helps you think differently, which is priceless. Most Europeans speak at least two. Charlie spoke three that I’m aware of. Spanish, French, and German.”
“Now, that I knew,” Leo said coming into the bathroom. “I was always jealous. I only know a little Spanish. As much as anyone born and raised in Texas.” Squinting, he leaned close to me, reaching for my cheeks.
I swatted him away. “Do not muss me.”
“Muss you?” he muttered, but he backed off.
“I’ll learn,” Danny promised. “What should I start with?”
“Start with getting your high school diploma,” Leo said. “Then you can worry about what you need to know to become a criminal mastermind.” A pained expression crossed his face. “Oh, God. Who am I? What have you people done to me?”
“Nothing you didn’t want done to you,” I said with a pointed look.
He had no comeback for that, so he left the room. Danny watched him go, eyes wide.
“What did you mean by that?” he asked.
“Only that Special Agent Shook is here of his own volition. He could leave at any time.”
“Someone is trying to kill him!” Danny said.
“He’s an FBI Special Agent with twenty years under his belt. I’m sure many people want him dead. And the person or people trying to scare him, at least, are doing so because of choices he made in the past. Choices that entangled his life with Charlie Bingham’s much more tightly than was strictly necessary for professional reasons.”
Danny looked at the door, mouth hanging open as if it hadn’t occurred to him to question Leo’s involvement. It probably hadn’t. He’d been busy fighting for his life and trying to see some kind of future for himself somewhere between a homeless street hustler and the meticulously structured one his parents had planned for him since the day he was born.
“What is the story between Charlie and Agent Shook?” Danny asked.
“That’s not my story to tell. You’ll have to ask him.”
Danny looked at my reflection in the mirror as I put in a pair of colored contacts. “But you know, right?”
I knew some things but not all. I wasn’t naïve enough to think that Charlie had told me even half of what was going on in his life, let alone what was going on in his head. Charlie didn’t trust people like that. I think the only one who even had an idea of what was going on in his head was Miranda. I didn’t know much of anything about Charlie’s life before I’d met him. Who he’d been, where he’d come from, who his people were. He’d recreated himself every day.
And he’d died alone and unloved, a tiny voice in my head whispered. That will be you if you don’t make some changes in your life.
I told the voice to fuck off. I’d made my choices, just like Leo had, and I would and could live with the consequences.
“Okay. To bring the subject back to assets,” Danny said. “I think we’re not using our biggest asset.”
“Oh, really? Do tell.” I turned and gave him my full attention. “What do you consider our biggest asset?”
A pink flush colored his cheeks, but he looked me right in the eye, pointing at me for emphasis. “Josie,” he said with a challenge in his eye.
Surprised, I let out a laugh. “You know what, you’re not wrong. That woman…” I shook my head. Where Charlie had found her, I didn’t know. She’d just shown up one day, stayed for a long time, and then disappeared. Ever since, she’d keep up the cycle, joining us for a few jobs or just to lie low, and then disappearing and doing whatever it was she did.
“Does she work for Charlie or Miranda?” he asked.
“Josie works for Josie,” I informed him. Was this how Charlie had felt when he’d met me? As if he’d found someone to pass on all his hard-earned knowledge to? I did some math; I’d been younger than Danny when Charlie had met me, but not by much. And Charlie had to have been around the same age I was now. Strange.
On one hand, I wanted to take Danny under my wing, become his mentor, and pass down all the accumulated wisdom from Charlie and me. On the other hand, I knew I should encourage him to get as far as he could from me and this entire setup.
Then I remembered he was in love with Wesley and realized he was doomed anyway.
“The thing with Josie and people like her,” I said, motioning for