Walker (In the Company of Snipers #21) - Irish Winters Page 0,50
sides of the two-lane highway. It reminded her of home, where her parents still lived. Quiet. A lot less traffic. And it smelled better than the city.
The penitentiary had been built in the middle of Nowhere, Virginia, to enhance the state’s most western county’s dirt-poor economy. In other words, if they weren’t farming, most able-bodied folks worked at the prison.
“So, tell me about yourself,” Zack said as he tapped the earpiece snugged deep inside his left ear. “Where’d you go to school?”
Persia wore a matching earpiece, but so far, there’d been nothing from Ember or Beau, and thank heavens, not a terse word from Alex.
“DeSoto Central, Southaven, Mississippi. Home of the Jaguars. Then the University of Memphis, Tennessee. Go Tigers. It’s less than an hour from home. That way, I went back any time I wanted.”
“Sounds like you were… what? A cheerleader?”
Pressing the silver butterfly switch on her door panel, Persia activated the window to let some air in. Instantly, the vehicle filled with the rich loamy scent of freshly plowed fields, someone’s cut grass, and wildflowers. “Good guess, but I have more brains than that. But I did play basketball in high school and during my first year at Memphis. That was fun.”
“Ah, a full-ride scholarship then,” he surmised correctly.
“Of course.” She turned in her seat to really look at Zack. He was as easy to talk with as Mark. But those guns… His biceps stretched that leather jacket to the max. This guy worked out.
“You’re close to your folks?” he asked.
“Sure, aren’t you?”
“Hell, yeah. They’ll be in town over Labor Day. I’ll bring them by and introduce them if you’re around.”
That was a good three months away. She grunted. “Where else would I be?”
“We never know with this job, do we?” he murmured as the van ahead slowed. Orange barricades lined the shoulders of the road, then construction cones. A flagman at the right side cautioned them to slow down. “Doesn’t it figure, roadwork ahead.”
“So… Where are you from?”
He shot her a quick grin. “America.”
“Me, too. But you know what I meant. What ethnicity? Your skin color is quite lovely.”
That made Zack laugh. “Me? Lovely? Don’t go spreading that around. Mom’s full-blooded Irish, but Dad’s from Jamaica.”
“Hmmm. That explains it.”
“Explains what? That except for my big nose, we could pass for brother and sister?”
“You don’t have a big nose. But yeah, we have similar traits, only you seem to really enjoy life. You’re always easygoing and…” She lifted both shoulders. “You smile all the time. You seem happy every day. Are you?”
He shot her a toothy grin. “Life’s too short to be miserable, you ought to know that by now. Why not be happy while you’re here?”
Her lashes dropped, and she wished she hadn’t started down a road that would most likely lead back to Alex. He and Zack seemed more like old friends than boss and employee.
Zack’s big hand dropped over hers on the console. “You’re not Joan of Arc, Persia.”
“What does she have to do with anything?”
“And you’re not Jesus Christ.”
Okay, that made her laugh. “You’ve got that right.” Because if I were, I would’ve snuffed the Zapata brothers the minute they opened their killer-baby eyes the day they were born. Or hatched. Or spawned or whatever.
Zack’s fingers squeezed over the tops of hers. “I’ve seen just as much shit as you have, but the secret’s in how you choose to handle it. Let it go, or it’ll fester inside until it drives you nuts. Trust me. Back when I first encountered the Black Dragon Syndicate—”
“You did what?”
His head bobbed as he kept his eyes on the road. “That’s where my little girl Song came from. She was one of those Chinese orphans.” His fingers squeezed harder. “That’s also when I met Mei.”
“Your wife?” Why didn’t Persia know his backstory?
His head bobbed, but his Adam’s apple seemed stuck in his throat “Yeah. Back then” —he swallowed hard— “Mei hated everyone, including me. We didn’t know it then, but LiLi’s father had her kidnapped, smuggled her into France. Mei got it into her head that LiLi’s disappearance had to do with the influx of illegal Chinese orphans. All she wanted was her daughter back, and everyone else was in her way. She had a lot of nerve back then, even butted heads with Alex. It took us a while to learn how to work together.”
“What did you do?”
His lips pinched together. “We went undercover, acted like a married couple out to adopt a kid, and desperate enough