Page 52 of Vice

I wouldn’t. But they don’t need to know that. They’re too young to understand the lies adults tell their children to protect them until they’re emotionally able to handle the truth. I didn’t understand ituntilI had them. Because no one had cared to protect my innocence and emotions at their age.

“You’re sure he wants to see us andcan’t?”

“Positive.”

They exchange a look before chorusing, “Okay, Mom.”

“I’ll tell Dad you said hi,” I assure as I hug them both and send them off to find Velia before I’m late.

Viper has asked me to meet him at a different estate he has in upstate New York, far away from the big city, but still much less private that his private island estate. People have actually managed to get pictures of him coming in and out of this place, unclear as they are. So it’s never been an option to bring the twins here. It’s never been an option for me to come here either. But now that I have an identity to use in public, people won’t find it odd if they catch me going to the estate. Either they’ll think I’m there to see Cres, or they’ll assume Adrian Blake is still up to his playboy ways.

“You’re late,” Viper says as soon as I arrive. He’s waiting for me in the foyer of the secluded mansion, hands in his pocket, blue-eyed stare neutral but intense as always.

“I got held up. By the children,” I add. No telling who might be listening if this place isn’t as secure as the island.

“Oh?”

“They think their dad doesn’t want to spend time with them.”

“That’s not true,” he replies immediately, breaking his neutral expression.

“Try explaining that to seven-year-olds.”

“Shit,” Viper mutters. Then, “Well, good thing after this it should be safe enough for a visit.”

“After what?”

He nods for me to follow him to his office. A large map is laid out on the desk when we arrive, marked in black marker in Viper’s distinct and neat handwriting.

“What’s this?”

“A map of the Central Appalachia region. That information we stole from Harp? According to that, there’s a coordinate in this region that’s the destination for the shipment of children we saw. You won’t believe how many maps I had to go through to find the fucking place. The town it’s near is barely a town and barely on any maps. Me and Eileen had the coordinates weeks ago. It was finding where the fuck it was and what was there so we could have a reference point that was the problem. Ended up having to send a scout out there blind to get it.”

“Well, you wouldn’t have had to go through the trouble if you hadn’t stolen the information from me.”

“I didn’t steal it. I’m the one that got it.”

I decide not to argue that point with him.

“What did they find?”

He takes a stack of pictures from the corner of the desk and spreads them out.

“It’s a mine,” I point out the obvious.

“An abandoned one. Went through a series of sells until I’m assuming Pray acquired it. But for what? Why go through all this trouble to hide some trafficked children?”

I shrug. “That’s what we need to go and find out then, don’t we?”

“Yes,” Viper says tersely. He’s still not happy that I manipulated him into bringing me on this. “And while we’re doing that, Revnor is going to be misleading Travis and Pray to close this investigation on your little alter-ego.”

“Great. I was getting bored having to let Delilah and Brin coordinate recruitment and my security handle training the militias.”

“And you’ll let them continue to handle it. Getting Pray off your radar isn’t so you can run back into trouble and be on it again. You have a good position being Addy to oversee all this without anyone noticing.”

I frown. “Adrian Blake? Was that a compliment?”

He ignores me and continues, “Wyan is already there, integrating himself in with the town folk to get information. You know how hard it is to get information from those kind of poor towns that no one cares about.”

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