Chapter 28

The walk was quiet, but I knew that everyone was wondering the same thing.  Once we found Dorothy, what would that mean for us?  Would I have to quit this assignment, pretend to be part of Mitch’s gang, and let him give me another?  Would I ever see George again?  What about Gabe?  My stomach dropped at the thought of not seeing them again.  George was the best friend that I had ever had.  He was the first man that I loved, the first person to make me feel like something other than an agent under Mitch’s thumb. 

I glanced to my right and smiled at Gabe.  He wasn’t as adventures than George, didn’t always have that flirty smile on his face.  Maybe that was why I was drawn to him.  Despite only knowing him for a short amount of time, I knew that if I let myself, I could fall for this man.  He could be the one who gave me the family that I had always wanted.  The thought stopped me in my tracks.  Was that what I wanted?  The longer I stood there, the more I realized that I did.  I no longer wanted to work these jobs, risking my life when I had nothing in my life worth risking.

“Dot.”  I looked towards George, frowning at the name he used.  His concerned expression turned to that genuine smile as his eyes turned amused.  “If I can’t use your real name, Dot will have to do.”  He pursed his lips, looking mildly irritated, but I knew it was all for show.  “You’re not really a Dee.”

A small smile pulled up the corner of my lips as I rolled my eyes at him.  “Call me what you want.”

“Fine, L—”

“Except that,” I interrupted, darting my eyes towards Gabe.  He stared at me for a moment before turning away without a word. 

I bit the inside of my cheek, but before I could bite down too hard, a finger ran down my jaw.  “You’re going to hurt yourself,” George whispered.  He dropped his hand with a sigh.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have joked around like that.  I’ll talk to him for you; tell him what it means to you.”

“It’s fine,” I mumbled.  “I planned to tell him,” I said, and even to my own ears, it sounded like a lame excuse.  “I just wanted all of this mess to be finished with first.”

He nudged me until I started walking again.  Our walk was a little hurried as we tried to catch up with Gabe, but that didn’t keep George from talking.  Hell, there wasn’t anything that I could think of that would keep him from talking.  “I know what you mean,” he admitted.  “This last year or so, it hasn’t been the same.”  Again, there was something in his voice that I couldn’t quite place, but when he continued to speak, I threw the question to the back of my mind.  “This is my last assignment.”

I stumbled slightly in the high heels that I was wearing, and George’s hand instantly went to my elbow until I was steady on my feet.  I turned towards him, knowing that the surprise was still etched onto my face.  “What do you mean?”

His hand dropped from my elbow as he ran it through his hair.  “I’m handing my job over to Julian.”  He gestured towards Gabe.  “Or Gabe, whatever in the hell the man wants to be called.”  When I chuckled, he smiled.  “I’m just tired of it, you know?  I’m tired of playing all these games, when it’s no longer what I want.”

“What do you want?”

Eyes lighting up with excitement, he reminded me of the first time I had met him.  Everything that George did, he did with such happiness that there was no question as to whether he wanted to do it or not.  Only now did I realize that that excitement had been absent from his eyes for a while.  “I have this house.”  His voice dropped lower as if he didn’t want anyone but me to hear.  “A little North of New Orleans.  The school system there is one of the best in the states, most likely because the town is so small to begin with.”

“What are you going to do when you get there?” I asked, feeling his excitement rub off on me. 

He laughed as he shook his head.  “You’re not going to believe it, but I’m going to be a cop.”

A laugh of my own escaped my lips as I shook my head at him.  “Seriously?”

“I’ve broken the law so many times that I have them all memorized.”  His laughter ceased as a serious expression formed on his face.  “I want a family and a dog.  I want everything.  The white picket fence really isn’t in my tastes, but if the woman that I want with me there likes them, I could make an exception.”

“Who is that?” I asked.

