Page 14 of Redemption

“What?” Colin grimaced.

“His paper.” Javier gestured his head toward Ryder as he pushed his earpiece back in.

Ryder could feel where the folded note was safely stowed away against to his still-racing heart. Adrenaline and endorphins had bled through his system under the hail of gunfire as they escaped. “A list.”

“What kind of list?” Colin asked.

Ryder looked toward the setting sun as the thick jungle trees began to darken around them. “Of reasons to live.”

Colin propped himself up. “Well, fuck yeah. Don’t we all need a list like that?”

“My list is one line: Sophia,” Javier said.

“Not all of us got a Sophia, man,” Colin added.

But Ryder’d had someone who could have been, long ago. He didn’t want to think about her, and instead, focused on his earpiece until it was back in place and didn’t bother him. He lost track of Colin and Javier’s back and forth, waiting for Titan HQ to patch back in. They needed air support to get the hell out of Mexico.

A rock hit his chest, and Ryder startled back to the conversation at hand.

“You going to share?” Javier asked.

“Share what?”

“Your reasons to live, mate?”

He laughed at the Brazilian feigning the Aussie accent. “Nah.”

But Ryder could recount the list in his head that he’d held onto since he was sixteen and had to outrun the train out a tunnel. He’d heard it coming when he started running and knew better than to go in there. But he would never let Zoe go in to save whatever animal she swore she saw. Too bad, it nearly left him dead…

Top Five Reasons To Live

One. We’ve yet to go skinny-dipping. Bucket list!

Two. We promised to do everything together, twice. Everything is a lot.

Three. Get out of this house. Together. No more watching other kids going. (But good for them!)

Four. One day, we won’t want for anything. We’ll have our own place, decide our own meals… Wait. I don’t want anything other than you now. Scratch #4.

Five. You have to always be around to make your special girl happy.

Silently, he would always laugh at “special girl.” They’d heard it once, when a teacher called her “special girl” as if she was anything but, and Ryder owned it, taking back the meaning because she was special. Seemed like a funny word, but they were funny kids.

On the back of that note, he’d written everything he loved about the girl he planned to make happy, and he made it in a list, just the way she loved to. He didn’t have much to give her, but that, a list, he could give her—though she wouldn’t take it and made him keep the paper he still brought on every job to this day.

Top Five Reasons You’re That Special Girl

One. You’re tough and didn’t need me before I came around.

Two. But when I did, you let me help you out.

Three. You take care of people—unconventionally.

Four. No fear!

Five. Except with me—and I’ll never tell your secrets.

“You know. Typical stay low, go fast,” Ryder said as his com piece crackled in his ear. “One shot, one kill.”

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