Page 31 of Shadow of the Moon

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Dev hoped he’d played off Amberly’s stumble well enough. He thought he had, but the woman was sharp. Even after she moved back to Zed and the man she’d entered with, she still glanced at their table occasionally. Dev thought she was checking for actual affection, so he made sure to hang onto Amberly’s hand, and when a slow dance came up he dragged her onto the floor.

Amberly protested, of course, but Dev whispered into her ear that they were being watched. Thoroughly. And that she needed to keep up the ruse. After that, they danced a little closer, and she made sure to stare into his eyes more.

Dev was thoroughly hooked all over again. Amberly had been fun when they’d been dating, and he could still remember how impressed he’d been with her. Yeah, she’d been wearing a stunning midnight blue cocktail dress at the time, but he remembered thinking that she was the most beautiful, dangerous woman he’d ever met, and he was intrigued. She still struck him that way, which was a good thing because she absolutely loved fighting for her country.

It was so odd, because he’d been given the perfect excuse he needed to do exactly what he wanted to do, hang on her every word and touch.

They eventually sat down, and he waved at the bartender for another round.

“I don’t know if I should,” Amberly said.

“We’ll nurse these ones. If you want, we can go wait outside until the meeting is done.”

She gave him a scathing look. “Not even, buddy.”

Dev chuckled. There was no chance she would have taken him up on that offer. They settled back, nursing their drinks, and even though they were supposed to be working, he was having fun.

And then the Russians got mad.

The woman stood up first, glaring at Zed, and she made some kind of motion with her hands they couldn’t see, because her back was to them. Zed put his hands out, palms up, like he was saying ‘what do you expect me to do?’. The woman leaned in, finger pointed at his face, and whispered something furiously. Then she laid him out with a single, beautiful round house punch.

Zed smashed through stools and went down like a sack of potatoes, stunned. The woman stepped over him, muttered something in Russian and headed toward the door. The man with her looked down at Zed and shook his head, spat on him, and followed after the woman.

Dev and Amberly were both on their feet and moving to ‘help’ Zed. Amberly reached him first, kneeling down to help him sit up. Dev saw her pocket the shopping list as he reached a hand down to help Zed to his feet. The man was rubbing his jaw, but there was desolation in his eyes. Dev thought he might have even seen tears.

Dev motioned for the people that had crowded around to back off.

“Are you okay, buddy? She really walloped you.”

The man shook his head, looking down at the floor. “He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me.”

Dev jiggled his arm. “What are you talking about? Who’s going to kill you?”

“Cole,” Zed said shortly, shaking his head. “I’m fucked. I’mfucked,” he whispered.

Zed’s cell-phone beeped with an incoming message, and he jumped, pulling it from his pocket. His hard face seemed to crumple, and Dev saw the message.

2 mins to respond or i call your kid.

Zed backed out of screens and found a phone number. He pressed the green call button and listened to it ring, ring, ring… then a voice picked up, but it was voicemail. Zed immediately called the number again. Same results. Desperate, his hands shaking, he got into the text mode and typed out a message. Put phone int he yard! Right now! ill explain later!!!

“Are you okay, dude?” Dev asked him, trying to be solicitous.

“I’m fine,” Zed snapped, shaking his arm free. “Fuck off.”

He moved a few feet away, obviously going through the call screen again and trying to call his daughter. When there was no response, his face crumpled in fear. They were close enough to see him get into the text screen. His thumb hesitated over a button for several long seconds, then he hit it.

Dev turned to Amberly. “Give me a hundred bucks.”

“What?”

“Just give me a hundred dollar bill.”

Scowling, she dug in her pocket for the money, and handed it over. “You’d better know what you’re doing because I don’t have a lot of cash left.”

Dev turned and slid the hundred dollar bill and a stack of twenties across the bar to the bartender. The man grinned, winked, and slid a phone back across. Dev pocketed the phone without looking at it. Then reached back across and shook the man’s hand. It had been fortuitous to find a fellow former Navy man.

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