Until We Are Lost: A Novel by Leslie Archer

Author:Leslie Archer [Archer, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542019439
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2021-02-01T16:00:00+00:00

25

What I’m about to offer is a chance to do more important work,” Brandon says. “To continue to save lives.”

She shoots him a skeptical look. “And put mine in jeopardy in the process.”

“I don’t want anything bad to happen to you—you have to know that.”

She shakes her head. “That’s a devil’s bargain I’m not prepared to make.”

They are back in his office, Brandon behind his desk, fingers steepled. Outside, lights glitter through Manhattan’s plum-colored twilight. A helicopter buzzes over the tip of the island, rising like a huge insect from the city.

He sighs. “I was so hoping you wouldn’t say that.”

“But I did, and I mean it.” She crosses her arms over her chest, stands in the slightly spread-legged stance of someone holding a pistol.

He gestures. “Please sit, Tara.”

She doesn’t move a muscle.

“Look.” He spreads his hands on the desktop. “I like you, Tara. Just as importantly, I admire you.”

“Hollow as you.”

“It’s true, up until now, I’ve given you no reason to believe me.” He gestures. “Nevertheless, it’s the truth.”

When she makes no response, he swivels his chair, grabs a bottle of bourbon and two shot glasses, fills them. He pushes one across the desk, but she makes no move to pick it up.

“Suit yourself.”

“I always do.”

That brings a wry smile out of hiding—another mercurial change. He downs his bourbon in one practiced swig. “You made a mistake.”

Something clenches deep inside her. “What mistake?”

“They tracked you here, but you were clever enough to lose them.” His tongue clicks against his teeth. “Until at Seventh Haven you gave your name to M as Tara Gemini.”

Lord Jesus! Carmen Gemini. Sophie loved that name. Somehow that love crossed to Tara’s unconscious. She had used it without the knowledge of who Carmen Gemini was, or that Gemini would mean anything to anyone else.

“The Seventh Haven database is centralized. The name caused a red flag. From that time on, they put someone on to shadow you.”

The lurker outside her building, the one she scared away with the split baseball bat. Anger and guilt fuse inside her like a gun being loaded. She squares her shoulders. “And now?”

He is staring at her, his eyes wide. “I don’t believe how different you are from the young woman I met at Stephen Ripley’s party, the same woman who walked through my office door this morning.” He shakes his head. “Since you had that . . . episode . . . it’s like I don’t know you.”

“Nobody knows anyone,” she says and smiles sweetly, but she feels as if she is coming apart, seams splitting, stuffing spilling out like brains and guts. Who is she? Tara? Sophie? Something in between, someone unknown to both of them?

His eyes narrow. “That’s true enough, I suppose.” He clears his throat. “Now we have come to the nub of the matter.” He pours himself another shot. “An elite unit of the DEA has been after a certain Mexican drug cartel. Your LA lover, Rex—Wayne Stern—was one of two of the cartel’s distributors here in the States.

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