Page 66 of Body and Soul

Let me, I pleaded. I couldn’t afford for him to mess this up.

Keres let out an irritated huff, but gave me limited control. I hated when he did that—it took coordination and was exhausting.

I licked my lips and spoke carefully. “What I offered doesn’t affect you or your family,” I said. “You have my word.”

Warrick studied me. He wasn’t stupid. He knew I’d chosen my words carefully, but wouldn’t know why. He trusted me, perhaps too much.

He cleared his throat. “I’d prefer you run any deals by me first. Especially in front of people.”

Keres snorted. “I have no designs to supplant you as leader, Warrick. You are the head, and I am the teeth and claws when you need me.”

“Everything all right?” Pax, Warrick’s boyfriend, appeared, arm protectively around War’s shoulders.

Keres thought,Pax would be worthy prey.

You’re not hunting my brother’s boyfriend, I snarled.Be nice, Keres, or I’ll bury you so deep you’ll never claw your way back out.

Keres smirked. “Everything is as it should be. No need to worry. I might see myself out. I’m feeling a bit peckish after that exchange.”

“We’re on lockdown,” Pax said. “You can’t leave.”

Keres paused, pleased to see War pale. “There is only one thing a man can’t do, Mr. Cooper.”

Pax tilted his head, wary. “What’s that?”

“Live forever,” Keres chuckled. “Everything else is fair game.”

Outside, the summer heat beat down on the family plot and funeral home. The smell of freshly cut grass was ruined by the smoke from Boone’s cigarette.

He looked at me, flicking his lit cigarette into the parking lot. “What’s the catch?” he demanded. “I know you Laskins are loaded, but that’s a lot of dough for you. More than you have.”

Keres snorted and retreated enough to give me control back, lingering near the surface.

“How do you know how much we have hidden away?” I asked lightly as I fought the dizziness and disorientation that sometimes came with the switch. It was a little less than normal since I hadn’t fully retreated, but it still left me feeling uneasy and off balance.

“I have my sources.” Boone folded his arms. “Now what’s the catch?”

I considered the man in front of me. He wasn’t as smart as me, or as most of my brothers, but he was no fool. I had to be careful about how much information I fed him if I wanted to keep from scaring him off. “If you know so much, then you must know about Xion Laskin.”

Boone snorted. “I heard he legally changed his last name to Loomis. Doesn’t seem like he wants much to do with you folks these days.”

I sighed. “He’s so heavily medicated I doubt he knows what day it is. The state hospital is to thank for that. Their version of treatment is to dope their patients into compliance. He’s arguably worse off in there than he would be elsewhere. I intend to change that.”

“Not out of the goodness of your heart, I assume?”

“No,” I agreed. “There is a certain third party interested in Xion who’s offering a cash bounty for his delivery. I want you to make that delivery.”

“And who’s going to deliver Xion to me?”

“Warrick will,” I said. “But he doesn’t know it yet, and this won’t be a simple delivery, Boone. Xion is… he’ll be unstable. Before you hand him over to the third party, for everyone’s safety, he’ll need to be stabilized. That means he’ll need a place to stay, somewhere that no one can know about. Not even the rest of the Laskin family.”

Boone eyed me with a frown and stepped forward. “So let me get this straight. You want me to aid and abet an escaped mental patient who’s serving time for assault. You want me to hold him in a secure location until you clear him, and then to transport him to another location where I hand him over to some mysterious third party, all for four million dollars?”

“No,” I said, standing up straight. “But you’ll get a significant cut of the four million.”

Boone whistled and lifted his cap, scratching the top of his head. “Damn, professor. That’s cold, even for you. You’re going to sell your brother up the river for nothing more than cold, hard cash? I didn’t figure you for the greedy type.”

“It’s more than that,” I spat. “But you don’t need those details. All I need from you is your cooperation. Will you help me or won’t you?”

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