The Chaos Kind by Barry Eisler

Author:Barry Eisler [Eisler, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2021-09-30T23:00:00+00:00

chapter

forty-seven

LIVIA

Carl and Livia sat on the floor, eating the takeout Larison had brought them. “The angel of death,” Carl said. “Moonlighting as DoorDash delivery. Who’da thunk it?”

Livia didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure about the sleeping arrangements. Would Alondra be comfortable with Larison? Maybe Larison and Carl should have taken the other room. Or was she just telling herself that as an excuse, because she was afraid of what staying with Carl might mean? As usual with him, she was overthinking everything.

But also as usual, her silence didn’t dissuade Carl. If anything, it encouraged him. “I hope the room’s okay,” he said, looking around. “I got the last one with two queen beds for Larison and Diaz. All they had left was these honeymoon-suite types, with the king beds and water views and hot tubs. I guess we’ll just have to try to make the best of it.”

Again, she didn’t answer.

He said, “I’m kidding, they did have some with two queens, but none of those faced the water. But you know the floor’s okay by me, if you’d prefer.”

She looked down. She didn’t know what she preferred. They’d shared a bed before—literally as well as otherwise—and she’d gotten used to having him next to her throughout the night. She even . . . liked it. Or wanted to. She wished she could explain to him that whenever she caught herself feeling happy, it terrified her. The lesson seared into her psyche being that she could never trust anything good. That it would all be ripped away from her. And with Carl . . . there were moments when she’d never been happier. But the terror was correspondingly bad.

“What’s our next move?” she said, wanting to change the subject.

He took a bite of satay and chewed, his expression contemplative, then swallowed. “Hard to say without more intel. You heard anything more from SPD?”

She shook her head. “The chief is giving me a lot of room for once, meaning she’s not pressuring my lieutenant, either. I don’t want to risk any of that by getting in touch. If anything changes, I’ll hear from them.”

Carl nodded. “Sleeping dogs, I get it. Well, no matter what, it seems to me we need to either get ahold of those videos, or confirm they’re destroyed. Or at least confirm they’re inaccessible by anyone, which amounts to the same thing. I don’t think any of this is emotional for the people we’re up against. They’re just trying to acquire something that’s important to them, whether because it’s valuable or because it’s a threat. If they get it, we don’t matter anymore. If they realize they can’t get it, same thing. Of course, if we get the videos, and they know we have them, or they think we do, anyway, they’re not going to leave us alone. We’ll have to make them.”

That all made sense to her. Of course, the question was how.

“What about Schrader?” she said.

“What about him?”

“You think he’s alive?”

He looked away for a moment. “I have a hunch he is, yeah.

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