The Sinner's Bargain (Contracts & Deceptions #2) (10 page)

“Yes. You don’t have to pack anything fancy, your regular clothes will do.”

Bag packed, Amara changed quickly into a pair of plum slacks and a white blouse. She slipped on a pair of flats and tugged her carryon bag into the living room. Philip finally looked up from his phone, gave her a quick once-over and made his way to the door, expecting her to trail behind him. Amara looked around the apartment, her eyes committing it to memory… just in case. In the elevator, Amara kept her eyes averted as Philip typed away on his phone. She checked hers twice more but still hadn’t received a call or email from Colin. She hated to admit her heart was beginning to feel like a deflated balloon.

“I have to make a phone call,” she said to Philip as they walked toward the black sedan that awaited them.

“You can make it in the car.”

Philip sat beside the driver, leaving the backseat to her. It wasn’t a huge car, and she hated that the conversation between herself and her mother would be overheard by Philip, but she didn’t have much of a choice

“What time did you say the flight was?” Amara asked as she dialed the hospital.

“Doesn’t matter, we’re not flying commercial.”

The nurse picked up the phone as Amara opened her mouth to ask Philip another question. She kept her conversation with her mom short and sweet, not giving her details about where she was going—or who with. There was no point in worrying her when she was so ill. The rest of the car ride was spent in silence, Philip only addressing her when they got to a small airport Amara had never realized even existed. She followed Philip inside, pulling her rolling bag as she tried to keep up with his long strides. Philip waved his hands at the pilot holding the door open, signaling him to hurry up. There was no bag check, no metal detector, as they walked through a room that looked like a nice version of a hospital waiting area, complete with one large counter and big leather seats. The woman in the front handed Philip a paper in passing—he didn’t even pause, just blew right by her on his way to the door to the tarmac. Amara, who was hesitant, but not enough to argue, followed.

She saw the large helicopter sitting in the middle of the runway, before Philip pushed the doors open and the sounds of the loud blades assailed her ears, making her cringe. It was huge, like the army ones she’d seen in movies, except it was matte black, not camouflage. Her hand tightened around the bar of her suitcase and made her way to the helicopter. Amara kept her head down, her long hair swirling wildly against the wind of the chopper, feeling like Dorothy fighting against a Kansas tornado. Once she reached it, the noise was so loud she couldn’t make out Philip’s words, so she took his hand instead and climbed inside, lifting her bag as she did so. Another man took the bag and put it in a compartment, motioning for Amara to pick a seat and buckle up. Once she had her seatbelt on, she looked around wide-eyed, completely enthralled with everything going on. There were buttons and lights everywhere. Three men were dressed in military apparel, all of them in sharp blue suits with gold buttons and a shit load of badges and stars on their shirts that Amara knew meant good things for them. She had no idea if they were army or air force or marines, but knowing they’d probably flown under much worse circumstances made Amara feel more comfortable. Philip took a seat beside her and grabbed two headsets, handing one to her before putting one on himself. She mimicked his movement and let out a relieved breath. She could still hear the helicopter rotors, but they weren’t as loud as they’d been before. When she heard Philip’s French accent clearly in her ear, she wished the blades were what she heard instead.

“It’ll be a long flight, so try to get comfortable,” he said.

She turned to look at him, her eyes growing with her response, “How am I supposed to get comfortable?” her look said. She wasn’t sure if he would hear her if she spoke, so she hoped the look was enough for him to understand. Her jaw tightened when his hand brushed against her face as he tapped the button beside her ear that she could press to speak.

“How long is the flight?” she asked.

He gave her a small smile. “Shorter than a commercial flight would have been.”

Amara breathed out, annoyed at his evasive response. “What do you think your boss wants to talk to me about?”

“I guess we’ll find out together.”

Her eyes flashed back to his icy blue gaze. “You really don’t know?”

“They don’t tell me everything.”

“That makes two of us,” she responded, facing forward again. She rolled her eyes when she heard him chuckle.

“Have you found anything on Colin?”

