Chapter 9

A marylis woke up, surprised to find that she must have fallen asleep at some point. She had fully expected to lay awake, knowing Jasper and Tristan were out there potentially torturing their prisoner. She tried to find sympathy in her heart for her intruder, but it was hard, damn it.

So many people had died already because of that stupid USB key. She almost wished she hadn’t found it. Yet she knew that wouldn’t have brought this blackmailing and the criminal acts to an end otherwise.

As she lay here in the bed, wondering how she could possibly have slept through a fist fight or whatever, a knock came on her bedroom door. She called out, “Come in,” instinctively knowing that it would be Tristan. When he walked in, she smiled. “Hey.” As he critically eyed her, she admitted, “Believe it or not, I fell asleep.”

His eyebrows shot up, and then he nodded. “Considering the series of shocks you’ve been through, that’s a good thing.”

“Maybe, though I’m still stunned that all of this happened.”

He smiled at her. “You’re always so strong, but, at some point, everybody needs a break.”

“Yeah? So, what about you? Have you slept yet?”

He shook his head. “I did want to tell you that the prisoner is no longer here.”

She asked him, “Did you kill him?”

His eyebrows shot up, and then he grinned at her. “No, of course not. The MPs picked him up.”

“Did you get anything out of him?”

“No, and we didn’t expect to. So we will let him cool his heels in his cell awhile and think about it.”

“Do you think it’s safe for him?”

“We got him out of here safely,” he shared, “and we’re keeping him separated, so we’re hoping so.”

She nodded. “Maybe the reason you got him out of here safely is because he’s the one who’s been killing everybody else.”

“That thought had occurred to us,” Tristan acknowledged, with a nod of agreement. “We just don’t know anything for certain yet, and we won’t know for a while.”

She winced at that. “I keep hoping that we’ll get an end to this.”

“And we will,” he said, “maybe not as quickly as we want, but we are getting somewhere.”

“Do you think he has something to do with what’s on the key?”

“He told us it didn’t have anything to do with him, and that may or may not be true. Still, it could be somebody he’s protecting or is being paid by to retrieve it.”

“But he’s not talking.”

“No, he’s not talking,” he confirmed.

“Damn, do you think he will?”

“I don’t know. I’m hoping so. I’m going down there to have another chat with him.”

“I’m just worried somebody’ll kill him before you get any information.”

“I think we’re all worried about that,” he admitted, with a shrug. “It’s not something we can guarantee won’t happen, but obviously we don’t want it to. It seems like the only way to start getting some answers is to keep the pressure on him.”

She nodded. “That sucks too.”

“It does. It surely does.” He hesitated, staring, not saying anything more.

She fidgeted under his scrutiny for a moment, then couldn’t stand it anymore. “What?”

“I would like for you to take a few days off work.”

She shook her head. “Oh no, not happening, don’t even go there.” He glared at her, and she smiled. “It won’t happen, and no way would it happen if our roles were reversed and if you were being asked to do that.”

“I told Jasper that you would be opposed to such an idea.”

“Good, that means you’re starting to get to know me.”

“Yeah, I also knew you would be as stubborn as hell over it,” he shared cheerfully.

“You’re right. I am.”

“And you will explain to him why you are being so stubborn?”

“I don’t have to explain,” she declared. “It’s my job, and I came here in good faith. So I won’t let them down over this.”

“I don’t think most people would consider this as letting anyone down, and I’m sure Dr. Cox wouldn’t feel that way.”

“Maybe not, but I also don’t want to put more on him. He’s already got it rough enough as it is.”

“Does he?” He eyed her curiously.

“Yes, he does, and I’m not doing that to him.”

He nodded. “I’ll tell Jasper that.”

“But you don’t think he’ll be happy about it, do you?”

“Nope, I sure don’t,” he agreed cheerfully, “but, as an adult, you get to make your own decisions. As somebody who cares what happens to you, it’s not a decision I’m happy with, but I understand why you’re making it and realize that you may be feeling oddly bereft. So I will head out now, but we’re leaving an MP outside your apartment.”

