Page 51 of Sunflower

Nodding along with what he was saying, I let my eyes focus on the action filling the movie screen. “So, you’re basically telling me to do exactly what he’s asking me to do until we can start feeding him our own lies. Prove my worth.”

“Precisely.”

Callum shifted uneasily beside me, drawing my attention back to him. “I don’t like this,mo lus na gréine. It’s too dangerous for you. We’ve been trained, you haven’t.”

“That’s exactly why it’ll work,” George said confidently.

As much as I wanted to disagree, I had to admit George had a point. I interlaced my fingers with Callum’s and squeezed gently. “My inexperience is what he’ll be expecting. If I go in there like I’ve been trained, he’ll know something’s off.” I turned back to George. “That’s why you can’t put me in the system, either. I can’t exist there other than being Callum’s stepbrother and Erin’s stepson.”

“That’s going to make discussing what we need to at work difficult,” Callum said to George, eyeing him in concern. “There’s a lot of moving parts on this that we’ll need to keep on top of and it’ll be easier to do that at work.”

“True.” George stroked his beard lazily, his eyes narrowed in thought. “I’ve got a few code names that I need to enter intothe system. I can enter Joey’s as a confidential informant at the same time I enter theirs. It’ll look less suspicious if I do them all at the same time.”

To say that I had to stop myself from wiggling in my seat was the understatement of the ages. I was going to get a code name? How cool was that? As much as meeting with this guy again was freaking me the hell out, a small childlike part of me that had never vanished like so much else had whilst growing up was jumping up and down with innocent glee.

“Which word for Joey are you thinking?” Callum asked George, drawing me out of my thoughts.

George grinned cheekily. “What aboutSunflower?You already call him that, anyway. It’ll make it easier for you to remember.”

Blushing, Callum chuckled to himself and shook his head whilst I looked from one to the other with wide eyes.

“You know Irish?” I asked George, probably more surprised than I should be.

He laughed, a deep rumble that warmed me in its affection. “I was born in England and spent a fair amount of time in Ireland in my late teens. Plus, after working with Erin for the past few decades, and now this one—” He poked his thumb at Callum with a cheeky grin. “—you tend to pick up some things.”

Oh, shit. I’d forgotten that Erin had worked with George before Callum had. My amusement at Callum’s embarrassment faded into the background. “Um, guys?”

They both settled immediately and looked at me in apprehension. It hadn’t dawned on me until then how much alike they were in mannerisms. It was obvious they’d spent a ton of time together.

“If these two guys have access to your system, they know about Erin and her reading abilities. Should we be worried about her, too? Bring her in on this?”

Nibbling at his bottom lip, Callum looked at George. “It’s your call, old man. I’ve kept her ignorant of everything because I didn’t want her throwing a fit. She only found out I was back in town yesterday and that was an unpleasant conversation all on its own.”

“It probably would be wise to at least give her a heads up that someone might approach her,” George said, leaning back in his seat and frowning in thought. “Let me think about it. I’ll talk to her if I need to and let you know if I do.”

The sweeping sounds of the end credits of the movie swept through the theatre, making all of us lift our heads to stare at the screen, surprised that the movie was already over.

“Tomorrow, meet the guy and tell him whatever he wants to know, but do it begrudgingly,” George said to me once we realized we were almost out of time and he needed to give me some sort of guidance about the upcoming meeting. “Don’t make things too easy for him, otherwise he’ll get suspicious. My guess is that he’ll only want to see if you’ll talk relatively honestly with him. He told you to go to the movies with Callum tonight, and you did. He’ll expect you to be skittish, especially after the way he threatened your family, so play up on that.”

Letting out a controlled breath, I nodded; my delight in gaining a code name vanishing instantly only to be replaced by nerves making themselves known again. It wouldn’t be difficult to act skittish as I was terrified about meeting this guy again. It was easy enough to talk a big game when sitting with people you knew and trusted, but another thing entirely with someone that scared the absolute shit out of you.

Standing, George patted me on the shoulder and straightened his clothes after sitting for so long in the same seat. “You’ll be fine. Callum has my number if you need to reach out to me. We’ll chat again soon, I’m sure.” He nodded to Callum before heturned around and walked out of the cinema, leaving Callum and me staring blankly at the end credits.

Was I really going to do this? Was I really going to trust the word of a man I barely knew because of visions he had?

I knew Callum trusted George and saw him as a father figure. Was I ready to do the same?

“Hey, Callum?” I asked absently, my hand resting lightly on his thigh as I let my thoughts swirl.

“Yeah?”

“What’s your code name?”

He chuckled. “Honeycomb.”

I turned to look at him askance. “What on earth for?”

Grinning cheekily at me, he explained, “Because I’m good at filling in the gaps.”

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