Page 76 of This Blood that Bonds Us
“I do. Mind?” He pulled out a cigarette and offered me one, and I declined.
“So, how long were you instructed to look for me?”
“As long as it took.”
“And you’re . . . part of them? The Family.”
He looked at me for a long second before tapping the ash in his tray. “No. Not really. I do work for them. But I’m not like you.”
“Like me?”
“Special.”
“I’m not part of them either.”
“Well, you must mean a great deal to them either way. I was given your name, description, and a phone. He told me to wait until you called. In the meantime, I gathered up what he asked.”
“You didn’t ask why?”
“Above my pay grade.”
The only thing I was still unsure of was why me? Akira didn’t seem all that interested in me back at that farm when he shoved Kim and me into a freezer.
“You’re getting paid for this?” I asked.
“A great deal.”
“To sit and have a drink with me.”
“No, to give you this.” He reached into his breast pocket and laid out a pocketbook. I didn’t wait for permission to grab it. It was three passports and new driver’s licenses for Aaron, me, and even Kimberly. I guessed it made sense they’d want her there. Not for a good reason. The pictures looked real, and I grabbed one of the licenses and moved it in the light to check. All of it was legit. So much for trying to find fake IDs online.
“But I don’t know where they are. I can’t use any of this. I don’t have any money.”
Mr. Mysterious was pissing me off a little. Taking all this time to arrange this meeting and fly out here to give me new documents I couldn’t use was so annoying.Does everything this cult do have to be so secretive and perplexing?
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with all this.”
“Looks like he’s testing you.”
“Yeah, well, he’s dead so . . .”
Reg’s eyes widened at my words.
“Yeah, yeah. I killed him.” I tried to make that information as convincing as I could. “Does that change your mind about helping me?”
It was technically true.
He shook his head. “It helps prove my theory. If they haven’t killed you for that, they must really want you for something. I told you everything I have, though. They did leave one other thing. Look in the back.”
I flicked through the passport books again and found another envelope.
“You have another clue.” Reg smirked.
I read it aloud.“Go to the place where the sky meets the see.”
Riddles were the worst thing ever invented. Mostly because they could have a thousand meanings, and I would have to find the exact right one. It was cruel and unusual punishment.
I sighed. “How is a dead guy leaving me clues?”
