Page 51 of Code Name: Reaper
The sobbing from across the hall had stopped. I pressed my ear to my door and heard nothing. Was she planning her next move?
I pulled out my phone and stared at Dagger’s message again. The one that had come over right before the pilot announced our descent.Cover blown. Going dark.
Less than twenty-four hours since I’d told her his identity. Now, he was running for his life.
The math was simple, even if I didn’t want to accept it.
My phone vibrated, and I pulled it out, silently praying there’d be another text from Dagger. Instead, it was from my mother.
Bishop says you’re due to arrive tonight. Time to get together tomorrow?
I cringed. My parents. I’d completely forgotten they were here for a Cerberus board meeting.
I fucking needed sleep. How long had it been since I’d gotten more than an hour or two? Days, at least. My judgment wasn’t merely clouded; I was beginning to lose the ability to think at all.
Arrived. Safe house in the Yard. Waiting for an update on another meeting tomorrow.
Rather than notify me of another text, my phone rang with a call from her. I raced out of the room and down the stairs.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Kingston, it’s so good to hear your voice.”
“Yours too.”
“You mentioned you’re staying in the Yard? We are too.”
“Where?”
“On Armistead, in the guesthouse behind the Magnolia.”
It was a few minutes past twenty-two hundred. My parents lived on the West Coast, which meant, for them, it was three hours earlier. Plus, they were night owls, so they wouldn’t be going to bed any time soon. I made a snap decision. “Want some company?”
Less than five minutes later, I’d slipped out of the town house, walked two blocks over to where they were staying, and knocked on the door.
When my mom answered and pulled me into a hug, I felt like a kid again. Her comfort seeped into all my empty, angry crevices, where I needed it the most.
“My turn.” My dad stepped forward. Her warmth was immediately replaced with his when he embraced me. God, how I’d needed this.
“Come inside and close the door, Rick. It’s freezing.”
My dad released me. “Says the woman who goes jogging in San Francisco at the crack of dawn. It’s at least twenty degrees warmer here.” He reached behind me and shut the door.
“Let me get a good look at you.” My mother led me into the living room. “On second thought, I wish I hadn’t. Kingston, you lookterrible. What’s going on?”
“Kyra, he’s in the middle of a mission,” my father chided.
“I don’t care if he’s in the middle of a war—wait, I didn’t mean that. No wars, please. Still, when’s the last time you slept?”
“Well? Honestly, I have no idea.” I looked up at the glass my dad held in his hand. “Got any more of that?” While I guessed it was either bourbon or some other kind of whiskey, I didn’t care what it was. I needed a good stiff drink.
He handed me a rocks glass filled nearly to the top. “Here you go.”
I took a long pull, then a breath, then another.
All the while, my mother sat beside me with the same worried expression she’d had every time Bishop or I were sick or injured as kids.
The effect of the alcohol hit me almost immediately, but I still drank more. What I needed was however much was left in the bottle.
