AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He leaned back in his seat and looked out again at the twins, who were now running into the water with their surfboards held over their heads.
He took another sip of his coffee and changed the subject. “We’re on contract. Officially. Both you and me.”
I couldn’t help but smile. I liked it when he referred to us as a team.
“Your cousins over there are assassins. Following in the family business, so to speak.” My eyes bugged out. “They’ve been freelancing, but Uncle Sam wants us to bring them into the fold.” He smiled at me. “This will be our first real training assignment. I need you to do research on them. I want you to crawl so far into their business, you’re like Luke Skywalker in a tauntaun. And they’re the tauntaun.”
“I… do not understand that metaphor whatsoever.” I told him. He grinned.
“We’ll have to add movie nights to your training. You can’t live a full life without watching Star Wars.” He cut his eyes to me and grinned. “Especially when you’ve got the daddy issues you do.”
“Fuck you!” I wrinkled my nose at him. “You’ve met them, which means you’ve already researched them, yes?”
“Very good, young padawan.”
“So I’m doing redundant work?”
“I’m testing your knowledge and skills,” he said, with a shrug.
My eyes drifted to the pair again. They were bobbing on the waves, straddling their boards, and chatting. An enormous wave swelled, and they started paddling their boards. When the water swept them, raising them five or more feet into the air, they pushed from their prone position and got to their feet. They rode the wave, big white smiles like beacons against their dark skin.
What would it be like to have a partner? To be close to someone like these two? Would they ever let their duo turn into a trio? Or would I be an unwelcome intruder?
“Whatever you’re going through,” Brett said, slowly, cautiously. “Go through it quickly. We have work to do.”
“What about LeBlanc?” I whispered, “He got shot.”
“I haven’t found him yet.” He nodded sadly. “But we will.”
He played with his coffee mug, pushing it from one hand to the other. We sat in silence for a while.
“When you get shot,” Brett said, slowly, “You probably won’t feel it and it might not hurt. It burns your nerves. You might only feel the wetness. So, after every incident, make sure that you pat yourself down to look for bleeding.”
He nodded to himself. I absorbed the information, but wasn’t sure why he had said it.
“I need to train you to work in the dark,” he said, nodding again, as if that was a decision he had just made. “You’re going to become one of us.”
“And… what the fuck does that mean?” I said, raising an eyebrow.
“It means…” He sighed a little, then brought the small flower vase centerpiece into the space between us. “Look around you. You see most of these people eating and talking? They’re taking a break from their lives to enjoy some sunshine.”
I looked around at the skaters, the parents pushing strollers, and the leashed dogs who trotted happily on the sand.
“They work in the light. They pay their taxes, have typical hopes and dreams. They want to live the straight and narrow to find their happy endings.”
I smiled. That seemed nice. Get married, have kids, get a little beach house…
“Now, look at your cousins.” My cousins were saying something to one another, then scanned their surroundings. “They, like me, work in the shadows. We have a face we show the world. For me? It’s Brett Bradley. For them? They’re nice, unassuming travel nurses. But we’re cold blooded killers. All of us. That doesn’t make us bad, per se, but it does make us dark.”
He pointed to the ceramic flower vase.
“You see here?” He pointed to the side the sun hit. “This is where most people want to be.” Then he pointed to the shadowed part. “We live here. The place where rules don’t apply, and underhanded things control the world around us. We have a light side that we show the world, but this,” He tapped the shadowy part of the vase. “Is where the work happens. In the ungoverned spaces.” He looked up at me. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“I think so.” I wasn’t sure.
“Your father… and I swear to God, don’t interrupt me, brat…” He took a fortifying breath. “Your father tried to keep you on the light side of things. A legitimate career as a fighter, or a computer science major. But I think you are suited, and safer, in the shadows with me.”
He rubbed his chin for a moment, scratching at the stubble on his cheek. He probably didn’t shave that morning.
