Hitman vs Hitman - L.A. Witt Page 0,32
your filthy carcasses.”
“Good girl, Elodie,” August complimented her, his smile turning into a grin. “That was terrifying and perfectly on point.”
“Augustus.” His older sister heaved a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. What in the hell happened to your house last night? It looks like a landslide and a tornado had a whirlwind romance on your property.”
“You’re being very witty today. Do you come up with these in advance, or are they all off the cuff?”
“Augustus! Mom and Dad are this close to flying back from France to look into this. Is that what you want? To pry our parents out of retirement so you can explain to them just what the fuck happened to your house?”
August rolled his eyes. “It’ll take more than a few paparazzi photos to get Mom out of the chateau at this time of year.”
“Oh, really?” Elodie’s voice was icy. “Have you forgotten what’s coming up?”
The pop-fizz of August’s pleasure at teasing his sister went flat. “You really think I could forget an anniversary like that?”
“No, and neither have they. They’re very sensitive to the lives and livelihoods of their children at this time of year, Augustus. Now tell me something to back people off so this doesn’t become a scandal.”
“Thieves broke into my house and threatened me, I escaped, and now I’m off to hunker down at a secure location until the worst of the mess is cleaned up,” he recited. It was the standard backstory he’d concocted for a situation like this, and one his sister knew well. She was the only member of his family who explicitly knew what he did, and the only one he could trust not to try and change him. She understood.
“Beta protocol, then. The works?”
“Yes, please.”
“Everything you had before?”
“Hell yes, it was so awesome,” he assured her, his smile coming back. “The tunnels worked like a charm.”
“Charmingly explosive tunnels, got it.” He could practically see the reluctantly amused purse of her lips. “I’ll get Paschal in there to extract your personal items and put them into storage. Same passcode?”
“Same passcode. Thank you,” he said, as genuinely as he could. “I really appreciate your help on this. I’m going to be incommunicado for an uncertain period of time, and knowing you’ve got my back will make it easier to get the job done.”
“This isn’t your standard kind of job though, is it?”
“Elodie.” She might know what he did, but he was never going to fill her in on how, where, and especially not who.
“You don’t have to tell me anything sensitive, I know you wouldn’t anyway, but…this wasn’t normal for what you do.”
“No, it wasn’t,” August agreed. “Things have gotten a little complicated, but I’m fine. We’ve got a plan for how to proceed from here.”
There was a pause, and then— “We, huh?”
“Figure of speech,” August said immediately, but inside he was swearing at himself. Jesus, he needed more coffee if he was so out of it he’d let something like that slip. Or possibly more pain meds—his feet were killing him today.
“No, it isn’t. Not in any language you speak,” Elodie replied smugly. “I know because I speak them all too. Don’t waste any more breath denying it, I don’t care to hear it, just…I’m happy. That you’re not alone.”
August became acutely aware of Ricardo’s presence on the other side of the room, the soft whisper of his breathing, the sound of his finger striking the keyboard of his computer…and the fact that they’d stopped moving about a minute ago, which meant he’d homed right in on August’s half of the conversation. “I’ll talk to you later. Handle Mom and Dad for me, all right?”
“All right. I’m going to say you’re in Malta.”
August groaned. “There’s nothing to do in Malta!”
“That you’re at a meditative retreat…”
“No!”
“That the facility requires a vow of silence upon entry, and your emails say you’re finding it so mind-expanding that you might never begin speaking again.”
“Ibiza,” August demanded. “Mallorca. The fucking Seychelles, come on!”
“We’ll see.” She ended the call.
August stared at the phone for a second, then tilted his head back until his neck cracked. “Ugh.”
“Your sister?” Ricardo asked.
August got a slight chill up his spine. It wasn’t that he went out of his way to hide his identity, he wasn’t surprised that Ricardo knew who Elodie was, but…knowing for sure that Ricardo knew about her still bothered him. “Yeah.” He affected a casual demeanor. “She’s my emergency contact when things go really bad, and the house…that’s a pretty big deal. It can’t