Amara tensed at that. “Why are you so interested in Colin? He’s just a regular guy. He’s not like you; he’s not involved in weird shit that gets people killed.”

“Maybe so, but it’s always good to have something that somebody wants just in case,” he said with a shrug. Philip reached under his seat and took a green apple out of his bag, offering it to Amara first. She merely shook her head.

“You mean for blackmail? That’s why you always want to find out information on people. You might as well just say ‘get me information on this person so I can use it as blackmail.’”

“That’s not really how it works,” he said, taking a bite of the apple. The sound of his chewing was unwelcome in her ear. “I file information, and if later on I need to use it for something, I do. I have what Colin wants most right in front of me, and he knows it. He snuck past me once, but that was only because he had help, and I think Samuel and I have reached a mutual agreement that he fucked up in the matter.”

She looked at him again, but this time he didn’t meet her eyes, he kept his eyes forward, ignoring her. Amara didn’t notice when the helicopter began to leave the ground and was surprised when the voices in her ears told her they were on their way to the capitol. As she turned away from Philip to look out the window she wondered, if anything happened to her, would it all be over? Would the sultan’s people go after her mother, or was Amara the goal? She wasn’t a prize —wasn’t special—she was just a girl in her early twenties who was trying to do the right thing. Funny, she wasn’t sure what that was anymore.

“If I hadn’t been stupid enough to take the hit for my dad’s problems, would I still be here?” Her voice was small, the thought escaping her lips before she thought about speaking it.

“Your dad was only the beginning. You made it easier for us to get to you, but no, Amara, the reason for you being here is not that. We would have had to go after you sooner or later. If they had reached you first, you would be dead.” Amara looked at him, begging him to continue. “They would have used you to get what they wanted, and then they would have killed you.”

“Isn’t that what they’ll do now, if they find me?”

Philip’s silence answered her.

“Yet you’re leading them right to me.”

“Because we can protect you.”

Amara looked forward, at the guy sitting across from her. He was really cute, with a stoic I’m-just-doing-my-job-but–look-damn-good-in-this-uniform-while-I’m-doing-it kind of way. His name said Sanders and he had a thing over his shoulder that looked like two downward V’s. Amara wondered what it stood for. Sanders had a similar jaw to Colin’s, except his had no scruff. She missed Colin. She imagined him hijacking the helicopter and taking her away. White knight, crook, backstabber, cheater—whatever he was—she didn’t care. She wanted him. Thoughts of what happened in his office and the way he’d made her hide in the bathroom snuck back into her mind and she began to feel queasy all over again. Colin had walked out with
her
and left Amara there, in the bathroom. He hadn’t even sent her a text message to apologize. Amara’s fingernails dug into her thighs as her anger escalated. Even through her pants she felt the sting of her grip. Shaking her head and blowing out a breath, she settled on the thought that it was best Colin didn’t jump into the helicopter. She was sure she’d pay GI Joe to kick him back out.

“What’s in that safe that they want?” Amara asked, going back to the task at hand. She should probably find out everything she could about the situation before she met with Philip’s boss.

“Probably the money, the gold, the jewelry,” he answered with no hesitation.

“And you? What do you want?” she faced him again, and this time his eyes were serious when they met hers.

“The papers. All I need is the papers. I could care less about the rest.”

“What happens to me once you get your papers?”

“You go on living your life.”

“Why can’t you just ask the sultan for the papers? It’s his safe.”

Philip’s laugh was boisterous, his eyes mocking. He shook his head and looked away still laughing. “Oh, the mind of a child. If only things were that easy.”

“You know, Courtney isn’t that much older than me,” Amara said, her voice stern. Her statement made Philip laugh again.

“That’s true, but she’s lived the length of your life three times in experience.”

“In the bedroom maybe.” She wasn’t sure why she was so bothered by Philip’s attitude. Amara really did consider Courtney a good friend to her, but everything that had happened recently, added to Philip’s demeaning behavior, bothered her more than usual. Her words sobered him up. He stopped laughing and glared at her.

“Courtney does what she has to do.”

“Like screw over Samuel and stay under your roof?”