Her eyebrows shot up, and he nodded. “Remember how we expect more gunmen will come out of the woodwork, all for that damn USB. So this is not over yet.”

“Oh, great ,” she muttered.

“Exactly. I’m glad you understand.”

“You’re leaving?” she asked cautiously.

“I am. I will go talk to your intruder, see if we can get him to open up a little bit.”

“Do you think that’s possible?”

“I don’t know, but I have to try. A lot of other people’s lives are on the line over this,” he pointed out, looking at her, “and we don’t want anybody else to die, whether they have something on that key or not.”

“That’s the thing, I guess. Everybody is protecting themselves, aren’t they?”

“They are, even if nothing is criminally wrong on that USB key, still something is potentially career-ending.”

“Yes, but to take someone’s life over a lost career?” she asked, with a headshake. “That seems crazy.”

He smiled. “I get that, for you, it probably sounds that way. Yet, for many of these people, this is their life, their world, and to have anybody ruin it for them is pretty big,” he explained. “Maybe not big enough to warrant killing, but obviously others have a different opinion on that.”

“It all sounds terrible,” she stated, shaking her head. “To see people hurting others over it?… I want to say it’s unbelievable, but obviously it’s not.” She gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “I just think it’s disgusting.”

He grinned. “You and me both,” he agreed cheerfully. “Now, I would very much appreciate it if you would check in with me, should you decide to go anywhere.”

“I have to go to work,” she noted, looking at him intently.

“I assumed as much,” he murmured, “and the MP outside, he’ll take you there.”

She stared at him.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said. “You know perfectly well that we’re not out of trouble yet, so just say thank you very much and be happy with it.”

She winced, but then did as he asked, quite literally to make the point. “ Thank you very much, and I’ll be happy with it .”

He burst out laughing, and she smirked at him. “At least that’s the right attitude,” he said, with a smile.

“Hey, some things are just a little easier than others,” she murmured. “What time is it right now?” she asked, looking at her watch and struggling to read it.

“It’s five. I heard you moving around in here, and it was time for me to get out of here anyway.”

She groaned. “Five o’clock in the morning? I might as well just get up and go to work.” He frowned at her, and she shrugged. “I do that sometimes.”

“Not exactly a good habit to get into,” he replied, raising an eyebrow.

“As if you wouldn’t do the same,” she scoffed.

Once again, he broke out into a free and open laughter. “Can’t argue that. You’re right about that for sure.” She threw back the covers, and he asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to get a little more sleep? It’ll be a long day otherwise.”

“It’ll be a long day no matter what I do,” she stated. “Let me get up, and I’ll lock the front door behind you.”

He nodded. “Fine.” He walked out to the living room with her, and she had to admit it was such a relief to realize that no other men, military police or not, were in her living room. Tristan watched her reaction and grinned.

“Hey, you can’t blame me,” she muttered.

“Honestly, you’ve done so well that I’m sure everybody is pretty proud of you.”

“Nobody should be proud of me,” she declared, looking at him. “I didn’t do anything.”

“And yet what you did do was all good.” He walked over to the door and looked back at her before opening it. “Keep the door locked. Keep yourself inside. Grab some more sleep if you can, and contact me when you go to work.” Then he checked his phone, confirming the guard was in place outside her door. As he stepped out, he looked back at her.

She hated to say it but knew she looked like some woebegone orphan being left behind. He hesitated, and she waved him off. “I’ll be fine.”

“If you say it a few more times,” he whispered, a gentle smile on his face, “you might believe yourself.”

She shrugged. “I just have to get used to it.”

He walked back over to her and took her in his arms. Tilting her chin up, he added, “Just remember that you aren’t always alone.” He gave her a gentle kiss, and, with that, he was gone, leaving her more bereft than ever.

When a knock came on her door shortly thereafter, she almost thought it was Tristan again and opened it cautiously, only to see the MP standing in front of her.

