The Recruit(53)

It felt like hours, but maybe it was minutes, before Ryan turned to Jaz and smiled. He took a deep breath to steady himself before reaching out to touch her necklace as she dropped her arms from the embrace.

‘Is this special? I’ve never seen you without it,’ he asked as he tried to read the medallion.

‘It’s St Michael, he’s an archangel. Apparently, he’s like this commander of God’s army against Satan’s forces.’

‘Sound’s like a cool dude.’

Jaz grinned as Ryan’s thumb ran over the medallion. ‘I’m not religious; I wear it because it’s from my dad. He gave it to my mum before I was born and it’s all I have of him. He died.’ Jaz turned the medallion over to show Ryan the engraving on the back. ‘Mum hates that I found this and kept it. But I refuse to give it back. It’s all I have of him.’

She watched Ryan read the engraving on the back. Salvatore D.L. His body suddenly went rigid as his eyes flicked up to hers. ‘Have you ever tried to find out what this means?’

‘Well it could be my dad’s name or maybe his dad’s name, or a favourite uncle. I don’t know because Mum won’t tell me anything about him or this. But Anna and I Googled it, but do you know how many Salvatore’s there are out there? And who knows what the D and L stand for. That could give a million middle name and last name combinations. Mum threatens to take it off me if I ask too many questions. She just reminds me that Paul is my dad, has been since I was two and that’s all that matters. He loves me.’ Jaz sighed. ‘But still I see I’m different from them and I want to at least know something about my real father. Even if he is dead.’

‘But what if it’s not good, he’s not good? Maybe your mum is saving you from something horrible. Have you ever thought of that?’

‘Sometimes I do. Yet when Mum does talk about him, like when she slips up, I can tell she cared about him. I believe she loved him.’ Jaz pulled her necklace from Ryan’s hand and let it fall back against her chest. ‘I got his skin tone and my mum’s blue eyes. A rather weird mix,’ said Jaz with a shrug.

‘But it’s what makes you so captivating.’

Ryan’s voice was soft and quiet but the words he spoke reverberated through her body like he’d shouted them. Jaz was sure he was aware of the electricity sparking between them too.

‘The name Salvatore certainly goes with my skin tone,’ she added.

Cold detached eyes looked across at the far wall, in a way that brought chills to Jaz’s skin. ‘What? What’s wrong?’

Ryan stood up. ‘Nothing. It’s not you. If we don’t get moving again we’ll probably seize up.’

Jaz took his hand as he pulled her up but his eyes avoided her. Was he upset that she’d seen him at his weakest? Blokes like to pretend they are tough and he is a secret super agent, so it’s probably twice as bad. Ryan went to walk away but she grabbed his hand. ‘You okay?’

He tensed but then squeezed her hand, his shoulders dropping slightly. ‘Sorry. It’s not you.’ He sighed. ‘You know how you hate certain names attached to an awful memory or person?’

‘Yeah,’ said Jaz, instantly thinking of Minka. Just the sound of it grated up her spine.

‘Well, I meet a lot of shady characters so I dislike a lot of names. Salvatore just happens to be one of them.’

‘Oh.’

‘Don’t worry about it Jaz. It’s just a name that rubs me up the wrong way. I can’t help how I feel when I hear it.’ Ryan squeezed her hand before walking away.

Jaz didn’t know what else to say. So she just reverted back to what was normal and safe. Picking up her shirt she yelled to him. ‘You know I won that round, don’t you?’

Ryan glanced back, for a moment his old playful smile returned. ‘You hang on to that, as it won’t happen again.’ But his face darkened before he turned back towards the change rooms.

Oh well. She couldn’t expect him to be joyful after he’d just unloaded that painful burden. Maybe she wasn’t even supposed to know about it. What if she doesn’t join up, will they kill her for having too much knowledge?

Jaz laughed at herself. Talk about overactive imagination.





Chapter 20


The siren rang out and you could feel the relief of five hundred students as they headed for the exit doors like stampeding cattle. Jaz was walking with Taylor. They’d had the same last class together, which was her favourite because he was in it. They strolled along as kids rushed by, eager to escape school. Taylor’s name was called out every so often in a ‘bye, catch ya tomorrow’. No one around here would exert that much effort on Jaz, but if she were as popular as Taylor was then maybe she’d have more than three friends. Four if you counted Ryan!