In Too Deep(59)

“All right,” he said, sitting behind his desk. "I just wanted to tell you that your sacrifice over the past few days has been appreciated by everyone. I went ahead and did what you asked, so while the hours works out the same for the state boys, the pay rate is going to show them doing the overtime. So thank you again on that."

"You're welcome," I said. "I just thought other people deserved the chance to do what they needed to do."

"Actually, that's the other thing I wanted to talk with you about," he said. “Betty Cruddup turned in her two week's notice this morning."

I winced but nodded in understanding. Over the days since the incident, people were really starting to think about their lives and the lives of their children. Betty was a single mother, and in order to make ends meet, she did day shifts at the hospital while picking up night and weekend shifts with Jay. "Where's she going?"

"She said she's going to take a job in Santa Fe," Jay said. "I wouldn't be surprised if she left New Mexico actually. She came here back when her husband was doing work for the State, but she doesn't have any other family in the area. Now that they’re no longer together, I think she’s been wanting to get away for a while now. I don’t blame her.”

"I hope she does well for herself, she seemed like a good worker," I said. "What can I do to help?"

Jay gave me a small smile. "How'd you like to be a pharmacy manager? I know that you'd have to do more weekend shifts, but if you're willing, I can promise you that during the week there'd be no closing shifts at all, at least while school's in session.”

I thought about it. It was an attractive offer, but I also knew that by committing to a manager's role, even a shift manager, meant that I would have obligations that I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep. Despite Cam's assurances that he'd try to keep things stable with our actions involving Albertine, the fact of the matter was, we both knew we might have to disappear at some point. Thankfully, changing identities was about as easy as updating a Facebook status with Albertine, but that didn't mean I wanted to ditch my entire identity and leave people in a lurch.

"Let me talk with Cam about it, Jay," I said after a moment's reflection. "It's not that I'm not blown away by your offer and consider it an honor, but I need to know his long-term plans and such before I say yes to something like this. Would you mind if I give you a call on it maybe tomorrow?"

"Just wait until your next shift," Jay said. "It's not going to blow up before then."

As my shift progressed, I let my mind think about our next steps. I was certain that I wanted the job, not because of the money but because I wanted to have something in my life outside of Albertine. I'd heard Cam refer to it as the bitch goddess, and I understood the phrase perfectly. Sure, there was a lot to say to being the guardian of the world, but at the same time, it was a role that was truly thankless. If Cam and I did our job with Albertine properly, nobody would ever know what we’d done. While I'm not someone who needs public adulation, I couldn't go my entire life knowing that most of my energy was chained to a doomsday laptop.

When work was over, I went home, and found Cam in our spare bedroom, sweat glistening on his torso as he pedaled at a furious pace. "Sorry, had some extra energy that I just had to burn off," he said, slowing his pace when I came in. "How was work?"

"Jay offered me a pharmacy manager's position," I said, appreciating the view. He was wearing just some basketball shorts, his lightly tanned skin glowing as his muscles stood out on his torso. While I couldn't see the muscles of his thighs as they were hidden by his shorts, his calves were swollen and flushed with blood from his workout, and I could feel the familiar flush of desire go through me. Maybe it was just a side effect of the tragedy, maybe it was the fact we were spending nearly as much time together now as when we were on the island together, but I was always in the mood, and I never tired of it. Sadly, my hips were still aching, and I had to turn around. "Can you put a shirt on? I’m still a bit sore, but looking at you like that makes me want to drag you into the bedroom and ride you cowgirl style for a couple of hours."

Cam's gulp at least caused me to smile a bit, and he stopped pedaling. "Um, yeah," he replied after a moment. "Sorry. Was just trying to save on the laundry, not overly arouse you."

He came up behind me and gave me a quick hug and peck on the cheek, letting go before we went further. "Come on, let's get some dinner and then we can discuss our options. I made some plans, and I'd like to run them by you before we go to bed. I want it all set up before school starts back on Monday."





Chapter 34





Cam




Our first target was Patricia Lanstridge, who was the person that directly sent Victor Pinzetti after me. She was ruthless. I’d worked with her during my days in intelligence, and knew that she was one of those sorts of people who put every other person she met into one of three groups. I had been in the first group, considered a useful asset, someone who had skills and an outlook that aligned enough with hers that she could use you to further her own ambitions. This person was to be exploited, cajoled and used until they were no longer helpful before being discarded like they were trash.