That Day, Karen Deen [early readers .txt] 📗

As I place my hand on her arm, her head jerks up and looks at me through her tear-filled eyes.

“Asha?” Her whisper is barely audible.

“Yeah, it’s me. It’s okay, I’m safe, and so is your sister. The rest we can work on.”

She is looking at me like she can’t process what is going on. “But why are you here? Surely you should be in hiding until this is all over.” She’s no longer whispering, but her voice is still soft and unsure.

“Well, we’ve decided instead of waiting for the shitstorm to come to us, we will chase the rainbow that comes after a storm by charging straight at it.” I’m feeling more confident now that I can see she is so weak from the whole ordeal.

In the background I see an older man, maybe late forties with the salt and pepper starting in his hair. Guessing he’s Ghost’s friend Badger, I give him a small smile before returning my attention back to Davina.

“I don’t understand, aren’t you scared of me? I tried to have you killed.” Her voice wobbles as she says it.

“But you didn’t succeed, because deep down you knew it was the wrong thing to do, didn’t you?” I sit on a chair across the corner of the table from her.

“I had no choice. Oscar took my sister, and he said he would kill her if I didn’t deliver you to him. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t lose her. They’re sedating her now to stop the shock from setting in until we can get her to a hospital. I feel so terrible.” I put my hand on top of hers on the table. I know I’ve got more of a chance of getting the information out of her than the guys do. She is distraught and vulnerable and will respond to my soft approach rather than them interrogating her.

“Tell me, was it you who tried to poison me with the water?”

She suddenly sits up straighter. “No, I promise I didn’t do that. It was all him.”

“All who, Davina? Was it Oscar?” She nods her head quickly up and down. “Why don’t you tell me everything so I can understand. I’d say you owe me that, don’t you?” Feeling Kurt standing behind me, his hand resting on my shoulder, gives me the confidence to keep pushing her.

“I-I owe you so much more.” The stammer in her words is evidence of how she feels.

“Perhaps, but let’s start with this.”

Taking several deep breaths, getting herself composed, she opens her mouth and starts at the beginning.

“About three months before you came into the program, Oscar and I were on a job together. It had been a long time since I had been home or either of us had been on leave from a job. This career makes it pretty hard to have any sort of relationship.” Looking up at Kurt, her eyes drop as she looks at the table, continuing. “So, one night when things were quiet, we slept together. It was supposed to be a one-off, but then each time we would say, just one more time. It was getting more and more risky the longer it went on. It wasn’t always on the job, but there were times where we would take a quickie in places that we certainly shouldn’t have been.”

I can feel the hand on my shoulder gripping me harder at Kurt’s annoyance of the whole situation and the risk they put their client in.

“So, the night he took over the comms to Scott to direct him away from you, I questioned him why he did it. He told me that I needed to trust him and keep my mouth shut if I wanted to keep my job. That was the first night I got an inkling that something wasn’t right. Oh god, how I wish I had listened to my gut.”

Dragging her free hand through her hair, there’s nervous energy you can see running through her body.

“Keep going,” I hear Kurt growl from behind me. I look up and give him the death stare, hoping he will get the message to let me run this. He’ll just frighten her, which will make her clam up.

“Don’t look at me like that, Bull. I already know how deep I’ve dug my own hole.”

“No comment.” His voice is just as stern.

“Kurt,” I say, my voice now rough, hoping he will get the message.

Ignoring him, I look back to her and soften my approach. “Continue, Davina, I’m listening,” I say, squeezing her hand a little.

“Not long after that, Oscar got moved to another job, and I didn’t see him for a few years—until he contacted me six months ago, asking questions about you, Asha. He seemed to know more than he should. When I refused to tell him anything, he said he would release a sex tape that he had of us fucking in a safehouse pool house while the client was sleeping inside. I nearly died and had no idea he had even taken the video. When I called his bluff, he sent it to me, and I thought I was dying on the inside. How could he do this to me?”

Taking a deep breath, she continues, “So, I started giving him little pieces of information that didn’t really give him anything to go on, harmless stuff that wouldn’t compromise you. But I started to worry about what he would do if he found either of us. Then I thought I had a good idea. Pretending I broke my leg, I called Bull to see if he would watch you temporarily, because I knew at least then you would be safe. Oscar wouldn’t want to go near you if Bull was on the case. When I said I had to be careful because Bull was dating you, I thought I had found the solution. But it didn’t do anything, he just got more agitated and laughed at me,