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The rest of the morning was pretty dull. Once the early crowd cleared out, the gym was empty. It took us maybe a half hour to wipe down all the equipment again, and then the vendingmachine guy came in to restock. I chatted with him a little, mostly topical stuff, while Ursula called a few clients whose cards had been declined to sort that out.
Around noon, I got hungry and decided the sandwich place down the road would be a decent place to get lunch. Ursula put the phone down long enough to tell me to bring her back a turkey BLT and some kettle chips.
I donned my coat and went out the back, not wanting to run into Honor. The walk down the street was quick and the sub place wasn’t busy for once. As soon as I stepped toward the register, though, the doorbell jingled behind me.
I turned and frowned when I spotted an average-looking guy with a conservative haircut, black slacks, a black jacket, a blue tie… He wasn’t one of the agents who’d come into the gym the other day, but he had that look. I had no proof that he was one of the government’s goons, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
Shoving my hands in my pockets, I turned to face him. “Listen here, buddy, I’m a patient guy, but I’ve still got rights. I don’t care which branch of the government you’re with, you can’t just—”
“Hold up.” He lifted his hands. “I’m not here to cause a scene.”
“I told your friends yesterday that I don’t fucking know Axel Rose, okay? So just leave me alone.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Really? That’s what you’re going with? Well then, I’ll cut to the chase.” He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, bringing out a badge. “Name’s Special Agent Mozley. I know who and what you are, kid, and if you want to live, you’re going to listen and do exactly as I say.”
I eyed the door,thinking of running. If I left now, maybe I could make it down the street and back to the gym. Maybe Honor would see me coming and…
Before I could finish the thought, the door to the sandwich place opened a third time and Honor stormed through, fists clenched. He took one look at Mozley and growled, “What the fuck? We had a deal, Mozley!”
“You know this nerd?” I pointed at Mozley, who clearly took offense.
The agent fluffed himself up, adjusting his jacket with a frown. “Gentlemen, keep your voices down.”
“You’re the one who threatened me in a public place!” I shoved my finger in his face.
Mozley’s hands shot up. “All right, all right. It wasn’t supposed to be a threat, though I can see why you interpreted it that way.” He eyed Honor, who was still waiting by the door. “The three of us have a lot to discuss, but I’m willing to do that over a meatball sub if you are.”
I looked over at Honor. He seemed to know the guy, but that might not be a good thing. “What’s your vote? Can he be trusted?”
Honor crossed his arms and glared at Mozley. “More than your average government worker. He’s…okay, I guess.”
“Good, because I’m starving,” I said.
I ordered myself a chicken teriyaki sub with extra bacon and extra teriyaki sauce, and got Ursula’s turkey BLT and chips to go. Then I sat down at a table near the door. A short while later, both Mozley and Honor joined me, Mozley with his meatball sub and Honor with a hot roast beef and Swiss. We dug into our meals, throwing distrusting glares at each other, until the silence got too thick.
“All right,” I said eventually, “how do you two know each other?”
“I was your dad’s handler when he was…” Mozley threw a wary look at the workers behind the counter. “When he was with the agency.”
I made a face. “He’s not my dad. He’s my pop. There’s a difference.”
Mozley frowned, but said nothing about it. “My job was to make sure he got all the information and tools necessary to be an effective operative. I did that and then some.”
“We had an understanding,” Honor piped in. “As long as I behaved myself and did as I was told, he’d keep ESCU’s goons off your tail.”
“Which I did faithfully and without reward foryears, Honor,” Mozley growled. “I warned you this would happen. I did everything right on my end. According to every public record, you don’t exist. You’re a dead man. All you had to do was stay the fuck away from Michigan and they never would’ve found him!” He gestured to me.
I flinched.
So it was true. Those agents had followed Honor straight to me.
Honor’s lip curled. “We both know it was only a matter of time before they found him, anyway. At least this way, he’s not facing this shit alone.”
“He’s right,” I said and put down my half-finished sandwich. “I’ve already had one run-in with ESCU. Fucking Parker and his goon squad broke into my house hunting Bud and Phoenix. Smashed my nose. They already knew where I was if they wanted me.”
“They just hadn’t realized what you were yet,” Mozley said quietly. “Now, they know, and they know you have Subject Zero-Six-Nine.”
“His name is Ghost,” I said firmly. “And he’s nobody’s test subject. Not anymore.”
