Before & Ashley (His Side)

The full story is told from more than one perspective, but I've decided to go ahead and post the 1/2 that's finished.  I should warn you, it will probably be more fun to read it all together since this 1/2 has major spoilers for the other side, but it's still a fun read on its own.  In the near future, I'll finish the other and put them together. 

The girl had landed in the grass, face up.

Yemi told himself not to get involved, that he needed to lay low until he found a way home. But no one else was checking to make sure she was okay. And he couldn’t sit still any longer.

He hopped over the side of the wagon and peered down at her still form. She’d been pretty from afar, but up close she was stunning, with high cheekbones, full lips, and copper skin that reflected light like a prism. Then she opened her eyes, and for a moment, he forgot to breathe.

‘Brown’ didn’t do them justice. They were more like molten lava, drizzled with caramel and sprinkled with flecks of gold.

Then she spoke. “Uh. Hi.”

Yemi returned to the moment. He plucked her bag from the tree above them. “Are you alright?”

 “I think so.” Her thick Southern accent made it sound like, ‘I thank so.’

“Then let’s get you back in the wagon.” He carried her to it, gently set her on a bale of hay, and took the seat beside her. Then he yelled to the driver, “All set.” A few seconds later, the truck was on the move again.

She ran a hand through her hundreds of tiny braids and stared out at the fields surrounding them. “This is gonna sound weird but…where are we?”

 “Hersheypark.” Specifically, a ‘haunted hayride’ which was really just a crowded, straw-filled wagon hitched to a pickup truck. Yemi shook his head. Americans could be so strange.

“Oh.” She brushed a piece of grass off her jeans and peered up at him from under long eyelashes. “Okay.” Then her eyes landed on her purse.

He held it out. Distracted by her eyes, he’d almost forgotten it.  “Your bag.”

“Thanks.” She rifled through it. “How’d I end up on the ground, anyway?”

“A low branch snagged your purse and when you stood to grab it, another one knocked you over.”

“My word. Well, thanks for comin’ to my rescue…?” She paused for his name.

He hesitated. “Jack.”

“Jack. Nice to meet you. I’m…” She bit her lip and jiggled the gold bracelet around her slender wrist. “Ashley!” Then a masked figure popped out from behind a tree and she grabbed Yemi’s arm. “Oh mah gosh!”

“All right?”

She released him and scooted back to her own hay bale. “Yes. Sorry.”

He hadn’t minded at all. “No problem.”

Ashley went silent for a moment. “So, where are you from?”

London, but the less she knew, the better. He deftly avoided the question. “I’ve lived in a lot of places.”

“Must be nice. I’ve lived in the same place my whole life.”

She didn’t sound like she’d been raised in Pennsylvania. “Here?”

“Naw, I’m just visitin.’ I live in a teeny little one-horse town called Mayview, Texas.”

That sounded awful. “Do you like it?”

“It’s fawn.” Yemi wasn’t sure if she’d said ‘fine’ or ‘fun.’ “It ain’t New York City, but there’s always somethin’ goin’ on. Last week was the county fair, and right now, we’re plannin’ a square dance to raise money for streetlights.”

“You don’t have streetlights?”

“Not yet. But everything closes at six o’clock anyways. I think we should build a youth center instead, but the civic committee ain’t real big on change.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s mostly old folks. So I’m startin’ a petition.”

Yemi chuckled. Next, she’d say a boy from Chicago was fighting for their right to dance. “If everything closes at six, what do you do in the evenings? Go to sleep at seven?”

“No. We hang out in Mary Beth’s barn. Plus,” she lowered her voice and looked around.  “Sometimes, me and my friends go cow tippin.”

 “You do what?”

“Go cow tippin! Cows sleep standing up, so you sneak up on ‘em in the middle of the night and push ‘em over.”

Ashley smiled smugly, as if she’d just announced that she and her friends robbed banks. It was cute.

“Sounds like lots of fun.”      

“It is.” She crossed her legs and leaned toward him. “So tell me somethin’ about you.”

He picked his response carefully, searching for trivia he could safely share. “I don’t like ketchup on my chips. I’ve never walked a dog. My favorite bands are Kings of Leon, Good Charlotte, and The Jackson Five.”

