The Revenger (28 page)

“Okay. Ask a question.” She began mentally editing as his words formed.

“Have you always been a maid?”

“No.”

“What have you—” He tried to ask another question.

She shook her head. “I think it’s time for the tat now. Why were you watching the beach behind Sagan’s house?”

“You’re more specific than I was. Almost like inquisitions come…professionally to you.” He lifted his eyebrow.

“Your turn to talk.” She didn’t take the bait.

“We were friends a long time ago. I feel like I have to save him from himself.” Jack shrugged.

Teresa nodded. “Do you know if Savvy is still alive?”

He lifted a brow. “No.” He looked crestfallen. “Last I saw Savvy, she was in Sagan’s helicopter.”

“Do you know where Sagan would take Savvy?” Teresa took a long, slow sip of the water, hearing herself swallow as he considered the question.

“He’s got places all over the world. I would think he went to one that was off grid, considering…” He stopped himself and pointed at her with his pinkie. “You’re good. Not just the questions you ask, but the way you listen. It’s inviting.”

It was her turn to shrug.

“Okay, enough questions because I’m fairly certain you’ll get too much out of me,” Jack said. “I’ll tell you this: Silas is in too deep with whatever he’s considering nowadays.” He stood and shoved one hand in his pocket.

She liked his candor, so she offered more. “What he’s into is going to get a lot of people killed.”

Jack met her eyes. “How many is a lot?”

“Countries full of people.” Setting her water bottle on the coffee table in front of her, Teresa stood.

With pursed lips, he nodded. “If I knew where he was, I could maybe talk him out of it.”

She hugged her middle. “I don’t think there is an ‘out of it’ at this point. Just do or die.”

“You know a lot for a maid.”

“You care a lot for an old friend.”

They were silent after that, and Teresa hoped her message would come soon. Jack’s allegiances were a tough thing to judge.

*~*~*~*

Silas rolled his head on his neck and cracked his knuckles in his airplane seat. Six hours on an airplane to return to Maryland was the last thing he wanted to do. Stupidly, even figuring out how to have the Compound E safely removed from Savvy’s body had dropped to the bottom of his mental to-do list.

There was only her. He could close his eyes and picture her smiling at the damn dog, her look of caution as she watched the unfamiliar goings-on of his criminal life. But mostly—okay entirely—his concentration lingered on the sight of her face when she let him feel loved, and that feeling, the rollercoaster drop while his heart glowed. He tapped his fingers on the tray that had been set up with his meal.

The stewardess on his private plane had looked offended when he waved her away after she tried nibbling his ear. Actually, was it offended or scared? Probably scared. The truth of the matter was, once a person failed to fulfill Silas’s needs, she was in danger. And she knew this.

Except Savannah. The half-suicidal woman had him by the balls. She’d convinced him not to take what he wanted from her, chastised him out of his own bed. His desire for her was insane. It motivated him to get the house, the Cassos, and Jack in order and then get back to her.

His landing and trip in the car to the compound were uneventful, but took too damn long. When he arrived, his men were armed to the teeth. His call for a show of force had been heeded.

Bugs met him at the door, as did everyone else—like they always did, but now it seemed stupid. He waved them away, and Bugs followed him into his office.

“I assume we’re good here?” Silas pointed at the walls.

“We are. I’m positive.” Bugs waited for his boss to sit before he did.

“Did anything come of the device you found?” Silas tented his fingers and leaned in.

Bugs scratched behind his ear as he spoke. “Yes and no, sir. I was able to track it, but by the time I got there, the place that had been intercepting the signal was abandoned. I did find out that whoever it was has a considerable budget, far beyond the Cassos’ spending limits. Someone with crazy money has a hard-on for you right now—like, a anti-government, bomb-this-house-with-long-range-missiles kind of amazing.”

Silas sat back and clenched his jaw. So possibly a government sized group was onto the Compound E? They had to be researching volcanic fields now. Thankfully he hadn’t named the one he was focused on at the moment during that bugged conversation. But if this mysterious entity was truly powerful, they would cross-check his property locations with the elements found around them. He needed to kill two birds with one stone.

