Lib Novel Page 89
Lee retaliated.
As punishment, his sister was killed.
Before then, it had been only Lee and Ha-won, who’d grown up as kotjebes—flowering swallows. As small children, they were taken in by an orphanage after their parents died, and the friends who’d promised to care for them abandoned them a year later.
When Central found Lee, it was on the cusp of being caught by the Korean People’s Army. That they’d extracted him from a country with such tight border regulations had only added another piece to the puzzle of their current “Omega” predicament. However, that he and Lee spoke English as fluently as they did, despite it not being their native language, made the puzzle slightly less confusing.
Adrían went to start his spiel, but Trevor shook his head. “All we need is the when and where, mate.”
“Same,” Lee said. “A little bit of retaliation is good for the soul. It’s like…spicy chicken soup with ginger.”
“Just go ahead and say it.”
“Say what?”
“The actual name of the soup.”
Lee sank a four-ball. “I don’t understand.”
Adrían took the first opening he could find in their miniature debate. “We’ll move tomorrow night,” he said. “There’s also a caveat: just us three. Hannah, Barnes, and Spettro stay here.”
Trevor snorted. “Spettro needs to stay here anyway. Kid can’t even shoot a proper gun. But why don’t you want Hannah?”
“Because we can’t trust Hannah,” Lee said. “At least, I don’t.”
“You don’t trust beauty,” Trevor clarified. “That’s your motto, isn’t it?”
“Venus fly trap, coral snake, poison dart frog, blue-ringed octopus…need I say more?”
“Uh, yes, you need to say more.”
“Before this gets out of hand,” Adrían jumped in again, considering their back-and-forth exchanges could go on forever, “the bottom line is that it’s just us three. Does anything else need to be explained?”
Hannah would remain at the villa, both to stay out of the crossfire and to remain close to Sayeda. She was the only person who could protect Sayeda as fiercely as he would.
Both men shook their heads.
Adrían walked off.
Lee and Trevor’s conversation started up again:
Trevor: Mate, there’s nothing beautiful about a box jellyfish. And do you know how many venomous spiders lived under my house as a child? I don’t remember a single beautiful one.
Lee: So, you’re trying to tell me, if you saw a box jellyfish for the first time, you wouldn’t try to pick it up?
Trevor: Yeah, but I’m Aussie. And you skipped the spider question.
Lee: My theory isn’t foolproof.
Trevor: Evidently.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
Adrían tucked a pistol in his waistband and left the villa, fully intent on leaving both men behind if they held him up. But, when he arrived outside, Lee and Trevor were waiting in front of Trevor’s truck, strapped like they were about to head into a war zone.
He tossed his bag into the cab through an open window and climbed inside. Trevor and Lee piled into the truck.