A Nature of Conflict (The Redemption Saga Book 3), page 12
Inside the elevator with her, he heard a soft sigh.
“Sorry. Two nights in a row without any sleep. I shouldn’t be an ass,” she whispered, leaning on the back wall of the elevator.
“I figured you weren’t getting any,” he replied, looking back at her. “Do you not own anything formal?”
“No,” she answered. “I don’t. No dresses, no suits. Lost all the ones I wore when I was younger, never wanted or needed them since.”
“I’ll take you out later today, then,” he offered. “You’ll need something for our date.”
“Oh?” Sawyer smiled. “After my morning bad mood, you still want to do that?”
“I’ve seen your morning bad mood at its worst, and it didn’t scare me away,” he reminded her. She had tried to kill him once. He wasn’t going to get pissed off over a mood caused by a lack of sleep. He had better things to use his energy on.
“Touché,” Sawyer conceded, bowing her head in mock defeat. “Are you the fashion guy of the group? Do you know anything about dresses?”
“Are you okay wearing one?” He chuckled, moving back to lean on the wall with her.
“Yeah, just no heels.” Sawyer motioned to her long legs. “I don’t like being taller than the guy. Hard to do when you’re five foot eleven and heels are normally a solid three to four inches. Most men don’t like women to be taller than them either.”
“I didn’t know that was something that bothered you,” Vincent said honestly. He could see why it would bother her, but it seemed like such a mundane, and slightly insecure, thing. She seemed like the type of woman who completely owned her body. “They would make your legs look longer.”
“It’s…just a thing,” she deflected, shrugging. “I’m really not a big heel wearer and my legs don’t need help looking long. I’ll get a pair of flats.”
“We can make that happen,” Vincent agreed softly. The elevator dinged for the lobby and he led her out. The team was already at the front of the hotel, waiting on them, and Vincent couldn’t stop a smile as Zander offered Sawyer a small breakfast sandwich. He had asked one of them to make sure they got something for her to eat, and he was glad it was Zander. It was a good way for him to do something nice and harmless for her. Hopefully, the simple food offering wasn’t going to set off some argument about letting her take care of herself or something.
“Thanks,” she murmured, taking it from him.
Vincent and Elijah got the keys to their rentals. Outside, Vincent raised an arm and Kaar landed. He’d been letting his raven fly free, only a small ankle tag to make sure people knew the bird belonged to a Magi.
“Hey, boy,” Vincent whispered, bumping his forehead. “Have a good night?”
Kaar puffed up and sent some annoyance Vincent’s way. Kaar didn’t like how busy the city was and people kept shooing him off the patios when he tried to take a break from flying around. He was annoyed that they were getting in the car again. He was annoyed that no one was giving him treats.
“All right,” Vincent huffed. “Needy-ass bird.”
That comment got Vincent an obnoxious caw.
“Dick,” Vincent mumbled, opening a car door and letting Kaar jump in. “Quinn, did you bring any of those seeds this guy likes?”
“I did. Here.” Quinn pulled out a bag and Vincent took it, taking seeds out and holding them for Kaar to eat out of his palm. When Vincent went to hand the bag back, Quinn declined it. “Keep it. He’s your bird. You and he need to work out your issues.”
“There are no issues between Kaar and I,” Vincent retorted. Not many. The bird was just a loner, and while they were bonded, they weren’t particularly close. He had no problem with a self-sufficient animal. He didn’t need the closeness Shade and Scout had with Quinn. Kaar would rather spend all day flying around than sitting at his desk with him, and that was okay.
“Sure.” Quinn moved to the other car and got in. Vincent narrowed his eyes at the other car, where Quinn and Scout were hiding. Shade jumped into the door Vincent had open. Sawyer followed the wolf. He shut the door on his clown car and looked at Elijah over the top, who just shrugged.
It was a quiet drive to the IMPO main headquarters. The WMC, IMPO, and IMAS owned three massive buildings just a block away from the United Nations. The WMC sat in the middle, with large steps up to the front door. The IMPO and IMAS were more understated, looking like office buildings from the outside.
