Garret's Gambit by Dale Mayer (book club books .TXT) 📗

“Exactly the same thing, Garret,” he snapped. “Just don’t let it infect me, will you.”

At that, Garret laughed. “Well, buddy, if I’m infected, you’re already exposed.”

“Better not be,” he snapped. “I don’t need that shit in my life right now.”

“Nobody ever needs it when it comes,” Garret said. “You have to be ready, just in case though.”

“Hell no, I don’t. You can go play that game all you want, but I don’t have to.”

“Says you,” he said. “Anyway, it’s a minor point.”

“Says you.”

Just then a car pulled up in front. The driver got out, walked around, and handed Kano the keys. “Please bring this one back in one piece, if you can.”

Kano laughed. “Always,” he said. “If I can, anyway.”

“Says you,” the man quipped, as he walked down the street and disappeared.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“Somebody I’ve met a time or two,” Kano said, with a big grin. “Jump in. We’ve got places to go.” With that, they all climbed in and hit the road.

Chapter 5

Astra didn’t want to admit, even to herself, how uncomfortable Garret’s comment about her appearance made her feel. It’s what she had always wanted, but, in this instance, and in these surroundings, it’s not what she wanted at all. She wanted to be somewhere else, far away with him, where they could just spend time getting to know each other again. The fact that she’d always wanted him didn’t mean it was the right thing. She couldn’t convince her heart that it was anything other than the right thing, but sometimes it was hard to know what to do. And what she really didn’t want to do was have him see her as Amy.

Astra settled into the vehicle, watching as the city disappeared behind them. It was hard to even keep track of the traffic, it moved so steadily, becoming part of the surroundings. “How is it people live like this?” she asked, as they finally exited London.

“I think they don’t know any other way,” Garret said. “Unless you deliberately tried to change or to make change happen, it’s pretty hard without that.”

“Meaning, it doesn’t just happen accidentally. You have to actually focus on it?”

“Exactly,” he said. “When you think about it, if they don’t like this lifestyle, just identifying that is the start of getting out of it.”

She nodded. “I know. That’s one of the reasons why my job is shifting,” she said. “I’ve been doing a lot of traveling around, but I’m trying to stay home more because I’m just tired of the damn airport.”

“If a lot of the work you do is cyberstuff, can’t you just stay home and do most of it?”

“I’m more of a liaison for one of the companies,” she said. “I don’t do any of the cyberhacking myself. I do the marketing, and I’m kind of a goodwill ambassador. I go to all these countries that we need cooperation from, in order to keep finding all these predators,” she murmured.

“Are you dealing with pornography and child trafficking?”

She nodded but didn’t look at him.

“That’s tough,” Garret said. “Really tough. That’s the kind of thing most people don’t want to deal with because it’s so ugly.”

“Which is why it’s so important that somebody does deal with it,” she said quietly. “A lot of children and young women have grown up in that abusive scenario, who don’t know anything else.”

“True enough,” he said, “but, then again, you’re making a difference, and that changes how you view your job too.”

“It’s what keeps me in it,” she said, “but again, as far as making a change, I’m trying to scale back from a lot of the traveling.”

“What brought that on?”

“Finding out my sister was pregnant, wondering if she would be a single mom,” she admitted.

He winced at that. “God, I would hope not.”

“We don’t even know if Gregg’s alive,” she said.

“He’s alive,” Garret said. “We can’t entertain any other answer.”

She nodded and sank deeper into her seat, pausing to look out the car window. “If we find her at the cabin, what will you say to her?” she asked.

“That I’ll be there for her,” he said simply.

“That would be you, wouldn’t it?” she said, with a nod. “You can’t do any less, can you?”

“No,” he said. “Hell no. She needs support, love, and understanding, regardless of all the things that happened in the past. The child deserves nothing less than the best efforts from all of us.”

“That child needs a family,” she said, studying him.

“I know,” he said. “I know.”

Yet he didn’t offer to be there, but then why would he? Astra didn’t know if he was upset that the child was his brother’s and not his. Either way, that had to bite. “The crazy webs we weave,” she muttered to herself but didn’t think he heard.

He looked at her and said, “Often it’s a simple case of lies and deceit.”

“But she didn’t have to stay on that same track,” she said.

“No, she didn’t,” he said. “I’m more than ready to get off it.”

“You should have been off it a long time ago,” she said.

He chuckled. “You’re right, and I have been in many ways. Something about all this brought it all back.”

“And it’s a test,” she said, “to see if you’re really over her.”

“I’m over her,” he said, “but I’m still angry.”

“But we’re never angry for the reason we think we are,” she murmured, repeating something she’d read somewhere.

“Sounds like New Age mumbo jumbo to me,” he said. “I know why I’m angry, but that doesn’t mean I’ve shared the reason.”

“What the hell?” she said, looking at him in surprise. “What’s this? You’ve actually done some deep soul-searching?”

“Of course,” he said. “I won’t repeat that mistake.”

“Ah,” she said. “So have you been single ever since?”

“No,” he said. “Just very much unattached.”

“There is a difference, isn’t there?” she said, with a nod.

“What about you?”

“No relationships that have mattered in quite a while,” she said.

“How come?”

“Because,” she said, with an easy laugh.

“Meaning, if I’m