Page 28 of Rise of the King (Checkmate 5)

6

March

Jay

Nobody who knows John D. Hamilton also knows Jay Bishop. Well, nobody except Ace.

Apart from my poor unsuspecting neighbor and the sweet redheaded waitress, Ginnie, I’ve not made friends in this new city. No time. No patience. And no interest in fun times while my brother’s life has been in the crosshairs.

From the moment I woke in a strange hospital, while they were trying to make sure I had no lasting injuries, I knew I’d go home just as soon as the time was right.

Homeisn’t necessarily a certain house or town; it’s wherever my brother is. It’s wherever he needs me to be.

And for now, while Kane is still being held back by our employers, and the rest of the civilian worldthinkshe’s dead, I stay here and track whoever has a contract on his head, and I take men out one by one until I reach the top.

The regular authorities think Kane and Jay Bishop are both dead.Regular, as in local cops who don’t have access to sealed files. But those of us who know better know he’s being held several states from our last home, away from his girlfriend who, according to Ace’s surveillance, is very much grieving his death.

She doesn’t know he’s okay.

She doesn’t know he’s working and trying to make her safe.

And Kane doesn’t know I’m here trying to make them both safe.

He’s always been the biggest dude I know, the baddest, the bravest, so he laughs in the face of danger and considers himself indestructible.

But I know better.

So for as long as he remains exactly where Ace can watch, as long as he stays safe and tucked away behind files and Feds, I can stay here and do my thing.

But there are rumbles coming through Ace’s intel that he’s restless, that he’s grieving my death, and grieving the loss of having his girl by his side. He wants out of the program, but I know better than anyone that the second he leaves, he becomes a walking target. He won’t be hidden; he won’t be protected, and when he hurts someone who threatens him – and he will; he’s fast, lethal, and ruthless when someone threatens his family – he’ll be tried and sentenced as a regular citizen.

Just like me… But the difference is, I’d be willing to go down for him.

For reasons unknown to me or Ace, this city is where all our tips keep leading back to. I don’t get it. I don’t get the significance. I don’t know why they’ve decided to center their main players here except maybe there are more than half a million people who help them hide and steal without being noticed.

Five missing women, or five overdosing teens in this city aren’t nearly as noticeable as five in the little podunk town our Hayes assignment led us to.

More people here. More girls to steal. More opportunities to blend in and get away with it.

So this is where I stay until it no longer serves my purpose, and between now and then, I kinda hope the beautiful Sophia might give me a minute of her time.

I haven’t stopped thinking about her in weeks, but despite my ability to stay awake twenty-two out of twenty-four hours a day, no matter how many times I duck into the hall or watch my peephole, she’s mastered the skill of being invisible.

She’s a skilled ghost, just like I’ve trained so tirelessly to be.

Her absence has led me to annoy even myself with the way I sulk and wish she’d throw me a bone.

She’s just a girl. Move on, Bish, and find someone more willing to spread her legs.

Lying on my couch and picturing hers just above – yes, I moved my couch so they’d match – I stop tossing my tennis ball into the air when my email dings and draws my attention.

Ace and I aren’t friends. We don’t chit-chat or shoot the shit just for fun. Sometimes I’ll hear from him every day for a week, other times, like now, weeks will pass with nothing. And that’s okay too. In our dysfunctional situation, our normal is whatever the fuck we make it.

I haven’t heard from him in a week, and the last update I got was that there was no update. He’s working on it, extrapolating information from Trenton’s phone, and in the meantime, he’s ordered me to be patient.

Nobody ever accused me of being a patient kinda guy, and more than that, I take orders from no one, so his order to sit and chill fell on deaf ears.

My ID might say John D. Hamilton, but my soul is thoroughly Jay Bishop, and Jay sure as shit doesn’t sit still. He doesn’t rest; he doesn’t play boardgames while he’s bored.

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