He chuckled with Elijah more than once on the drive though, as Sawyer whispered obscenities at Kaar, who was trying to eat some of the biscuit that made her sandwich. Vincent sent a thought to the raven, asking him to stop, which only made him ruffle his feathers and jump on the center console to try for the seed bag now in his pocket.
When they parked, Vincent looked at his bird. “Did you not eat anything last night?”
Kaar sent something like a no.
Vincent pulled out the bag and gave the bird more seeds to appease him, then got out. Kaar went straight to his shoulder once out of the car.
“So…” Sawyer helped Shade out then looked at him. “What is really happening today?”
“We’re going to meet some big people from the IMPO, our bosses, and they are going to pat us on the back for a job well done in Texas,” he answered, shrugging as best he could with the giant bird on his shoulder.
“That’s really it?” She frowned at him. He knew she didn’t trust it. She probably figured this was going to be a long day of backhanded compliments. He was willing to bet she was right, but he didn’t want to say it out loud.
Games. This was all games.
He was tired of them, truthfully. He enjoyed the ones he played with her - the word games, the chess games, the attempts to outmaneuver each other into revealing more about themselves. But he was tired of the IMPO and the games he was about to play.
“Let’s go,” he told her. He turned to the rest of his team, all making sure their shirts were tucked in. Quinn was even smoothing out Shade and Scout’s coats to make them look nice. Scout shook it back out and Quinn growled at him. The wolf didn’t shake out Quinn’s hard work the second time. Vincent gave a smile at the scene. Those three were so out of place in the middle of New York. “Everyone ready?”
“Yeah, boss,” Elijah answered, adjusting Jasper’s tie. Jasper had gone with a suit like Vincent, aiming for professional. Vincent was glad someone had joined him in the pursuit of looking presentable. “We’re ready.”
“Everyone stay on your best behavior,” Vincent reminded them, giving a pointed look to Zander. He was the worst at these things, and he grinned back at Vincent as if there was already trouble in the making. The gauged ears, the neck tattoos, the full sleeves of ink. Zander was always looking to stir things up with those who ran their organization.
“How much trouble can we really get into?” Sawyer asked as they started walking to the front door.
Vincent scoffed and looked at her. “You don’t want to know.” He pulled open the door and let her in. He followed, letting the guys go in behind him.
The AC of the IMPO lobby hit him immediately. He didn’t look around, keeping his eyes on the reception desk. He could see Sawyer out of the corner of his eye, though. She was taking everything in, her observant, quiet way of making sure she knew everything about the room. He wondered what she was thinking, wished he could read her mind, like he always did.
“Vincent Castello,” the receptionist greeted him with a purr, standing up. A pretty blonde named Sara. Vincent knew her well. “It’s good to see you again.”
“It’s been a long time, Sara,” Vincent said, reaching out to shake her hand. She held it too long, her fingers drifting over his palm when it finally ended. He sighed internally. Ex-lovers. They never knew when to quit. When he’d been younger, he’d fallen for her for a moment, taken her out, slept with her, and realized she was just trying to get with the ‘ex-criminal’ agent everyone had been talking about. He never made the mistake a second time.
Now he was falling in love with an assassin. He had horrible taste in relationships.
“You have a meeting?” She asked, looking down at her scheduling book.
“We do,” he answered. “With-”
“Director Thompson. I’ve heard about Texas. I thought this was next week,” Sara cut him off. “They should be expecting you. Is that her?” She nodded towards Sawyer, who was further from the group. She was a dark figure in the room. People hushed as they walked past her, gave her looks. She seemed not to notice, but Vincent knew otherwise. He watched her longer than he should have, because Sara asked again. “That’s Shadow, right?”
“Sawyer,” he bit out. “Her name is Sawyer Cambrie Matthews. Use it.” Hearing her old moniker pissed him off and made him uncomfortable. He wasn’t going to let anyone stand near her and remind her constantly of a past she hadn’t asked for. A past that was still trying to claw its way through their lives and ruin what they were trying to build.
“Sawyer.” Sara’s tongue rolled over the word like she was trying to get a flavor for it. Vincent didn’t like it. “Weird name.”