He smiled and began, “Ma’am, my name is Scott. I just wanted to let you know that I’m here. Go back and get some sleep if you can.” And, with that, he closed her door. She groaned. Everyone wanted her to go to bed, yet it was the last thing she wanted to do right now. She couldn’t quite shake off the feeling that more trouble was ahead, and, even if she wasn’t ready, somebody needed to be. She just didn’t know who would be showing up today because this situation made no sense to her.

She did go back and lay down, trying to sleep but quickly gave up. After a shower, she put on some coffee. As she sat here in the early morning hours, waiting for dawn to arrive, sipping away on her coffee, her mind chewed through everything she knew about this mess so far.

It wasn’t as if anything was clear-cut about it, nothing she could put a finger on, but it seemed past time for more answers, how something more should be unearthed along the way.

As she pondered the mess of the last few days, she couldn’t imagine what these bad guys had gone through to try to get that USB key—even a copy might have made them happy. She didn’t know for sure, but certainly some compromise could be made, maybe just paying some money to these hired killers to stop with their threats and to go hide out somewhere. People did all kinds of things for money that she didn’t agree with and couldn’t see the sense behind. Honestly, in her line of work, she’d seen men killed over five bucks.

She knew that it depended on the person and what was building up behind it. So something was on that key, but she hadn’t necessarily seen very much. She’d noted some names in her emailed copy, as much of it as she had read, and she had a great memory. So she had certainly tucked away some of that information into the back of her brain. She hadn’t bothered to share that information, but a certain level of self-preservation was involved here. Not that she would give this data to the bad guys. No way. They would just kill her after she told them. But the supposed good guys Tristan had handed over the USB key to? She had no way of knowing whether those higher-ups who had taken possession of the key were trustworthy or not.

As she sat here, she wondered if this last guy was connected to the other dead bad guys somehow, and whether Tristan had gotten the chance to even sort that out. It would likely take a little while, but something was almost familiar about him. She took a moment to replay some of the conversation in her mind, and then it hit her.

She got up, grabbed her phone, and quickly sent Tristan a text message. My intruder hacked into my personnel files, yours too probably. Or he had a hacker do it for him. Plus, I think that guy from last night is related to the lady who knocked you out. He has a masculine version of her facial features.

When her phone rang minutes later, Tristan greeted her, without preamble. “And here I thought you went to bed.”

“I did try,” she muttered almost apologetically, “but I just couldn’t sleep.”

He hesitated. “So you think Terry looks like her?”

“So his name is Terry? Good to know. And, yes, I do. However, when dealing with different genders, it’s easy to miss the similarities.”

“Give me a sec.” He disappeared, and a few minutes later he came back on and added, “You could be right.”

She laughed. “I could be,” she quipped. “Just send in some DNA, and I’ll confirm it.” And, with that, she hung up, grabbed her outdoor gear and her bag, then knocked on the front door before she opened it. She told the guard, “I’m heading to work.” When he frowned, she stated forcefully, “Yeah, and you can argue all you like, but I’m still going.” He rolled his eyes, and she retorted, “Yeah, I get the same reaction from the others.”

“I would guess you do,” he noted. “Ma’am, you have to understand that everybody is just keeping you safe.”

“They might be keeping me safe, but I’m also trying to solve this problem. So let’s do both at the same time. Regardless, I damn well need to get to the heads and tails of this mess.”

He frowned at her. “You seem to have something to go on.”

“I certainly have a new lead, and I need to get to my office to work on it,” she shared. “So either come with me or don’t get in my way.”

“You know my ass is on the line if I don’t come with you.”

“I’m sure it is,” she agreed cheerfully. “Just make sure we get there safely. There’s been enough shenanigans up until now.”

“Right? Sounds like you’ve had a crazy few days.”

“I have, and I’m more than done with it.” She headed out to her car, and the MP raced up to the passenger side. “Don’t you have wheels?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “Yes, but I’m going with you.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “Fine, get in.” She quickly let him in and drove to the morgue. As she parked, she turned to look at him. “Are you supposed to come inside or stay outside?”