“You must have brothers.”

He did a double take. Where on Earth had she gotten that? “Pardon?”

“That’s what your favorite bands have in common – brothers.”

Yemi swallowed the lump in his throat. Just thinking about Tunde made him feel like he was suffocating. “Nope. It’s just me.”

Thankfully, the truck stopped before she could ask anything else. He hopped out and helped Ashley out of the wagon, grateful for the flashing lights and loud music that blocked his thoughts from spiraling.

Then his phone rang. It was Mark.

Ashley stared intently at a map of the park while Yemi took the call.

“Hello?”

“Ay, mate. Got your message. You’re alright, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Yemi had already given him the basics – he’d finished the job, but hotel security had locked down the parking lot; so he’d abandoned his rental car, snuck onto a bus, and ended up at Hersheypark.

 “Brill. Got the photo you sent, of the bloke who was checkin’ cars. Name’s Rand Russo. He’s a bounty hunter. From Sandoval & Associates.”

Yemi frowned. The Associates were the kind of tossers who’d break a few bones just for fun before bringing a fugitive in. “What’s he doing here?”

“Looking for you. Sinclair upped the bounty on your head to fifty thousand pounds.” Mark’s voice was full of consternation. “I tried to tell you, Yem, hitting Sinclair’s shops was one thing, but going to his daughter’s wedding was a bad idea. You made it personal. And if Russo finds you, it won’t be pretty.”

“Well, I’ve got the advantage. I know what he looks like.”

“Don’t get cocky, mate. I’m sure he’s got the security cam photos from your last job, so even though you hid your face, he’ll have your height and build. Plus, I heard they’ve hired one of those criminal profilers. That stuff works.”

He scoffed. “Rubbish.”

“I’m not finished. Sometimes The Associates send teams, so he could have a partner out there.”

“Good. I like a challenge.”    

Mark sighed. “I’ll call you back with new travel instructions. Until then, try to blend into the scenery. No shenanigans.”

 “I’ll try.”

Yemi hung up the phone and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. Ashley focused on the map like it held the secrets of the universe. This was the moment – the point where he either invited her into his bubble or said goodbye for good.

Common sense told him to walk away. Sweet, naïve Ashley didn’t need to get caught up in his drama. But selfishly, he wanted to spend time with her. Because that was exactly what he needed. One night, where he wasn’t worrying about his brother, plotting how to come up with the money to bring him home. Maybe just for a little while, he could be a normal seventeen-year-old, hanging out with a pretty girl. Maybe he could be Jack.

He looked at Ashley. She smiled again, and that was the clincher.

Yemi held out his hand. “This is my first time at an American amusement park. Think you could show me the highlights?”

She took it. “I think I can manage that. Let’s start with the food trucks. It doesn’t get more American than Fried Twinkies.”

He was both revolted and fascinated by the idea. “All right then.”

After eating more junk food than seemed humanly possible, Ashley suggested they walk for a while. Yemi readily agreed. They’d just consumed fried Twinkies, Oreos, and assorted vegetables, and he felt like he might keel over.  “How do you people eat this way and stay alive? I can actually feel my veins clogging with cholesterol.”

“Oh, please. Ya’ll eat sheeps’ organs.”

“Haggis is Scottish.”

“But have you eaten it?”

“Yes.”

“I rest my case.”

He smiled. “So tell me more about Mayview, Texas.”

“Well, there are two high schools – Our Lady of the Covenant and Mayview High. I go to the latter.”

“Is it anything like television?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, the nerds wear their pants at their armipits, the ball players put the nerds in their lockers, and the head cheerleader terrorizes them all.”

She laughed. “Yes and no. There are cliques, but it’s not that bad. And I think I’m actually pretty nice.”

“You’re head cheerleader then?”

“I am. I’m also on track to be valedictorian, and I’ve never been inside a locker.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you. Although you probably shouldn’t be too impressed. There are only thirty-two people in my senior class.”

“Still impressive.”

“I’m glad you think so.” She tilted her head. “I take it you don’t go to school here. What brings you to our side of the pond?”

He hesitated. “I’m visiting an old friend.”

