Jealous Storm by Jack Stroke (book recommendations .txt) 📕

“All right then,” Stacey said. She was likely a good cop. Patient. “Give me something more concrete than that he is bad news.” She waited for Amber, who didn’t say anything. “Look, the guy might be a real piece of work —”

“No, no. He’s done something, okay? If you look him up, if you do the background check…” Amber could hear how desperate she sounded, acutely aware how foolish this was and yet she couldn’t stop herself. It was like she was on rails, barrelling forward without choice. “I can’t do a background check, don’t you see? But there’s something there. I just don’t know what it is.”

Stacey smiled, part sympathetic, part condescending. “I believe you. I do. But it’s not about that. For better or worse this isn’t the old West. We can’t just run people we don’t like out of town. Not without evidence.”

“The evidence will be in the background check.”

“Maybe. But if so, you’ll need to find some other way.”

38

By the empty pool at the ’Ropicana, the air gushed out of Ben like a rapidly deflating balloon, denying him the ability to speak.

“What do you call this thing?” Shake said indicating to the pink concrete shell beside them. “I was going to leave you a note, back in the room, let you know I was by the pool. Except pool denotes water. So, what would you call a pool with no water?”

“You can’t be serious…” Ben managed eventually.

“Whether it’s a pool not? I guess I could have just said an empty pool. No matter. You found me.”

“About Nicole.”

“Oh, she contacted you, by the way.” Shake held up the burner phone he’d given Ben. “She wants you to come hang out.”

Ben snatched the phone.

“Chill, Benny boy. I know, invasive, right? Me looking through your messages. No secrets here, my friend. You and I are a team on this.”

Nicole’s message was simple yet it set his heart on fire.

“What do I say to her?”

“You say yes, I would love to come and hang out with you.”

“And then?”

“And then, you hang out.”

Red splotches marched their way up Ben’s neck. “Enough games, Shake. You know what I’m asking.”

“I don’t. I’m not a mind reader.”

“How do I…”

“How do you what, Benny? Again, if you can’t say it, you won’t be able to do it.”

“How am I supposed to kill her?”

“Why? What are you thinking? Stab? Lot of blood.” He grinned, enjoying himself too much.

It took all Ben’s restraint not to strike him. This was a living, breathing, beautiful person they were talking about.

“Shoot her? Toss her out a window? Nothing like that. Don’t worry. It’ll be quick and painless.”

“Somehow, I doubt that.”

“Poison, Benny. Slow acting. An easy one for your first.”

“An easy one?”

“Relatively. You won’t be there when it happens. She won’t die in your arms. No dramatic getaway. She won’t have any idea that it was you. Neither will anybody else. Easy.”

Ben couldn’t breathe, temporarily having forgotten how.

“Is this going to be a problem?”

The empty pool stared up at Ben. He fought the urge to dive in. Right in that moment it was appealing, even with the lack of water.

“This is the job, Benny, my young friend. What did I say? Meet the girl, nothing more. No one told to kiss her.”

“Will she suffer?”

“What did I say about questions? You have a job to do. Pondering things like that will only lead to trouble.”

“Why?”

“Think about it. What if I say, ‘Yeah, she will suffer greatly.’ It doesn’t change anything. You still have to do it. You’ll just feel worse about it.”

“What if I…”

Again, Shake waited, not helping.

“What if I can’t?”

“No such thing as can’t. You can and you will.”

“But, seriously, what if I can’t? I mean, physically can not do it?”

“What did I say on the plane, Benny? What is it we do at Diamond Logistic?”

“What we are told.”

“Exactly. This is the job. We are waaaaaay beyond ’can’t’. There is no going home and crying to your Mum. Or Amber. You just have to buckle down and get on with it.”

Shake swung his legs about, sitting up.

“First one is tough, no doubt about it. I’d love to tell you it gets easier, but it doesn’t. It just gets different.” He patted Ben on the knee as he stood. “This won’t make you feel any better, but the girl is going to die, one way or another. Your choice. For her, the end result will be the same. For you, you can successfully complete your first assignment. Or you can completely screw up any potential employment possibilities and disappoint a whole lot of people.”

Shake wandered back to their room, leaving him. Ben glanced up. The sky was there, as always. It just felt like it was falling in.

39

The sun set slowly over Paradise Cove. A crappy day was turning into a miserable evening. At least for Amber. She decided to do something about things. Being passive wasn’t helping. Trouble is, her solution wasn’t working either.

She waded out into the water at Hidden Beach, desperate for its magic healing powers to restore her. Usually a place of unimaginable delight, today the water just felt wet. It wasn’t the temperature, that was perfect. Slipping into the ocean should have been gorgeous. Stupid Ellis. This was all his fault. The guy was poison. A slow-acting poison that sucked all the good away from anything and left a husk.

From somewhere deep in the recesses of her mind a voice reminded her: Chill Amber. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chill Amber was all well and good. She had never factored in Ellis though. Yes, Chill Amber was still a thing just… later.

‘That’s not how it’s supposed to work…’ God, shut up, brain. When had her internal monologue turned into Vaughan? Nope. The water wasn’t helping. Time to try something else.

“Lion? Lion?”

Where was that pesky cat? As far as she knew he didn’t travel too far. He had his kingdom at Paradise by the Bay. She had never seen him venture much beyond that. How could he