I held my breath and waited for the answer, not knowing exactly what I wanted to hear from him.  It didn’t matter though, because before he could say a word, Gabe called out to the two of us.  Something that looked like disappointment flashed into George’s eyes before the same flirty, carefree smile lifted his lips.  “Come on, Dot.  We have a job to do.”

He walked away, leaving me standing there more confused than I had ever been in my life.  George planned to walk away from it all, planned to give up all the excitement for something so mundane, and he was handing his business over to Gabe.  Something turned in my stomach, something that I wasn’t willing to identify.  Would George really be happy in the life that he thought he wanted?  Would he be able to live in a small town, where everyone knew everyone’s secrets, and thrive?

I stared at his back as he finally caught up to Gabe.  For some odd reason, the thought of him being a cop felt right.  He would still get a boost of adrenaline every once in a while, but at the same time, in a small town, he’d be able to go home every night to his family.  I rubbed my chest, as a sharp pain hit me.

“What’s wrong?” Gabe called out, reminding me that I was still standing in the middle of the sidewalk with the two of them waiting on me.

With a smile that felt more fake that real, I began walking towards them.  “Must be heartburn from all that junk food I’ve eaten lately.”

“Must be,” George agreed, but I could tell he knew I was lying.  He glanced towards the place we were all now standing in front of and winced.  “I have a feeling that this place doesn’t really open during the day.”

“It’s open,” Gabe said as he pushed at the front door.  “The daytime business is just as lucrative as the nighttime.”

I glanced at the blinking sign in front of me and winced.  “I’m keeping my clothes on.”

George laughed as he grabbed my hand and pulled me in after Gabe.  “You’ll be the only female in here that does.”

The music pulsed around us, but instead of a heavy rock beat that I had expected, the songs were more sensual.  My eyes darted everywhere except for towards the stages that were lit up in the dark place.  If it was this dark during the day, trying to maneuver in here at night must be damned impossible.

“Hey,” George whispered as Gabe walked towards the man standing behind the bar.  “If you want to wait outside, you can.”

I looked towards him and winced when my eyes caught something that I didn’t particularly want to see.  “I can handle it.”

He threw an arm around my shoulder, and before I could protest, pulled me so close to his side that if I wanted too, I could turn my head and be buried against him.  The sounds, smells, and everything else around me would be drowned out.  I didn’t give into the temptation, even though I knew the only reason why he pulled me close was so that I could hide.

“Doesn’t work here anymore,” the bartender said as we got closer.  “Couldn’t dance worth a shit.”  He wiped up something on the bar that I couldn’t see before smiling slightly.  “To be honest, I didn’t know why she was here to begin with.  Real high class bitch, if you know what I mean.  Even if she didn’t open her mouth, you could tell by looking at her close.  Hell, all she would have had to do was sell one of those rings on her finger and she’d been set for life.”

“Do you know why she was here then?”

The bartender looked towards me as the words left my mouth, and the slightly amused smile that was on his face turned into something else.  “Women like her come in here all the time, looking for some cheap thrill because they don’t feel sexy or something.”  He shook his head in what looked like mild disappointment.  “Never really understood it myself.”  His eyes narrowed as he studied me closer.  “You look like her a little.”  The narrowed eyes widened as he flashed me a smile that I knew most women would find charming, but most women didn’t deal with George on a daily basis.  “I bet you could dance.”

“Not happening,” George snapped in the deadly tone he usually used for the people Mitch sent us to kill. 

My hand gripped his arm, and I could feel all the tension leave his body.  “No offence,” I said with a charming smile of my own.  “But I don’t need that,” I motioned towards the stage where various women in states of undress were gyrating to the music.  “To feel sexy, nor do I need the money.”

“Touché,” the bartender said with a laugh as he reached down and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.  His hand scribbled something onto the paper before he held it out towards me.  Gabe reached for it, but the man snapped his hand back so quickly that I didn’t even see the motion.  “For the lady,” the bartender said with a friendly smile, but the look in his eyes was dangerous.

