Page 53 of Erase Me
“Of course, I did.Whenare you going to get it?I’m a trained fucking professional.There were no biometrics linked to it,” he asserted.“But you should remember that my resources are only as good as what your people give me.My records are not exactly updated daily.So don’t blame the messenger, cowboy.”
I took a deep breath and went out on the porch.At the house diagonally across the way from mine, a cleaning crew and a glass replacement guy had just been leaving when I got back from the Surf Ghetto.It was quiet now.Tomorrow would be another story.
“Are we done talking?”Vaughn asked.“Because now it’s your turn.What happened last night?Why didn’t you return my call?”
“Last night was a bust.”
“What do you mean, a bust?”
My gut was telling me to keep what happened to myself.I definitely didn’t want to talk about Avalie.Vaughn had already proven useless in getting any information about her.
“Your guy,” I snapped.“The one I was supposed to meet last night.Where was he?He didn’t show.”
“How the fuck do I know what happened to him?He’s not exactly the kind of person who keeps a ‘Daily Planner’ in his briefcase, you know.Oh, that’s right.He doesn’t carry a briefcase.”
“Keep it up and you might find yourself talking to a Tyrannosaurus Rex.I’m sure he’d find your sarcasm delicious.”
“Message received, boss.All business.”
Somehow, I doubted it.“Where is he now?”
“I’ll find out.He likes the money I give him, so he doesn’t stay MIA for too long,” Vaughn assured me.“But let’s get back to surfer girl.You’re definitely saying she’s a quantum commuter?So, does that mean a little sex on the side has shot your mission to hell?Because that willnotlook good in your report.”
I knew his ‘all business’ attitude wouldn’t last.
“Okay, here’s what I need from you right now.”I asserted.“Ready?”
“Shoot,” Vaughn replied.
“Your vagrant informer.I have to talk to him today.”
“Got it.”
“And Avalie Briar.”I shared her phone number with him.“I want her location tracked.I want to know where she is every minute.”
“Check.”He let out a whistle on the other end of the phone.“Damn.Do you think your girlfriend got cozy with you to fuck up your assignment?”
“She’snotmy girlfriend.Now do what I told you,” I snapped with more than a hint of frustration.I didn’t know the answer to that.
The image of her looking over the roof of that rideshare car came back to me now.Plan on itwere her exact words when I told her I needed to see her again.
ChapterSixteen
Avalie
He trusted me.
He believed me and accepted what I told him.
Xander came right to me and wrapped his arms around me right there in the driveway.In one moment, he created a comforting cocoon of warmth that spoke volumes.There was no need for more words.
Leaping back fifty-six years, I had no clue how this first meeting would go.I only understood my grandfather as I knew him in my own time.As an old man, his one goal in life was to protect his family.Xander didn’t trust people easily.He didn’t allow strangers to get close.
Our family was small and tightly knit.My grandfather liked it that way.He preferred situations that he could control.
My grandmother Nadine was more free-spirited, but she also fretted over strangers who looked at us with too much interest and kept a watchful eye for anything that might be lurking in the shadows.Still, she was always quick to laugh off my questions about her childhood.Rarely would she give a straight answer.That was until I was accepted into the quantum commuter program.That’s when she finally shared the truth.
Throughout my teenage years, my understanding of her was limited to the anecdotes of their shared past.It seemed that the part of her life she was most open to discussing was the one that began with Xander.The story of their chance meeting and immediate love affair in Las Vegas was a familiar one, but the second encounter a few years later was both odd and vague.A snowstorm, an elk, a winding Colorado mountain road, and a first-edition Jane Austen novel all played mysterious roles in that narrative.As she began to recount the tale, she would often trail off, and the two of them would simply exchange affectionate glances, enveloped in a shared, unspoken connection.
