Chapter 27

Stretching my arms above my head, I let out a small yawn.  Beside me in the car, George shook his head with disappointment on his face, but I knew it wasn’t real.  Out of all of us, he was the one having the most fun.  He loved the game, love the thrill of the sport.  It’s why when he had to leave Mitch’s crew, he never really got out.  Instead, he had taken an enormous chance of being caught by starting an agency of his own. 

Turning in the seat slightly, I stared at his profile.  His lips turned up into that little half smile he seemed only to let me see, and I knew he was aware of my inspection.  “What is it?”

“Do you ever wonder what it would have been like?” I asked, not sure where the question came from to begin with.

George’s grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly, the only outward clue that he didn’t necessarily like the question I was asking.  “I used to wonder every day.  What would it have been like if you would have realized Mitch was crooked when I found out?  You just weren’t ready to believe it, and I didn’t have any more time to convince you.”

“You were my first,” I said with a smile. “My first love, the first person who actually challenged me, the first person to make me laugh, but Mitch was the father that I’d never really had.  Growing up the way that I did, all I really wanted was someone to care for me.  I wanted a family to come home to, and he represented that for me.”  Shaking my head at my words, I let out a small laugh.  “I wasn’t ready to give up that idealistic family, and that meant that I had to believe Mitch was who he pretended to be.”

He turned towards me and smiled before looking back towards the road.  “A part of me knew that you weren’t ready.  It’s the only reason why I didn’t fight harder for you.  I knew that if I tried, I could have talked you into coming along, but how long would it have taken for you to want to leave?  How long would you have been content without having all the answers?  If there’s one thing that I love about you it’s that you never let someone make up your mind for you, and you always give the people you care for the benefit of the doubt.  In our line of business, that trait is hard to come by.”

“It just took me a while to realize it, huh?  God, I wish that it wouldn’t have taken me so long.  I’d been around him for a year and the only reason why I began to realize he wasn’t who he said was because of this mission.  I’d hate to think how long it would have taken me otherwise.”

“I wouldn’t have let you stay there long.”  He shrugged when I threw him a disbelieving look.  “I wouldn’t have.  Before you called, I was already wondering how I could quicken your split from Mitch.  I’d thought about planting someone inside Mitch’s corporation, having them drop clues here and there until you realized it.  Hell, I even thought about kidnapping you.  The only problem with that is how easily you would have gotten away.  But a year is a long damn time to not know the truth.”

“I know the truth now,” I supplied while lightly hitting him on the arm.  “Plus, I may have let you kidnap me there for a while, especially when Mitch wasn’t allowing me on any missions.  He never came out and said it, but he no longer trusted me.”

George turned into a building, letting me know that they were finally where Dorothy had been seen last.  “To be fair,” George said as he cut the engine off, “you’ve never really trusted Mitch.”  He paused for a second, and a small smile formed on his lips.  “Have you actually ever fully trusted anyone?”

Before I could answer, he was jumping out of the car and walking towards my side.  I sat there, watching him as he came towards me and felt something turn over in my stomach.  He was right.  I had never trusted Mitch, not from the beginning.  I hadn’t told the man my deepest fears, what I wished for in life.  I never told Mitch how much I wanted a family of my own, how I longed to create the life I had never had growing up.  There was one person I had told those things too.  There was one person who knew as much about me as I did, and not just from reading a file Mitch had composed. 

“George,” I whispered as the door opened up.  His hand came into view, and when I simply stared at it, he bent down to frown at me.

His eyes scanned my body as the frown deepened.  “Are you okay?  Is something wrong?”

“I’m fine,” I said, a little too quickly, making him raise an eyebrow at me in reaction.  “Just nervous.”

“Right,” he drawled.  “Well, there’s nothing to be nervous about.  If you’re afraid that you’ll be recognized, I have a red wig in the back.”

Just like that, my previous feelings melted away as I laughed at him.  “Do I even want to know why you have a wig back there?”

“Long hair makes me feel pretty,” he pouted while grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the vehicle.  “You want it or not?”

“Sure,” I said, seeing as he was already walking towards the trunk of his car. 

Pulling the keys out of his pocket, he opened the trunk just as I stepped next to him.  His hands went towards the red wig, while I stood there feeling mildly impressed.  Every little space was being used, whether it was holding some type of arsenal or disguise, George had enough things to fight an army while looking like a completely different person.  His teeth bit at the wrapping the wig was in, making me wince.

“I know.  I’ll ruin my teeth,” he mumbled, handing the bag to me before I could even voice my opinion.

The knife in my pocket slipped out easily, and George didn’t even blink as I slit the bag open before pulling the wig out.  He grabbed it from me before I had a chance to situate it on my head.  His hands moved so quickly and efficiently that it brought me back to when we worked jobs together.  Doing things like this, helping each other, was normal then. Now, it just brought back memories that I didn’t know if I wanted to rehash. 

