? First I needed to get her sober. Then what? I’d figure it out, because the last thing I’d do was ask Kaden how to do it.
“You’re going on assignment with me tomorrow night. It’s at a club, so dress appropriately,” he said, turning to leave.
“More tests to see if I’m a spy?” I called out as he walked away.
“See you at ten.”
Chapter Twenty
Awaitress came over to our cordoned-off booth in the corner of the Miami nightclub. She poured us both a glass of champagne, smiling outrageously at Kaden in front of me. What if I was his date? Thinking of date night, hadn’t Dice mentioned something about that?
“It’s Monday. Won’t Antoinette be upset you’re missing date night?” I crossed my leather-clad legs, sipping from my flute.
