“If you don’t know anything more about the weapon, what do you expect me to be able to do about it?” She held up her hands. “My work requires access to the weapon. I doubt someone would leave something so powerful lying around.”
She wasn’t wrong. “Don’t worry about that. I simply need to know if it’s possible at this stage in my plan.”
“And your fae friend outside, does he have his own plans?”
You mean your brother? Assuming of course this really was the infamous Sol I’d been searching for.
I snorted. “Probably. Maybe? I don’t know. He’s learned the hard way how much I hate when he keeps secrets. He won’t double cross me, if that’s what you mean.”
“Are you so sure?” Helix asked.
I shrugged. “Pretty sure, he’s my mate, or well, I guess...he hasn’t exactly given me the details. It’s kind of new. I don’t know what the rules are, but I trust him not to betray me.”
Right? I shoved that thought to the back burner to consider later. He wouldn’t hand me over to Esteban, but he sure as hell would do something stupid to keep me safe.
“A mate? That’s rare, congratulations,” Melinda said.
“Then give me a gift and help us both stay alive to see this through.”
Her soft laugh made my heart sink in my chest. “I happen to know the weapon you speak of. As I said, there are only a few major weapons like this left. And I know who currently wields it.”
Just like that, all the air vacated the room. Neither of us spoke the name but we were both thinking it.
Helix growled, and knelt next to the chair to look up into the woman’s eyes. They stared at each other and I assumed they were talking telepathically since his hands tightened on the arm of the chair and she stiffened and glanced away from him.
Were they mates? Would Fin and I be able to communicate that way? What we did now wasn’t too far off the mark, but it would be handy to speak direct sentences.
She dragged her gaze back to me. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.”
I stared between them as Helix stood and resumed his position at her back. “So, obviously this is a joint decision. Can you tell me why? Especially when you don’t even have to have contact with the owner.”
Her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. I couldn’t tell if she objected to my calling out their relationship or something else in that statement. “He aids in my decisions, but in this, we are agreed. I just don’t enjoy when he gets high-handed and starts throwing demands at me.”
Helix had the grace to flush and I didn’t bother to stop my grin. Even if she didn’t help us, I liked her, a lot.
She continued. “I can’t help you because he’ll know I had a part in it. There are very few people with my particular skills, and he would hunt me down. I haven’t spent years of my life hiding from people like him to lead him right to my door with one careless mistake.”
“You know my name. Do you know my reputation as a bounty hunter? I don’t make careless mistakes, and I wouldn’t lead him to you. If a law enforcement official asks me, I’ll deny everything, but I don’t intend to leave anything left of him.”
She shook her head, her eyes pleading for me to understand. “I’m sorry. I can’t risk my safety on a possibility. Even if you are good at your job.”
What she didn’t know was that I did understand.
All the fear she felt, I felt it too, and still did, from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep. In my next fight with Esteban, either he’d go down, or I would. There couldn’t be a middle ground because I refuse to live my life hiding in the shadows for fear of the boogey man.
I tried one more time. “Is there anything I can say, or offer, to change your mind? I’m willing to put in any amount of work to ensure my friend and I aren’t put at risk when we face him.”
“Again,” she said.
“Yes, again. The bastard is slippery.”
She nodded. “You see my dilemma then. He has eyes everywhere. He knows everything, and I don’t want to have to uproot my life and move to get away from him.”
“Why all this then?” I waved at the house and then at Helix. “Why the interview process, and the secret identity?”
“Occasionally, there are clients who need my help. Legitimate jobs that I am able to assist with, that don’t provide risk to me. They are what keeps the lights on. Helix helps in that endeavor to keep us both safe.”
I let out a long sigh and shook my head. “Do you know someone else who might help us then? Anyone with similar abilities who might be swayed by money or favors?”