“I’m supposed to stay with you,” he replied. “Wherever you go, I go.”

“I don’t think you’ll like this,” she argued.

As they got upstairs and passed the forensics lab, he asked her carefully, “What do you do for a living?”

She looked over at him and laughed. “I’m one of the coroners here. I’m about to inspect some dead bodies.” As she watched the color fade from his face, she burst out laughing. “That’s all right. I don’t have to drag you that far into my department.”

“That’s good,” he muttered, “but I’m as game as the next guy. I just didn’t expect that.”

“Why? Don’t I look like a doctor, somebody who deals with dead bodies?”

“No, ma’am, you sure as hell don’t,” he stated bluntly, “but then again you’re with Tristan, and he’s a bit different too.”

“What do you mean, I’m with Tristan?” she asked, frowning at him. He flushed and didn’t say anything more. She waved off his discomfort and added, “Don’t worry about it. You’re not treading on anything.”

“I am because, if you’re not acknowledging that something’s between you,” he noted cautiously, “then obviously I’ve stepped into the middle of something.”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“You say that, but I don’t want to get into trouble with you or with him.” He gave her a bright smile as he admitted that.

“Good point,” she acknowledged. “It makes sense that you’re keeping everything close to your chest, but what’s between me and Tristan is still fairly open-ended at the moment.”

“Not for long,” he muttered. “I’ve seen how he looks at you.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you for that.”

He nodded. “Not a problem. So, I don’t have to go where the dead bodies are, do I?”

“No, you sure don’t, unless you want to.”

“No, I’m happy to skip that,” he replied, with a mock shudder. When they got to the office, she quickly raced to her corner of the world. As soon as she got there, she turned and frowned.

He just frowned right back. “I’m going nowhere.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I got that message.”

“Good, so don’t slip past me.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” she said, with a dismissive wave of her hand, “just not sure what I will do with you.”

He shrugged. “How about you just ignore me?”

“I would love to. I really would.” She pondered it and then shrugged. “I will be in there.” And she pointed to her workroom.

He looked over and nodded. “I’ll just stay right here.”

“You do that,” she said, with a smile.

With that, she quickly gowned up and headed into her workspace. There she pulled out the body of the woman they had found already murdered, and, while Amarylis worked, her phone buzzed. She answered it, distracted, only to hear Tristan’s voice. “I’m sending over DNA.”

“Okay, I’m pulling DNA off her right now, so I’ll compare the two.”

“So you think they’re connected?”

“Yep, I sure do. I could be wrong, and I’ve certainly been wrong before, but—”

“Yeah, well, you’re likely to have the most experience in this anyway,” he noted, with a complimentary tone.

“If you say so. But so what if they are related? All it does is give us a few more questions.”

“We’ll take anything we can get right now,” he replied.

“Remember that my MP guard is here, so whoever is coming with my intruder’s DNA had better be prepared to announce themselves.”

“Yeah, so how’s he handling that?”

“He’s in my outer office,” she stated in a dry tone, “not very impressed with the idea of coming with me into the morgue.”

“I don’t think I like the idea of him in your outer office either,” he noted, his tone deepening.

“It’s fine. We’re locked up.”

“Yeah, you say that, but now I have to send over a courier.”

“Bring it yourself then,” she suggested, “but I’ve got to get to work.” And, with that, she ended the call. She quickly finished what she was doing, then started to run the DNA sample, wondering just what the hell was going on, and, if they were related, why would they be doing something like this? Was it for her, against her, or because of her somehow?

There were just so many avenues to pursue, and yet none of them gave them very much in terms of clear-cut answers. With that done, she turned and started taking photos of the woman from all angles, looking for something a lot more identifiable in terms of facial recognition. Tristan already knew who she was, but, if by any chance she was related to the gunman in her apartment last night, then Amarylis wanted to know too.

