Page 13 of Lovely Darkness

This makes Sasha nervous like she wants to slap her hand over my mouth, but then she can’t help herself. She chuckles too. “That’s not even funny, Merc.” But the whole sentence comes out as a whisper-laugh.

“Oh, man.” I sigh out another snicker. “Sometimes it feels like there’s someone pulling strings. Some puppetmaster with a really fucked-up sense of humor.”

“Ten or twelve of them, more like it.”

“Exactly. And they’re all lookin’ down on us laughing their asses off. Fucking with us like we’re their own little personal ant colony to step on.”

“Visine.” She chuckles again. “Would it be wrong to bring that up to Harper at the Labor Day picnic?”

“Do you think it’s a joke?” I ask. And I’m serious.

“Why would his medical history be a joke?”

“I dunno. Visine.” We laugh again. Then I point to her. “I would not bring this up to Harper. Are they really coming for the Labor Day picnic this year?”

Sasha snorts.

Then, before I can stop it, I guffaw.

Then we are grabbing pillows and holding them over our faces to stifle our now inexplicable, uncontrollable outbursts.

It’s really not that funny. In fact, it’s actually kinda sick. Harper Tate poisoned thirteen high-ranking Company men with Visine on her eighteenth birthday because one of them came to the party to marry her, and she wasn’t sure which one it was. So she was like, Fuck it. I’ll just kill ’em all.

We laugh again.

We are definitely going to Hell for this.

The lights come on with a snap and we both turn to find Doc in the back breezeway doorway, scowling at us. “Wanna let me in on the joke?”

He’s an old fart. I’m talkin’ old fart. At least mid-eighties. But he’s got a look to him that says he’s seen way too much and if we cross his line, he’ll get the best of us in the end.

I don’t doubt it. I can only imagine what this dude has done in his lifetime of Company servitude.

I clear my throat. “Sorry. It was… an old, inside joke.”

Doc eyes us for a moment, like he’s waiting for me to explain the joke. Finally, he must decide there will be no explanation and moves on. “Can I help you with something, Mr. Case?”

“It’s Merc. No one calls me Mr. Case. It’s not even my name at this point.”

Doc doesn’t reply. He waits me out.

“We were just checking on Donovan,” Sasha says. “We were curious, but we’re going back—”

Doc interrupts her. “What do you want to know?”

Well. Since he’s here, and he asked, I say, “Have you ever met the… second?”

Doc nods. “But only the once. When he woke up a couple weeks ago.” He looks at Sasha. “Have you ever met Carter?”

Sasha doesn’t answer out loud, but she does shake her head no.

“How about you?”

“Nope. I never even met the first one. I’m here because I was summoned.”

“Who did you train under?” Doc asks, eyeing me warily.

“Garrett McGovern. Ever heard of him?”