Spy to Die For

doesn’t matter who the contract goes out on. The death will happen if the contract exists.”

His hands shook. He clasped them together, but the shaking continued.

Finally, he moved them off the table, apparently thinking she couldn’t see how upset he was.

“It sounds like this was gradual,” she said. “Why is he after you now?”

“Because I was stupid.” He started to get up, then looked at the ceiling, and clearly thought the better of it. He obviously needed to fidget.

Skye waited. She had no idea what else she could do.

“I went to the entire group,” Jack said. “Or what passed for the entire group. And I told them what I knew, how wrong it was, how many innocent people would be at risk, and you know what they did?”

She was afraid she did know, but she shook her head anyway.

“They laughed at me. They called me naive. They said innocents get hurt all the time, and if it concerned me, I was in the wrong profession.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I agreed with them, so I left. I figured that was the end of it. Then you tell me that Heller’s after me.”

She was frowning. She understood his confusion. It made no sense to her either.

“I figured that he thought you knew something he didn’t want out.”

Jack shook his head. He rocked in his chair for a moment, his expression hardening.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I mean, how can I ruin their reputation? I can’t. Everyone already thinks the worst of them.”

“But you have another idea,” she said.

“Yeah,” he said. “I don’t like it.”

She waited again, knowing if she pushed he might not tell her. He rubbed a hand over his mouth.

“I think it’s personal now. I questioned him in front of everyone, I exposed him, and now he wants me gone.”

“He’s that petty?” she asked.

“He’s a little tyrant,” Jack said. “He wants me dead to prove a point, to make an example. He wants to show that he can destroy me or anyone who gets in his way.”

Skye’s stomach twisted. “If that’s the case you don’t have a lot of choices.”

“I know,” Jack said. “Believe me, I know.”

Chapter 35

Jack felt trapped in the small room. He wanted to leave, but he didn’t want to head back to the crowds in Zaeen. He wanted to pace, but there wasn’t room for him to stand up. He needed to move, and Skye wasn’t even done eating yet.

Her point made the trapped feeling worse.

“You could just stay in the Brezev Sector,” she said, picking at her food. “No one would come here. You could start over.”

His sandwich sat heavily on his stomach. He could stay in the Brezev Sector or go somewhere else, but he was six-foot-six, for heaven’s sake. He would be out of place, and people would notice him—if he stayed in space, which he loved.

Plus running would mean looking over his shoulder. It would also put Rikki at risk. When Heller had asked Jack what Rikki thought about the changes in the Rovers, Jack had said, She has no idea what the hell you’re doing and she doesn’t care.

He hadn’t realized until just now that he had probably saved her life with that statement.

But if he ran away, he would put Rikki’s life on the line. The Rovers would go after her, thinking she knew where Jack was. And then they would hurt her, or Heller would.

Not that she couldn’t take care of herself. She could. But he didn’t want Rikki on the run as well because of something he did.

And he didn’t want to lose her friendship. She was family. If he ran, he would have to apologize, tell her he was never coming back, leave her to fend for herself, and vanish.

What kind of man would do that? What kind of person would do that?

Skye was watching him. She had finished most of the sandwich. “If you don’t disappear, you’ll have to do something. They’ll continue to come after you and there’s nothing we can do to protect you.”

He wasn’t sure if the we was the Guild or if the we meant her and him. He didn’t want to ask, either. He wouldn’t put her in danger just because she was with him. Unlike the assassins, unlike Rikki, Skye couldn’t fend off a trained killer any more than he could.

“I know,” Jack said. “I have to come up with something else.”

He deliberately avoided the we that she had used. But he did need some information from her.

“Would the Guild care that a Guild member has hired Heller?” he asked.

“Yes,” Skye said. “Of course.”

She was clearly thinking about it. She frowned, then slid her plate aside. “I had hoped to have all the information when I approached the Guild, but I could tell them that this is happening. They would do something about Heller.”

“He doesn’t rise to their standards for a target, though, does he?” Jack asked.

“It depends,” she said. “If he has been hired to harm someone important in the Guild, then yes, he would. It would be defensive. They would go after him and whoever else was plotting with him.”

“We can’t just speculate, though, can we?” Jack asked.

“I worry about the Guild doing the investigation,” she said. “I don’t know who is involved. After today, I think a lot more people are involved than I expected.”

“You don’t know who to trust,” he said.

She nodded. “We have to bring facts to the people in charge.”

Now was the time for him to ask about the word we. He wrapped his hands together. He felt nervous—he wasn’t sure why he felt nervous. Maybe because he felt like a lot was at stake with her answer?

He wasn’t sure.

“You mean you and me?” he asked.

“Well, yes,” she said as if it were the most natural thing in the universe. “Your people are coming after you, some of my people are involved, there’s all kinds of investigating to be done. Why wouldn’t you and I do the work together?”

A thread of joy started through him. He ignored it. He couldn’t be sidetracked by the idea of spending time with Skye, as enjoyable as he would find it.

Much as he desired it.

“They might catch us before we find out all of the information we need,” Jack said. “It’s dangerous.”

She grinned. “I’d love to tell you that danger is my middle name, but you’d know different. Still, I think it’s better for both of us if we go after this together. I mean, how are you going to let the Guild know if you figure out who is involved there?”

“I suppose,” he said. He hadn’t gotten that far mentally yet.

“And you know who to investigate from your side,” she said. “We have a lot of stuff to do.”

She sounded happy about it, as if a path made her more comfortable as well.

Still, he had one more question for her. “You spent all this time researching Zaeen. I can only assume it was to find your parents. Don’t you want to stay here and do that research?”

“You hate it here,” she said.

He didn’t like that answer. “That’s not a reason for you to leave.”

Her grin faded. She did stand up, and he envied that. Still, she didn’t have room to pace either. So she just grabbed the back of her chair and ran her hands across it.