Page 116 of Balls to the Walls

“I want a fucking answer!”

“Oh, I thought we were still doing the whole no talking thing.”

“The only thing I want to hear out of your mouth is why you ignored IRIS’s orders to stand down.”

“Because there was a bomb about to explode and I didn’t want to die.”

“According to you, you can’t die.”

“Right,” I said slowly, “but Thumper was down there with me. I had to think about him. And the building wouldn’t have blown up if he hadn’t jerked on my hand when I was trying to cut the red wire.”

“You’re blaming this on him?” he laughed sarcastically. “Wow, that’s fucking amazing.”

“I’m not blaming him,” I countered. “I’m explaining that while I understand he didn’t want me to touch anything, he made things worse by interfering with my work.”

He scoffed, turning away from me as he paced some more. “And then you had the brilliant idea to throw the bomb against the wall.”

“Hey, it would have worked if the explosives weren’t so unstable.”

“They’re explosives!” he shouted. “They’re supposed to be unstable. The whole point is for them to blow shit up!”

I opened my mouth to say something, but thought better of it.

“What? What is it?” he shouted.

“I didn’t want to point it out, but C4 is very stable, and that’s meant to blow shit up.”

“Are you trying to be the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever met?”

“Not at all, sir. Just trying to acclimate to being home again.”

“And why do you keep calling me sir?”

“Be…cause I don’t want to get yelled at again?”

“Too late for that. You should have considered how much you would get yelled at when you were about to cut the damn wire.”

“Honestly, I was thinking about how much I had to pee, and the fact that I didn’t want anyone to find me with a wet spot on my pants. Sir.”

Sighing, he walked away from me, eventually making it to another chair and slumping down in it. Things could have gone better today, but at least no one got killed. I had to look on the bright side of things. Then again, after causing so much damage, maybe it would have been better if I never came back. I was pretty sure I was about to be fired.

“I’ll just grab my things and hit the road,” I said carefully. “Honey still has her apartment in Texas, so?—”

“You’re leaving?”

“Well, I figured I would be fired after the whole…building debacle.”

He huffed in amusement. “I should fire you. Hell, I should make you pay for all the damages.”

“Yeah, I don’t have any money aside from what was in my account.”

“You’re dead,” he reminded me. “Or you were. I transferred all your money into an account under the business. You’ll have to get yourself declared undead if you want your money back.”

That wasn’t exactly him telling me to stay. “Right, I won’t take too long. If I could just stay here for a few days until I get it all sorted out?—”

He rolled his eyes at me. “You’re not leaving. I couldn’t make you leave if I wanted. Fox would kill me.”

“He does seem especially happy that I returned. I’m not sure why. I mean, we got along, but it wasn’t like we were best friends.”

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