Marcus Sakey - Brilliance

“What’s to keep him from showing up at the meet with an army?”

“He knows I would spot them. He can’t risk spooking me. And since he won’t know the location in advance, he can’t get snipers set up or teams in place.”

“Still. He’s got to know he’s walking into a trap,” Shannon said.

Cooper shook his head. “That’s what we’ve got going for us. He thinks I’m working alone. He knows my capabilities, what advantages my gift offers. He can plan for that. Counter it.”

“So because he thinks you’re alone, he’ll bring a small force, just enough not to scare you. And because you’re not alone, you think we can take them.”

“That’s the idea.”

“Gee,” Quinn said. “It’s a good thing you’ve got two other assholes wrapped up in this.”

“Yeah,” Cooper said. He locked eyes with his partner, his friend. He knew what it was Quinn was risking, the same as the rest of them. But while Cooper had no choice, and Shannon had her own reasons, Quinn was doing this because it was the right thing to do. And because he’s your friend. Cooper fiddled with the edge of a cushion. Looked out the window. “Look, I want you to know—”

“Stow it,” Quinn said. “Just make sure you pick up the check from now on.”

“Beer’s on me. Forever.”

“You boys are adorable,” Shannon said. “But this is stupid. If Peters picks a street and you pick an address, we won’t be able to plan either. We’ll be walking in blind.”

“No, Ms. Mysterio,” Quinn said. “That’s where I come in.” He glanced at his watch. “Speaking of. I better go to headquarters and gear up. Gimme that burner, I’ll toss it in the river on the way.”

“Be careful, Bobby. They don’t know you’re in this, but Peters will be on high alert. No wrong moves.”

“I’ll be in and out. Hell,” Quinn smiled. “I’ll channel her.”

Two hours.

A hundred and twenty endless minutes to pace.

He’d been moving ever since he left the mall bathroom, and that motion had given him something to think about. Now, though, there was nothing to do but wait. And in that stillness, his imagination kept painting pictures of his children. Of how scared they must be.

Dickinson won’t have hurt them. He’s dangerous, but he’s not a psycho. He probably explained the situation to Natalie, let her manage the children. No point dealing with extra drama.

Even if that was true, it meant Natalie would be the one suffering all of it. No idea what was going on, what deals were being made, maybe even why they’d been taken.

Natalie was strong and smart. If things went the way he planned, she and the kids would be free in a couple of hours. She would be able to handle it.

But his daughter would know something was wrong. Kate was only four, but her gift was powerful. She would know that her mother was scared, would know that Dickinson was not a friend.

How will a four-year-old girl deal with that?

He couldn’t think of an answer he liked.

“You should get some sleep,” Shannon said from the kitchen, where she was rifling through Quinn’s fridge. “Big night ahead.”

“You too.”

“I think your boyfriend is twelve. All he has in his fridge is chocolate milk, mustard, and beer.”

“Yes, please.”

She pulled out two bottles, twisted the caps off, and tossed them toward the trash. The kitchen had a pass-through to the living room, and she set his on the counter. They faced each other, the counter between them. Something always between them, it seemed like.

Shannon took a sip, tipping the bottle up and then wiping her lips with the back of her hand. She looked at him, and he could see her trying to decide what to say.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “For leaving like that. It was stupid.”

“Yeah. Why did you?”

“I don’t know.” He gestured with the beer. “I was confused.”

“And now you’re not?”

“No, I still am. I just don’t care as much. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Because I can help you.”

“Not only for that.” Cooper paused. “While we’re on the subject, though. Why are you doing this? Helping me?”

“Same reason I’ve given you every time you’ve asked. I’m more than willing to fight for my right to exist.”

“Is that the only reason?”

She gave a noncommittal shrug.

“Let me try again. I’m sorry. I panicked. Everything happened fast, and Smith, the way he plays people. I couldn’t be sure he wasn’t using you to play me.”

“You think I slept with you because he told me to?” Her voice was a knife wrapped in tissue paper.

“It occurred to me, all right? It seemed possible.”

“Screw you, Cooper.”

“But then, on the plane here, it hit me. The real reason I’d panicked. Yes, you’d been lying to me since we met. But I’d been lying to you, too. The difference was that you knew that, and I didn’t. And I guess I just felt…stupid. Embarrassed.”

“You’re terrible at apologies, you know that?”

“Yeah. My ex said something about that.” He tried for a smile, but it died on his lips. “Okay, truth?”

“Please.”

“I really like you, Shannon. It’s been a long time since I felt this way about someone. Years. Since Natalie and I split up. And this thing with you, whatever it is, it feels different. You understand parts of me that no one else does. And you’re amazing at work. I’m not used to someone being able to match me.”

“Arrogant much?”

“Come on. Tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“I don’t have to. You’re the one apologizing, not me.”

Cooper took a pull on the beer, set it on the counter. “All right. Last try. You know last night when I asked you about the diner, about you saying you hoped I started fresh? I really, really wished I could do what you were suggesting. Walk away. Start a new life. And you were the reason.”

Something in her softened.

Cooper said, “What we’re about to try is insane. It’s unlikely that we’ll get out alive. But if we do, would you like to have dinner with me?”

Shannon quirked that smile. Took a sip of her beer. “Takes you a while to get there, but in the end you do okay.”

“Is that a yes?”

“You think I’m amazing, huh?”

“Is that a yes?”

She shrugged. “If we’re still alive later, ask me then.”

For all the frenetic activity of the day—the tourist-mobbed streets, the abrupt traffic jams, the motorcades that backed everything up, the eternal construction—at night, downtown Washington DC was calm. Restaurants did a steady business, cabs buzzed between hotels, men in suits and women in dresses strolled the sidewalks, but it felt like the pilot light of the city’s furnace. Quinn returned with gear about nine; by nine thirty, the three of them were atop a parking deck in the heart of downtown. The skyline glowed three-sixty, the most famous buildings in the world, bright white and spotlit. Bobby sat cross-legged on the hood of his car, laptop open. Shannon had climbed up on the concrete lip of the deck, was walking it back and forth like a tight rope, a five-story drop on one side and pure calm in her posture.

Cooper was reassembling his weapon. Quinn had brought it along with the rest of the gear. His trip to headquarters had gone without incident; he regularly requisitioned supplies like these, and the guards hadn’t blinked. The gun was a Beretta, Cooper’s preferred manufacturer. An agency weapon, and thus perfectly cleaned and maintained, but the army taught you not to fire a weapon you hadn’t taken apart and put back together, and it was a habit he’d never tried to break. If nothing else, it passed the time.