Blood Money (29 page)

“To be honest, we were not sure,” Nicholas
said. “We thought it could go either way. But no matter what, we
were covered. Although, I must admit, it was a difficult decision
to let Karen take care of it on her own, with no backup. If things
would have gone wrong . . . well, let’s just say that our current
situation would be taking a far different path. Luckily for you,
she is very good at taking care of herself.”

“Yeah,” Kelton said. “Lucky for me.”

Nicholas did not rise to the bait. “Is that
all?”

Kelton thought about it for a couple of
seconds before nodding.

“Then after you take care of the document,
you are free to leave,” Nicholas said. “There is an agent outside
the door who will escort you off the grounds, where your vehicle
will be waiting for you.”

After reading and initialing the document,
Kelton stood up, walked to the door, and knocked.

The door opened and Karen walked in. “Care
for a ride to your car?”

Kelton felt his heartbeat spike but he
forced himself to remain calm. “Sure,” he said.

She nodded once. “Then follow me.”

They didn’t say another word to each other
until they had reached the chain-link fence that marked the end of
private government property. The pickup truck that Walter had left
for them at the South Coast Resort parking lot sat on the other
side of the fence, waiting for Kelton.

Karen put the car in park but left the motor
running and the air conditioner on. They sat in silence for a good
ten seconds before Karen broke the standoff.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, you know,”
she said.

Kelton just stared straight ahead.

“Walter told you to bring me to him, and
that’s what you did. It’s not your fault I wasn’t who Walter
thought I was.”

“I know,” Kelton said. “But still, I feel
like I betrayed him.”

“There is no reason to feel that way,” Karen
said. “You have no responsibility for what happened to Walter.
None. He brought the whole thing on himself, and he got what he
deserved. You did exactly what he told you to do. You kept your
word. Do not beat yourself up over it. You are a good man. That’s
why I stuck up for you back there.”

Kelton didn’t know what to say. He had so
many conflicting emotions coursing through his body that his mind
was literally frozen in place.

“You know what’s funny?” Karen said.

“What?”

“If this operation would have gone as
planned, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in now,” she said.
“If we just would have met up with Walter in San Diego, he would
have gone down without any problems. We had a team in place that
whole time, just waiting for him to show his face. We would have
taken him into custody and I wouldn’t have even had a chance to get
to know you. But when things started to go awry, I had to figure
out a way to try to get you on my side, just in case.”

“So you tried to have sex with me,” Kelton
said, his bitterness starting to take over. “With the hope that if
the shit hit the fan, I would consider helping you instead of
Walter.”

“That was the plan,” Karen said.

“And the relationship stuff? What was that?
Just another way to try and get me on your side, once you realized
I wasn’t going to give in to your advances?”

“What can I say? I was thinking about my own
safety more than anything else. I figured if you had my back, no
matter what, I’d come out of this thing okay. So I did everything
in my power to get you on my side.”

Kelton turned his head and locked eyes with
her. “So you’re telling me there was nothing between us at all. You
were just playing me the whole time.”

Karen returned his stare head-on, without
flinching in the least. “Do you really think I would have put my
ass on the line for you back there if I had felt nothing at
all?”

“I don’t know,” Kelton said. “Maybe that was
just your guilt taking over. Maybe it’s the only way you can live
with what you did to me.”

“I’m sorry that you think that, but I assure
you, it was more than that.”

“So what are you trying to tell me? That you
did feel something?”

“Yes,” Karen said. “That’s what I’m trying
to tell you. Are you happy now? Or do you just hate me even
more.”

Kelton exhaled audibly, let his gaze drop to
the floor. He tried to muster some anger, but his reservoir was
completely dry. Eventually, he looked back up, turned his head, and
met her gaze.

“I don’t hate you,” he said. “In fact, I
should be thanking you.”

Karen narrowed her eyes, gave him a
suspicious look. “For what?”

“For everything,” Kelton said. “For putting
yourself on the line to keep me out of a cell. For having the guts
to come out and say what you did just now. And most of all, for
getting me to open up about shit I shouldn’t have held in for so
long—no matter what your motives were for doing it.”

Karen shifted her gaze and looked out the
window. She appeared to be fighting tears. “It certainly was an
interesting week, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“I had fun. I really did.”

“So did I,” Kelton said. “Right up until the
very end, of course.”

Karen barked out a laugh. “So, no hard
feelings?”

“I don’t know about that,” Kelton said. “But
I think I’ll get over them in time.”

“Don’t take too long,” Karen said. “You
never know when we’re going to run into each other again.
Especially now that you’re going to be doing some work for us.”

She offered her hand. Kelton took it, shook
it once, and let go, resisting the urge to do more than just shake
hands. Then, without another word, he flashed her one last smile
and stepped out of the car.

###

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Springer has been writing for ten
years, most of which were spent managing a large brick and mortar
chain bookstore in between stints as a financial planner and
playing in the Spanish Professional Baseball League. He holds a
Masters in Business Administration from the University of San Diego
and currently lives in Temecula, CA with his wife Kimberley and two
children, 10-year old daughter Mikayla and 8-year old son Jake.
Blood Money is his second book.

CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR ONLINE

www.brianspringer13.com