him to come closer, “is that you can’t plan with her. You make your plans and tell her, and she’s going to do what she’s going to do.”
Danny bent his head obligingly so I could change the part in his hair. “Isn’t that, well, kind of dangerous? I mean, couldn’t she screw your plans up big-time?”
I nodded, tapping him on the chin to lift his head. Grabbing some pomade, I rubbed it between my hands. “Yes. Absolutely.” He really was a natural at this. He had the ability to see all sides of an issue and to keep the big picture in mind. I picked my words carefully while I styled his hair. “That’s why you have to be careful who you tell your plans to. But I’ll tell you a secret, I trust Josie with my life. She’s brilliant and most of the time will make the right call.”
“Most of the time?” Danny asked. “Wow, Carson. You’re good at this.” He stared at himself in the mirror and nodded, touching his newly styled hair gently. Normally, he didn’t do anything with it beyond washing and letting it fall however it wanted to. I’d given him a hard left part, slicked the shorter sides back over his ears, and fluffed the longer strands up, working with his natural cowlicks to get quite a fetching swoop over his right eye.
I met his eyes in the mirror over his shoulder. “Everybody screws up eventually in this world. And when you do, the consequences can be dire. You like what we’ve been doing, right?”
He looked puzzled but he nodded. “Yeah. I mean, we’re taking down the bad guys. Righting the wrongs.”
“Like Robin Hood,” I said. “Chaotic good in a world of neutrality and banal evil?”
Again, he nodded, more slowly this time.
“We have been. The last two jobs. But to survive as we do takes brutal honesty about your motivations. The end doesn’t always justify the means, and anointing yourself judge, jury, and executioner opens one up for abuse, no matter how well-intentioned one is in the beginning.”
“Power corrupts?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” I said with a grin. Danny was a smart boy. He could be anything he wanted to be. I needed to have a long talk with Wesley.
“Exactly. Lie to everyone else, you’ll probably have to at some point, but don’t lie to yourself.”
“I will,” he said solemnly.
“Good. Because you need to think long and hard about your future, and what it’s going to look like. Now come here and let me do your makeup.”
“Makeup?”
“Just a touch.” I pointed an eyeliner pencil menacingly at him. “Look up.”
When we walked out of the bathroom, Steele did a double take from where he was leaning against a kitchen counter. He put down the newspaper he’d been reading. “That mustache looks terrible, Carson. And what did you do to Danny? Come ’ere.” He waved Danny over and studied his face. “Looking good. Did you show that horndog boyfriend of yours?”
Danny shook his head. “Well, we need to remedy that.” He sat up and pulled Danny towards him.
Hands off the merchandise, Rusty, Wesley said over the comms.
“Shit,” Steele said. “I thought we were off comms.”
We rejoined the rest of the group in the small living room. Wesley had disappeared back upstairs.
Danny and I kept ours open, Wesley said. I heard you through his.
“Any luck with those single-channel comms yet?” Leo asked.
Right now, our comms broadcast to everyone wearing them. We could turn off the sending but not the receiving. That was fine with me. I wanted to be able to speak to anyone on the crew even if they couldn’t or wouldn’t reply. But Wesley had been toying with the idea of having some way to do a private channel between two people. So far, he hadn’t had the time or space to make a prototype.
Negative, Wesley replied. There’s a girl in Lithuania who’s got some promising things going on. I’ve been talking with her. And Danny, listen to Chaney. He’s got good advice. You need to think about what you’re doing here.
“But, Wes—”
No names over the comms. And we’ll talk later. Neo out.
“Neo out?” Steele said. “Boy’s been watching too many war movies.”
“You men ready to go?” Leo asked. “It’s time.”
“We’re ready. Comms on, tracker on.”
“I’ll be outside in the SUV,” Steele said. “In the parking lot near the kitchen door. Door will be unlocked, passenger’s side nearest to the building. In case things go south.”
“I don’t expect them to,” I said. “This is strictly observation, no