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“Fiends. He wants a payday for himself. Junior isn’t running a tight operation.”
“I can’t believe my CIA guy didn’t pick up on this,” I say.
Peggy laughs. “My guy’s quicker.”
I nod, focusing. If Peggy’s right – and she rarely isn’t – this is going to be an easy job. But I can’t fight that feeling deep in my gut.
Maybe it’s the fact that Jennifer’s lingering, always there, at the edge of my thoughts. It would be so easy to drift back to before I left, all that talk about family.
I know now. I was going to tell her. All of it.
“Are you good?” Peggy asks.
My gaze snaps to her. She never asks me that.
“Why?”
She arches her eyebrow. “You’re going to get back to her, Jamie.”
I turn away, but I can’t hide the smirk. Even now.
That’s the magic of my Jennifer.
“How did you know?”
“I knew it the second you came down the stairs at Matt’s. It was the same with her. I’ve never seen you like this before, Jamie.”
“It’s new,” I agree, nodding. “Damn new. And…but none of that matters, not now.”
“I know,” she sighs. “But I’m happy for you, both of you. But especially you. It’d be nice, Jamie, to see you happy.”
I laugh dryly. “Matt did always say I was a grumpy bastard.”
Peggy smiles, and then we focus again.
I gesture with my hand as we drive. “See that little hill there?”
It’s a break in the tree line but overlooks a large portion of the forest.
“That’ll give you a clear line of sight for the road.”
“Give me a line of sight? You’re the better shooter.”
“No shit,” I say. “But I’m not putting you down there. I don’t trust this. If somebody has to take a bullet to the Kevlar, it’s going to be me.”
“Jamie….”
“If I ever tell this story to my kids,” I snap, “I want to make sure I can say I did the right thing. And be telling the truth.”
“Kids,” she whispers. “I never knew you wanted them.”
I look at Peggy, my old friend, and colleague. “Neither did I until recently.”
She nods. “I’ll take the hill.”
“I hope you’ve been practicing.”
Peggy was a cop in her youth, then moved on to intel work and finally got involved with the life, trying to operate in a safer way, or at least a less deadly way.
“I know you can shoot,” I say. “But Peggy, I have to say.”
I bring the car to a stop, looking over at her.
“If you weren’t…well, you, I’d be pretty goddamn suspicious about this. How do you know this contact hasn’t already told Junior?”
“He’s a junkie,” Peggy says. “He’s capable, in his way, but his mind is easily manipulated. I sent him photoshopped images of a figure standing in his home, over his ex-girlfriend and his daughter as they slept. He didn’t know that we took the photos from Facebook. The mom uploaded them.”
“So you scared the shit out of him?”
Peggy nods, looking at me with an odd expression on her face.
It’s difficult to place, and I find myself thinking of all the times she’s led me through missions, all the times I’ve trusted her. But still, I can’t help but wish Matt was here.
I knew for a fact I could count on him, always, no matter what.
Even if his addictions led him into issues, he never dragged me down with him. I went willingly, to hopefully save him.
And I failed.
“Let’s get this done,” I tell Peggy, pushing my concerns away.
“Yeah. I’ll get my rifle.”
I crouch down behind the rock, looking over at the road. That’s the point where the car’s supposed to pull up, at the end of the road, where it turns and disappears into more woodland.
Looking through my scope, I look up at the hill where Peggy should now be set up.
She’s not there.
Nobody’s there.
Touching the Bluetooth headset to my ear, I click speed dial 1.
“I’m sorry, Jamie,” Peggy says, wind whipping as though she’s driving with the window down. “I didn’t want to do this.”
“Do what?”
“I needed an exit strategy. I’m sorry. If I were you, I’d leave.”
My whole body is pounding in time with my heart. My entire body feels like it’s rebelling against me, a voice howling inside that I’m an idiot for ever trusting her. Even if she was loyal, even calling me boss sometimes, for years. Years.
“Was it just money?” I ask.
“It’s not personal, Jamie. You’ll never see Patrick or me again.”
“What about Jennifer?” I snarl, almost shouting now. “What are your plans for her?”
“I don’t have any,” Peggy says. “She’s welcome to stay at the house as long as she can. But just because I don’t have plans doesn’t mean Junior doesn’t.”
“I trusted you,” I snap. “For years, Peggy. Matt did too.”
“I know,” She clears her throat, sounding almost human for a second. “But I couldn’t pass this chance up. Junior is so unhinged. He paid me two million to set up this meet, Jamie. He’s completely lost his damn mind. I couldn’t ignore this.”