It wasn’t long before she got another phone call from Tristan. “Now what?” she asked in exasperation.

Laughter filled his tone when he said, “I’m on my way up. I just didn’t want to scare you.”

“Oh, you’re here already?” she asked, looking up and around.

“Yes, I am. Obviously, when you’re here at work, I’m not a big part of your life.”

“Whatever,” she muttered. “I’m buzzing you through.” She let him into the main part of the building and continued the call as she waited. When he sighed heavily, she asked, “What did you expect?”

“I need to see whether this relationship will work or not, and I guess I was just hoping that maybe, somewhere along the line, I would count as much as the lab.”

“Presumably you’re joking.”

“I could be joking, but what does that mean to you?”

“Not a whole lot,” she said cheerfully. “It tells me that you might…”

He walked into the lab just then, and she smiled. He walked over and handed her a tube, which she eagerly snatched from his hand, then headed to her machines and quickly set it up. “How long will it take?” he asked, recognizing that any other line of conversation was fruitless.

“Too long in some ways but likely a rush job about twenty-four hours at least,” she said. “Comparing them of course, well, that’s another step. However, it shouldn’t take all that long either.”

As a matter of fact, considering that she was well used to this equipment and the various machines, it still took long enough that she was standing here, impatiently waiting. She caught him grinning at her, and she smiled. “I get it, but it’s something I can do, and I would like to know myself.”

“I’m surprised you even saw it.”

“I’m not. When visually comparing male to female, it’s often much harder to see, but still siblings are often very close in appearance.”

“They can be complete opposites too,” he pointed out.

“Oh, absolutely. They can be, but, with any luck, that won’t be the case today.”

And, when the machine beeped, she walked over and studied the images for a moment, comparing the two DNA samples, with Tristan watching over her shoulder. She smiled. “So, if you compare these findings, what do you think?”

“They’re identical, aren’t they?”

“No, not identical, but they’re definitely from the same mother,” she clarified, pointing out the lines that matched. “So, we have a 99.6 percent possibility,” she read from the report, “that they have the same mother.”

“Interesting, so we have siblings.”

“We do, and that is good news.”

“It’s good news but also bad news.” He frowned, as he stared down at the machine.

“What’s the bad news?” she asked, frowning now too.

“Just figuring out why and what.”

“At least you now have another avenue to work with.”

“We do, and I will go talk to Terry about that other avenue.”

“You do that, and let me know.”

“Let you know what?”

“What he says,” she stated, looking at him.

“What do you expect him to say?” he asked, with a note of curiosity in his voice.

She smiled. “I suspect he’ll lie through his teeth, though it’s possible that he doesn’t even know. They had different fathers, after all. So that’s another avenue to pursue. However, the DNA doesn’t lie.”

And, with that, he nodded. “Thank you for this.”

“Yep, no problem. Now get lost, so I can get back to my regular work.”

But since she was laughing as she said that, he tossed her a big grin. “Dinner?” he asked. “And, yes, it’s a date.”

“Sure,” she replied, as her heart sped up with joy. “Dinner sounds great, and maybe this time we can have a meal without any chaos.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t count on that,” he declared, with a big grin on his face. “But it’s nice to know you’re somebody who can handle it, even if it happens.”

And, with that praise, he was quickly gone, but he left her with a smile on her face and a sense of accomplishment for at least achieving something in this mess.

*

Tristan headed back to the holding cell within their own department, where they kept the gunman off the grid, so to speak. As Tristan walked in, he began, “So, Terry.” The man didn’t shift either way, just giving Tristan a bored expression. “I’m wondering if you’re involved because of your sister, or was she involved because of you?”

Only the slightest eye movement belied anything, but it was enough.

Smiling, Tristan nodded. “Now that we know that, I can inform you that your sister is lying in the morgue…”

At that, Terry’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Did you not know?” he asked. “How is that possible?”

The man wore a frantic expression. “No, no, no, no. What are you talking about?” He leaned forward, a sense of urgency in his tone, as he asked, “What are you talking about?”

