Page 29 of Rogue Voice

“What will you do when you’re there?”

None of your business.But she could tell there was no ill intent behind his words. He seemed genuinely curious, and she found herself telling him the truth.

“I’m going to college.”Somehow. Someday.There were so many ifs between now and then. So many chances it might never come to pass. “That sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”

Rogue shook his head. “Not stupid at all. What would you like to study?”

This time, she hesitated. She’d never dared to say this out loud. But why not? She wasn’t going to see him again. She could tell him.

“I’m going to be a social worker.” She braved a look into his eyes, dreading the moment he would laugh at her. But he didn’t laugh. His lips remained pursed in thought.

“A social worker,” he repeated.

“I want to work with women who’ve been exposed to substance abuse.”

“Why women?” he asked. He didn’t say anything about the other part.

“Often, they are the ones most affected by drug abuse, often because their husbands and children, the people they love, are addicts and they’re left holding the pieces or trying to bring up their other children in the wake of a huge tragedy. And nobody helps them because it’s hard for women to ask for help for themselves.”

“And you want to help them,” Rogue said quietly.

“I want to help them find their own way forward.” She paused, looking up into his face. It was hard to read his expression, and not just because the light was dim. “You think I’m silly, right? You can say it, you know. Even if I’m paying you.” Rogue’s gray eyes smoldered. She wondered how she could have thought his eyes cold.

“I don’t think you’re silly. You have a dream, and you need to hold on to that fucking dream and squeeze it tight. It’s not a fucking puppy. You’re not going to smother it if you squeeze. Just don’t let it go.”

“Really? That’s all you have to say?”

One of his thick eyebrows arched up. “What would you like me to say?”

“You could tell me I’m part of the problem. The daughter of a drug lord. The niece of a drug lord. That it’s foolish to think I could ever be part of the solution.”

He sighed. “Trying to be part of the solution is not foolish, Bea.”

“Okay …”

“I will do my best to get you to a place where you can make that dream of yours come true. I swear.” Now his eyes were dark pieces of ice on his face. He was serious as death. “But you’re worried about something.”

In fact, now that she thought about it, he’d been looking at his watch more frequently in the last half-hour. “You’re waiting for something, and whatever it is, it’s not happening,” she said.

He looked back at her. “You’re pretty observant.”

She shrugged impatiently. “Please tell me what’s going on.”

“I didn’t come here alone,” he finally said in that soft, deep voice of his. “My team’s meant to be attacking the compound tonight.”

And with those words all the pieces of the puzzle clacked together. Things she’d felt, but not understood, theysuddenly made sense. Rogue wasn’t working with her uncle. He was working to bring him down. And with it, came the understanding of just how much trouble she was in. Trouble with a capital T. She’d placed herself right in the middle of something she didn’t understand. Something that couldn’t end well for her. “You’re … Army?” she whispered. Her voice shook.

“You’re safe with me, Bea. I swear to you.” That wasn’t much of an answer. “You’re safe,” he repeated.

Safe.Until my uncle skewers us. Oh God.Bea felt herself hyperventilating. Rogue moved a step closer to her. Close enough to grab her, if she fainted, she realized.

But she wasn’t about to faint. “What’s your real name?” she asked. It was a strange thing to concern herself with, but for some unexplainable reason, it mattered to her.

“Everybody calls me Rogue,” he said gently. “Though my real name is West.”

Okay. Okay.Somehow, the fact that he hadn’t lied about his name reassured her. Her mind was still going a mile a minute, but she no longer felt like she was going to keel over.

“That’s why you thought they wouldn’t follow us,” she said. “Because they would be too busy with other things to worry about us.”

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