“I want you to start leaking that we have a stockpile of Compound E here, as well as in Italy and at the California house. Also mention that there’s great dissention in our camp. Got it?”

“Sure, but why?” Bugs stood.

“If it’s the government will be less likely to blow us to hell if they think they might nuke an entire state off the map.” He waved the man away.

“Good plan. On it.”

After the door closed, Silas picked up the phone and asked to be connected to the Cassos’ representative. After a ten-minute wait he had the old bastard himself on the line. Now he had to pretend to be scared. “
Gregorio, thank you for coming to the phone. You have words for me, so I hear?”

Silas was then treated to a half-Italian, half-English diatribe about how close he was to being the actual Devil and how he wasn’t half the man his father had been. Gregorio even touched on his mother’s promiscuousness.

After the man had oozed all his viciousness, Silas cleared his throat. “Do you want to be on the buyer list or not?”

The conversation then turned to business, as it should have from the start. Silas explained that very few could be trusted with the weapon he had, but the Cassos were welcome to buy enough to keep their territory for a few thousand generations. They just needed to understand that Sagan had most of it, and he could and would retaliate.

He’d thought of having the assassin take out Gregorio’s old-ass wife as retribution, but it was just easier this way. The old man thinking he was getting in bed with the Sagans got him back to Savannah sooner.

With the deal concluded, and an explanation that delivery would take some time, he hung up, stood, and buttoned his suit jacket. He took a car to Jack’s, even though it was just a few houses down.

His old friend answered the door and let him in, saying nothing until they both had their favorite poison from when they were teens in their hands. They toasted and sipped, coughing on the homemade moonshine.

“You find this in old Beady’s coffin?” He smiled at Jack.

“Almost. I keep this crazy old bat on retainer so I have some in case you drop by. Like now.” He nodded.

Silas scratched his cheek, hearing his scruff bristle. “I need her back.”

“Which her?” The door to friendliness closed as the usual guarded look took its place on Jack’s face. “You seem to have a harem going, tough guy.”

“You know which one: the bad-ass maid.” He set down his glass.

“She doesn’t want to go with you.” Jack shrugged and took another sip of the horrible drink.

“That’s not her decision. I’m not playing at this.” Silas felt his anger brewing. He needed the maid on the plane. Boston could interrogate her and find out where she was from and who she worked for. He was better at that than anyone.

Jack smiled. “No one asked you to play, Silas. She stays as long as she needs to.” He nodded to Silas’s left.

Silas turned to find that in regular clothes, the maid was hotter and younger than he remembered. She came into the room, bare feet barely making noise, and curled up on Jack’s fluffy white couch.

“Did she even tell you her name?” Silas did his best to loom over her, crossing his arms.

Jack slid between them and sat next to the maid, slinging his arm over her shoulder, still smiling. “She doesn’t have to. I require nothing of her. Actually,
I
made
her
bed this morning. How’d I do, doll?”

The maid didn’t look over at Jack charming her; she just held Silas’s gaze. “You did fine, buddy. We have to work on your hospital corners, but you’ll do.”

“Come with me.” Silas pointed to a spot close to his shoes.

She stood quickly and came to right where he’d suggested, but despite her timid demeanor, he found a knife blade pressed to his throat in a very practiced way. He just smiled. Because as much as he would never kill Jack, he knew Jack would never allow anyone else to…

“Hold up, princess. You and I have a deal, but that does not include putting a knife to his jugular.”

The woman’s eyes hardened, and the knife started to penetrate his skin.

Jack drew his handgun and set it to the maid’s temple. “Step away, baby.”

The maid took a step back, like a lion away from its favorite meal. She was definitely trained. Deadly. Reminded him of Savannah.

Jack put his gun in his waistband.

Silas kept his eyes on the maid but addressed Jack. “You have to be armed when I’m around now?”

