Kaylee
Matthew Ryan Fischer
Kaylee had ignored all her better instincts and gotten herself in
a precarious at best situation. After being caught and confronted about following
a man, she had lied to him, then upon seeing him again at their apartment
building, accepted an invitation into his home. She had foolishly held on to
the belief that she could trick him or turn him or find out some valuable
information. But now she found herself in the middle of his living room with
him standing between her and the door. Declan would never let her forget this.
That is if she survived it and told him about it. Right now, she was more worried
about getting out of the situation more so than what her supervisor might say.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She didn’t see the point. She could admit anything, but that would
probably make him kill her a little faster. She could fight, but that might
just make it go slower. She thought through her options and considered offering
to work for him. He didn’t seem the type who needed police help.
“If there’s something you want, then I suppose you should tell me
what it is. Otherwise, let’s get on with whatever it is you plan on doing.”
The man took a moment to study her.
“You know who I am?”
“I believe so.”
“Good. And I know who you are.”
“Can I ask how?”
“I have a lot of women throwing themselves at me lately. I know
who most of them are. Your arrival was a bit unexpected. There were only so
many options of who you could be working for. I’ll admit, when I first saw you,
I was hoping you were a spy for another family and we might have a little fun. But
you’re a little too professional in your approach. You had to be undercover.”
“If you know so much, why even talk to me? Why risk me having
backup or doing anything that might get you arrested? So far all I’ve seen is a
man about town.”
“You have your suspicions. I could lie. I could avoid you. I could
lose you in the crowd. But you kept coming back. If you could arrest me for
anything, you would have. If you had blackmail to force me to work for you, you
would have already mentioned it. You think you know me. You think you know my compatriots.”
“You’re saying I’m wrong?”
“About a few things. Especially why I brought you here.”
The man stepped aside, giving her a path towards the door. He put
on a good show of it, she thought. Either it was a real gesture, or he knew how
to make it look like one. If she moved, he could still react before she moved a
foot closer. If she ran, he would have the power.
He smiled at her, watching her inner turmoil.
“What am I supposed to call you? Agent? Dragon? You have a name or
a number?”
“Jinn.”
“For real?”
“For you. You won’t get anything else.”
“Okay, Jinn, you’ve left me alive for minutes or days--”
“Or weeks.”
“Or weeks. What do you want? What can I do for you?”
“I think I know who you work for. I think he’s more interested in
peace than he is in war. He might now act like it, but I think he understands
stability. Tell him I have evidence of a wave of chaos about to hit the
streets. He might be more interested in that then taking down one of the
pillars holding everything up. Maybe I’m wrong and you both come back and find
some reason to arrest me. Or maybe I share with you a hint of what’s to come
and we all get to prepare and survive to fight another day.”
Kaylee took a step towards the door. Jinn didn’t move.
“I’ll let you know. Can I ask?”
“About the others? You’re very pretty. But neither of them was
trying to arrest me. It was just easier.”
Kaylee nodded.
“Sure. If that’s what you think you keep telling yourself that.”
Jinn smiled at her and seemed to consider saying something, but
Kaylee didn’t give him time and walked out the door.
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