Tristan opened his phone and snagged a couple photos he had of the dead woman in the morgue and flashed his phone at the gunman.

Staring at it in disbelief, he looked up at Tristan. “This isn’t possible.”

“Why is it not possible?”

“It can’t be,” he said. “It just can’t be.”

Shrugging, Tristan replied, “It is true. Her body’s at the morgue right now.”

“No, it’s just a fake photograph.”

“You want to see more photos?” he asked patiently. “I can phone our friend at the morgue for some real-time candid shots.”

At that, Terry’s face twisted. “I don’t trust that one anyway. This is impossible. No way she’s dead.”

“Why is that?”

“She’s too smart,” he said, with an offhand look. “Just no way she’s dead.”

But a distinct note of fear in his tone made Tristan realize just how worried he was. “What does it change if she is dead? I’m texting and asking for a few more photographs, since you don’t believe me, but what does this change in your world?”

“What do you mean, what does it change?” he asked, staring at him. “It changes… freaking… everything.”

“Tell me more,” Tristan said. When his phone beeped, he brought up one more photo and held it out, then quickly swiped through several more. The gunman’s face went from bright red in fury to pure white, as the realization settled in that it was true. He closed his eyes and whispered, “Dear God.”

“Now do you want to tell me what the hell difference it makes?”

He opened his gaze, but the look in his eyes wasn’t nice, wasn’t friendly, and, if anything, it promised murder.

Tristan stared right back. “I didn’t kill her. Your boss man hired a local hit man to kill her for making a mistake on her job.”

“I don’t know what your problem is,” Terry grumbled, leaving it at that, as if making a point.

“We’ve got our own problems to solve here and no shortage of other dead bodies too,” Tristan added, “so do you want to talk to me about your sister or not?”

Terry shook his head. “She shouldn’t even be in the mind of the likes of you,” he muttered, his fury evident by the expression on his face. “She’s good people.”

“She was good people,” Jasper interjected, walking up behind Tristan. “Have you forgotten the photos? She’s dead. Somebody popped her, and we’re pretty sure it was someone assigned to cleanup duty.”

Terry’s gaze widened, and he shook his head. “No reason for them to do that.”

“Yet they seem to think they had good reason, and they have had several other people killed as well,” Tristan shared. “Everybody we’ve had a chance to speak with in this mess has the same opinion, that none of it could possibly go wrong right before they were shot execution style. You people are all too na?ve. Everyone thinks that a bullet ordered from your boss man couldn’t possibly have anything to do with them. Yet here we are, with your sister dead, with you here in jail, in trouble for your little armed intruder and possible kidnapping stunt, amid an ever-growing number of bodies.”

“What bodies?” he asked suddenly.

Jasper looked over at Tristan, who nodded, then pulled up his phone and quickly swiped through pictures of Drew. He held up Drew’s face. “Recognize this one?” he asked, as Terry went silent. Tristan nodded, then swiped to the gunman he popped in the hospital, now residing in the morgue. “Or this one?” He watched as Terry’s face paled in reaction.

He whispered, “Dear God, no.”

“Unfortunately it’s a dear God, yes moment, so I don’t know what you think will protect you in all of this. However, I can tell you right now that it doesn’t look like anything will protect you.”

Amarylis’s armed intruder sat here, almost stunned for several long moments, and then he announced, “I want protection.”

Tristan shared a look with Jasper.

Jasper turned to Terry and shrugged. “Protection is one thing, but these guys are shooting everybody on sight,” he stated. “They already know that you’ve been picked up.”

He nodded. “They’ll know, and they already have somebody out there to take me out. Why are you even holding me? I didn’t do anything.”

“But you did,” Tristan argued. “You entered somebody’s apartment without her permission and terrorized her with a gun.”

“You knocked me out cold too. Don’t forget that,” Jasper noted from the sidelines.

