Page 52 of Heartless Legacy

Wolfe shakes his head. “We can’t fake that, Thea. The League will look into it and when they don’t find an arrest report, they’ll punish you for your deception.”

“It’s not a fake story. I was arrested and booked. There’s no record of it, because Malcolm had it wiped from the system.” I point to Alexz. “I’m sure your people can dig up a copy now that it’ll be useful. If not, I have someone who can.”

He looks over at Ryker, who says, “Now, I’m offended.” I shrug and he continues, “We could use the arrest and the missing record to create a cover story, but…”

“But what?” Alexz presses.

“To sell it, she’ll need to be released from jail.”

“I’m out, aren’t I? Problem solved.”

Kendall, who’s sitting at the other end of the table, explains, “If we were trying to embed a long-term asset into an organization, we wouldn’t start with their release. We’d have them in jail, meeting people, setting up a presence under theirnew identity, so the release paperwork would be valid. If anyone went to the prison asking questions, there would be guards and prisoners that came into contact with the asset.”

“You’re saying I need to spend months in jail to create a paper trail?” I guess Ryker’s not as good as he thinks he is. Sasha could probably have that shit ready in hours. A few days, tops.

“Unacceptable.” Alexz snaps, turning back to the room. “Anyone else.”

Ryker says, “Not months, boss. We can actually use the shoddy record keeping of the Palm Springs PD and the well-known problem of prison overcrowding, and ineffective council to our advantage. We can paint a picture that Thea bounced around the penal system, awaiting trial all this time.”

Somewhat appeased, Alexz asks, “How do we handle the part where no one would have seen her?”

“We make them think I was in solitary confinement because of my volatile behavior. That’ll be the one thing nobody in Canyon Falls will question.”

Kendall looks mildly impressed as he says, “We use your history of fighting to our advantage. You mentioned when you were in lockup that you got into a fight with a prisoner they brought in and the guards?”

“I did.”

He brainstorms a cover story. “They put you in solitary with an order on the paperwork to keep you separated from the general population.” He nods. “And nobody but the warden and guards working that side would know who’s there.”

He looks over at Ryker, who says, “We can work with that, but I’d need Thea in custody and at a hearing to be released, because that’s the part we’ll be using to springboard her back into her life.”

Alexz tells assistant Number One. “Let’s get legal up here to see what they think.” As she’s making the call, he turns to meand says, “If this is a viable course of action, would you be able to do this? You’ll be incarcerated and I’m not sure for how long.”

“Jail has always been like taking a vacation from life for me.”

Wolfe’s jaw clenches as he says, “That’s not funny, Thea.”

“Who’s joking? I’ve been arrested plenty of times. That’s never bothered me. I can do this, as long as this time doesn’t include me being taken somewhere and tortured.”

Kendall looks up from his tablet. “We’ll have our people at whatever facility we take you to, so there’s no chance of that happening again.”

I wanna point out they had people in position before, but knowing what happened to that guy, I decide not to. These people lost a co-worker whose job was to keep tabs on me and it would be insensitive of me to insinuate he sucked at his job, when the reality is he was probably killed because of me.

Two members from the legal team show up and Alexz explains our tentative plan and asks them what other issues we need to consider, as well as the consequences we’ll face if we get caught breaking someoneintoprison.

I hoist my duffle bag over my shoulder as Wolfe pays the cab driver. When he’s done, he holds out his hand for mine. I’m working on allowing non-threatening touch. I know Wolfedoesn’t want to hurt me, but it’s still hard sometimes. Taking a deep breath, I press my palm against his, lacing our fingers together, as we stroll around the side of the building onto the train platform. Flying or driving back to California would have been faster, but Wolfe says he’s in no rush to get back to work, and I’m not complaining about taking the slow route back. It gives me more time to prepare.

I’m wearing my wig and contact lenses again, and we’re traveling under fake identities and have a bedroom in the sleeper section of the train that will take us to Seattle. From there, we’ll take another train down to Los Angeles, where a Phoenix agent will meet us, and drive us the rest of the way to Palm Springs.

I keep my head down as we board the train, making my way quickly to our travel car. Wolfe is a few minutes behind me. He grabs my bag, placing it on top of the storage compartment, and strapping it into place, before doing the same with his.

For the next four days, we’ll be confined to this space, only leaving long enough to use the bathroom and shower. The bathroom’s right across from us, so that’s convenient, and we’re planning to have our meals brought to the room to minimize the chance of me being recognized.

He takes the seat across from me. His long legs take up a lot of the space. Our knees bump together when he shifts in his seat. The contact is light, and I allow it.

I sleep as much as I can, knowing he’s watching over me, because I won’t be able to once I’m locked up. The walls separating our room from the others are thin, so when we talk, it’s in vague generalities, or not at all. We also play lots of checkers. The silence isn’t stifling. We both have shit we need to work out.

Deacon

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