Page 82 of Rise of the King (Checkmate 5)

18

Going UC

Sophia

“Ithink this is a super shitty idea.” Jay stops at the front door as though he could bar my way out. “Soph, no!”

“Yes! I need to speak to him, Jay. This is just an intel run, so you need to stop being dumb.”

“I know what it is.” He throws his thick arms up and shows off the results of being stuck in one house for months with nothing to do but work out. “I really don’t wanna miss out, babe. It’s not fair.”

Laughing, I tap his stomach and slide under his arm to escape into the garage. “You are thirty years old, not thirteen. Missing out is something you have to learn how to deal with. Pull yourself together.”

“But I’m exhausted, Soph. I’ve been dead for seven months! I don’t wanna be dead anymore.”

“Babe, they have someone glitching their security.” I turn before sliding into my car and study his sad eyes. “Someone—other than us—is glitching their security! Someone was in their home, and we didn’t see it.”

“Bring me with you.”

“No! Things have changed, and it’s more than firebombed apartments and sniper rifles now. They were in his home while Kane was asleep, and they didn’t alert my security or his.” I open my car door and toss my bag in. “They could have killed him in his sleep, and we wouldn’t know who did it. We wouldn’t know till the M.E. was in his driveway, and by then, they’d be gone, and this would be all over. Is that what you want?”

“Of course it’s not what I want! My whole life,and death,has been about keeping him alive, so don’t try to slide in now and throw the guilt game in there. You’re just mad that they broke your surveillance.”

“And you’re just mad he has a new bro! Your judgment is clouded with jealousy.”

“He’s not hisrealbro,” Jay snaps back. “It’s his rebound bro. And that rebound will be tossed aside twenty minutes from now when I show up to the Checkmate office and declare myself a fucking miracle.” The always-joking man takes on something else, something deadly in his eyes and forces me to stop. “You’re mad because they got in and out, and your security didn’t catch it. If they can do that and get out again without popping up on your computer, then that means you won’t know who hurt Ellie. This isn’t about Kane at all. This is about you and your mission to avenge your sister.”

“So what?” I shout back. “It’s about both! Why can’t it be about both?”

“Because it’snotabout both. No matter how much you say it is, this is one hundred percent about Ellie and you. Kane is just a pawn in this game.”

“That’s bullshit!” I rage. “You’re being mean because you want to get out of the house. You want to claim your title right beside Kane, and you want to see the sun again. But deep in your heart, that dark place where you swore I loved you no matter what I had to say about it, you know what you’re saying is bullshit.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“If this was only about Ellie…” I grab Jay’s sleeve when he tries to push past me. “If this was only about Ellie, I would’ve let them take me from that convenience store back in New York City. I had access to the low-level guys eight years ago, and it would have been a direct route straight into the center of hell.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“Because it’s bigger than that! Someone big, someone important is pulling the strings, and everyone we’ve talked to said he’s not just big, but he legitimately works for the government. I’m smart enough to go to the top, so I refused the short game and decided to take it all the way. I could’ve taken out their pawn eight years ago, but the king would still remain.”

“I’m the fuckin’ king, Sophia! This whole game ends with me. Now get in the car; I’m coming with you.”

“Jay!”

He literally picks me up and carries me to the passenger side. “I’m not staying home today. He already left for work, and you still didn’t slip a fuckin’ device into his cereal. This is what we’re doing, so get in, be quiet, and be fuckin’ happy about it.”

I’m going to kill him. I’m going to slip something intohiscereal, and it definitely won’t be a tracking device.

Deposited in the passenger seat, I drag my seatbelt on and fold my arms as he slides into the driver’s side and tugs his beanie lower. “Don’t be mad at me, Sophia. I’m doing what I feel in my gut is right.”

“You’re undoing our work.” I refuse to meet his eyes when he hits the button for the garage door. “You’re a ghost, Jay. Do you have any clue how many men wish they could be invisible while they go about their work?”

“And do you have any clue how muchthisman wishes he were alive again? I stayed in for months, Soph. I’ve been playing your game, but today, I go home to my brother.”

Pushing the car into reverse, Jay swallows his nerves and backs out for the first time in months. Pulling onto the quiet street and pushing the gear into drive, I study the garage door as it closes automatically, and I wonder if this is the last time I’ll ever see that place.

I don’t even have my laptop with me this time.

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