Evenfall (32 page)

The 53 leader looked as terrified as he was furious. This was a man who loved his family, even his ex-wife no matter how messy the divorce had been. This was also a man who would do anything for them; his psych file had made that clear.

"I'm not surprised," he said finally, voice raw and choked. "Anything that would employ a man like that--" he jerked his head to the door. "--would do anything."

Boyd didn't bother commenting on Sin since, from Andrews' perspective, Sin probably had seemed terrifying. After all, Sin could easily kill dozens of men and hardly seem worse for the wear the next day. Boyd didn't think he'd seen a single wound of note on Sin.

Instead, he said reasonably, "It doesn't have to be that way. If I can assure my employers that you'll work with us, none of that will happen. Of course, we'll have to keep your family under surveillance in case you decide to warn them about anything, which would be a very poor decision that would end terribly for all of you. Or if you decide to betray us, we would have to reconsider the decision to leave them be. I don't think you would care for those consequences so my suggestion is you cooperate and avoid these tragedies altogether."

"So it's all up to me," Andrews said, smiling humorlessly.

"It is," Boyd agreed calmly. "I do have some other questions. That can give you so
me time to consider the offer."

"Questions like what? What else can I tell you that you don't already know?"

"To your knowledge, is Jason Aarons and his group also being pursued by Janus?"

Andrews shook his head, looking slightly relieved at the question. "No. My Janus contact works only with me. Jason wouldn't know how to get in touch with them."

"Who is your Janus contact?"

This time Andrews wasn't as quick to reply. He shifted in the wooden chair, twisting his arms in the flexicuffs. "What does it matter?"

"The manner Janus contacted you or came to know about True Democracy Movement is of interest to us," Boyd replied simply. "Especially since you said the contact only works with you. It would seem there's a reason for that."

There was another stretch of charged silence as their captive seemed to roll this around in his head. Andrews was being careful and they were putting him in a difficult spot. Exposing his sources without having it fall on his own shoulders would likely be difficult. But in the end he just shook his head and looked resigned.

"Thierry Beauvais is my contact. I have a cousin, Sarabeth, who lives in England and rubs elbows with a lot of rich people who have dirty hands." Andrews smirked. "She's a much in demand... call girl, if you want to use the term. So in demand that she's pretty much courted by the kind of people that Thierry deals with. She met him at a party and they became friends. When she found out that I was looking for someone to buy arms from, she pointed me in his direction because he has contacts internationally who can set something like that up long term."

Boyd nodded in understanding. He didn't know who Thierry Beauvais was but he filed the information away for later when he would put it in the report. "How long ago was your first contact with Thierry?"

"About a year. Maybe more."

"And Janus learned of you through him?"

Andrews shrugged. "I'd never had contact with them beforehand. He said they were looking into expanding and liked our style. They liked the fact that we were going toe to toe with the politicians of Carson and fighting back. When they found out that he had dealings with us, they came knocking."

"What has your response been to them so far?"

"They know I have reservations."

Boyd inclined his head in acknowledgment. He let the silence stretch between them for a long moment as he studied Andrews closely. At length, he spoke.

"Have you made your decision?"

Andrews scoffed and continued to stare out the window. "What do you think, boy? You're not giving me any choice."

Boyd nodded once more and stood. "I will make the arrangements."

It didn't take long to get everything squared away. He retrieved Sin, who hadn't been that far away from the cabin, and after they figured out all the details they drove Andrews into the woods. The rebel leader glared hatefully at Sin nearly the entire time and seemed uncomfortable with being in the same car as him. For his part, Sin didn't seem to notice or care.

They cut Andrews loose and dropped him off where he would be able to return to his men without it ever being known where he'd been or with whom. After leaving Andrews behind, Boyd navigated them toward the major highway that would bring them back to Lexington.

Sin was silent in the passenger seat and at first Boyd was distracted with making sure he found the right twists and turns in the countryside. Once they were safely on the highway and the drive started what would become a rather boring stretch of time, Boyd looked over and studied Sin with the same intense and thoughtful stare he seemed to find himself turning on that man more than most. But then, most people didn't perplex Boyd as much as Sin did.

He remembered the way Sin had looked at him and had studied the flexicuffs before leaving Boyd alone with the Andrews. Boyd noted that along with all the other oddities of the day and now that it was silent he finally felt that he could ask all the questions he'd had to stifle earlier.

"Why did you save me?" he asked, his voice breaking into the quiet.

Up until this point, Sin had been leaning against the door with his head tilted against the window. Now he looked over, eyebrows drawing down. "Does it matter? You're alive."

"It matters to me."

Sin sat up straighter, causing the setting sun to cast muted rays against his face. He looked tired and paler than usual which was possibly due a night sleeping in the forest. The woods were considerably cooler once the sun set. His black hair was hanging around his face messily and he pushed it aside with impatience.

His full lips parted, pressed together and finally he just scowled. "It's pointless for you to die. That is basically what I decided."

"Why?" Boyd pressed, his curiosity heightened by the reply. "I'm easily replaceable. Agent Blake could take over for me immediately, no doubt, and it's unlikely anyone would have been surprised to find I hadn't made it back from this mission."

"Well, maybe I don't want Blake to be my partner," was the testy reply.

Boyd considered Sin, watching him for nuances of his expression. He couldn't deny that he was somewhat surprised by this entire situation. He hadn't expected an answer that in any way implied he could be a preferable partner above someone else. It was a curious thought since Boyd had felt for most of their partnership that Sin would have been glad to be rid of him.

