“You really want me to answer that? This isn’t the first time I’ve had you search for her. And to think, she was right under your nose.” I was being a bit of an asshole but I was still angry about the whole thing.
Jessica had been right there. How did we miss that? But I really didn’t have any room to blame him. Hell, Nadya knew the highlights of the story and she had been right there too. She was living in the same town. Connected in ways that none of us even realized. Jessica was a common enough name and I couldn’t expect people to put two and two together. It didn’t help that she’d always been Little Jessie to me. Somehow that name didn’t fit anymore though.
“You gave me nothing to go on before. You had me searching for a ghost. A blonde haired girl named Jessica. Even you have to admit that was insanity.” He was calm as he spoke.
The Hunter was someone I could have consider a friend. But people like us didn’t really have friends. At best, we called to check in every now and then. And if we were lucky, we ran into one another when our jobs overlapped or whatnot. He knew me as well as I knew him, which wasn’t saying much. But it was clear that he knew me well enough to let my harsh words go.
My head hung down and I ran my hand through my hair.
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” I said. “Sitting around is getting to me. It’s been a long damn time I’ve been doing this. And maybe, in the back of my mind, I figured she was dead.” It only felt okay to admit that now that I knew she was alive. I hoped that I wasn’t somehow putting a curse on this situation by saying it.
“Now you have hope,” he said like he got it. “Just hold onto that and let me do my damn job.”
“Fine,” I said not too happily. He was right but it was pretty much like torture waiting.
“Take a vacation. Go see your sister and your mom. Something to keep you occupied.”
“Okay, I get it,” I said with a shake of my head. He wasn’t wrong but I was in no state to face my family right now. They’d see that something was up with me right away and I wasn’t going to let them know anything until I had something solid. It was bad enough thatmyhopes were up, I couldn’t do that to them only to break their hearts all over again.
Without a goodbye, he hung up. It didn’t bother me.
I sat there for a while trying to figure out my next move.
The next day, I had my thing to do. A contract came in and as much as killing people shouldn’t be exciting, it had me internally jumping for joy. It wasn’t so much the fact that I’d get to take someone out, it was more that I had something to put my focus on.
I pulled the heavy door to the bar open and as I stepped inside, my eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim lighting. Keeping stride, I headed to the booth in the back. This place was a shit-hole, but it was perfect for this type of thing. No one would think twice about what was going on in the corner and I didn’t have to look over my shoulder wondering if there was someone listening in.
“The beer is always warm here,” Dalton grumbled as I slid into the booth across from him.
“Then get something else,” I told him with a quick smile.
“Whatcha got?” he asked in a short tone, clearly, done with pleasantries and ready to get this whole thing over.
I pulled out my phone and handed over the info I had been sent on my newest target.
He took my phone and quickly read over the file.
“Where’d this one come from?” he asked once he was done.
“Hayes.”
He nodded and I could see his brain going already.
“Still getting work from him?”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. I wasn’t a huge fan of the man and sometimes his contracts didn’t exactly line up with my morals. Which was why I was here, to get all the information I could before I proceeded. “I’m being cautious with this one.”
Hayes was more of a middle man. He worked the underground circuit and connected people to the services they were in need of. Killer for hire being one of them. He was just one of the many people I’d worked with him a few times over the years. It was not only easier that way, but it was also somehow safer. If it was a setup, he would be the one to take the fall in most cases. I tried to keep my hands as clean as possible in this whole thing. And I wasn’t worried about him giving me up if he did get caught, he would be dead before they’d be able to question him. You see, I wasn’t the only one that got my work from him, there were too many of us to simply be stopped.
“You that desperate for a job?” he asked and one of his brows went up as he took a swig of his beer. His face soured like he immediately regretted the action.
“I wouldn’t say desperate…”
“Sure you wouldn’t.” He grunted and pushed the bottle away as if it offended him. “Look, I don’t trust Hayes one bit, but if you need something to do then I’ll look into it. What’s your gut telling you?”
That was the thing, there was something prickling my spine about this one but it was a feeling I’d never felt before. It wasn’t hesitation or even an unsureness about it. It was like there was something else there that I couldn’t see.
“My gut is telling me to talk to you and get all the information on this guy I can get.” I pinned him with a blank stare.
