Get out of jail, get yet another crappy criminal henchman job, get his hotshot lawyer ex-girlfriend back. Oh yeah -- and get a murderous demon exorcised from his head. Jason Torres has his route back from rock-bottom perfectly planned out, right? Th...
She took my hand. I'd thought it was for my benefit, but then I realized that it was to still the shakes that had caught her unawares.
I shoulda taken Sylvia's deal to exchange Dante's secrets for mine. I'd have gone to jail days earlier. Coulda avoided all this shit.
"Turning yourself in won't achieve anything. Dante will be jailed for spying on and obstructing a CIA investigation. The two people dedicated to ending Alcor will be incarcerated. Alcor will win. If you're truly here to confess, tell me everything about Mira al Assad."
What was the point? Neither me nor Dante had vengeance left in us. Zaki was sitting in a cell somewhere in María PD, but he'd never flip on her. Besides, he was a snake; he'd escape somehow. Maybe he was slithering his way back to her that very moment.
"Just put me in jail."
"Still lying for her?" Sylvia clicked open her laptop and slid a little mic across the desk. "Do you want what's best for Dante?"
"You know that's all I want."
"Then tell the truth. On the record. What were you to Mira al Assad?"
Fuck.
The devil was in the details. Which was why I needed to keep them hidden.
My fate was sealed: decades in jail for hurting Dante, and for killing so many men. I deserved it. But I'd never talked about her before. She'd end me for even breathing her name in my sleep. Then again, perhaps it would be a release to feel her blade on my neck.
"I didn't get told shit about Alcor's operations. But..." I took in a ragged breath. Then another. "...I knew her. I don't even know how it first happened, but she...she...me and her—"
A muted click startled me.
"Jason?" Sylvia had pressed down the lid of her laptop. She pushed it away across the desk. "Can I ask you something?"
I knotted my fingers to quell the shakes. "Yeah."
"Do you prefer if Rayan hears this from you, or reads it in a police report?"
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123B MORENO DRIVE, December 23
Slinky sprang onto the sofa with a mewl. She began to pat Rayan's lap with fast-working paws, occasionally trapping a tiny claw in the fabric of his sweats. Finding the surface acceptable, she snuggled her kitty ass against Rayan and got to purring, her bushy tail swishing against his chin like a fly-whisk. Rayan widened his legs to give her more space, squashing me against the armrest.
Sylvia hunched over her lilac writing desk, the laptop's dim glow casting deep shadows on her face. "Speak slowly and clearly, Jason. Pause when you need to."
Rayan pressed a firm hand to my shoulder. "We got each other's backs, right?"