“It was for her, not you.” Silas met Jack’s gaze. Brotherhood. It was still there. It made things so much more complicated. For a hot minute he wanted to take Jack with him instead of the maid, just to have someone he could trust. It was a fleeting thought, though, because working for him would change things for Jack. Change who he was.

As if he was reading Silas’s mind, Jack offered, “There’s an out. Know that I have it ready. Let me take you away from all this and make an honest woman outta you.”

Silas nodded, ignoring the joke. “Too far gone now.”

“Never say never.”

The silence lingered while he considered what Jack had said. The other two maids wandered in, one limping. They saw him, gasped, and crossed themselves before running from the room.

Silas purposely turned his body away from Jack and looked hard at the deadly maid. “You tell whoever you’re working for that I have the Compound E weaponized, and I’ll use it if I have even a hint that they’re making a move.” He stepped past her and picked up his glass. It took everything in him to drain it to the last disgusting drop, coughing when he finally finished.

Jack lifted a brow and polished off his glass as well, emitting a matching cough. They locked eyes, and Silas nodded. Jack nodded back sadly, as if he knew Silas might never be back but respected their bond either way. “’Til next time then.”

“Next time.”

Silas closed the door behind him and sighed. He hoped his bluff would buy him time, buy Bugs time to identify who was onto him. But first he had to get back to Savannah.

*~*~*~*

Teresa set down the blade, unclenched her fists, and shook them out. She flopped down on Jack’s couch. She’d been so very close to killing Sagan. She should have killed Sagan. It was a desperate failure.

Jack seemed to understand. “Sorry I couldn’t let you. I have hope for his redemption. Do you have anyone you’re devoted to like that?”

She stalked to the windows, taking in the spectacular view but not seeing it. “Yeah. Savvy’s one of them.”

“You knew her before she came here?” Jack stepped up next to her.

In any other line of work, having a man who’d held a gun to her head not minutes before chatting her up would have been weird. But she knew the danger had passed.

“No. I knew her brother. He was worried about her. And I was worried about him.” She put her hands in her pockets.

“I saw that he died.” Jack turned to look at her, to gauge her reaction or comfort her, she didn’t know.

“He was pretty tortured about not being able to save her. He thought she was dead. He didn’t know I was trying to get her free.” Teresa knew her poker face was pretty good. For all he did know, Jack didn’t seem to realize the suicide was staged, and the work of her boss. It also seemed clear Sagan didn’t know and was running scared, delivering news he’d made up on the spot.

The doorbell rang. She watched as a puzzled look came over Jack’s face. She followed him to the door and saw Mike there with a pizza.

Jack looked confused right up until he was hit in the arm with a dart. Teresa caught him and eased his body to the ground. Understanding reached his eyes just before the fuzziness.

Mike motioned for her to come with him, but she shook her head. “He’s the key. We need him.”

She almost felt bad about helping Mike take Jack out to the car, but after seeing the bromance between him and Sagan, she knew he was far too valuable to leave behind.

Teresa went upstairs and, speaking Spanish, told the other housekeepers to go home. They clearly hadn’t realized she spoke Spanish until she fluidly told them never to speak of their time in the house and to change their names. Eyes wide, it took them only moments to vanish.

The trip to the safe house was quiet, with Mike taking some crazy, convoluted path to ensure they weren’t followed. She sat near Jack and monitored his vitals until they pulled into the driveway. Then she helped Mike put him on the couch, all the while looking for Toby. When she finally found him, he looked exhausted, but his arms were strong as he pulled her into a hug.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t get her out. I’m so sorry.” She held his face in her hands.

He shook his head, but it was clear he’d hoped Savvy would be in the car. Teresa hoped taking Jack didn’t create more danger for Savvy.

“No, you got you here. One out of two is great. She’s alive though?” His warm eyes searched her face for answers.

“Last time I saw, she was alive and being protected. It’s okay to keep hoping.” Teresa kissed him and took comfort in his strength.

“I’ve been living on hope for a while now. I think it’ll last a little longer.” He gave her a sad smile.