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She hesitated a moment. “Cruel. Calculated. Cold-blooded.”
“What if I’m all those things?” he asked calmly, his stare boring into her.
She jerked her head in his direction. “You’re not!”
“How do you know I’m not?” He maintained his level tone and calm demeanor. “How do you know I’m not five seconds from holding my gun to your pretty little head and disappearing in the wind?”
Ayelish let out a single sob as her stare flipped from the road to him and back again. “Because. You’re you. And… you love me.”
9
“This hidin’in plain sight thing is kinda wild,” Wit said, entering the kitchen where Ayelish was moving about. “I can see Watermark from here.”
“Seems cliché and maybe even a little obvious and old school, but it’s where we need to be.” Ayelish followed him into the large family room and stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city.
The home they were staying in was atop the tree-covered foothills to the west, nestled on a nice rocky hillside where they could see everything around them, but the world couldn’t necessarily see them. The home was palatial, the kind of home most dreamed of and not the stereotypical safe house or hideout.
“I understand. Going too far into the city would be risky. I’m sure Killion isn’t the only one tapped into surveillance all over town and have it attached to facial rec software,” Wit pointed out.
“Yeah, we don’t want the attention. Not yet.” Ayelish wrapped an arm around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder. “We still need time before we can go home, but if we need help, it’s nearby.”
“Yeah, driving through town with a jammer would light up our path all the way to Watermark and not just put us at risk at that point.” He kissed the top of her head. “We’ll be fine here for a spell.”
“I sent Killion a message on the hidden back server. I had to let someone know we were safe and nearby,” she said. “I’m having him vet everyone on the team and those we’ve worked with closely or associated with who’ve had access at any time.”
Wit turned to her with surprise. “The team? You think one of our own is behind this?”
“I think it could be anyone behind this… including someone from the team, yes,” she admitted. “Just looking at spending habits, new accounts, large purchases, deposits, offshore shell companies… the usual.”
“The usual.” He snorted. “Offshore accounts are the usual?”
“In our line of business, they are.” She shrugged. “Money is a powerful tool. With twenty-five million at play, I can only imagine what they’d pay for intel.”
“What if he finds something?”
“Then he’ll present it to the team –– those who can be trusted –– and they’ll do their due diligence and work the lead. In the meantime, we sit tight and wait to hear. He’ll find a way to reach out and let us know what he finds or to give the all clear.”
“So he knows I’m with you,” Wit surmised.
“At this point, he sure does. We don’t need to worry, though. Killion is a vault in regular circumstances. I’m his baby sister, so he’ll go the extra mile for us,” she said. “He’ll protect us.”
Wit nodded as he turned and looked around the space. “This is a really nice home. I didn’t know we had houses this big in town. I might get lost in a place like this. Did you see that pool overlooking the city out back? Unbelievable.”
“Definitely could be worse,” she added.
“Yeah, could be stuck in that dump in the woods still,” he teased.
“I love that cabin,” she fired back as if offended.
“Well, you can go stay the night with the beetles and whatever woodland creatures find their way inside. I’ll stay here and enjoy the luxuries of this place and live like the rich and famous.”
“Just make sure you stay inside. We’re well hidden for now, but you never know who’s in the area and where their drones are.”
There was a loud beeping sound, and Wit jumped, shoving Ayelish behind him in a protective manner.
She ran a soft hand down his arm and kissed the back of his shoulder again. “It’s okay. Just dinner.”
She moved from behind him and went to the kitchen while he took a seat on a large fur rug in front of the oversized stone fireplace.
