The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(165)

“You have something to say to me?”

The cartoonist scrubbed his greasy hands under the faucet. “He was bald and black.”

“Excuse me?”

“The agent who shot you. He was a bald, black man. I’m only telling you this because you seem to have him confused with Amanda.”

She raised a palm at Zack. “It’s all right.”

“No, it’s not all right. I know he’s hurt right now—”

“Hurt right now?” David stood up and brandished his hand. “Do you think this is a temporary condition, Zack? Do you expect to heal me like you so brilliantly healed that animal? At least Amanda’s fearsome in her incompetence. You were just a joke out there. The way you took Melissa’s side against me—”

“You were acting like a psychopath!”

“I did what had to be done!”

“All you did was prove their worst fears about us! Even I was scared of you!”

“Even you,” David mocked. “You’re scared of everything. You’re the most cowardly man I’ve ever known.”

Amanda shot to her feet. “Okay, stop it! Stop. This isn’t the time for this.” She looked to David. “Please sit down and let me finish.”

“No! I’ve had it with both of you!”

“David . . .”

“You don’t ever listen to me! None of you listen! I’m fighting to keep you all alive but you just . . . you . . .”

David sucked a sharp breath as hot knives of fire shot up his arm. All his life, he’d been a stranger to pain. He’d never broken a bone, never pulled a muscle, never suffered a burn or laceration . . . at least not that he could remember. And now here he was, suffering an agony that was medieval in its cruelty. It was powerful enough to shatter every mask and pretense, every chiseled image of the person he fought to be.

As David fell to his knees and cried, Zack winced in self-reproach. He blew a heavy breath. “Listen—”

“No,” David sniffed. “I’m done listening to you. I’m done protecting you. You can both go die for all I care.”

Mia’s heart skipped a beat as David hurried through the living room. He was halfway up the stairs when he heard her high voice, barely a whisper.

“I’m sorry.”

He stopped mid-flight to look at her. From the new lines of grief on his beautiful face, Mia guessed he was done being vicious. She expected her rebuke now to be one of gloomy disappointment. I gave you one task, Mia. One. You couldn’t even do that.

Instead, he continued upstairs without a word.

Mia vented a heavy breath and continued to pet the purring feline in her lap. Her grandmother always told her that black cats were good luck for good people. Mia didn’t even think she needed it. While her friends all suffered fractures and gunshots, concussions and amputations, she had yet to get a single scratch. The one bullet that was fired at her had missed her head by millimeters.

She peered down at the cat, her tortured mind bargaining with the forces of fate. Give me the next one, she implored them. Whatever bad thing happens, you leave them alone. You give it to me.

—

Hannah spooned Theo on the futon, listening to his gentle snores while she stared at the wall in restless discomfort. The musty little office reeked of old age and iodine, and her wrists still throbbed from shoving that agent. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see his body skid across the highway in slow motion, scraping bloody patches with each impact.

She gave up on sleep and sauntered out to the hallway. Through the crack of a bedroom door, she saw Mia snoozing away on Xander’s queen-size bed. The fat black cat sat dejectedly at her side, mewling for his new best friend to give him more love.

The sound of whistling laughter drew Hannah to the stairwell. She crouched down and peered into the living room, where Amanda and Zack stretched side by side on a wide chaise longue. They looked like a cozy married couple in their long T-shirts and underwear. Morning light cracked through the wood blinds, striping their bare legs.

Amanda rolled onto her side and fought an indignant grin as Zack giggled deliriously.

“You just find that hilarious, don’t you?”

She’d just finished explaining how she subdued Owen Nettles in the back of the truck. While the peculiar little agent paced and mumbled, Amanda summoned a burst of tempis from her toes. Owen turned around just in time to see the man-size foot coming at him. Before the whiteness could even touch him, his eyes rolled back and he fainted to the floor.

Amanda had been too stressed at the time to find it funny. Even now her humor was tempered by the fact that she owned only one shoe.

Zack wiped his eyes and moaned. “You should’ve seen us outside the truck. We were so scared of what that guy might do. Melissa made him sound like Joe Kickass.”

“He was not Joe Kickass,” Amanda said. “I’m just glad I didn’t hurt him.”

Disenchanted with Mia, the cat sauntered down the hall and rubbed against Hannah. She caressed his back, praying she wasn’t her sister’s next topic of discussion.

Amanda pursed her lips in a droll pout. “I’m so glad David called me stupid. That’s just what my self-esteem needed today.”

“At least he didn’t call you a coward.”

“Right. I lack a brain. You lack courage. All we need now is a tin man.”