AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“If he is, the first mission will be to eliminate everyone from the previous Olympus.”
“Why?”
“Because he doesn’t leave loose ends. Anyone out there who could be loyal to me is a threat. Just like you watch your tail, he watches his. Olympus has enemies. Professional enemies can become allies, if you play the situation right. But nothing will make him trust men who came up under me. None but Daire.”
Confused, she frowned. “You’re the closest thing he has to a father.”
“Yeah, and the pendulum on that relationship has swung back and forth more than once. Olympus was Daire’s life. The only home he’s ever known. Losing it, in the way he did… I don’t know what he’s been doing for the past year, but if he ended up hunting you and Carrie, it’s a safe bet to assume I’m not on his Christmas card list.”
Town was just a few miles ahead. She wasn’t really sure where they’d go once they got there. H, on the other hand, knew exactly where he was going. Danny was good at everything. Now she knew why. No doubt H had the same confidence. Talk about being the odd one out. She didn’t even know what day of the week they were on.
“I think he’s forgiven you,” she said. “You were training together. He calls you sir.”
“When training or receiving orders, yes. I don’t know if he understands just how much he needs authority. Structure gives him security. Orders and missions give him purpose. I didn’t mean for it to be that way. He took to the work. Along the way, it became what he lived for.”
“He became manufactured.” That was the word used to describe him in the letters. “He is PK, right?”
A rough but warm laugh lit the air. “He sure is. He knows how to comply with every training request. But when it gets informal… he’s sharp… a punk kid, which is what we called him.”
“You care about him. Did you ever think to tell him that? Maybe he wouldn’t have been…”
In her peripheral vision, she noted H’s head move in her direction. What was she doing? It wasn’t her place to say anything on Daire’s behalf. Some corner of her psyche was apparently having trouble accepting that Danny didn’t exist. Maybe that was why she’d been so quick to speak in his defense. Either that or dealing with someone else’s issues was easier than dealing with her own.
H was her father. Tied up in some complicated scheme that had taken over all of their lives. She’d never had a dad and didn’t know how she felt about having one now.
“You said you’ve been out in the cold for a year,” Tess said. “What have you been doing?”
“Moving around, keeping myself low. I should’ve checked in with Daire myself… except I taught him too well. If he didn’t want me to find him, I wouldn’t have.”
She needed some of that expertise. Except she didn’t have a lifetime to learn. She and her mother did well at keeping themselves hidden. Anne knew when to pack up, she had a sense for it. Tess would have to learn that too. Maybe if she hadn’t relied so much on her mother’s intuition, she’d have developed some of her own. Maybe if she’d done that, Daire wouldn’t have duped her so easily.
TWENTY-SIX
H RAN HIS ERRANDS WHILE she did the laundry. By the time he returned, the truck was loaded up, and they still had grocery shopping to do. For some unfathomable reason, H seemed to be in a rush. Unlike her. Tess took her time at the produce section, picking everything at a pondering pace.
Her laissez-faire approach seemed to fuel H’s determination to be contrary. He packed up the truck in record time, then swore under his breath at her request to stop at the liquor store.
By the time they pulled around the trees, bringing the trailer into view, it was two after nine, which didn’t bother her at all. Daire was waiting, shoulder propped on the end of the Airstream, arms folded, looking mean. Ignoring him, she hopped out and opened up the back door.
“My daughter has no sense of time or urgency,” H called out, she guessed to Daire.
She had ears and a mouth though. “And my father is easily riled.”
“Really, girl,” H said, opening the tailgate. “You need a speed other than dawdle.”
She scooped up the laundry bag and spun around only to be stopped dead by Daire standing right there. Like right there. Stunned by his stealth and proximity, she didn’t have the wherewithal to object to him taking the bag from her arms. He went to grab a huge duffel bag from H too.
Shaking off her daze, she returned to confidence. “I like dawdle,” she said.
“I don’t know how your mother put up with it.”
“Are we in some rush?” she asked, picking up all of the dozen grocery bags. “I didn’t know the President was coming to tea.”
“I said nine,” H said in a firm way that was probably supposed to put a stop to her arguments.
It didn’t. “Without consulting anyone else,” she said, closing the door with a hip at the same time H closed the tailgate. “Besides, your flunky was here. We had the truck, where was he going to go?”
Daire was already disappearing around the end of the trailer. H was quick to head the same way, Tess took her time. More to make a point than anything.