"His temperament seemed relatively similar to my own," Boyd mused aloud. "I imagine after a day or two you'd hardly notice the difference."

To that, Sin didn't bother to respond.

Boyd fell silent, turning his attention to the road as one of the signs flashed by that estimated the amount of miles to various cities. They were still a good sixty-five miles from home.

"Thank you." He looked over at Sin with an expression that was a little less neutral and a little more approachabl
e than usual. "For helping me."

At first his only answer was a stiff shrug as Sin turned back to the window. He was fidgeting again-- absently yanking at a loose string that was hanging out of a rip on his cargo pants. His long fingers pulled at it insistently until the rip began to get slightly wider.

"Did I answer your questions the way you wanted me to?" he asked finally, still keeping his head against the window.

Boyd looked over with eyebrows that drew down. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said." Sin's eyes had closed at some point and his dusky eyelashes rested against his face. He went on without opening them. "Because if I answered adequately, I'll expect adequate responses to my question in return."

The reply caused Boyd to watch him more closely before he had to turn back to the road. "I do have additional questions," he admitted.

A low sigh. "Which are?"

Boyd took a moment to consider how to formulate the two questions that were foremost in his mind. He started with the one he hadn't already asked in some fashion. "In the past, you seemed unconcerned about whether the mission was a success. So why did you make the effort to bring in Andrews so we could negotiate with him?"

Sin frowned as though he hadn't expected that question. "There would have been no point in saving you if I'd let the mission fail. They would just terminate you and lock me back up when we returned to the compound. I'm not unaware that this mission is important."

Boyd nodded, taking that into account. He was silent for a long moment as he considered that before he spoke again, his tone thoughtful.

"I still don't understand why you saved me. I've been trying to determine the reason. I thought about how you bandaged my wounds even though you didn't have to and how before you left me alone with Andrews it seemed that you verified he was adequately secured."

His eyebrows furrowed and his fingers shifted against the steering wheel. "That implies either a concern for the success of the mission or, potentially, some level of concern for my safety. You've verified that the success of the mission mattered to you on some level so it could have simply been that. But the fact that you don't seem to prefer the idea of a new partner and that you had to fight so many people to extract us implies that in some way, at least for a portion of today, it mattered to you that I was okay."

Boyd paused, frowning faintly in thought before he looked over at Sin who still had his eyes firmly shut. "I wondered what the reason was for the change, if that was so. Why would it have been fine a few weeks ago if I'd died but now it's pointless? What's different?"

Sin made a face and finally opened his eyes, turning his head so that he could face Boyd. He studied him for awhile, mouth turned down in a slight frown before giving his broad shoulders a shrug. "I hadn't expected that you would actually... make a good partner. I didn't think this would work."

Boyd watched Sin thoughtfully. After a moment, he returned his attention to the road. There was hardly any traffic but what little sunlight could be seen was angled almost directly into his eyes.

"And at some point something made you believe it would?"

"Obviously," Sin said blandly, starting to look impatient.

Boyd nodded, feeling no need to push it any further. It was interesting to hear that Sin thought he could be a good partner. He had to admit that he was pleased since for weeks it had felt like no matter what he did it didn't get him anywhere.

"What did you want to ask me?"

Sin crossed his arms over his chest and reclined in the seat further. He hadn't bothered with a seat belt this time. "Why didn't you just use the remote and activate my collar?"

"Because I didn't feel it was necessary," Boyd said with a shrug.

"Ah."

Boyd looked over but couldn't read what Sin was thinking; his expression hadn't shifted. It occurred to him that Sin may not feel that was answer enough. "And I truly have no interest in harming you."

Pale green eyes flicked over to him at that but Sin's face still gave nothing away. He looked as intense as ever but just as eerily impossible to figure out.

"I didn't--" A pause. "You should never touch me when I'm sleeping. I react in a manner which I would not if I were fully... aware."

Boyd was quiet, watching Sin before shifting his gaze back to the road. He wondered what Sin had been about to say and whether he was, in his own way, trying to apologize. Or whether he was simply laying the ground rules. It was so difficult to tell with him.

"I'll keep that in mind," Boyd said with a faint nod. He hesitated, his eyebrows drawing down. "You seemed upset. I thought you were having a nightmare and you didn't seem to hear my voice. In the future, how do you prefer I wake you?"

This seemed to startle Sin. He looked over abruptly, eyebrows shooting up. "What?"

"You were clearly upset," Boyd replied, frowning with slightly narrowed eyes as he remembered the way Sin had twitched and sounded distressed. "I touched your hand to wake you. If it happens again, I'd like to know of any alternatives for waking you."

This earned him another long stare from Sin before the man sighed disgustedly. "Well that's just beautiful." He shook his head, eyebrows drawn together as if he had a headache. "And I don't know. Just leave me be, I suppose. It's safer."

Boyd wondered about Sin's response and what had seemed to disgust him. The fact that he'd had the nightmare, the fact that Boyd had witnessed it and tried to wake him from it, or the fact that in doing so one or both of them could have gotten hurt? Was it a combination?

He didn't know the answer to that but he did know that it was highly unlikely that he would leave Sin asleep if it happened again. He simply nodded and didn't verbally respond.

Sin didn't say anything and for a period of time the car fell back into silence. Traffic picked up a little once they came toward a stretch of the highway that led to a number of larger cities via intersecting interstates. The number of vehicles diminished but did not disappear once they were on the stretch that headed primarily to Lexington.