He turns to me with a heavy frown. “What? That’s a weird name.”
“Nah, nunya, as in, none of ya fuckin’ business.”
He barks out a laugh and turns back to study the sky.
Jay’s shots continue, and Soph works with him to program the new tech. But their noise, despite being loud, is just background nothingness. We’re completely accustomed to having them around.
“Not sharing.” He nods. “Fair call. What’s she look like? Big tits and fuckable ass? You seem like the type.”
I scoff. “I dare you to say that again, motherfucker. I dare you to ask about her body twice.”
“Nope.” He rolls up to a crouch, then jumps to his feet and walks away. “Nunya. I get it.”
I smile. “Good. Stay the fuck away from that topic, or you’ll regret it.”
* * *
Sophia putsout an alert in whatever way she does. She does something with her computer, something that lets our guy know we’re close and willing to talk.
None of us want to be on the road in a fruitless chase around and around. Whoever our enemy is knows we’re looking. And we know where he is each time he switches on his internet. Every time we move, he moves. Every time he moves, we move. Both parties to this war spin our wheels, we fill a new seat, around and around we go so that two months of my life passes me by, and Abigail’s calls come fewer and farther between.
She’s not purposely getting quieter. She’s busy with work, with her family, with her friend Marcie. And I’m busy with this bullshit, awake all damn night while Abigail sleeps, and sleeping during the hours that normal human beings would make a phone call.
One missed call turns to two, two turns to three, and then we’re caught in a phone tag loop not a lot different to the game we’re playing with our target. Now Abigail and I are relegated to a text relationship, where hours pass between replies, and the oxygen in my lungs never feels like enough.
I walk into Soph and Jay’s room nine weeks after we left home, and snap her laptop closed. It’s the only way a man can get any attention around here. “I’m going home. This wasn’t supposed to go on so long. Now you’re wasting my time, so I’m out.”
Soph’s perfectly sculpted brow lifts with attitude. She cracks her laptop open again and shakes her head. “We’re almost done.”
“You said that last week, ballerina! And the week before. And the week before that! I have never dropped out of an assignment before, but at some point, you might have to admit you’re not the smartest person in the room. The dude has you hosed, and you’re too stubborn to pull back and admit it. I refuse to stay here any longer if all we’re doing is watching a dot on a computer.”
“We’re waiting on his move,” she reasons. “This whole thing is like a game of chess, he makes his move, we make ours.”
“That’s just a really fancy way of saying nobody is making progress, and everybody is wasting their time!”
“That’s not true,” she counters oh-so-fucking-calmly.
Jay moves around his room as though me going toe to toe with his girlfriend doesn’t bother him, but I know he’s watching. And brotherhood or not, I know he’s ready to take me out if I go too far.
“Every time we move, we get a step closer. Every time he moves, he shows himself a little more. I don’t know who he is, Spencer. I don’t know his people. But I know he’s awfully interested in the Bishop brothers. Interested enough to slip up and give us a name.” Her face transforms into a megawatt smile when her laptop dings. “Fuck me. He’s interested enough to reply to my email too.” She turns her laptop and shows an email with a timestamp ofjust now.“He doesn’t want a war. He wants to talk.”
“It’s a trap.” Jay drops the stack of towels he was moving and storms across the room to read the email himself.
--------------------------------
To: AcesAndEights
From: Checkmate
Aces,
I’m willing to talk if you’re willing to be honest.
It never had to be this way. If only the Bishops knew how to tell the truth, none of us would be here today.
I’m interested in the Bishop fortune. I’m interested in how you earn your means.
Being the blood of a fallen king doesn’t qualify you for immunity, so truth and honor is all you have left.