Page 46 of Anathema
“Are you saying that map wasn’t helpful?” Eli gloated with a smirk.
“It is and isn’t. We need names.” Dean pressed, running his tongue along his teeth. “One specifically.”
Eli huffed with a smile and rested his hands behind his head, turning the chair to face the windows.
“Now, that kind of information is going to cost you a lot more than just simply protecting my ass.” His light and casual attitude was beginning to irritate me.
I stood, and immediately, Dean shot me a pointed glare tosit the fuck down. Eli was turning this into a game, and I wasn’t interested in playing. Muttering curses under my breath, I sat back down like a scolded child and instead pulled out my phone to check my emails—anything to distract me from the direction this conversation was currently headed.
“What more could you possibly need, Eli?” Dean moved to lean against the window and cut me out of their discussion completely. I casually rolled my eyes—fine with me.
“Scrubbed background, new identity, and cash to sustain me for at least a year after the fact.” My brows rose at his words.
He must’ve known that we would ask for more after handing over those blueprints. The sly fucker knew precisely what he was doing with us. He had thought all of this out before we even entered his apartment.That son of a bitch.
The scrubbed background and new identity were both doable and within our authority to issue. A pain in the ass as far as paperwork was concerned, but still, nothing we couldn’t give him. As for the money… That was a different story. It would have been easier for him to ask us for a fully stocked safe house instead.
As I contemplated how we would even attempt to get him the money he required for the information, a realization snapped into my head, and my eyes widened.
If we could meet his demands, not only would we get the name we so desperately needed, but I could get rid of him entirely, keeping him away from Alexis. I didn’t know the full extent of their relationship and history, and frankly, I didn’t give a fuck. I just wanted him gone and out of the picture for good.
I should be the only person she ran to with her wants and needs, not him. If he were still here in this city, he would be nothing more than a problem to me—one that needed to be taken care of by whatever means necessary. I wanted the fucker gone with no way back. This just so happened to be the more convenient and reasonable option.
Running through the contacts in my phone, I brought up Dean’s number and quickly sent him a text message. Hearing hisphone go off from across the room, I sat back in my chair with the smuggest of smiles on my face.Fucking checkmate, Eli.
Dean pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked the screen, seeing the message I had just sent him.
Derek: Do it.
He looked over his phone screen to where I was sitting, and I nodded. His face showed just how reluctant he was about my plan. He knew as well as I did that obtaining the money would be near impossible. But Eli didn’t need to know that, and he wouldn’t find out until it was too late.
“Looks like it’s your lucky day, Eli. Because we can get you all of those things, provided the name you give us checks out.” Dean agreed, holding a hand out to Eli, expecting him to take it.
If Eli wanted to play games, then we would happily oblige. I held my breath, hoping he would take the bait and play right into our hands. It was all we had left at this point.
Eli sat there momentarily, staring at Dean’s extended hand and playing out all of his options in his head. Was he dumb enough to blindly trust us on our word alone? Or would he change his mind and walk out the door, leaving us with nothing?
“What’s it going to be, Eli? A fresh start with a new name and life, or spending the rest of this one hiding under the CIA’s skirt from Anathema?” I cut in over the silence and leaned forward, resting my forearms on my thighs.
Eli huffed with a grin, which said exactly what he was thinking: that he had won this deal, and his bold move had paid off. He reached out, shaking Dean’s hand in agreement. It’s too bad he’ll find out later that he actually lost this game instead.
I stood and walked over to the desk, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Seeing as we have a deal, what’s the name?” I ordered, raising a brow.
“Not so fast, Derek.” Eli released Dean’s hand and stood to face me. A smug grin pulled at the corner of his lips. “I want this deal in writing before I tell you anything.”
Fuck. “Fine. Dean, take care of it.” I bit down on my tongue to avoid giving away any hint of deception that threatened to break through my facade. Hopefully, this wouldn’t come back later to bite us in the ass; Conrad would not be happy to know that the CIA promised this asshole a new life and a year's income for a single fucking name.
“Dean, outside.” I gestured to the door as I turned to leave the room. Dean followed closely behind me and pulled the door shut as we stood in the hall.
“What the fuck, Derek? You can’t be serious? You know we can’t make this kind of deal…” His eyes were wide with concern and possibly shock.
“Just write up the deal, get it signed, and get me the name.” The longer we waited to do this, the more time Eli had to reconsider his agreement.
“Alright, but when this backfires on us, it’s your ass that’s going to Conrad to explain what the fuck just happened, not mine,” Dean lectured before leaving to grab his laptop.
Fair enough, but this wasn’t going to backfire. The look Eli gave us when he agreed to the deal said everything.