 “That’s nice. You enjoyin’ America, so far?”

He grinned. “More with every passing minute.”

Ashley smiled back. Then she stopped and pointed to a video karaoke booth. “Oh mah gosh. That looks so fun. Let’s do it.”

He shook his head. “No thanks.”

Her lips puckered into a pout. “Come on, it’s my treat. We’ll pick something silly and just have fun with it.”

Ashley took his hand again and pulled him toward the booth, but Yemi planted his feet, stopping them short. “No.” Being filmed near a job was a mistake he wouldn’t make twice.

 “Why not?” She chuckled. “It doesn’t matter if you can sing. My momma always says I couldn’t hold a tune in a bucket, but I love tryin’ just the same.

 “I said no, all right?”

Ashley’s eyes widened. “Okay. Fine.” She started walking ahead.

Yemi followed, searching for something to say. She didn’t, and couldn’t, understand what he was thinking. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I just really don’t like...” The thought of being videotaped. “To sing in public. I know you said it doesn’t matter, but I’m truly awful. If you heard me, you wouldn’t fancy me anymore.”

To his relief, she smiled. “What makes you think I fancy you?”

He smiled back. “Maybe it’s just wishful thinking.”

“Maybe it’s not.”

They locked eyes.

Then Yemi’s phone rang. He glanced down at his screen and Ashley looked away.

Bullocks. The timing could not have been worse. “I need to take this.”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

It was Mark. “I’ve got you booked on a six o’clock flight, from Harrisburg International. It’s only twenty minutes so catch a cab. Ticket’s under Albert Clifford.”

Yemi checked his watch. It was ten after four.  

Mark cleared his throat. “And Yemi…?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not doubting your skills, but Russo is the ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ type. Be careful out there, mate.”

“I always am.” He hit ‘end.

Ashley was staring at a nearby roller coaster. “We should ride this.”

He looked up at the Great Bear, a giant, looping mechanism of twisted purple metal with a warning sign beside it. Riders will be turned upside down. We advise you to empty your pockets before boarding. That would be just his luck, to lose a million dollars of diamonds on a roller coaster. Maybe he could stash them somewhere for a few minutes…

Yemi shook his head. That was crazy. Coming here had been a bad idea; staying was an even worse one. The Associates were on his trail, and he needed to be on his way to the airport, not roaming an amusement park.

He opened his mouth, to tell Ashley that it had been nice meeting her, but he had to go. He was not riding the rollercoaster, or eating more terrible food, or listening to another story about Mayview, Texas. But the words that came out weren’t the ones he’d planned. “Let’s play a game instead.”

“Okay.” She smirked. “But I’m going to win.”

She already had.

*****

They settled on duck shooting – Yemi had wanted something where he could really show-off, but there was no ‘build homemade explosives’ booth.

 “Here’s how it works,” Baxter, the old guy behind the booth explained. “You each get your own little set of ducks. I start the game and the targets pop up. You got sixty seconds to shoot as many as you can. Got it?”

Ashley nodded eagerly. “Yep.”

Yemi settled his rifle on his right shoulder, while Ashley started the same way and then switched hers to the other side. She looked completely lost. This was going to be a piece of cake.

 “You kids ready to start?”

He nodded. “Yep.”

Ashley said nothing, just stared straight ahead.

He tapped her shoulder. “Ashley. Are you ready?”

She jumped. “Huh?”

“Are you ready to start?”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sure.”

Baxter pushed the button and a loud bell rang. “Allll right. Let’s go!”

Yemi peeked through his viewfinder and hit an orange duck square in the center. It fell back and two yellow ones popped up on either side. He got the one on the left but missed the other, and aimed for a duck at the bottom of the screen. When the bell rang again, he’d hit forty-two of the sixty targets. Not bad for a minute of time. And it was enough to get a decent prize for Ashley.

“So how’d you-?” He glanced up at her scoreboard and stopped midsentence. Ashley had hit all sixty ducks.

Baxter ran a hand over his head. “I’ve been workin’ this booth since ‘99 I and I’ve never seen shootin’ like that.”

Neither had he.

Ashley shrugged. She looked embarrassed. “What can I say? I’m a farm girl.”