“It’s her name,” he repeated. He didn’t find it weird. He found it and the story behind it as sad and interesting as the woman herself. It was given to her by a nurse as a newborn since her mother didn’t have the chance to name her before she was left an orphan. “We have to get to our meeting. Buzz them and let them know we’re on our way.”
“Of course,” Sara replied absentmindedly. Vincent kept his eyes on Sawyer, who met his gaze.
Elijah coughed softly, taking his attention away from their assassin.
“What?”
“Don’t get uppity with them,” Elijah whispered. “I don’t like how she used Shadow either, but we can’t be fighting the whole world. It’s her title. It’s the name that’s famous. No one knows Sawyer, but they don’t trust Shadow.”
Vincent held back a curse. Sawyer met them at the elevator. Zander went to her immediately and whispered something Vincent couldn’t hear. He saw her eyebrows raise and then she nodded.
“It’s fine, Vin,” she told him. “Shadow, Sawyer. It doesn’t matter. I am who I am.”
“You aren’t Shadow anymore,” he reminded her. She couldn’t be Shadow anymore.
“I’ll always be Shadow to some people. Dead or alive. Let them use it.”
He got into the elevator, refusing to respond to that.
Once the team was inside, it was Zander who broke. “Why? Why should we be okay with them using that fucking name?” he demanded, turning to glare at her.
“Because they might be scared of Shadow enough not to fuck with Sawyer,” she answered, crossing her arms. “Or you guys. They might be scared enough of me to not fuck with you guys.”
“I don’t like that,” he growled.
“You don’t have to,” she snapped. “It was my fucking professional name. You want to know where Shadow comes from? They never saw me coming. I was the dark shadow of Axel’s retribution. I was always near him, in the dark, ready to kill anyone who fucked with him. Or so they thought. In a world of white Ghosts, I was the reason people were afraid of the dark.”
“Stop,” Vincent cut in. “We don’t have time for this.” He didn’t want to hear them bickering about her history, not in this building. At home, they could all argue about the use of Shadow. Maybe in the hotel, but not here. It would ruin them. “Sawyer, I’ll stop caring for now, but we’ll continue this discussion later. Zander, don’t start a fight. Jasper, keep him in line. Quinn, you keep doing you.” Meaning, staying quiet and unnoticed. Vincent was impressed with Quinn’s control through all of this, and the wolves’. “Elijah…make sure we don’t lose all our friends on this trip.”
“I got him,” Jasper confirmed, throwing an arm over Zander’s shoulder. “You need to stay with me, the amputee, since you’re the medic.”
Zander cursed at him.
“Can do, boss,” Elijah said, chuckling. “And you?”
“I’m going to play fucking politics,” Vincent mumbled. He realized he didn’t give Sawyer any orders. Politics. “Sawyer, stick with me or Elijah.” He needed a fucking cigarette. He was annoyed he didn’t have one before going inside.
“We got this,” Elijah said plainly. “No reason to stress today, seriously.”
“Sure,” Vincent sighed. He thought so too, but he hated the idea of people calling her Shadow. That had thrown him. He was trying to regroup. He needed control for this, and getting thrown for loops by his own emotions was not something he needed.
They left the elevator on the top floor. They had stopped a couple of times on the trip, but everyone saw them and decided to get a different one. Vincent ignored Director Thompson’s receptionist and went straight for his office. He knocked once.
“Come in, Special Agent Castello,” the director called back.
Vincent opened the door and let his team in before entering. His eyes fell on Director Thompson, an older man in his mid-fifties. Salt and pepper hair was combed to the side, with a goatee with the same graying. He wore a perfectly pressed black suit, like he always did. They had met before, on several occasions. Vincent had to appeal directly to him to join the IMPO years ago. No one else had given him a chance. Then he and James had to convince him to let Vincent form the team.
“Director,” Vincent greeted him. “You wanted to speak to us about Texas.”
“I wanted to personally say good job,” Director Thompson replied. “You found yourself in a situation we hadn’t expected. Stevenson, the ‘sheriff,’ had some things to say, but nothing serious. We handed over names of the more violent anti-Magi people to non-Magi law enforcement groups. We already made moves to relocate any Magi living in the area. All thanks to your team.”
