Page 29 of The Big Fix

“He, of course, never saw her because Arden’s really good at blending in.”

“How?” Chris asked honestly.

“Aww, sweet,” Jing said, then shot him a look of disappointment.

“But she’s really pretty,” he said under his breath.

It was a nice compliment.

“So we’re not totally sure yet how Mr. Nam fits into the picture,” Arden explained, “but he gave a sworn account of being with Owen before he died, which we know is a lie.”

“Who’s the shadow with him?” Chris asked, and Arden scrolled through the pictures so we could see them all. The man following Nam was hard to miss.

“I can’t say—facial rec didn’t come back with anything—but he stayed with Nam wherever he went, which is quite telling.”

“If there’s one, presumably there’s others,” Chris added.

“Yes. They’re being more inconspicuous than this fellow. But that’s how they lay the trap. We’ll need to be prepared for company when Jared approaches him.”

“The trouble with this town is that you never know who you’re going to meet,” Chris mused. “Say we scoop him up, do you think he’ll cooperate?”

“I assume that’s rhetorical,” Jing said, and I noted Chris reassessing my assistant. She had sounded so cold all of a sudden. “He will talk, whether of his own volition or mine.” Jing’s title was assistant, but they had no idea what she assisted me with.

Chris looked away from her slowly, as if somehow she’d changed right before his eyes. “Aren’t we playing into their hands?”

“Sometimes your enemy’s purpose dictates your response,” I replied with a shrug. “You know that.”

“I do know that,” he agreed. “But what that means is that it could get noisy. We might have to drop bodies.”

“That’s expected,” I assured him.

“In this country, that means the military police on our asses.”

“Which we already said could happen,” Jing chimed in.

“Listen,” I began, “I don’t like the prospect of having a shoot-out with their military either, so we’re all going to do our best to stay under their radar.”

“Let’s call it a night,” Arden announced. “We have a long day ahead of us.”

Chris and Jing retired to their rooms, but Arden lingered.

“Who’s gonna watch over you?” she asked seriously, though I could see she was dead on her feet.

“I can, in fact, take care of myself. I did it for a long time before you came along.”

“Yeah, but you’re older now.”

I shot a death ray out of my eyes, then insisted firmly that she go get some sleep.

“Fine, whatever,” she grumbled.

Five minutes later, there was a knock on the door. The peephole gave me a clear view of a man in fatigues, in his late twenties maybe, holding a duffel bag. What made me open the door were the dog tags hanging from his neck and the insignia on his jacket that told me he was an Army Ranger.

“Good evening, sir,” he greeted me. “My name is George Hunt. Darius Hawthorne sent me to help you with your situation.”

I stepped aside, and he walked by me into the suite. When I closed the door and faced him, he passed me a gun case I took eagerly. Our weapons would be there the following day, arriving with Dante. Until then, I had nothing. Chris was always strapped, and so were Arden and Jing, but I didn’t carry anymore in my day-to-day life, so it was nice that Darius had thought to send me a firearm with Mr. Hunt. Of course, after this, I was thinking I’d go back to being armed at all times.

“I’m an Army sniper, sir. That’s my skill set, as well as close combat. But I think, in this instance, it’s best if I stay out of sight and watch your six.”