Slow Agony (Assassins, #2)(23)

“You tried to get Griffin to go out and hook up with random girls? Why would you do that?”

“I was only trying to get him to have fun,” said Silas.

“What about Leigh?” asked Sloane.

Silas looked at me. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “Griffin wouldn’t do that anyway.”

“If Griffin wants to make up with Leigh, he will,” Silas told Sloane. “It doesn’t matter what I do. I can’t control him.” He started out of the room, but he stopped in front of me. “I just want you to know that what I said was nothing personal. I happen to think you’re great.” Then he left the kitchen.

Sloane took a deep breath. “Well, it could have gone better, I guess.”

“Nothing happened,” I said.

“Are you kidding? First we found out that Griffin’s thinking about you and worried about you enough to come check on you. Then we found out he broke up with his girlfriend. These are all very good signs, Leigh.”

I had to smile. “You’re right. They are good signs.”

“He wants you back. That’s all there is to it.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “What Silas said is true. If he wanted me back, he’d do something about it. And he isn’t doing anything.”

“Sure he is,” she said. “Be patient.”

“I don’t know how patient I can be,” I said. “After the two weeks is up, I don’t know what happens. That could be the end. Griffin thinks the guy will give up after that.”

Sloane raised her eyebrows. “Give up? That’s his plan? To sit here and wait and hope that the guy gives up?”

“Um, as far as I know,” I said.

“That’s the worst plan ever.” She tore out of the kitchen. I heard the front door open and her voice as she called after Griffin.

*

“He gave you a meeting place?” said Silas. We were all in the kitchen, sitting around the table drinking homebrews. “And you’re not going?”

Griffin shrugged. “I’m not going to follow his stupid plan. I never want to see that guy again.”

“Dude, I’m not saying to follow the plan,” said Silas. “I’m saying we know where he’s going to be. We need to take him out.”

“Yeah,” said Sloane. “That’s how we end this. You go to meet him, and Silas and I back you up. Hell, I’ll shoot him myself.”

Silas pointed back and forth between himself and his sister. “You know that’s how we worked our missions for Op Wraith, right? One of us went in face-to-face, and the other hung back in hiding. If you have both me and Sloane at the perimeter, then this guy’s toast.”

Griffin ran a finger around the edge of his mason jar. “I don’t know. I don’t want to put you guys in danger.”

“What danger?” said Sloane. “He won’t even know we’re there. All we have to do is put a bullet in his head. It’s easy.”

“Definitely,” said Silas.

“Um,” I spoke up. “It might not be that easy. I shot him before. In the throat. And I could swear he was dead, but then he showed up at my apartment.”

“What?” said Griffin. “Knox didn’t tell me that.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I told Knox I thought maybe he had the serum.”

Griffin shook his head. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Marcel has nothing to do with Op Wraith. There’s no way he had the serum.”

“Are you sure you shot him and killed him?” said Silas. “Did you check his pulse to make sure he was dark?” That was what we called it when you got a kill shot. You looked dead, but the serum was doing its work, healing you.

“Well, no. I didn’t check. But he fell over, and he didn’t move for a really long time.”

“There’s no way he’s got the serum,” said Griffin. “He wasn’t part of Op Wraith. And no one’s even manufacturing it anymore, right?”

“No,” said Sloane. “They can’t be. It was a project that Frank Thorn worked on, and he’s...” She looked at me. “Oh. That’s your dad, isn’t it?”

“It’s fine,” I said. “My father is dead to me.”

“You had to have been mistaken, doll,” said Griffin.

“But we can get close enough to make sure,” said Silas. “Right? I’ve got no problem severing this dude’s spine.”

Griffin gulped at his beer. “I really don’t think we should meet him.”

“Why not?” said Sloane.

He rubbed the top of his head.

“Doesn’t make sense not to,” said Silas.

I watched Griffin, noting how uncomfortable he was. I had a pretty good idea why he didn’t want to meet Marcel. The man had hurt him in the worst ways imaginable. Of course Griffin never wanted to see him again.

But I didn’t think that Griffin necessarily wanted everyone to know what happened to him. How could I help without giving him away?

“Maybe,” I said, “Sloane and Silas could go without you.”

Griffin looked at me, and I could see relief in his eyes.

“But don’t you want a piece of this guy?” said Silas.