That made some sense. Texans were known gun enthusiasts. But still, it was weird.

Baxter gestured to the prizes on the wall. “All right, son. You can pick anything from the second row.”

Ashley was staring at a pink cowboy hat.

Yemi pointed to it. “That one.”

He accepted it from Baxter and gently placed it on Ashley’s head.

She looked up.

There was something…different about her eyes. Then she blinked, and it was gone.

“Thank you.”

Baxter turned to Ashley. “And what about you, young lady? You get to pick something from up top.”

“Surprise me.”

Baxter pulled down a giant elephant and she held it out to Yemi.

He handed it back. “I can admit that you’re the better shot, but are you trying to completely destroy my manhood?”

“No.” She laughed, a beautiful, tinkling sound that reminded him of sunshine bursting through clouds. “I just wanted to give you something.”

Yemi had the sudden and irrational urge to stay in Pennsylvania and spend the rest of the day making her laugh. “You’ve given me a perfect afternoon. Keep the elephant.”

Ashley beamed, and he realized he was in serious trouble. He was supposed to catch a flight in – he checked his watch – twenty minutes, but the longer he was with Ashley, the more he didn’t want to leave. “What should we do next?”

She paused. “Ride the Ferris Wheel.”

 “The Ferris Wheel it is.”

*****

It was a long way to the other side of the park, and Ashley was quiet for most of the walk.

When they got near the front of the line, Yemi finally asked, “Penny for your thoughts?”

 “I was just thinking that… life moves too fast.” She sighed. “It’s like this wheel. You wait and wait to get to the top, then just as the view gets good, you’re going back down again.”

He tilted his head. “You’re an interesting girl.”

She shrugged, and her accent went strangely flat. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“Next.” The bored teen in the control booth snapped his gum and pointed to Ashley and Yemi.

She climbed into the bucket, but he stayed behind. “One sec.”

He walked over the kid, who shook dirty blonde bangs out of his eyes. “Sup?

“Think you could stop this thing while we’re at the top?”

“Can’t do it, bro. Against the rules.”

He slipped a twenty out of his wallet, and shook the kid’s hand. “But if there was some kind of mechanical malfunction, that wouldn’t be your fault, right?”

The kid glanced down into his hand and grinned. “Wouldn’t be my fault at all.”

“Brill.” He returned to the bucket and closed the safety bar, silently noting that Ashley had seated her elephant between them.

She raised an eyebrow. “What was that all about?”

“I just asked him to give us a few extra spins.”

“Nice.”

The wheel started to turn, and Yemi stared at the people and rides below. His time was running out, and he didn’t know how to say goodbye. It’s been fun, but now I have to leave the country? Sorry I couldn’t tell you my real name, but we’ll always have Hershey? Up and down they went, around the wheel three times, before he broke the awkward silence.

He looked down at her wrist. “That bracelet must mean a lot to you.”

She looked up, startled. “It was a gift from my best friend, Anna. She died when I was fourteen.”

“I’m sorry.”

 Ashley shrugged and stared straight ahead. “It’s okay.” Then she paused and turned to face him. “Actually, it’s not. It happened suddenly, and I never got to say goodbye. I still haven’t gotten over it.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t expect to.”

She didn’t respond.

“What happened?”

“Leukemia.”

He searched for the right thing to say, but Ashley continued before he could say anything.

“We were roommates in the hospital, after my first concussion.”

Her first concussion? He wanted to ask, but didn’t want to interrupt.

“We only met that one time, but we just clicked. I used to call her every day after…school, and we’d talk on the phone for hours. She had every reason to be angry, but she was the funniest, most upbeat person.” Her voice went quiet. “A few weeks later, my mom sat down at dinner and announced, “Anna’s mother called today. She’s dead.” Then she asked me to pass her the peas.”

“That’s terrible.”

Ashley stared at something in the distance. “I wasn’t allowed to go to her funeral. I would’ve missed my karate lesson.” She paused. “I hate my mother almost as much as I love her.” She paused again. “I’ve never admitted that to anyone.”

