Page 104 of So Close

“I’ve got a binder.”

That makes me grin. “Of course you do. I can’t wait to see it.”

Rogelio holds the door open for me, and we step into the elevator vestibule. He looks at the two men stationed there. “Fix the CCTV. I was never here. She never left.”

They nod, and one breaks off for the utility closet.

“Tuck your braid into your shirt,” Rogelio tells me, looking me over again. “And put the hat on.”

I do as he says. “Better?”

“Hardly.” He pushes the button to call the car. “I wish you’d let me handle this.”

“No one else would make it out alive.”

He says nothing further until we’ve made it through the parking garage and are on our way in a rental van with switched plates. The car that hit me had switched plates, too. But that’s just a coincidence. There’s no way it could be anything else.

“Here’s where we’re at so far,” Rogelio says grimly, his eyes on the road. “The reservation for lunch is at twelve-thirty. Laska texted Amy earlier to confirm. That message came to the clone, and I replied. I told Clarice I’d won a lunch for two at a restaurant in the general direction of the meet-up. Today’s the expiration date, and I can’t make it, so she’s taking Amy. My tracker on Amy’s phone will let me know if they deviate. If Amy’s followed, they’ll think she’s en route for up to half an hour. It buys us some time – but not much.”

Remotely accessing Baharan files requires installing proprietary security software on the device. Rogelio managed that installation for all of the Armands, and it’s been our window. Through it, we saw our chance after Val made contact.

We’ve hunted him for years, and in the end, he came to us.

“I already have a man in place at the meet-up,” he goes on. “He’ll grease the water glass. We hope the glass will slip and spill, but even if it doesn’t, the grease has a dye and will stain. You said Laska’s fastidious, so using a napkin won’t be enough in either case. I’ll give you the go signal, and you’ll start walking. The bathrooms are individual and unisex. All the locks have been tampered with. A hard bump with your hip, and you’ll be in. Then it’s you and Laska, one on one.”

I nod. “Val will have protection scattered around the restaurant. If they suspect you or your man …”

“I know what I’m doing. So does my team. You’re the one out of her league.”

“I won’t screw it up.”

I stare out the window, trying to make sense of where I am and what I’m doing. There’s a queue of schoolchildren following their teacher down the street. A couple makes out against a tree. A deliveryman yells at the driver of a double-parked car. It’s all so surreal. The sunlit city with its teeming life seems like a nightmare vision. A taunting promise of normality meant to contrast reality with a deeper horror.

Looking down at my wedding ring, I don’t have the heart to remove it. I spin it around to hide the stone in my palm. “We’ve been over this a million times.”

“Your desperation dulls your edge. If he attacks you, you’re not –”

“He won’t.”

Rogelio slams his palm into the steering wheel and shouts, “You don’t know that! You’re blowing off the car accident as random, but none of the rest of us are. And it’s been weeks since we practiced. Weeks of you recovering. All these years of waiting and planning, and you won’t take the time to prepare!”

“Time for him to prepare, too,” I point out calmly. “Do you think the timing of his return to the city is coincidental? That he hired Amy before, and again, by chance? That meeting with her in a restaurant he doesn’t own wasn’t deliberate? There’s something bigger at play here.”

“No shit. It’s still too risky.”

“It’s never going to be without risk!” I sag back into the seat, pressing my palm against my forehead. “Do you know how hard it is to haveallof you get cold feettoday? Why not some other day? If anything’s screwing our chances now, it’s you guys making me feel so nervous when I need to be sharp!”

“It’s not just today.” Rogelio pulls over to the curb, parks and turns the engine off. Releasing his seatbelt, he twists to face me. His mouth is hard and tight, his eyes beseeching. “We’ve been talking about this for months.”

“Behind my back?”

“You haven’t exactly been available!” he snaps. “We’re not the same orphaned kids you tracked down. We’re different now – because ofyou. There was a time we all needed the idea of revenge against your mother and Laska to drive us forward. But then you helped us discover our talents and provided the education to make them marketable. You gave us a new family. We have each other now. Maybe that’s enough,querida. Maybe all of us making good is the best revenge.”

I study him. I let his words sink in. “I wish you’d said something earlier. I wouldn’t have made you come this far.”

“For fuck’s sake!” He grabs the steering wheel in both hands and shakes it hard. “I really want to throttle you right now. You know we’d never let you do this alone. I’m just telling you – you don’t have to do thisfor us. You don’t owe us anything. What your mother and Laska did to our families … that’s not on you.”

I nod, then pull out a tube of lipstick so nude it completely erases my lips. “We’ll have to plan for a family night after this. Air all this out.”

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