He walked from window to window and back again, obviously struggling with impatience. And frankly, as long as he was impatient, that was good news for them. Now all Astra needed was for the good guys to come. She could only hope that Kano was okay and that he was there to help bolster whatever move Garret decided to make. Charles was right; she had to trust in their skills, ability, and judgment to do whatever they needed to do in any given situation. Regardless of how that might look to anybody else.
So many things in life were important that nobody really understood, and this was one of them. It was all about trust. And, for Garret, that was an even bigger issue now. Astra didn’t agree with what her sister had done, but, after seeing Amy and Gregg together, witnessing how deep their feelings appeared to run, Astra understood. They could have proceeded with their relationship in a better way, but, at the same time, at least it left an open field for Astra and Garret.
The gunman turned and looked at Astra. “What’s that look on your face for?” he snapped.
Immediately she dropped her expression and stared at him steadily. “I was thinking of happier times,” she said.
“Yeah, well, keep thinking of them,” he said, “because all you’ll have is memories.”
“And why is that?” she said.
“Because, by the time this is over,” he said, “you’ll probably be dead.”
“No need for that,” she said. “I don’t know anything, and neither does my sister.”
“Says you,” he sneered.
“It’s obvious you’re waiting for somebody to come,” she said, “so I don’t know why you’re getting all pissy at me, when it’s them you’re mad at.”
“Because you are where you don’t belong,” he snapped.
“I was looking for my sister,” she said, with a motion at Amy. Amy stayed quiet and just shuffled a little closer to her. “What else would I be doing?”
“Well, you shouldn’t have come,” he said, turning to lean against the counter. And, just as he did that, she thought she saw movement behind him.
She nodded slowly. “I get that. So let me and my sister go,” she said, “and we’ll disappear out of your life completely.”
He laughed. “Too late for that, bitch,” he said. “You made your choice. Now you’ll have to pay for it.”
“Surely we can talk about this,” Astra said fearfully.
“No,” he said. “And you sure as hell can’t offer me enough money to backtrack on what I’m doing here. That’s not worth my life.”
“Killing people who have nothing to do with anything?” she asked.
“Yeah, exactly,” he said.
“How did you lose Gregg in the first place?”
“We didn’t lose him,” he snapped. “I told you that.”
“Right. Why did the other guy betray you and let Gregg go then?”
“He didn’t let him go,” he said. “He moved Gregg. Big difference.”
She nodded slowly. “I guess,” she said. “Why would he do that?”
“Because he’s a double-crossing asshole, I imagine,” he said. “I don’t know why else he’d do it.”
“Unless he had sympathy for Gregg.”
“I don’t give a shit how much sympathy he had for him. He had a job to do. That’s all there is to it.”
She nodded slowly. “I guess, but it’s kind of sad.”
“Not sad at all,” he snapped. “It is what it is.”
“I just don’t understand what it would take to have somebody go against all this, knowing that his life would be in danger.”
He scratched his face and said, “Honestly I don’t know either. It makes no sense to me.”
“Okay,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll both get some answers.”
“Not likely,” he sneered. “The only answers you’ll get are the ones you don’t want to hear.”
“Such as?” she challenged.
“Such as what’ll happen to you,” he said.
“And we’re back to that again. I can pay you.”
“You just finished telling me that you couldn’t pay for your sister.”
“Yeah, I can hardly pay to set my sister free, if I’m here. You’ve taken both of us. I would pay for her, and she would pay for me, but, with both of us here, obviously we can’t do either.”
He rolled his eyes at her. “You’re an idiot.”
She stayed quiet, wondering who the hell the idiot in the room really was. But no point in arguing with him. She just smiled and said, “It’s not the first time I’ve been called that.”
“Usually that’s the term reserved for me,” Amy said.
“Not so bad though, was it?” Astra said.
“It was terrible,” she said. “You were always the brainy one. You were the one everybody loved. I wanted everyone to love me, but we weren’t alike at all.”
“No,” she said. “And we still aren’t. I am much calmer, more reserved, whereas you are a little more naive, and a whole lot more about the fun in life.”
“But I have heart,” her sister argued.
And, at that, Astra looked at her, smiled, and said, “You do, indeed. We have to remember that, no matter how this all turns out. We have to remember that heart is what’s important.”
“Spare me the sob story,” the guy snapped. “Nobody gives a shit.”
Amy just smiled, a little teary-eyed, then reached across and grabbed Astra’s hand. “Please tell me that we’ll make it through this.” Her gaze fell to her belly.
“I’ll tell you what. We’ll do everything we can together to make it through this,” Astra promised her. “We both deserve a happy future.”
Amy sat back and sighed. “I just want Gregg,” she murmured.
“Got it,” she said. “You don’t mind if I pick up Garret then, do you?”
Amy looked at her in surprise and then started laughing. “Oh my,” she said. “You know what? That makes so much more sense, when I think about it.”
“Right, you’ve no idea how jealous I was way back when.”
“You should have said something,” Amy said. “Because, oh, my gosh, that would have been so much better for him too.”
“Well, you saw him first,” she said. “So I kind of had to wait until it was over with.”
“Are you two serious? Are you fucking serious? You’re sitting here talking about your boyfriends?” Their kidnapper stared at them in shock and disgust.
“Why not?” Astra asked with a smile. “Is that something we can’t talk about?”
He stared at her in disbelief. “You know you’ll fucking die in the next couple hours, right?”
Amy gripped her fingers really tight.
Astra glared at him. “You don’t have to upset my sister like that,” she snapped.
He shook his head. “Get a grip,” he said. “This isn’t a bloody tea party.”
She looked at her teacup, smiled, lifted it up, and said, “Actually it is. So here’s to us and to whatever the future brings.” With that, she had a big sip of tea.