Among the Echoes(84)

However, it’s Erica who surprises me the most. I’m pissed as hell that she blatantly played me for a fool, but I’ve never been so proud of someone in my life. To watch her transform from the terrified woman I first met all those months ago is utterly incredible.

She’s far more of a fighter than I could ever imagine being.





"Are you f*cking kidding me?" Slate yells as I fill him in on how tonight came to be.

"Will you stop yelling?" I whisper-yell back at him.

We are, after all, in a suite in a downtown Chicago hotel. The last thing we need is the police being called on us yet again.

"You could have gotten us all killed!" he scolds, gritting his teeth.

I knew he would be pissed, and while I hate that he’s mad, I’m so euphoric about how flawless tonight went down that I can’t even hide my smile.

"Are you going to let me finish now?" I say, cocking my head to the side, but I’m sure I’m still smiling, which only pisses him off more. "So yeah, I may have drunkenly hatched this plan, but Leo and I were very sober when we put it into action."

"Fucking hell, get to the God damn plan. I can’t listen to you tell me for one more minute how you and Leo devised this shit over beer and pizza."

"Right. Well, Leo has always said that, as far as he could tell, Rodriguez didn’t hold any ill feelings toward either one of us for testifying against Dom, but we couldn’t be absolutely certain. I know I told you the story about how Wilkes’s little brother found us, but what you don’t know is that it was a member of the Marshal’s office who tipped him off about our whereabouts. He straight-up used us as bait to take down part of the Wilkes family. After that, I lost all faith in the program. If I’d had anywhere else to go, I would have gone. No questions asked. But we were both stuck.

"So while at dinner the night you were at the fight, and yes over a few beers, Leo and I decided we were sick of running and playing games with our own lives. I suggested using myself as bait to lure Wilkes out, but Leo being Leo, his first instinct was to protect me. However, within two hours, I talked him into it. Guilt is a hell of a tool," I say as Slate curls his lip in disgust. "Oh hush! It worked, didn’t it?"

"Erica, this is not a game. You could have been killed!" he says, but once again, I smile, because I am no longer afraid.

I know how it turned out. This conversation before tonight would have had me rethinking everything, but they say that hindsight is twenty-twenty. And tonight, I see freedom.

"We both knew you would never go for it, so we decided to keep you in the dark. I love you, Slate, more than anything in the entire world. But I couldn’t live like that anymore. Every single day, I lived in fear that not only something would happen to me, but worse that something would happen to you because of me. I knew you wouldn’t allow me to risk my life, no matter how solid the plan."

"Damn right!" he snaps, but he finally sits down on the corner of the bed.

I settle behind him, wrapping my arms around his chest and burying my face between his shoulder blades. "Leo went to Rodriguez, who was all too willing to help as long as it ended with Wilkes’s head."

"You knew where Leo was going when he left?" He sighs, grabbing my legs and pulling them around his waist from behind.

"I did. We staged the big exit. But if it helps at all, they were real tears as he walked out the door. I was worried Rodriguez wouldn’t even humor Leo’s plea for help and would kill him on the spot."

"The window in the security room?" he asks, and I can actually feel the pieces snapping into place for him.

"I was worried I would miss the call when Wilkes got there, so I left it open as much as possible."

"So just let me get this straight. Leo leaked his identity and the fact that he worked for me then left to hopefully get help from Rodriguez? What the hell would have happened if Rodriguez had actually killed Leo? He led Wilkes right to our door and then took off."

"We used the same twelve-hour rule we used in the program. If he was missing for more than twelve hours, I was to tell you everything, pack up, and leave. But luckily, Rodriguez immediately agreed."

"Jesus Christ, Erica. I don’t even know what to say. It was stupid and irresponsible, but it worked. So as much I want to lose my f*cking mind right now, I can’t even be mad at you. I will say your ability to lie to me does not bode well for our future together."