Yemi went silent. No response seemed quite right. She looked so painfully vulnerable that he blurted out, “I have an older brother. He’s in prison.” Ashley finally met his eyes, and he added. “I don’t like to think about it, so most of the time, I pretend he doesn’t exist.”

“What happened?”

 He didn’t really want to go down that road, but since he’d started, he couldn’t stop himself. “He’s got what I call ‘trust’ issues. Not in the normal, cautious way; Tunde trusts everyone.” He shook his head. “He took this job, where he had to fly to Thailand, pick up a suitcase of legal papers, and drop it off at Heathrow for five thousand pounds. I told him it was too easy, that there was no way this was legit, but he insisted it was all above board. The guy in charge is some big-time businessman and philanthropist. He wouldn’t be involved in anything illegal right? Well, security found twelve bricks of cocaine in the suitcase’s false bottom, and of course, the guy who hired him denied knowing anything about it. Now my brother’s serving life. In Thailand.”

“Wow.”

Yemi leaned back in his seat. He waited for the headache and difficulty breathing that always came with thinking about Tunde. But it didn’t happen. He actually felt…kind of light. Saying his thoughts out loud had been strangely therapeutic.

Their bucket rolled to the top again, and the Ferris Wheel stopped.

Ashley looked down. “What’s going on?”

The kid running the ride stepped out of the booth and yelled, “Sorry, folks. Technical difficulties!”

“We’re stuck!” Ashley’s face lit up. “Right at the top.”

“Uh-huh.”

She glanced at him sideways. “You did this, didn’t you?”

He smiled back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ashley was quiet for a moment. “This is the best day I’ve had in a really long time.”

 “Me too.”  Yemi tried to put his arm around her, but couldn’t really get close with the elephant in between them.

Ashley moved it to the floor.

She turned to him, with a serious look on her face. “I haven’t been completely honest with you. I’m not-”

He interrupted her. The more Ashley revealed about herself, the more he wanted to do the same. And he was dangerously close to crossing the line into places he couldn’t go. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter.”

He leaned closer.

 She tilted her chin up. “I’m really glad I met you, Jack.”

He froze, the perfection of the moment shattered by a name that wasn’t his.

Ashley lifted one eyebrow. “Jack?”

Caution was overrated. “My name is Yemi.”

There. He’d said it. Now Ashley would be annoyed, and ask why he’d lied, and he wouldn’t be able to explain. But it felt good to tell her.

To his surprise, she just smiled. “I like that. Yemi.”

He wanted to hear it again, and then again after that. But first, he was going to kiss her.

Ashley closed her eyes.

 Just when their lips were a breath apart, Yemi’s phone rang. For the love of… “Sorry.” He pulled it out to turn it off. It was Mark. “I have to take this. I’ll only be a second.” He spoke into the receiver. “What?”

“Just making sure you got to the airport all right.” In other words, he was babysitting.

“I’m leaving shortly.”

“You haven’t left yet? Yemi! You can’t miss this flight.”

“I know, I know.”

“Then you need to get going. And I was right about Russo. He’s not working alone.”

“So who’s the other bloke?”

“Actually, it’s a bird. Heard she’s fit, too, but lethal. Elise Sandoval’s daughter. Name’s Jen or something like that.”

“Haven’t seen her.”

“Doesn’t mean she hasn’t seen you. Real piece of work, that one is. Trained in eight kinds of martial arts and will break your arms as soon as handcuff you. You don’t want to wait around and meet her.”

He chuckled. Mark was always so serious. “Maybe we’d get on.”

“Or maybe you’d end up in hospital.”

 “All right, mate. I’ll ring you when I get there.”

Yemi hung up and turned back to Ashley. “Where were we?”

She smiled. “You were trying to put the moves on me.”

“Yes, I was.” He moved closer but Ashley put a finger to his lips. “Wait. I need to say this. My name’s…” She paused. “Not Ashley.”

A sinking feeling settled in the center of his gut. He pictured Ashley hitting every target. But that was overthinking. Like she’d said, she grew up on a farm. She probably went by her middle name, and her real name was Lauren. Or Kelly. Or Melissa. As long as it wasn’t Jen. Anything else was fine.

“It’s Geneva.”

As in, Geneva Sandoval.

Bollocks.

