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His eyes flutter open.
Hesees me.
He does not move.
I raise my finger to my lips to shush him. Handsome Jack understands me perfectly well, even in the dark.
He doesn’t scream. He doesn’t shout. He is, after all, a professional.
He understands that I am here and that I am dangerous, and that – right now - I have his life in my hands.
“I will get straight to the point,” I whisper to the prone man. Handsome Jack doesn’t reply. He just stares at me. He’s acutely aware I currently hold his fate on the edge of my blade. He wants to hear what I have to say. “I know you ordered the brewery fire. But you didn’t anticipate I would be there at that time, so I found your man. I’m sure you already know that, and I’m sure you didn’t know that I could sneak into your mansion when you’re sleeping. I simply want you to know that I can do this, and I can do it again. There’s nothing stopping me from doing anything else to you. And I want to let you know that this would normally be the moment when I end your life, but I made a promise to someone important in my life. I’m a changed man now.”
Ava wouldn’t want me to kill Handsome Jack, even after everything he’s done to ruin me. She wouldn’t want me to slit his throat.
And, for some insane reason I can barely understand, I am still following her wishes, even if I haven’t seen her in weeks.
She’s still got a hold over me...
And so I simply nod at Handsome Jack, lower my knife back into its sheath, and I silently walk out of his bedroom, down the stairs, and out the front door.
I sent Handsome Jack a message he can’t ignore, and that’s all I need to do.
He won’t be bothering me anymore.
It’s only when I am a few miles away in the dense forest that surrounds Handsome Jack’s secluded mansion that I press a beeper on my belt.
It’s sending a signal to a helicopter. My helicopter. Telling it to come and get me.
And a short time later, it does; landing in a clearing in the darkness.
I jump in. Unexpectedly, Jim is waiting for me in the other passenger seat.
“I didn’t think you’d be here, Jim,” I say to him as a kind of greeting. “I didn’t kill him, though, if that’s what you’re here to hear. I’m a changed man.”
My second in command turns to me with a solemn expression.
“I’m not here about Handsome Jack. I need to talk to you,” he says. “Urgently. I have something important to tell you. Something about Ava.”
52
DAMON
“Okay, tell me.”
Jim gazes at me from across the helicopter, carefully considering how to share what's on his mind. It must be something deadly serious if he’s taking his time to reply.
It’s about Ava.
What has happened to her? Is she alright?
“I’ve been watching Miss Matson,” Jim says.
I immediately see red.
“What?You’ve been watching her?”
“I’ve been following her since you two... ended your agreement,” Jim continues. “For security reasons, I hasten to add.”
