Chapter 9
Alysa
It felt good to be up and on my feet. Logan had looked me over early this morning and announced that I was doing better than he expected. Yippee for me. Now I needed to do better than I expected, because I expected to be able to stand up straight without pain.
There was a knock at my door and Burke entered. “You’re up. That’s good.”
I huffed and slowly made my way back to the bed. Once tucked beneath the sheets I said, “I can’t stand being cooped up in here any longer.”
“LaHouse, you were admitted yesterday. You sound like you’ve been here a week.”
“Don’t even say that. The doctor mentioned that to me yesterday and I cringed at the thought.” The was the total opposite of the action I was looking for when I accepted this mission. “I can’t wait to be discharged.”
“Yes. About that. Yesterday you were…heavily medicated and not thinking clearly,” Burke stated. “I’m just making sure you are returning to New Hope when Logan gives you the thumbs up.”
“Nope. I’ll be staying with Jasper,” I said. “I thought we discussed this yesterday.”
“And do you recall my telling you ‘hell no’?”
I glared at Burke and said, “You hired me to do a job. And if I remember correctly, you also told me to use my gut. Either you trust me to do this or you don’t. Which is it?”
If he didn’t, there’d be no need for me to go to Jasper’s, because I’d be packing my bags and going back to the States.
Burke growled, “You’re here, aren’t you?”
“Then let me do my job,” I said.
“We don’t have anyone at his home to have your back. You’ll be all on your own.”
Yes, being part of a team is better, but when you’re looking into the eyes of the enemy, you’re alone anyway.“Jasper’s all on his own, too. He doesn’t scare me, Burke.”
“He should. We don’t know what he is capable of. I met him last night and told him his opposition has goons watching him. Even stressed how he isn’t safe staying where he is. He dismissed it.”
“So what you’re saying is you need someone on the inside who can protect him if Ocalla’s goons decide to make a move?” I smirked, pleased that Burke had walked right into it.
“Not funny, LaHouse. You can’t be on your guard 24/7.”
“You’re right. But what it will give you is someone to feed you information if things do change. That is, if you really believe he might be in danger,” I said.
Burked crossed his arms, and the set of his jaw told me he was not happy. “Nothing about this sounds like a good plan.”
“It’s the only one we have at the moment. Right now your choices for president are Ocalla, who you know is scum, and Jasper, who you need time to figure out. Sounds like we need to back the lesser of two evils. Don’t you agree?” I challenged.
“I don’t like this at all,” he said.
That sounded like victory to me. “It’s just another mission, Burke.”
He raised a brow and said, “If that’s the case, then tell me when you stopped calling him Florraz and started referring to him as Jasper?”
I noticed that myself. “Guess when he saved my life,” I answered honestly.
“And that doesn’t concern you? Because to me it sounds like your judgment might be compromised.”
“I might appreciate what he did for me, but I know what’s at stake. We need to make sure he’s worthy of being president of Tabiq. If he’s not, then I’ll be right there by your side to take him down,” I announced wholeheartedly. Even though I was getting to see a different side of Jasper, a softer side, if he was involved with human trafficking, or exploiting the people of Tabiq in any way, I’d never look at him the same.
“I’m holding you to that,” Burke stated.
“You know where my loyalty lies,” I reminded him. There was a code between Marines. One most people didn’t understand.