“Agreed,” she said. “If the money is your own.”
He grinned. “Goes without saying. I used to daydream of getting super rich when I was a kid. My plan was to sweep my mom away to a life of luxury and ease.”
“What about your dad? Didn’t he get to be swept away, too?”
“Not him,” he said. “He was a mean, violent drunk. I didn’t mourn him when he rolled his truck and died. By the time I was ten years old, I’d already decided that he could fuck off and die. And then, finally, he did. It was a relief.”
She was startled into silence for a moment. “I’m…so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “The only thing I regret was not getting the opportunity to take care of my mom properly. I didn’t have time. She tried to leave him, more than once, but she couldn’t make it stick. He convinced her that she couldn’t make it without him, and died before she figured out that he was full of shit. Of emphysema. My dad killed himself in a car accident not long after that.”
She patted his hand gently. “I lost my mom, too,” she said. “When I was thirteen. She hit her head in a ski accident. How old were you when you lost yours?”
“Seventeen,” he said. “Shortly before I joined the Marines.”
She sipped her water, staring down at the highly polished soup bowl in the silence that followed. “So is your mom the reason you’re so intense about me?”
He frowned. “Excuse me?”
“You say wanted to save her from your violent dad. Sweep her away, those were your words. No parallels there? Not that I’m judging you. You like to rescue the damsel in distress. And thank God for it. I’m lucky.”
“No,” he said without hesitation. “The world is full of assholes, and I like to thump them when I can, but you’re no damsel in distress. You’re a badass bitch, trying to save your little brother. You’re holding onto a demon by the tail. There’s no shame in needing a little extra help with a demon. It’s amazing that you’ve made it this far in one piece. I am in awe of your strength and focus.”
She laughed. “Aww!” she said. “And here you go again with the sweet talk.”
“Hey, it’s kind of our first date, right? Just trying to be charming.”
“I appreciate it,” Elisa said. “I really do, but I still don’t understand why. Because none of this crap is your problem. Unless you turn it into your problem.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s it going to take to convince you?”
“Of what?” she said.
“I’m not going to back down,” he said. “You can’t scare me off. Just give in.”
She shook her head with a helpless sigh. “I appreciate the sentiment, but damn. This is the thing. I like you, Nate. I really do. I mean, intensely.”
“That’s good news. What’s the big qualifier that I feel coming up?”
“I do not want to see you killed!” she snapped. “How’s that for a fucking qualifier? Every time I close my eyes, I see Willis being zipped into a body bag! He was engaged to be married, you know? His girlfriend was pregnant. Now he’s dead, and Greta’s kid has no father, because I was an asshole, dragging him into things that were bigger than I understood. I learned my lesson! I don’t want you hurt just because you have to be a fucking hero! Just because it’s your nature!”
Nate pondered that for a moment. “I’m hard to kill,” he said calmly. “Besides, we can’t walk this back now. If Clemens has done his homework, and he seems like the methodical type, then he knows my name already. So don’t worry about it. Just grit your teeth and buckle up. We’ll ride this thing together. To the very end.”
She pressed her hands against her eyes. “Shit,” she whispered. “I am so screwed.”
“No,” he said gently. “Just tired. Go lie down for a while.”
“We need to get back to work,” she said.
“I’ve got plenty to work on without you,” he assured her. “Take a nap. We’ll look at it all again with fresh eyes afterward. Go on. You’re swaying on your feet.”
Elisa reached over to grab her red nylon jacket from where she’d tossed it across one of the dining table chairs. She pulled the Hello Kitty padlock off the zipper, and pried out the flash drive. “You say Eric and his team could decrypt this?”
“If anyone could,” he told her. “Him and those Erebus types are wizards.”
She held it in her hand for a while, shook her head, and held it out. “Will you take charge of this while I sleep?”
“I got it.” He took it from her as she shuffled unsteadily into the bedroom.
Nate stared down at the little padlock, moved that she trusted him that much.
He slid it into the inside pocket of his leather coat. It belonged to a later phase of the plan to utterly destroy Gil Clemens. There were preliminary steps to take first.
Like letting Elisa sleep for a few hours, while he worked like a bastard to get up to speed. He’d have to scramble to live up to all his bold claims, and solve this clusterfuck before they all got killed. No one was ever going to let her down again.
He’d see to it.
12
Elisa opened her eyes to darkness. She was sunk deep in a deliciously soft bed, covered by a fluffy blanket she did not remember putting over herself.
It was a while before she could place herself at all. The big, luxurious room, the cloud-soft white mohair blanket, the four-poster king-sized bed, which seemed like something from the baroque bedchamber of a Renaissance-era queen.
Then it rushed back. The fancy hotel. Nate, pampering her, protecting her.
Insisting on helping her.
She sat up, amazed at how much better she felt. She’d actually slept. Deeply.
She heard faint sounds, a bluish light flickering from the sitting room, through an open door. Nate was in the living room, still working. The thought of Nate made emotion twist in her chest, hot and soft.
She had fallen asleep so deeply because finally, someone else was thinking about her problem. Someone else was applying energy and attention to it.
Finally, she could close her eyes without feeling like she was abandoning Joshie. She wasn’t the only one who knew, or cared. Oh, the sweet relief.
She sat up. She was still wearing her jeans and sweatshirt.
“There’s a T-shirt on the bed for you, if you want to change,” Nate called from the other room.
“Thanks,” she said. “So you always have your clothes with you?”
“I keep a go-bag in my car,” he called. “I just moved it into the rental car, along with my coat. I have an extra toothbrush in the bathroom for you. It’s on the shelf over the sink, still in the packaging. Feel free to use my other stuff.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I appreciate that.”
“Why not try out that tub? Be a shame not to make use of it.”
“It’s a little much for me right now,” she admitted. “I’ll grab a quick shower.”
A big glass double shower stall was opulent, too. She luxuriated in the strong stream of hot water, using all the bottles of perfumed goop that the hotel had provided. Afterwards, she dried off and dried her hair with the hair dryer, always a lengthy proposition. She stared at her own naked body in the mirror. She was rosy pink from the heat.