His jaw tightened. Amara could tell she was pushing his buttons, and she enjoyed it. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Samuel isn’t the victim here. None of us are. All of our hands are dirty, including yours.”

“Mine?” she said letting out a sarcastic laugh.

“You transported weaponry overseas, didn’t you?”

Amara gasped. Was he really going to use her trip to New Orleans —the trip he’d sent her on—against her?

Philip smiled. “I like to keep tabs on what people do, just in case I need to use it later on.

“For blackmail.”

“Now you’re understanding. This is why I need you to find out more information on Colin. What is he up to? How are his companies doing?”

“I will never. Ever. Give you any information on him,” she seethed. “Ever!” The loud slap of her hand on her thigh earned her a look from the guy sitting across from her. Amara wondered if he was listening in on the conversation. She wished he was so that he could report Philip for blackmail, but of course she knew he wouldn’t.

“Suit yourself.”

In that moment, she wanted to scream. She thought if she were wearing a parachute, she would actually jump out of the goddamn helicopter. While she withheld the scream, she did grit her teeth and groan loudly in frustration.

“What do the papers say?” she bit out.

“None of your business. That’s classified information.”

“Yet you expect me to hand them over?”

“I don’t expect you to do anything for me. I expect that you’ll do what keeps you alive and well, what keeps your mother comfortable, and what keeps Colin out of harm’s way.”

“I hate that you throw that in my face.”

“Sometimes you need a reminder of what you’ll lose in order to push you to do the right thing.”

“The right thing?” she asked with a semblance of a laugh.

“It would be the right thing for you.”

“I don’t understand why the sultan put my name on that damn account. How does he even know my name?”

“The sultan keeps tabs on everything that he can use to push him forward.”

“Sounds familiar.”

“I learned from the best,” he said in a non-apologetic voice.

“He’s a terrorist!” Amara said a little loudly, hoping that would gain the audience attention, but when her eyes flickered to Sanders, his face was impassive and bored.

“Everybody knows who he is. Your little childish antics aren’t going to help you here,” Philip answered. He didn’t sound bothered though, just matter of fact.

“You people are sick. This entire operation is sick. You’re using a whore house to trap a terrorist’s minions.”

He arched an eyebrow. “May as well put good use to it.” He paused. “Maybe once you speak to my boss you’ll feel differently about your involvement.”

“Maybe. Will you stop blackmailing me?”

Silence stretched for a moment. “Probably not.”

They didn’t speak for the remainder of the flight, and Amara dozed off after a while, the white noise in her ears soothing her into peaceful sleep. She woke with a start at the dip in her stomach as the helicopter descended upon Washington. By the time her eyes popped open, she realized she’d missed out on seeing the famous landmarks. Blinking away the sleep from her eyes, Amara took her headset off and handed it to Philip. With help from Sanders, she hopped off the helicopter and took her bag, placing it on the ground and dragging it toward the white building in front of them. Philip walked next to her, typing away on his phone, although he stopped to hold the door open for her.

Once again, they walked right past everybody in the building, none of them checking the bags in their hands. Amara wondered if it was that easy to slip things past them. Weren’t they supposed to be high security? She made mention of it as they walked toward a black SUV in the front of the building, and Philip laughed.

“Everything was scanned, you just can’t see it.”

“How?” she asked confused. “When I was sleeping?”

The buildings are built to scan, so as you walk through them, they’re scanning you.

“Without permission? Isn’t that invasive?”

“It’s the U.S. government, they defined invasive.”

Amara mulled it over for a couple of seconds and couldn’t think of a comeback. Still, how scary was that? “Where are we going now?” she asked once they settled in the car, Philip beside her this time, as the front seat was occupied by two different military men.

“First we’re going to check into a hotel, and you’ll have a couple of hours to eat, change, rest…whatever you need to do. Then we have a meeting with my boss.”

“Does this boss of yours have a name?”

“Of course.”

Her eyes flashed to his. “You’re not going to tell me?”

The side of his lip curled up just enough to hint at amusement. “What difference does it make? You don’t know him, and you’ll find out when you see him.”