Page 18 of Steinbeck
Mid-thirties, maybe, brown eyes, blonde hair pulled back, wearing a black jacket, a pair of black pants, she held her own weapon, although she now tucked it away under her jacket.
“What are you doing here?”Stein said to Roy as the man lowered his gun and held up a hand.The dim hall light half obscured the man’s features, but Stein had glanced at the flatscreen in the kitchen and made out Roy’s outline, and maybe just in time, because Phoenix had fully planned on flinging herself over the balcony’s edge.
And he would have been right behind her, casting himself fully into her chaos.
“Maybe we can figure out how to get past survival together?”
Yeah, he’d said that.Not sure why, but really,really, he didn’t want this life.
Honest.Cross his heart and...well, all the things.
His words to Jack even filtered back.“I just need to find her.Make sure she’s safe.That’s all.”
Clearly that wasn’t all, because yes, here he was, gun in hand, ready to go mano y mano with whoever stood on the other side of the door.
The woman behind Roy said, “I need to talk to Emberly.”
Who?
Oh.Phoenix.And it might be another alias, but it felt weirdly real.Right.She just kept reappearing, reigniting the fire inside him.
Not to mention rare and beautiful.
He turned just in time to see Phoenix-Emberly charge him from the balcony.“What are you doing?”she shouted.
Roy walked into the room and she stepped back, pulled her Glock.
“Phoenix!It’s Roy—don’t shoot.”Stein held up his hand and stepped in front of Roy.
Phoenix—no,Emberly—hesitated for a second, her green-eyed gaze hard on Roy.
Then the blonde entered, and Emberly’s mouth opened, her eyes widened.“What are you doing here?”
He glanced at the duo and shut the door.“Okay, everybody just calm down.Ph—Emberly, this is Roy.”Maybe she needed the Emberly name as cover.He didn’t know—but he didn’t want to blow it.
And now she directed her gaped look at Steinbeck.“How?—”
“That’s on me, Em,” said the blonde.“I dropped your real name.”
Real name.Oh, he knew it.
Emberly finally lowered her gun.“Oh joy.”She set the gun on a nearby side table.“Again, my question.Why are you here, Mystique?And with—” She gestured to Roy.“Thanks, by the way.”
Dark hair, tall, a former operator according to Colt, Roy had a quiet presence, a solemn sturdiness, and now just nodded.
“We have a problem,” Mystique said.
Steinbeck cut a look at Emberly, who put her hands on her hips and backed up, a set to her jaw.“Yeah, we do.Never mind that you would have let me be shipped off to a Russian gulag?—”
“You went off-grid.And you know the rules.”
Rules?What rules?
Emberly nodded, a tiny pinch on the side of her mouth.
“But I am glad Roy and...”Mystique glanced at Stein.
“Steinbeck Kingston,” he said, filling in the gap.
