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“Once you’ve packed up, get Raffi.”
“What should I tell him?”
“When you pick him up, tell him I need him at home. Don’t panic, and don’t say anything else in front of Wyatt and Matty. And make sure no one is following you.”
“Okay.”
“When you’re alone with Raffi, tell him that he and I need to get away for a few weeks and that I’ll explain when he’s with me.”
Raffi will know this is no holiday. But out of any other options, my plan is the gentlest way to take him away from the life he knows.
“Okay.” It’s a single-word answer, but I can hear her trembling. “Then what?”
“Meet me at Port of L.A.”
My friend stays silent.
“Got that?”
“Yeah. Yeah.”
I’m about to hang up, but then I remind her, “Please don’t forget Mr. Oreo.”
“Of course.”
“Thank you, Pip.”
Once I get to LAX,, I buy a couple of tickets to New York using my credit card, as well as a new set of clothes so I can get rid of my dress that’s been making me stand out like a peacock. I get more clothes and supplies I may need for the journey until I max out my card. Then, I strip my two bank accounts bare. When you’re on the run, cash is king.
No doubt Don will look for me, and I’m going to show him how I operate.
I throw away my phone.
I failed to get away from Nando three years ago. I’m not going to repeat the same mistake. This time, I will succeed.
27
CLAYTON
A week after the police arrested Stefan Boss, detectives are still returning to Hartley Marine to get more evidence.
All productions have ceased—in fact, all activities in the factory are on hold except for essential services.
Rocky, our real man, is leading a massive operation to make sure Stefan Boss hasn’t put his mark elsewhere and to flush out anyone else who may be involved. So far, though, the signs are promising that we’ve contained the damage. Boss had tampered with one of the engines designed for the Pentela Next-Gen prototype. The effect wouldn’t have been immediate, but probably in a day or two, the damage would’ve sunk the ship.
Donovan Fletcher is back in Kenya again, perhaps intending to give the impression that it’s business as usual for him, though the fires he’s trying to put out in that part of the world are getting out of control. It’s almost the end of the road for him, but he seems to insist on hanging on for as long as he can. Boss hasn’t confessed to anything, so at this stage, the police can’t link him to that stray cat.
I slump in my chair, aching from an attack that I never saw coming. When something looks too good to be true, chances are, it is. And in my case, that something was a woman I genuinely loved. Her green dress still flashes in my mind, but it looks bleak, like oil had been smeared all over it.
Never mind that my dream has been crushed, but being a fool again?
I feel like shouting it from the rooftop.
I made history, all right. In my war, Helenisthe Trojan horse.
She said she had a lot of secrets. I don’t doubt her.
But her smile, her affection, her hold on me, her moans—were they all lies?
