Page 78 of Silk and Steel

Look, they aren’t going to send us to off Mother Theresa. They’re going to send us to off motherfuckers who are die hard fucking evil. People who slaughter the innocent without remorse. Some people need killing, Cole. Might as well be us who does it.

I look down at Lovejoy.

“You’ll never give up on Emory, will you?”

He shakes his head.

“No, of course not. I love her.”

He turns toward Emory, tears streaming down his bleeding face.

“I love you, Emory! Please, just take me back. Everything will be fine if you’ll just take me back. We can still make it to Colombia.”

Emory shakes her head, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I never want to see you again,” she wails.

His face turns into a mask of rage.

“You bitch! You ungrateful fucking whore! I made you! I made you and that means I own you! You think they’re going to punish me? I’ll be declared incompetent to stand trial after all the shit I pulled. I’ll get out, and this time I won’t play any games. I’ll just find you and your family, and I’ll fucking kill you all–”

Lovejoy lunges at Emory and she screams.

The shot rings out, cutting off his voice mid-sentence. Lovejoy collapses face-first into the ground, the back of his head growing a dark patch.

I look up at Emory as smoke curls into my nostrils, emanating from the barrel of the still warm gun. She just watched me, in essence, murder a man. I don’t know how she’s going to react, but I know that I couldn’t live with the thought of Lovejoy lurking like a specter over the rest of her life.

“I’m sorry, Emory. I…didn’t see any other way to keep you safe.”

19

EMORY

Ididn’t flinch when Cole shot Julian. I barely even blinked.

That’s because it didn’t come as a surprise. I watched Cole’s dark eyes as he made the decision to end Julian’s life. I could have tried to stop him. I could have told him to wait, or to think it over, or something. Anything.

Instead, I’d just stood there and watched the execution as coldly and bloodlessly as a robot. There’s a simple enough reason why I didn’t speak, even if I don’t want to admit it. I’d never feel safe until Julian was dead.

“Emory.”

My name on Cole’s lips draws me out of my fugue. He stares at the gun in his hand and then holsters it.

“Earlier, I expelled the magazine, but not the round already in the chamber. Difference between training and experience.”

His voice is flat, and he’s looking at Lovejoy’s body, not me.

“I’m not going to ask you to lie for me, Emory,” he says, lifting his gaze to meet my own at last. “I would never put you in that position. I’m willing to face the consequences for what I’ve done. But I want you to know, I would do it again if given the chance.”

I stand up fully and come out from behind the boulder. Numbly, I remember I still clutch the second gun. I set it carefully on the boulder, making sure the safety is on, before closing the distance between myself and Cole.

He stands there, resolute, prepared to take whatever I dish out. I stop when there are but two feet between us. I have only one thing to say to him.

“Good.”

He blinks in confusion.

“What did you just say?”

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