Without thinking, he scooted away.

“What’s wrong?”

“I…” His mouth stood open, silently. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He’d pulled off the job without a hitch, escaped the authorities, and then spent his afternoon with the one person he should have avoided at all costs.  “Nothing. The view is great from up here.”

Geneva frowned and looked away. Yemi silently admired her, memorizing his last look at her perfect features.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

His response was quiet. “No. Just admiring your profile.”

Geneva’s eyes widened. She blinked rapidly - once, twice. Then she pulled out her phone.

“Geneva…?”

 Her response was sharp. “What?”

“What’s wrong?”

 “Everything.”

“What are you doing?”

“Making a call.” Her accent was gone. And her face said it all. Maybe she’d bumped her head hard enough to think she was really Ashley, or maybe she’d just been pretending, like him, to be someone else for the day. But either way, the Southern belle was gone, replaced by the bounty hunter. And she knew who he was.

He snatched her cell and pitched it into the night.

Her mouth dropped open. “Are you crazy?”

“Maybe.”

 “You shouldn’t have done that. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

“Oh, I know. Your reputation precedes you. You’ll kill me in a hundred different ways, fifty of which won’t leave a mark, etc.” He shook his head. So much for sweet and innocent. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a bounty hunter.”

She gritted her teeth. “I’m not a ‘bounty hunter.’ I’m a freelance counter terrorism agent, specializing in criminal location and retrieval.”

 “Counter terrorism? Really?” He scoffed. “That sounds impressive, but you’re not trying to save the world. You hunt people down for money.”

“I get criminals off the streets.”

 “So why me? I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fifty thousand pounds, right? You’re just here to protect and serve. Even though I’ve never hurt anyone.”

“That’s only because you’ve been lucky.”

“Because I’ve been careful.”

“You blow up buildings.”

“Just once.” On one of his early jobs, he’d overestimated how much C-4 it took to blow the doors open. “And it was was insured.”

“Stop trying to rationalize this! You’re a thief.”

He bristled. She made it sound like such a bad thing. “Maybe the situation isn’t as simple as you think.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That sometimes breaking the law is justified.” The way Yemi saw it, he was just taking back what Sinclair owed. If not for him, Tunde wouldn’t be in jail, and Yemi wouldn’t need half a million pounds to bring him home. Robbing Sinclair’s jewelry stores was fair play.

“Even when innocent people suffer?”

“Innocent? Sinclair’s shops are just fronts to clean his drug money.”

“If that was true, he’d be in jail.”

“Don’t be daft. The cleverest criminals aren’t in jail; they’re the ones walking the streets, because they’re too good to get caught.”

 “I know you want to believe that, so you can rationalize some more, but you’re wrong. David Sinclair is a good man, surrounded by a lot of jealous people.”

Yemi was taken aback. He now knew Geneva had worked the job, but he’d never imagined she actually knew and liked Sinclair. Somehow, that was a bigger disappointment than knowing that she wanted to arrest him. “You know him?”

“We’ve met. He and my mother are close friends.”

So the connection was her mother’s, not hers. That was a relief. But not a surprise. Yemi had never met the woman, but he’d heard plenty about Elise Sandoval, and none of it was good. “Of course they are. She’s as crooked as-”

Geneva sprung forward and he felt the sharp edge of a blade against his neck.  

“Don’t you dare talk about her.”

He tensed, then rolled his eyes. This was the same girl who’d skipped at the sight of the food court. “What are you planning to do? Slit my throat on the Ferris Wheel? Relax.”

She settled back into her seat and the knife disappeared in her boot. “Tread carefully.”

He rubbed his throat. As much as he hated to admit it, there had been a nanosecond where the look in her eyes had scared him. “You’re off your trolley. I see the apple isn’t far from the tree.”

Geneva crossed her arms and glared at him. “You don’t know me.” If looks could kill, he’d have been gone and cremated. But over the anger, her eyes had a sheen of hurt.

He softened. Sure she had rough edges, but no one raised by Elise Sandoval could have come out unscarred. And the girl he’d known as Ashley was still in there somewhere. A fake identity was just a fresh coat of paint on a real one. “Actually, I do. You can eat more fried biscuits than someone your size should be physically able to ingest.”

