Page 57 of Velvet and Valor
Any day where I get to kiss June, is a good one.
Duty calls, otherwise I’d just keep kissing her. I poke around in the ranger station some more and find a landline phone in a tiny office that probably started life as a broom closet. I use it tocall the Platinum Security office. The connection is fuzzy but at least we can hear each other talk.
Jax is happy that I’ve kept the client alive. Not so happy about the big mess I made doing it. But sometimes in life you have to improvise. Jax doesn’t much care for that line of reasoning. In fact, he insists that June and I remain right where we are until Dane picks us up. Thank goodness for Jax’s contact on the police force or we’d have a lot of clean up to do. Hiding bodies is hard work.
Dane rolls up in one of the fleet SUVs. The Platinum Security Logo is supposed to look like a gemstone. To me it looks like a starfish, and not the kind you find in the ocean. As Dane parks the SUV on the side of the road, June pulls away from me. Like she’s afraid to be seen being too affectionate with me or something.
I’ll admit, it stings a little. I thought we’d reached some kind of understanding. But maybe she’s just not into PDA? I don’t know what to make of it.
“Have your client sit in the back,” Dane says by way of greeting. His strong jaw and piercing gaze make him look like an action hero or something. He gets in the occasional wry joke like the rest of us, though.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because the passenger seat is known as the Death Seat,” Dane insists. “Statistically, it’s the seat where you’re most likely to be killed in a car accident or roadside incident.”
“It’s fine,” June says, climbing into the back. “I don’t mind.”
I decide to sit back there with her, which makes Dane roll his eyes. He looks at the carnage on the road and clucks his tongue.
“Jax said you made a mess, but this is worse than I imagined.”
“Oh really?” I say with a sneer. “How about your handiwork? Are you really going to compare your levels of property damage to mine?”
“I can’t believe you guys are making this into a contest, of all things,” June mutters.
“It’s not a contest, he has me beat in spades,” I say. “Dane originated the wholeshoot first, think neverphilosophy before I even joined up with Platinum Security.”
June gives him a look.
Dane shrugs.
“He shot the people that needed shooting, is what he means by that shrug,” I add.
“Does anyone really need shooting, though?” June asks.
“Yes,” Dane and I answer in unison, which is annoying as hell.
“Jinx,” I say to him.
“I mean, I know people like Moorcrock need to be put in prison or otherwise removed from society,” June says. “But is killing them really the solution?”
Dane shrugs. I decide to be a little more articulate.
“I know it sounds like macho posturing, but if a certain person is causing a problem, then removing them also removes the problem…sometimes.” I sigh. “We’re not indiscriminate, bloodthirsty goons, though. When I was in the army, we were told to be careful who we pulled the trigger on. Because killing the bad guy doesn’t always put an end to the misery they spread.”
June cocks an eyebrow at me.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. You see, bad guys aren’t like comic book villains. They have families, friends, parents, and so forth. Even if someone was a bad guy who did bad things, there might just be someone around who is willing to kill to avenge them.” I sigh. “Thenyou’re just stuck in a cycle of killing. I mean, yeah, some dudes need to be shot, but that doesn’t mean we kill indiscriminately.”
June gives me a long look.
“What’s that for?” I ask.
“You’re always surprising me, Axel.” She shakes her head, lips drawn into a line. “I can’t figure out if you’re really deep and just pretending to be an airhead most of the time, or if it’s the other way around.”
“Oh, it’s the other way around, let me save you some confusion,” I say.
