Page 52 of Ends of Being

She gives a short nod, then replies, “Somehow, you have a tracker somewhere on your person, and we need to remove it.”

My eyes widen, and I stare at her as I ask, “What do you mean a tracker?”

She gives me a serious look, “Someone implanted a chip that tracks your movements. I have no idea how it got there, and I have no idea how long it’s been there, but we need to take it out.”

I frown, but I don’t speak, so she continues, “And we really should replace it with one of our own.”

I scoff at her, shaking my head. “Not a fucking chance.”

“Antoinette, the only reason we found you this time was because I was fortunate enough to pick up a person who knew you were being tracked and also someone who happened to have the means to locate you. The odds of this happening again are very slim. I don’t know who put the tracker in you. I don’t know when they did it, but I can fucking tell you right now that I’m incredibly grateful that they did because, without it, you would likely be dead right now.”

I sigh, annoyed that she’s right, and seeing my change in demeanor, she adds, “The likelihood that these people will try to take you again is one hundred percent. Sure, we can watch you every second of every day, but at some point, they will get you. The only way we’ll be able to find you is if we have a tracker on you. It ‘s for your safety that we do this.”

I take a deep breath, resigned to the truth behind her words, and I nod. “Fine.”

She nods in return, then goes over to the door and opens it, ushering somebody else inside. I turn to see who it is, and I’m relieved it’s Matt who walks in, carrying a case with him and I’m certain I don’t want to see its contents. Lilith motions for me to stand, so I do, moving around toward the center of the room where Matt is waiting for me.

She doesn’t say anything else, just stands before me, raises her arms out, and moves her legs apart so she’s spread eagle, and I do the same. Matt waves the wand thing all over my body until, eventually, it beeps. I continue to stand there uselessly. Finally, Lilith drops her arms, and I huff out a sigh as I follow suit.

Matt scrambles around in his case for something, and then he’s standing behind me. “I’m going to need you to remove your shirt, Toni.”

I look at Lilith, who nods at me reassuringly, then comes closer to help me out of my shirt. I hold it in front of me while Lilith takes my right arm and pulls it across my body so the skin and muscle of my back is pulled taunt. I feel something wet and cold slide over where my back meets my armpit, and I smell alcohol in the air. I feel a pinch and then a slice of pain that causes me to hiss, and I squeeze my eyes shut as Lilith steps in closer to me.

Matt works quickly to remove the foreign body, and before I know it, he has me stitched and bandaged, and he and Lilith are discussing where to place the new tracking device. Apparently, they need to put it in a spot that will be hidden enough that it won’t be noticeable at first glance.

Matt pauses, then says, “Maybe we should put it in the same spot. Seal it up with some super glue and hope no one notices?”

Lilith shrugs and replies, “If they know to look for it at all, they’ll just get her to remove it. I don’t think it really matters at this point. At least, in this game.”

“Well, I guess there’s no point in poking a new hole in her, then. Sorry, Toni. I’ll be as quick as possible.”

I give a brief nod, turning my head away as I feel him snip and remove the stitch that’s no longer necessary. There’s some pinching and a twinge of pain as he inserts a new tracker, and I can’t decide which is a stranger feeling: knowing that someone has been tracking me for an unknown amount of time or the knowledge that I’m agreeing to people I know tracking me for an indefinite period of time. I suppose the sense of violation stems more from the former; however, this doesn’t make the latter feel any less vulnerable.

Matt finishes up, and Lilith helps me put my top to rights before reaching her hand out expectantly to Matt. He hands her a little bag which I assume has my old tracker in it, and she looks at it for a moment before looking between the two of us and saying, “It may be time to play a little game.”

I frown, unsure of what she means by “little game”, but I’m certain that it can’t be good.

All I know is I’m tired.

They must sense my unease as they both shift gears simultaneously, and Lilith motions me over toward the bed as Matt says, “I’ll let you get some rest, Toni. I’m down the hall if you need me.”

I don’t say anything as I walk over to the bed and sit down. Lilith is standing in front of me, and she reaches a hand out to caress the side of my head. I give her a weird look and a dry laugh. “Am I your pet now? Got me microchipped and everything?”

She laughs. “It would appear so, though I can assure you, we will only use the tracker in cases of emergency.”

I frown, confusion lacing my words as I ask, “How come they didn’t follow their tracker here? Or are you all worried they’re going to show up at some point?”

Lilith shakes her head. “No, we were able to turn it off from the device we got off one of their men. We’ve been monitoring it constantly to make sure no one tried to turn it back on to pinpoint your current location. Matt assures me it would take at least three minutes of active status for that to happen. So, so far, we’re good.”

I tilt my head, grimacing slightly, then lie down, pulling the blankets up over my head. Her footsteps get quieter and further away as she leaves the room, the door clicking behind her, and I lie there in the darkness, contemplating my entire existence up to this point.

Eventually, I fall asleep, and I can’t be sure, but I think at some point, Darius joined me, the press of his hard body against my back, the comfort of his breath in my hair.

And my sleep was dreamless.

Dare

When Lilith first came to me with the little game she wanted to play, I was dead set against it. Her idea that we plant the old tracker back on Toni and have her lure the enemy on a merry chase is far from ideal.

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