Ten Thousand Lies (9 page)

“Say what?” gasped Ronen.

“David Malcolm married my sister’s daughter. Xanthe is my great-niece.”

“What is his part in all of this?” I asked. “And how much does Xanthe know?”

“David was recruited by me almost five years ago. After Elaine—my niece—and my sister, Hanna, were killed by a drunk driver, he and Xanthe moved back to England. A few months later, he was assigned to an excavation in Afghanistan, and we had wind of an operation going down there. So, I recruited him, and he did a damn fine job, too. No one suspects the dorky archaeologist.”

“And Xanthe?”

“She knows everything. Not the finer details, but her head is so wild that I’m sure she can imagine what goes on well enough. Her interests lie in the rehabilitation of the victims. When she’s finished with university, she’ll come here and start helping me.”

“I’ve noticed she’s a bit of a horror freak,” I mentioned as I sat next to Ronen once more.

“Yes…well, we all have our quirks, right?” Ellen stated.

“That we do,” Ronen agreed. “What do you know about Rex?”

“The confused fudge packer?” piped Ellen.

Ronen coughed and spluttered around his hit of the joint.

“What?” asked Ellen. “We know what he did with you two. I didn’t think he had it in him, to be honest. That shit with the stool leg…disgustingly brilliant, in my opinion.”

“Right?” said Ronen. “Fucking beautiful. Every motherfucker who’s ever forced themselves on someone should suffer the same fucking fate.”

“Absolutely,” Ellen stated. “But we know he wants to join the cause, and when he’s eighteen, David has arranged for him to come here. So, don’t you worry yourselves about them.”

“What about Xanthe?” I asked. “I think she’d be perfect for what you want us to do.”

Ellen shook her head. “No. She has far more to offer the world than another tainted soul.”

“What do you mean?”

“Xanthe has a darkness inside her that, yes, would make her perfect for this line of work. She’s got a side to her that is bloodthirsty and driven for justice. I have no doubt that she’d have the nerve to put a bullet point-blank between someone’s eyes or even slit a motherfucker’s throat. But I won’t have the only child of my sister’s only child become a killer. Xanthe’s brilliance needs to shine. She needs to turn that darkness into something else. And she’ll do it, too, with her writing.”

“What happened to her?” Ronen asked.

“She’s always been a little morbid, but when she saw the dead bodies of her mother and grandmother, something happened to her. She understood the value of human life—and felt the desire to end one.”

“The drunk driver,” I said.

“Yes. She wrote a story not long afterward, describing the things she wished to inflict on the man. From there, her mind opened up to all sorts of nightmares, and none of them frightened her.”

For a few minutes, no one said anything.

Then, Ellen took a deep breath. “In this line of work, I’ve come to realize how important it is that family knows about what we do. You boys have no family anymore. You’re going to need family to keep you human. Xanthe and David…they’re now yours, too, if you want them. And your berserker friend—Deo? He’s been contacted by the Locals. He’s got a role to play in all of this. He’s family. Just don’t forget, at your very core, you’re doing some horrible shit in the name of humanity. Don’t let the job take that away from you.”

Jaime

One Year Later…

“What the hell is a bro dawg?” asked Aunt Ellen.

Glancing from the TV to Aunt Ellen, I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from snorting with laughter.

“It’s like a friend who’s more than a friend,” replied Xanthe. “But not in a sexual way. More like a friend who’s a brother or sister.”

“So, not like you and Rex then?” stated Ellen.

I bit down on my cheek a little harder.

“Rex is definitely gay now, so we could consider ourselves bro dawgs, I suppose,” Xanthe retorted. “The term can easily be applied to my and Jaime’s relationship.”

“As long as you two don’t start slamming your clams together,” replied Ellen dryly.

There was no holding back. I snorted and shoved one of the couch pillows onto my face.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Xanthe replied equally as dry.

“Not with that Deo fellow sniffing around.”

I surfaced for air to see Xanthe roll her eyes.

“He’s just a friend, too.”

“He long-distance calls you an awful lot for just friendship, sweetheart.”

