AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The bristles of the brush tickle—I’m not used to anything touching my hands so directly—but the paint covers my skin thoroughly, drying to a dull leathery sheen. Yulikova is careful to ink everything, even the pads of my fingers, and I am careful not to move, no matter how much I want to laugh.
“Okay,” she says, capping the tube. “As soon as that dries, we’ll be ready to go. You can relax now.”
I study her face. “You promise that the charges against my mother will be dropped after this, right?”
“It’s the least we can do,” she says. There is nothing in her expression that gives me any reason not to believe her, but her words aren’t exactly a guarantee.
If she’s lying, I know what I have to do. But if she’s not, then I will have thrown away everything for nothing. It’s an impossible choice. The only chance I have is to rattle her into revealing something. “What if I don’t want to join the LMD? I mean, after this operation. What if I decide I’m not cut out for federal agenting?”
That makes her stop in the process of cleaning off the brush in a cup of water. “That would be very difficult for me. My superiors are interested in you. I’m sure you can imagine. A transformation worker is very rare. In fact…”
She brings out a stack of familiar papers. The contracts. “I was going to wait to do this later, when we had a few minutes alone, but I think now is the time. My bosses would feel a lot more comfortable if you would go ahead and sign.”
“I thought we agreed to wait until I graduated.”
“This operation has forced my hand.”
I nod. “I see.”
She leans back and pushes her gloved fingers through her mop of gray hair. She must not have gotten all the paint off her glove, because some of it smears like soot over her bangs. “I can understand if you have doubts. Go ahead and think about them, but remember why you first talked about joining us. We can keep you from becoming a prize to be fought over by rival crime families. We can protect you.”
“Who’s going to protect me from you, though?”
“From us? Your family are some of the worst—,” Jones starts, but Yulikova stops his words with a wave of her hand.
“Cassel, this is a real step forward for you. I’m glad you’re asking me this—I’m glad you’re being honest.”
I don’t say anything. I am holding my breath, without really knowing why.
“Of course you feel this way. Listen, I know you’re conflicted. And I know you want to do the right thing. So we’ll keep talking and keep being honest. For my part, I am telling you honestly that if you walk away from the LMD now, my bosses won’t be happy with your decision and they won’t be happy with me.”
I stand up, flexing my fingers, looking for cracks in the faux gloves. They move like a second skin.
“Is this about Lila Zacharov?” Yulikova asks. “The reason you’re hesitating?”
“No!” I say, and then close my eyes for a long moment, counting my breaths. I didn’t rattle Yulikova. She rattled me.
“We always knew you two had a close relationship.” She has tilted her head and is studying my reaction. “She seems like a nice girl.”
I snort.
“Okay, Cassel. She seems like a very ruthless girl whom you like very much. And she also seems like she wouldn’t want you working for the government. But this decision is yours, and you should make it. You and your brother are a lot safer here. She’ll come around if she really cares about you.”
“I don’t want to talk about her,” I say.
Yulikova sighs. “All right. We don’t have to, but you need to tell me whether you’re going to sign.”
There is something reassuring about the stack of paperwork. If they were just going to throw me in prison, they wouldn’t need me to agree to anything. They’d have all the bargaining power once I was behind bars.
I pick up the lanyard and hang it around my neck. Then I grab the headset off the table. I’m not going to be able to figure anything out this way—we could talk forever and Yulikova would never slip up, never reveal anything by mistake.
“The Zacharovs are a crime family, Cassel. They’ll use you up and spit you out if you let them. And her, too. She’s going to have to do things for them that will change her.”
“I said I didn’t want to talk about it.”
Agent Jones stands up and looks at his watch. “It’s almost time to go.”
I glance toward the bedroom. “Should I pack up my things?”
