Bloodshot - Cherie Priest [43]
“But don’t get too worked up about it,” I added. “I don’t think the government knows about this place—”
“You don’t?” Domino interrupted.
“I don’t,” I confirmed. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here right now, doing this. As I was saying, I don’t think they know about the factory, and I’m damn sure they don’t know anything about you guys. So if people do come poking around, the odds are very, very good that they aren’t looking for you.” I found that it was easier to keep cool when I was forced to keep cool so other people wouldn’t panic.
Pepper said softly, “They’ll be looking for you.”
“Sort of. They’ll be looking for this.” I pointed at the screen. Then a miserable thought broke through the surface and whispered nastily, They might be looking for this, but they might be looking for me, too. Just like Ian. And just like those other chimps, whoever they were.
But I didn’t spill that part. Instead, I said, “Someone sent me some information that’s very important. He didn’t know it, but he accidentally alerted some very nasty people to the fact that I wanted it. Let me be clear,” I said, tearing my eyes away from the screen. “It’s got nothing to do with you. But that doesn’t mean you won’t get caught in the middle if you’re not careful. I don’t want you caught in the middle, okay? I want you to keep your heads down and stay out of sight, and if that means leaving, then you have to go find someplace else for a while. And by the way, that cell phone number I gave you doesn’t work anymore.”
“It doesn’t?” Pepper sounded worried.
“It doesn’t, but I’ll get you a new one as soon as I can, okay?” I reached for my purse again and pulled out my wallet. Inside, I had more than two thousand dollars in cash. I handed the whole wad to Pepper. I’ve got half a dozen bank accounts under that many identities. One or two, the government flunkies might catch, but I wasn’t worried about every single one of them getting frozen, and these kids might need to be mobile.
“You’re just giving us … that’s a lot of money.”
“Not as much as it looks like,” I said. “And yes, I’m giving it to you—on one condition. If you do get caught, you’ve never heard of me. I don’t know you’re staying here, and you’ve never seen me before, and you didn’t even know anyone owned this building, got it?”
She nodded with all the gravity of a black hole, but I wasn’t finished yet.
I said, “I’m not fooling around with you here—or you, either, Domino. These people who are looking for me, if they get hold of you, you have to convince them that you’ve never heard of me. If they don’t believe you, they’re going to fuck you up bad. Do I make myself understood?”
“Yeah,” he said, still playing it cool and bored.
I restated, “I’m serious!” because I didn’t think he grasped exactly how serious I was. “If you tell these guys the truth, you’re fucked way worse than I am. If they think you know anything at all, they’ll never let you go. Total ignorance is your only recourse, dude.”
“I said, I got it.”
“Good. Now shut up, and both of you leave me alone for a few minutes, all right? I need to concentrate, and you don’t need to see any of this.”
“Is it porn?” Domino asked.
“No, it isn’t porn,” I told him, and shooed at him with my left hand. “It’s way more boring than porn, I promise. Go out and get yourselves some hot chocolate or something. The joint around the corner is still open. Will you do that for me, please? I’m only trying to look out for you here.” I wished it hadn’t sounded so much like I was pleading with him, but it did sound that way, and it worked.
The two of them trotted back downstairs, stuffing their pockets with cash that would surely be gone by sunrise. I wished I could put them up someplace, but they wouldn’t let me. I know. I’ve tried it before.
The little shits had decided they were home, and they weren’t going anywhere.
Fine. They could stay here and get interrogated, then.
I didn’t like it, but I didn’t know what to do. I could’ve killed them, I guess. I won’t