As if on cue, Xanthe’s phone rang. Looking at the screen, her face lit up with more than just the glow of the phone.

“Speak of the devil?” Ellen said, her eyes landing on me.

I shrugged in reply.

“Hey, Rex!” said Xanthe, shooting a glare toward her great-aunt. “How’s it going?”

Xanthe, Rex, and I had arrived in Amsterdam four days ago. David had dropped us off at Aunt Ellen’s for a few weeks while he went on a mission in the Middle East. My parents didn’t know I was in Amsterdam, not that they would care. My mother thought I was just hanging out in Oxford, like I did every summer, with my childhood best friend. David always bought my tickets, so Mom never had a reason to say no. I’d spent every summer away from my family since I was five. It wasn’t like I was missed.

This would be my last trip to see them for some time, as Xanthe would be going off to university after this final year of high school, and Rex would begin training with the Locals here in Amsterdam. As it was, he was with them now, a pretraining sort of deal. I had no idea what that entailed, and I probably wouldn’t ever. Xanthe wasn’t completely up to speed on the situation either, and Ellen refused to talk to us about it.

Rex was with Ronen and Ricki, the duo I’d heard so much about but had yet to meet. It didn’t look like I would be meeting them anytime soon, but from what Xanthe had told me about them, it already felt like they were my good friends.

“Yeah, she’s right here,” said Xanthe, pulling my attention away from the TV once more. Looking over at me, she stretched out her arm and handed me the phone.

“Hello?” I said into the phone.

“Hey,” came Rex’s deep voice. “How’re you holding up?”

“Peachy keen, my friend. How about you?”

“I’m good. It’s a lot to take in.” He sounded tired. “I can’t believe this sort of shit exists, but I’m so excited to start. It sucks I have to wait another year.”

“I know what you mean,” I replied.

Rex would be waiting only one year. I had no idea how long it would be before I’d be able to join them, and I was trying really hard not to be bitter about it.

Aunt Ellen’s house line rang, and I watched her get up and walk to the kitchen to answer it.

“So, the guys are treating you well?” I asked Rex.

“Yeah, man. It’s good to be with them again. It…it helps.”

I knew the hell Rex had endured at the hands of the Mafia thugs Ricki and Ronen had saved him from. I also knew he’d been seeing Xanthe’s psychiatrist, Dr. McKenna, since it had happened. I had a feeling Dr. McKenna was somehow involved with the Locals as well.

From the time I was thirteen, I had known about David’s and Aunt Ellen’s secret work. David had told the Locals that Rex and I were just as much his kids as Xanthe was, and as his family, we needed to know he did dangerous work in case anything ever happened to him. If something ever
did happen, the Locals were to take care of us.

The Locals had gone one step further and had made sure we would be willing to join the cause from an early age. I supposed it wasn’t so different from what gangs did, except that we really did need to be of legal age before we could be fully inducted into the organization. With the work Rex was going to be doing, they were conducting all sorts of psych evaluations and crap now while he was here.

“…really want to meet you,” Rex was saying.

“What?” I asked him.

Ellen had hung up the phone and was standing between the kitchen and the living room, waiting for my and Xanthe’s full attention.

“Hold on, Rex,” I said.

“I’m heading out,” said Ellen, her face grim. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be, but I won’t be coming back alone.”

Xanthe straightened up on the couch. “What’s going on?”

“You two are about to get firsthand experience of what it is you’ll be doing. I’ve got a new unfortunate.”

My heart sped up, adrenaline kicking in.

Grabbing a light jacket, Ellen stomped down the stairs.

“Jaime?” asked Rex.

“Yeah?” I said.

Xanthe settled back into the couch.

“Is everything all right?” Rex asked.

“Yeah. Ellen’s just stepped out,” I replied. “An…an unfortunate,” I said quietly.

“Yeah, there was a bust. Ricki and Ronen got back about an hour ago. They want to say hi to you.”

“Ricki and Ronen?”

“Uh-huh. You want to?”

“Sure,” I said. “Put ’em on.”

