Page 24 of Clean Hack
But she was still alive. I wanted to take comfort in that. I hadn’t been too late and the minutes were ticking down until Burke would get her free.
“I will, I promise,” he said and I took that to heart. Because he wasn’t a man that could live with the luxury of giving promises especially if he intended to keep them.
This was big. I could tell this whole situation was wearing him down and I could only imagine how damn hard it must have been to be under that long in such an evil environment. I didn’t even want to think of the things that he had to do to prove himself to Savage. I wondered for a long moment if it had been wrong of me to ask all of this of him. Had I been so selfish that I ruined another man’s life? Had I put him into a situation that would haunt him for a hundred lifetimes?
Everything was so fucking messed up and again, I felt like I’d had chosen the lesser of two evils. It wasn’t fair, but I’d learned a long time ago that life was rarely fair. I just prayed that Burke was as strong as I gave him credit for. And that after this job was over, he would be able to sleep at night.
I had to trust his word and I did only because I’d seen the truth in his eyes. He would do anything to get Allison free. He wouldn’t even jeopardize that by telling me anything. Which, was maybe for the best. It also made me wonder how long it would be until I could see her. Then sadness washed over me as I realized that Burke’s plan probably didn’t have that as a part of it. I knew how they worked, certain situations called for the utmost secrecy and that meant that sometimes people had to disappear. I’d seen the Ashburn group do that more than once. So it hit me then, that Allison might soon be safe but I may never know any more beyond that.
I wanted to cry at the unsaid clause. I wanted to scream and jump up and down and demand for it not to be that way. Only, I was smart enough to know that if I wanted to save her and her son’s life, I was going to have to accept this and move on.
However, the rage still came out and I unleashed with venom at Burke.
“How come it took so long? Why is she still there? If you knew she had a son, why the hell didn’t you make a move faster? And for fuck’s sake, why couldn’t you stop him—why can’t you?” He’d pretty much already let me know the answer to that last part.
“Lucy,” he said calmly, the sadness holding his eyes captive and penetrating through to my soul.
“No, Burke,” I all but screamed.
Everything flashed in my mind. I didn’t really have an outlet and I guessed this was the moment everything chose to break free.
“What about all those other people? Huh?” I went on throwing my arms out in frustration. “What about all those dead men and their clubs and their families? What about that poor little boy? Why did he deserve that? Why the fuck couldn’t you save them? Are you so cold inside that you could just turn your back and let a father lose his son? Let a little boy get blown to bits in his sleep? How is that even right?”
I came down from my angry high now that it was all out there. My chest heaved and my eyes felt red and dry from forcing myself not to tear up.
Burke looked at me as his head did a slow nod. Was he really listening to everything I’d said? Taking it to heart, maybe?
“Should have known you would somehow know about that,” he almost mumbled like he was talking more to himself than me.
“Yeah, I do. And I know about the hit. The very one that is for that little boy’s dad who just so happened to be the lucky person that walked into that cabin first. And I know that he’s there right now to take care of the job himself.”
His head whipped back and his brows furrowed.
“You don’t know anything about this?” I asked, wincing when I realized that I’d said too much.
“No. I had no idea. Well, I knew about the hit because I was the one that met the hire and handed over the money. But I honestly thought with everything going on that no one would risk going to the cabin. And as far as the cabin goes, all I know is that it belongs to one of the clubs he’s trying to pull into his web.”
He sighed and I could see him trying to work something out in his head. Maybe even trying to fit all the pieces together. I waited.
“He just told me that he was taking a few boys and said he’d be back in a few days,” he said with a small shake of his head like he couldn’t believe he didn’t see this coming. “I figured he was going on a secret run. That’s the reason I’m here. It’s the first chance I’ve had to get away and I knew I’d need to talk to you in person.”
“I have someone handling it. I think she’ll be alright,” I said waving him off but at the same time sinking my teeth into my bottom lip nervously.
“The little boy isn’t dead,” he said pinning me with eyes full of truth. “I had no idea what he had planned and I found out at the last minute. I sent someone there to retrieve the boy without anyone knowing. He barely had time to get the boy to safety before the house exploded. He was instructed to save anyone that was in the house, but the boy’s father and a friend were out back. Before he could go back and warn them, everything happened.”
“You saved him? You made sure he got out?” I asked with utter shock.
“Yeah, Lucy. I’m not that much of a monster.”
“I-I know. I’m sorry. Where is he?”
“Somewhere safe. That’s all I can tell you right now. When things settle down we plan to bring him back. We picked up the boy’s father’s sister too. She’s with him now.”
At least the little boy had someone familiar with him.
Damn, this whole situation sucked beyond belief.
The lines blurred even more and I honestly wasn’t sure how the fuck I was supposed to keep all of this to myself. I thought of Nadya. All the things she’d been through. All the things she’d done. I thought of our friendship and though it may not have seemed like much, it meant a lot to me. I chose not to over think things right now. If there came a time where I felt it was necessary, then I was sure I’d end up telling her everything. But until that moment, I’d do my best to let everything play out the way it was planned to.
