Outlaws by Matt Rogers (phonics books TXT) 📕

to deposit the money into. From there, I send the funds straight into the labyrinth. They might be able to trace it to one or two other entities, but never all of them. They’ll never be able to hit me where it hurts.’

She processed this.

He said, ‘So let’s go. Right now.’

‘Have you spoken to King?’

‘Yes.’

‘You’ve said your goodbyes?’

Slater paused. ‘I’ll see him again. Eventually.’

‘Is that smart?’

‘It’s the way it has to be. He means too much to me. It’s hard to explain.’

‘I get it,’ she said. ‘I’ve never seen combat, but… I get it.’

‘You can’t really explain the bond.’

She nodded.

Then she said, ‘They might be expecting you to run.’

He shook his head. ‘There’s a chance they saw me leaving my building. But not arriving here. And I didn’t step out with a single possession. Not even a bag.’

She looked him up and down. ‘Do you need anything?’

‘No.’

‘Clothes? Personal stuff?’

He stared, unresponsive.

She said, ‘You don’t have personal stuff, do you?’

‘I have you,’ he said. ‘That’s about the extent of my life outside of work.’

‘We need to work on that.’

‘We will. We have the chance, now.’

A smile came over her, despite the circumstances. She stepped forward, closing the gap, killing the separation between them. He reached out for her, and pulled her in, and kissed her.

When they parted, he said, ‘What do you say?’

‘If you were going to wait around for the answer, what do you think it would be?’

‘I don’t think they’re going to let me walk away.’

‘So no matter what, we need to run?’

He took his time to nod. He didn’t want to admit the truth. But he nodded all the same, because he’d been taught to only deal with the truth, no matter how painful it might be.

She said, ‘I’ll pack.’

His heart thudded. Packing meant cutting off everything they had here in the city. It meant fleeing with new identities, new lives. It meant tipping their whole world on its head.

And for Slater, perhaps most importantly it meant walking away from Jason King.

She made for the bedroom, where the closet contained the suitcases she needed to fill with all her worldly possessions, and he stayed behind in the living room.

He reached for his phone out of impulse.

To find the contact King and dial.

But when he pulled it out he stopped his thumb in its tracks, refusing to swipe across the screen and unlock it.

He couldn’t half-commit.

He couldn’t seesaw back and forth.

Calling to say, ‘Sorry, I didn’t get to say goodbye.’

Full measures only.

It was the only way.

So he inched his phone back toward his jeans.

Then it rang.

He looked at the screen.

Violetta.

His heart thudded again.

Time to decide.

He answered and lifted it to his ear and said, ‘Hey.’

She didn’t talk for a beat.

Long enough for him to ponder whether she was even on the other end of the line or not.

But she was.

She said, ‘Don’t even think about it.’

31

He didn’t skip a beat.

Hesitation kills.

He said, ‘What are you talking about?’

‘You know exactly what I’m talking about.’

‘Feel free to enlighten me.’

‘Where are you?’

‘Not home.’

‘I know that. You shook off the tail.’

Slater bristled at the confirmation. It proved he was dealing with people who knew what they were doing. It would have taken an expert to recognise the right time to back off and avoid getting caught in the traps he’d set. In the past he’d ensnared many experienced trackers with the same movements.

He said, ‘Cut the bullshit. You know me. You know where I am.’

‘Jiu-jitsu at the Gracie gym, or practice at the shooting range, or running in Central Park, or rendezvousing with Alexis. Those seem to be the only things you do.’

‘The latter.’

‘Why are you telling me? I didn’t expect you to.’

‘Because you’re out of position, and if I wanted to leave right now, I could. You’d never find me.’

‘Want to bet?’

‘Obviously. It’s the ultimate bet, isn’t it? Life or death.’

‘I’m not going to kill you.’

‘I know. You couldn’t. But you might task a team to try.’

‘You got resources? As far as I can tell, you’re dead in the water.’

‘Yes,’ Slater said. ‘I have resources.’

‘We know all your passports.’

‘You think I only have the ones you gave me? You think I couldn’t get more? What do you think I did when I was a wanted man?’

She said, ‘I could send your picture to every airport in the country within minutes.’

‘Then I’ll go for a long drive. It’ll take me about two days to change my appearance enough to breeze through.’

‘Your girlfriend’s identity will be burned.’

‘I’ve already got her a new one.’

‘But that doesn’t erase the past,’ Violetta said. ‘Her parents are in the UK, but they’re still traceable.’

Slater went so quiet he couldn’t even hear himself breathe.

Violetta noticed.

She said, ‘Will?’

‘I was playing your little game,’ he said. ‘But if you even think about touching her family, I’ll fucking destroy you. You know I will.’

He’d never used that tone with her.

It rendered her speechless.

In the loft, Slater heard the creak of floorboards. He looked up to see Alexis staring at him, shock on her face. She’d never heard it either. The tone of a cold-blooded killer.

The tone of a savage.

The tone of someone speaking the absolute truth.

‘Now what do you want?’ he growled.

‘Get back here. Let’s not resort to anything irrational.’

‘You’d better give me a reason.’

‘The reason is that I’ve accepted your retirement, and I want to discuss the terms with you. Is that good enough for you?’

He paused. ‘What terms?’

‘That’s not something I’m at liberty to discuss over the phone.’

‘You’d better.’

‘Or what? You’ll run? Even after what I just told you? That would be an incredibly stupid decision.’

He made to respond, but she cut him off.

‘That’s it,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing left to discuss. Get back here. It’s in your best interests.’

The line went dead.

Slater kept the phone pressed to his ear. Indecision plagued him.

You’ll run?

That would be an incredibly stupid decision.

She was right.

He looked up at Alexis. ‘I need to go back.’

‘It might be a trap.’

‘Maybe. But Violetta still reached out. That’s all I was looking for. A swift answer.