Slow Burn(113)

     Griffin, Knox, and I stood together in another anonymous hotel room. The lights were out, and we were gathered around a row of unlit candles.

    Griffin took a deep breath. He struck a match, brilliant flame in the darkness. He brought the match to the wick of the candle. “For Beth,” he said.

    “For Beth,” said Knox.

    Griffin handed the matches to me. I struck another match, and then I lit the next candle. “For Stacey and Jack,” I said.

    I handed the matches to Knox. He struck a third match and lit the next candle. “For the other casualties. The assassins killed doing Op Wraith’s dirty work.”

    Griffin took my hand. I reached out to take Knox’s, and, to my surprise, he let me. We stood silently, gazing into the small, flickering flames.

    “Gone, but not forgotten,” whispered Griffin.

* * *

I gazed at Knox, who was bouncing Dixie in his arms. “I still don’t see how you convinced them to give you that baby.”

    He tickled her tummy. “I got skills. And I know how to fake documentation. I learned stuff in Op Wraith.”

    “I know. You said that, but...” I shook my head. “I mean, they just gave you a baby.”

    “Well,” said Griffin. “It is his baby.”

    “That’s true,” I said. “But you walked in there and came out with a baby.”

    Knox shrugged, grinning. “Like I said, I got skills.”

     “You sure that you don’t want to come with us?” Griffin asked.

    “Positive,” said Knox. “I need to be alone with my daughter for a little bit. That’s what I want. Just the two of us.”

    “All right,” said Griffin. He offered Knox his hand.

    Knox shook it. The two looked into each other’s eyes, both gripping the other’s hand. “Look, about Beth—”

    Griffin shook his head. “I tortured you for days. I think we’re even.”

    Knox nodded. They dropped hands.

    “Come here,” I said, hugging Knox. “You know if you ever need anything to find us.”

    “Definitely,” he said.

    I kissed the top of Dixie’s head. She gurgled.

    “See you around,” said Knox. He turned to Dixie. “Can you wave bye-bye?” When she didn’t do anything, he raised her hand for her and made her wave.

    I waved too. Griffin took me by the hand and led me away. We walked to the street, where a sleek, black car was parked.

    “You know,” I said, as I opened the passenger door. “You’ve got to stop stealing cars.”

    “Yeah,” he said. “I’m gonna have to go legit. Luckily, you remembered your dad’s bank password, and he’s got total amnesia, so he doesn’t even remember he has money. I used some of that information to procure this fine automobile.”

    “Wait,” I said. “You bought this?”

    He closed the door after himself. “Sure did.”

    I grinned. “Okay. Well, I guess that’s cool.” I looked back to see that Knox and Dixie were going inside. “Knox seems happy.”

    “You know, he does,” said Griffin. “And I can see why. He’s got his kid, he’s free. Everything’s all right.”

    “Sure,” I said. “But I mean, I don’t ever want to have kids.”

    Griffin turned the key in the ignition. “Never?”

    My eyes widened. “What? You do?”

    He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we got time to talk about it, huh?”

    “I’m not having kids, Griffin. There’s no way. You see this stomach?” I pointed. “I’m not doing that.”

    “You don’t even want to talk about it?”

    I glared at him. “Of course you want to have kids. You don’t have to do anything.”

    “Well,” he said. “You should probably finish college first.”

    “You think?”

    “So, I guess I better get you back to Thomas, so you can finish out the semester.”