I stepped away from George and was relieved when he let me go.  Walking towards the bartender, I let my body fall into the job.  My hips swung a little more than they should as a flirty smile pulled the corner of my lips.  If there was something I couldn’t use on that slip of paper, I would flirt the information out of him.  I grabbed the slip of paper he held out to me, and his fingers skimmed mine as I did.

“Call me if you ever decide you need a job.” 

He said the words with a wink, but when I looked down at the paper, I realized that his words were just for show.  I folded the paper in my hand, forcing myself to keep the easygoing smile on my face as the words he had written caused my heart to pound in my chest.  “Believe me,” I whispered, hoping that my eyes showed how grateful I was for what he had done.  “If I ever need the job, I’ll call.”

Nodding his head at me, he moved down the bar to refill someone’s drink.  I took it as the dismissal it was and walked towards the exit of the bar.  My footsteps were steady, but the information the man had given me almost knocked me off my feet.  There was no reason for the bartender to lie.  He didn’t know me, didn’t know what any of this was about, but a small part of me wished that he was lying.

I stepped out of the place and kept walking.  I could hear the footsteps behind me, knew that George and Gabe were right there, but I didn’t stop for them to catch up.  Instead, I kept walking as I slipped the paper from my pocket.  My eyes flew over it once more. 

Guy in green with her

They were simple words, and I knew that the bartender was trying to keep them short, trying to make it look like a number was all that he was writing.  The piece of paper crumbled in my fist as I dropped it before stepping into the alley we had met in only moments before.  George was the first person behind me, and as he bent down to grab the piece of paper I had dropped, I reached for the gun that neither one of them knew that I had. 

Neither of them could see me as I stood in the alley, but I could see them.  I could see George frown at the paper as he uncurled it.  I could see him reach for his gun as I had earlier as he dropped the paper back to the ground.  As he stood, he raised his gun with him.  With genuine regret on his face, he whispered, “Sorry,” before he turned and shot.

Gabe fell to the ground, clutching his arm.  As I took a step forward, I watched the glazed expression enter the man’s eyes before they closed.  The gun that was in my hand was gently pulled from my grip as George grabbed me in a tight hug.  “I’m so sorry, Laura.”

“Sorry that you didn’t kill him?” I asked with a small laugh as my throat threatened to close.

George stepped away from me with a smile that lessened the hurt I was feeling.  “Even if I didn’t need to question him,” he said while running a finger across my cheekbone.  “I would never take that away from you.”

Genuine laughter spilled from my lips as I glanced towards Gabe’s still body.  The hurt was there, almost overwhelming me, but I knew that it was minor compared to what it could have been.  Because I had a feeling that if George’s button down shirt was any color other than a light orange, the hurt would be unbearable. 

My head snapped towards him as the words he had used earlier finally settled in my mind.  “You called me Laura,” I said with a small smile. 

He smiled back before shaking his head.  “It is your name,” he said in amusement before motioning towards Gabe.  “Come on; let’s get him out of here before someone calls the cops.”

“Like anyone would call the cops in this neighborhood,” I said with a snort, causing him to laugh.  The sound made the last bit of hurt fly away.  I knew that it wouldn’t stay gone forever, but for now, as I helped George stand Gabe up, making him look more like a drunk than a man with a tranquilizer dart in his arm, the only thing that I was feeling was immense relief, relief that the one person that I trusted above everyone else wasn’t the one to betray that trust.  How could I have been so stupid?  It took something like this for me to realize what had been right in front of me from the beginning, George.  He was the one who had been there for me from the beginning, who had never betrayed my trust, and I could have lost all of that.  For that reason alone, Gabe’s betrayal didn’t hurt as much as it should have. 

“You going to be okay?” George asked, interrupting my thoughts.

I smiled at him as we dragged Gabe towards our waiting vehicle.  “Yeah,” I said honestly, “but I’m not into white picket fences either.”

A happy laugh flew from his mouth as he shook his head at me.  “God, I missed you.”