Xanthe and I heard the bells on the storefront door jingle, signaling Ellen’s departure. Once that happened, Xanthe was pulling out the old broad’s stash of weed and rolling us a joint to smoke later after Ellen went to bed. While we were minors, the woman wouldn’t let us smoke in front of her, which was a shame. The times we’d busted her stoned off her wrinkly ass, she was a hoot.

“Hello?” came a strangely accented voice through the phone. “Jaime?”

“Hi,” I said. “Who’s this?”

“I’m Ronen Kelly. Just wanted to say hi.”

I smiled. “Hi, Ronen.”

“It’s a shame we can’t meet in person. We’ve heard a lot about you from Xanthe and Rex.”

“Likewise,” I stated, warmed by his friendliness. “It’s like we’re already family.”

“Right?” He laughed. “Well, I gotta hit the head. I’ve just been through a hell of a meeting—oh! Here’s Ricki. He just got out. Nice talking to you, Jaime.”

“You, too,” I said.

There was the sound of the phone being handed off, and then…

“Hello?”

The
sexiest
, most magical voice entered my ear, and my entire body reacted as though it had been hooked up to jumper cables. Deep and smooth, it was more of a caress than a sound.

“He-hello,” I stammered, my face feeling as though it’d caught fire.

“Who’s this?” asked the magic voice.

“Um, I’m Jaime,” I replied, winded for some reason. “Jaime Hallowell.”

There was a sharp inhale. “Jaime?”

My eyes closed, and I briefly bit my lip, hearing my name in
that
voice. “Yes,” I replied, opening my eyes to find Xanthe queerly staring at me.

“Oh. Hey. I’m Ricki.”

Hey, Ricki with the magical baritone.

“It’s nice to…well, I guess
meet
is a little strong of a word for this situation,” I stated, feeling like the biggest nerd on the planet.

Ricki chuckled, and something tingled between my legs.

Holy shit
. His voice was audible sex. The British accent did funny things to me, too.

“Rex said you were here. Are you enjoying Amsterdam?”

Xanthe licked the rolling paper and twisted up one of the fattest joints I’d ever seen. It was lumpy and misshapen, but it would serve its purpose just fine.

“Yeah, I love it here.”

“And Ellen’s a trip to hang out with,” he said.

“That she is.” I laughed.

“When do you head back to the States?”

“About three weeks.”

“Yeah. We won’t be able to get out of training to meet you. We’re on a bit of a lockdown.”

“Why?”

“Just the way it is.” He sighed, which made my nipples tighten for some reason. “You keep in touch with Xanthe and Rex all year though, yeah?”

“I do,” I replied.

“I’d like for you to keep in touch with me and Ronen as well,” he told me.

Right then, I wanted nothing more than to listen to this voice every night before I went to bed.

“Sure.” I was trying so hard to sound cool and sexy.

Xanthe got up to hide the joint in her room.

“The Locals are looking forward to when you and Xanthe can really start participating. I know Ellen needs the help. She won’t say it, but we see how tiring it gets for her.”

I’d noticed the same thing. “I know.”

“You do?” He sounded like that had made him smile. “She thinks the world of you two girls.”

Girls.

As Xanthe came down the hall from her tiny room, her tits did not look like they belonged on a girl. Self-conscious, I glanced down at my nonexistent breasts, suddenly dreading the day this voice would come face-to-face with them.

“Well, we think the world of her, too,” I said lamely.

“It’s hard not to. Rex told me you’re from New Jersey.”

“Yep. Born and bred,” I said.

“Will you do me a favor?” he asked.

I will do anything this voice tells me to.
“What’s that?”

“Xanthe has my number. Get it from her, and if I’m not able to talk to you before you leave, I want you to call me or text me to let me know you got back home all right.”

“Will do,” I told him.

“Good. I have to get going. I’ll talk to you later…Jaime.”

“Okay. It was nice talking to you.”

“You, too.”

The phone was passed again, and Rex’s voice rattled irritatingly in my ear. “Right, cheeky-deeky, is Xanthe there for me to say good-bye?”