“Done,” he mumbled, taking a step back to look at his handy work.  “I still like you better with blonde,” he said as a smirk formed on his face. 

Throwing the empty bag at him, I snapped the knife closed and slipped it back into my pocket.  “So, what are in those needles you and Julian seem to carry with you everywhere.”

“Nothing special,” George said while grabbing a couple from the trunk.  Wiggling his eyebrows at me, he began lifting his shirt.  I didn’t look away, knowing that he was goading me, but the sight that he presented wasn’t exactly what I had thought it would be.  Around his stomach was a large black band.  As I watched, he slipped each needle into a slot before dropping his shirt.  “I don’t know where Julian keeps them. You’re going to have to ask him yourself.” 

George turned back to his trunk.  Grabbing a handgun, he slid it into the back of his pants before slipping a knife into his shoe.  He rummaged around some more, mumbling beneath his breath until he came up with a button down shirt and some chopsticks.

“Did Caroline give you those?” I asked, instantly recognizing the weapons Caroline had put in my hair the night of the party.

“Turn,” George said as he slipped the shirt on and ignored my question. 

My eyes narrowed on him.  He didn’t flinch as he pulled the button down shirt on, not bothering to button it.  “Where did you get those?”

“Some of my men are in the cleanup business.  They ran across one of these stuck in the side of some man’s neck.”

“You had me followed!”

“Of course I did,” he replied as if I was stupid for thinking he wouldn’t.  Grabbing my shoulders, he turned me around and attempted to style my hair much like Caroline had a few nights before.

“You’ve gotten worse.”

“I’ve been out of practice for a year,” he mumbled as he finally got all of the fake hair to stay up with just the chopsticks.  “Just don’t move your head a lot.”

“Thanks.”  I put enough sarcasm in my voice to make him chuckle at me. 

The trunk slammed shut behind me, but I didn’t turn to look at George.  Instead, I stared at the businesses in front of me.  You’d think that someone like Dorothy would go somewhere a little more upper class, but the places they were standing in front of now was anything but that.  The buildings looked run down.  Windows were broken, and I was pretty sure that there was caution tape surrounding one building. 

George grabbed my hand, swinging it as if we were children on a field trip, not adults looking for a spoiled woman who was ruining a lot of people’s lives.  “Not what you expected, huh?” he whispered as we passed by an arguing couple.  “Me either. When my men got the location of where the photo was taken, I was a little surprised myself.”

A smile stayed on his face as we walked, and I knew that he was trying to keep up the appearances that we were an everyday couple, walking down the street as if nothing was amiss.  “I expected a lot more than this,” I admitted, “but now I understand the dress choice.  You want me to stand on the corner with the other ladies, don’t you?”

His grip on my hand tightened slightly before he loosened it with a chuckle.  “How’d you guess?”

The tone he used was a little off, and I didn’t stop to wonder why it was.  Instead, I kept letting him lead us down sidewalk after sidewalk.  To me, it didn’t look like we were going anywhere.  Each building I passed by looked the same, run down with doors still open for business.  We passed by a couple of alleys, and at that moment, I chose to ignore the noises coming from them.  If this was what the place was like during the day, I didn’t want to be here when it got dark.

“George,” I started, but before I could ask my question, he stepped into one of those alleys. 

With his arm still holding mine, I had no choice but to follow.  My foot slid in something that I didn’t want to identify, but George settled me before that substance could also destroy the jeans I was wearing.  “What are we doing here?” I whispered.  This was the first time since doing my job that I had actually felt as if I was in a horribly written crime movie, hiding in alleys trying to find the bad guys. 

A hand grabbed my arm, making me jump.  Laughter reached my ears, stopping me just in time from plunging the knife in my pocket into the person’s throat.  “You scared me,” I groaned, while dropping George’s hand and pushing Gabe.  “I could have killed you for that.”

George threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me slightly away from Gabe.  “Can’t have you killing the man,” he joked.  “Remember, he’s one of my best.”

Gabe stared at the arm around my shoulder before sending me a small smile.  “I’m just glad that you’re not mad at me for not keeping my promise.”

Instantly, I remembered what I had said to him the night before, that it had better be his arms that I woke up in.  “Rain check?”

“Rain check,” Gabe agreed, his smile turning genuine.

Beside me, George cleared his throat, causing Gabe and I to look towards him.  “Did you find her?”

“Yeah,” Gabe said, his smile falling completely, “and you’re not going to like this.”

“Lead the way,” I mumbled as I stepped out from under George’s arm and began following Gabe.  The further we walked, the worse the dread in my stomach became.  I had a feeling that Gabe was right, because no matter what happened during this job, I knew I wasn’t going to like the outcome.