Page 41 of Redemption

“Feeling is mutual.” She shrugs. “What can you do? We hardly know each other.”

A reminder we’re playing parts, and in this version of reality, none of us have known each other more than a few weeks. While Kim might be schooled at pretending, the rest of us aren’t used to this kind of subterfuge. At what point will we slip up?

“Did you want to come in?” I try to soften my tone to one I’d use with someone unfamiliar. To be effective at our deception, I have to shove my memories of her in a compartment of my brain I don’t access and start fresh.

She shakes her head. “It’s not like we’re going to sit around braiding each other’s hair. Why don’t we go for a walk?”

I glance at my heels and remember seeing a pair of flats in the closet. My size, of course. “Come in for a sec.” I swing open the door. “I need different shoes.”

She trails me to the closet after closing the door. When I throw open the double doors, a frown mars Kim’s forehead.

“They bought these for you?” She fingers the tags and rears back at the price tags.

“Anything with tags still on it.” I take a deep breath. “They know so much about me,” I whisper. “What do you think that means?”

Kim leaves me at the closet and sweeps the room, checking lights, under desks, corners, moving items, examining things left behind. Eventually, she goes into the bathroom and turns on the tap and shower. She motions for me to follow her in, and she shuts the door.

“Harder to bug a bathroom with the moisture and sounds.” Her lips twitch. “Who wants to listen to people shit?”

I can’t hide my answering smile, and I shake my head. “Our room is bugged?”

“You have to be more vigilant and careful than you’ve ever been in your life. The FBI and CIA are worried about the PLA because there’s been an explosion of activity. Once a nuisance, they’re now a major player. With that in mind, the CIA wants you here, and the PLA wants you here. Why? A coincidence? For once, I’m going to agree with Finn. Doesn’t exist. We can’t see the big picture yet, but it’s there.”

I meet her concerned gaze and ask her the question Finn would never answer with logic. “Should I go home?”

Kim sucks in a deep breath. “I don’t know. Your hotel was bombed, right? It’s not a straightforward, easy call. I might not like Finn, but he’d give his life to save yours.” She leans against the shower stall, and the steam cascades over the top. “Do you trust your security on the island?”

I recall the day of the bombing. Dominic was with me, but as Finn pointed out, too far away to do anything. “I trust Jay, but I’d want him to stay with Finn to help him. My island security firms are new, untested. If Finn asked, I’d say I did trust them, but that would probably be a lie.”

Kim laughs. “Lie or face his wrath. Been there.”

“Did you get a weird vibe off Pierre-Jacques’s girlfriend?”

“You mean hiscougar?” Her lips purse. “Doesn’t that usually suggest the woman is the predator? She’s definitely older than him by at least ten years, maybe fifteen or twenty. Like you, her age isn’t easy to pin.”

That concession makes me feel better after Pierre-Jacques’s comment at lunch. In the back of my mind, I was already firing my dermatologist. I don’t pay a small fortune to look my age. While Finn has told me a thousand times, I can stop paying for ‘all that shit’, my vanity won’t let me quit.

“From what I’ve heard from other staff members, they’ve got a weird relationship.”

“How so?” I cross my arms, trying to recall any cues I got from watching them interact at lunch.

“A few comments about abuse.” Kim tucks a loose strand from her ponytail behind her ear. “Powerful men often exert their power everywhere.”

There was a vibe of authority at lunch. The iron control wasn’t any more overt than men I dealt with in the arms business. His boyish looks might downplay his sinister underbelly. He didn’t seem like somebody I should be afraid of.

She turns off the shower and sink. Our gazes meet in silent agreement that we’re done talking about things we shouldn’t discuss. I may not trust her, but it’s comforting to unburden myself to someone other than Finn.

“Walk?” She opens the bedroom door.

I follow her along the corridors to the main entrance. When we get there, instead of going outside, she opens another door which takes us into the dilapidated castle area.

“Did they run out of money?” I ask.

“Far as I know, the PLA bought the place like this. So, someone at some point probably did. But not them. They got this place for a song.” Her Irish accent which she downplayed in the bathroom is in full force.

We wander through the rooms and hallways in silence, taking in the decay.

Does what we’re doing count as snooping? We’ve been wandering through the open areas for quite a while now. Kim’s probably examining the place for hiding places and spots to set up a sniper attack. I’m marveling at the architecture and the loss of history in these stones.

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