One corner of her mouth lifted, ever so slightly.

“You have a vivid imagination and ridiculously good aim. You can’t sing but you like to do it anyway, and despite your obvious determination to seem hardened, you’re a good friend.” His eyes fell to her bracelet. “I made a bad joke. You’re nothing like your mum.”

The Ferris Wheel groaned and started turning again. Neither of them said anything.

Yemi broke the silence with what they were both thinking. “So what happens when this thing touches down?”

“You come back to D.C. with me.”

“Are you asking me on a date?”

 “No.” She frowned.  “I’m turning you in at your embassy.”

“Shame. In that case, I’ll have to run.”

 “Then I’ll chase you.”

He grinned. “Sounds like fun.”

Her expression was deadly serious. “It won’t be when I catch you.”

“We’ll see about that.”

They went silent again until the Ferris Wheel stopped.

Yemi stepped onto the platform and offered Geneva a hand. She ignored it and leapt out of the bucket on her own.

They sized each other up. Yemi smirking and bouncing on the balls of his feet, full of nervous energy; Geneva with her eyes narrowed and mouth set in a grim line, one hand balled into a fist.

He wanted to laugh. She was glaring from under a bright pink cowboy hat, and gripping a stuffed elephant in her unclenched hand. But ultimately, it was more sad than funny. “I’m sorry that-”

 “This sucks.”

Yemi nodded sadly. “I guess this is the part where you chase me?”

She closed her eyes. “I’ll give you ten seconds.”

He lifted her cowboy hat and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Then he did what he did best, and what the job required.

He disappeared.

Yemi couldn’t sleep.

After catching a cab to the airport, everything had gone smoothly. Mark had checked Hershey area scanners and the police weren’t looking for him. He’d had no trouble getting through security and boarding his plane with one of his alternate IDs. The diamonds were safely stowed in the carry-on bag he’d purchased in the airport, and he had a first class seat with no one beside him.

But he couldn’t stop thinking about Geneva.

He opened his laptop and drafted a quick message to Mark. Something she’d said had bothered him, and he needed to know if his suspicions were right.

Mark’s reply came within minutes. Piece of cake. Just curious, who is she?

Yemi paused before answering. Mark wouldn’t understand what he was doing, and if he did, he certainly wouldn’t approve. She’s a lead on a job.

Five minutes later, he had another email. Found the girl you described. Name’s Anna Tyler and she’s been living in Texas for the last three years. I’ve attached links to her Facebook and Twitter.

Yemi shook his head. Surprise, surprise. Elise Sandoval had lied. He clicked Anna’s Twitter profile and scrolled through, then copied the link and pasted it into an email. He addressed it to Geneva. I thought you might want to see this.

Less than a half hour later, his email icon flashed.

Geneva had replied.

Dear Jack,

Thank you for your message. I’ve spoken to my mother, who insists she lied ‘for my own good,’ but we both know that’s a load of…rubbish. She was horrified to hear that I failed to protect the Sinclair diamonds, and even more disappointed to learn that I don’t have any leads. Honestly, we have bigger cases to focus on, so I don’t think I’ll be pursuing this one. I’m more concerned with tracking down the violent criminals.

Next week I have a stakeout in Minneapolis. There’s an amusement park in Shakopee, twenty five minutes away, that I heard has fried Snickers. I think I might check it out afterwards. Just saying…

I know. I’m being ridiculous. But it was nice meeting you. I’m glad that we met. Although I do wish things could have ended differently.

Sincerely,

Geneva

Well.

That was interesting.

Geneva knew her mother was a liar. She hadn’t informed on him. And she kind of sounded like like she wanted to see him again. Honestly, he wanted that too.

But it was a terrible idea. For starters, they hated each other’s professions. And even if they avoided the subject, it would loom in the background, reminding them that this was destined to fail. Or what if the whole thing was trap? After all, she was Elise Sandoval’s bloody daughter. There was no way they could ever work.

The decision was easy.

He typed a one-line response and pushed send before he could change his mind.

There.

It was done and that was that.

He put on his headphones and zoned out to the sounds of Clipse.