At that, the gunman’s lips curled. “That’s nothing, and you know it. I could get off with a walk in the park.”

“Maybe, but not when your actions are connected to so many other murders.”

He paled and shrugged. “I didn’t have anything to do with any of that.”

“And yet we can prove that you and your sister were both connected to these murders,” Tristan declared. “So that doesn’t wash either.”

The gunman glared at him. “I didn’t have anything to do with her part in this,” he said in the same wearisome tone, yet tinged with a hint of fury.

“You keep saying that. Yet here you are in our custody because of your own crimes, and you’re not even talking about your sister’s crimes.”

“My sister was a good person, and she should never have been hurt because of this.”

“Now the question is, did she get you involved, or did you get her involved?” He pinched his lips together, and, at that, Tristan nodded. “Poor woman, she didn’t have a clue what she was in for, did she?”

Terry stared but didn’t say a word.

Tristan was pretty fed up as he looked over at Terry. “Every criminal thinks it will be a walk in the park, like they’ll get there, get in, do whatever shit they get to pull, and then they’ll get to walk on out and totally get away with it all.”

“Yet it’s not like that at all,” Jasper noted. “I don’t know who in their right mind thinks they’ll walk in and walk out on these unlawful jobs, but it hasn’t happened yet, and it won’t.”

“You don’t know that.” Terry snarled at him. “Nobody was supposed to get hurt.”

“You believed that?” Tristan scoffed.

“What about Nicholas? Did you have anything to do with him?” Jasper asked.

The gunman frowned at Jasper. “What are you talking about?”

“Nicholas, remember?” Jasper repeated, looking over at Tristan, who now brought up Nicholas’s photo. He held it up, and the gunman shrugged.

“I don’t know that one.”

“You’ve never seen him before?”

“No, I sure haven’t.”

“Did you ever hear about them holding someone?”

He shook his head again. “No, you can’t pin that on me.”

“I can pin all kinds of shit on you,” Jasper declared, with a smile, cheerful as always. “Including the fact that you’re connected to most of these deadly incidents. So, whether it’s a direct connection or not, it won’t matter to the judge and the jury, a military jury at that,… and you know it. The chances of your getting out of this are slim to none,” Jasper noted, with a wave of his hand. “The only way I can see you getting out is with a bullet between your eyes, just like every other person you’re involved with.”

The gunman paled and didn’t say anything.

“Now that you know your odds, you asked for protection. What is it you’ve got to give in return?” Jasper asked.

“Protection first,” Terry snapped. “Then I’ll talk.”

“You say that, but I don’t know that you have any goods to be bothered with.”

“Yes, you do, and you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“No, I don’t, and you need to tell me. If you want protection, I have to go to somebody who can arrange it, and they won’t do it on a whim. As a matter of fact, after all the shit you and the people around you have pulled, chances of getting anything for you are slim to none.”

“Then why am I even talking to you?” Terry snarled. “Just leave me alone.”

“I can—hell, they can probably even get to you in here, considering how many guys have been taken out already.”

“They can get us in here,” Terry confirmed, followed by a sigh. “Maybe that’s all there is to it. Maybe I’ll just be taken out, like the others.”

Tristan frowned, but he knew what was coming next. “Somebody in here is involved, aren’t they?”

The gunman spat out just one word, “Protection.”

Tristan looked at Jasper and said, “Over to you.”

Jasper nodded. “I can talk to them, but, without any concrete benefit, they won’t call me back.” As he walked to the door, he turned to look back at Terry. “Don’t waste my time because, if you haven’t got anything to save your sorry hide, it’ll just piss them off.”

“Ooh, look.… I’m so scared,” he snarled.

“Oh, you’re scared,” Jasper noted calmly. “You just don’t want to admit it. Remember this. If your boss man gets to you before we have your protection in place, then your sister died in vain. You didn’t get any retribution or revenge for the boss man killing off your own sister, before your boss man kills you off too.” And, with that, Jasper turned and walked out.

Tristan followed, leaving Terry all alone.