“And the killer?” Vincent walked closer to the desk.
“Cory Stevenson will be placed under care, probably for the rest of his life,” the Director replied softly. “But execution is off the table.”
“That’s good,” Sawyer whispered, cutting off something else from the director.
Whatever Director Thompson had been going to say was silenced. Vincent looked over to Sawyer, who had found a spot near a large fireplace. The office was expansive with couches, a small bar, the fireplace. It was half lounge area and half office and took up nearly a quarter of the top floor of the building. Vincent would guess that there was even a private bathroom and a panic room attached to it.
“Shadow herself, in the flesh,” Director Thompson said cautiously, as if he expected Sawyer to blink across the room and kill him for speaking to her. When she didn’t respond, he spoke to Vincent. “You know, Special Agent Castello, I’ve always been somewhat proud of your little ragtag team of trouble and strange, but you really crossed a line there.”
“I merely held the WMC to the contract provided to her.” Vincent stayed calm.
“You replaced the team that died for her originally,” Thompson retorted.
“I’m in the room,” Sawyer called out softly. “And there’s no need to remind anyone here of anything that has to do with me. We’re all well aware of it, all the time.”
“She speaks,” Director Thompson scoffed. “Are you as arrogant as I’ve heard?”
“There’s no one in this building, excluding Quinn, who can beat me in a fight,” she replied, sounding bored. “Is that an arrogant statement when it’s a statement of fact?”
Vincent closed his eyes, frustration washing over him. Arrogance was her shield, her defense. Confidence was her way of keeping people from starting the fight to begin with. Using it against the director was not a good move.
“I would say you have less reason to be, since you’ve been caught and exposed,” Thompson reminded her.
Vincent held back a groan.
“Not by you, and not in a fight,” she said. Vincent could swear he heard a laugh in her voice.
“Does she follow orders?” the Director asked him.
“She does,” he confirmed. “She’s just arrogant. She has reason to be.” He didn’t like admitting she had the right either, but he wasn’t going to lie to the director or himself.
“Does she?” Thompson sounded offended. “What does an infamous criminal have to be arrogant about?”
“She hid in New York for four years, right underneath our noses. I would say the arrogance was well-earned.” It wasn’t Vincent who said it, but Jasper. Vincent was nearly surprised, and Kaar ruffled a little bit, feeling Vincent’s near-shock. He would have expected Elijah or Zander to make that comment.
“See.” The director picked up a glass from his desk and took a drink. “This is why I wanted you guys to come see me. You all did a fine job in Texas, including you, Shadow. But people aren’t happy about this. Actually, there’s some who say that this might be your attempt, Castello, to take your brother’s place.”
Vincent’s eyes went wide, and he heard curses from the guys, but it was Sawyer’s laughter that stood out.
“Vincent Castello is nothing like Axel. Fucking believe me. If he was, I wouldn’t fucking be here, that’s for damn sure.” She was still laughing as she walked closer. Vincent looked at her again, the swagger in her step, the shake of her head as she laughed. “Why would I ever serve anyone like Axel again?”
“Why wouldn’t you?” Director Thompson asked. “He gave you wealth and power.”
“I can have wealth and power on my own,” she scoffed, looking insulted. “I did when everyone thought I was dead. The wealth, at least. Power was never really my thing. All Axel ever gave me was scars and nightmares.”
“Sticking to the story you told them?” Thompson asked quietly.
Vincent narrowed his eyes at the director.
“It’s the truth,” Sawyer stated plainly.
“Axel confirmed it, and you don’t want to see the tape of that interview,” the director told them. “But that doesn’t mean everyone is willing to believe it.”
“Do you?” Sawyer asked dangerously. Vincent felt the room grow colder. The sharp edge of her magic as her temper was rising.
“I do,” Director Thompson told her gently. Vincent saw her jerk to a stop, no longer approaching the director to get in his face. “I personally went to the orphanage in the Atlanta area and confirmed your childhood with Special Agents Wade and Williams. I personally looked into the man who ‘adopted’ you and the Reader who did your reading that you claimed sold your information to Axel. Both were dead three months after encountering you, by the way, and we’d had reason to believe that Reader was dirty for years.”
