The Heart of the Jungle, стр. 25
"I didn't hear that much of the conversation, but Cross must have spilled something. He may have pointed a finger in your direction."
Once more, there was silence. "This is unfortunate. Opinion?"
"Cross knows too much. Best if we shut him up."
"Agreed."
"And your birdie?"
"Needs another nudge---we've waited long enough."
The man's eyes tracked toward his retreating quarry. "His new friend, maybe?"
"Perhaps." There was a pause. "Yes, that might be just the thing. Be creative. Surprise me. The more... spectacular, the more of an impression it will make."
"Understood."
He snapped the phone closed and pocketed it. He'd become accustomed to these brief, enigmatic conversations, but they still unnerved him. Nonetheless, he wasn't being paid to be chummy.
From the same pocket where he'd deposited the phone, he withdrew a pack of Camel cigarettes, lit one, and drew on it deeply. So much for catching the ball game tonight. He had work to do.
Chapter 7
"I'M going with you." Chris's jaw was set as he stared at Jason across the counter in his kitchen.
"Chris, for the tenth time, it's just not a good idea. What if Brunner is keeping an eye on your movements?"
"So what?" He stood and paced in nervous agitation. "Let him know I'm coming for him, let him squirm."
"That's exactly what we don't want."
"Damn it." Chris slammed his fist onto the granite countertop.
"Why not?"
Jason sighed. "What if he has your daughter? Do you really want to make him nervous?"
This drew Chris up short. He paused in his pacing and looked at Jason through wide eyes. "What do you think he'd do?"
"A wild animal is much more dangerous when it's cornered."
"You don't think he'd hurt her?"
"It's possible. More likely, he'll run. Right now, as far as he knows, you are still in the dark. Best if we keep it that way for as long as possible. All of this will be much easier if Brunner doesn't get spooked."
Chris leaned against the counter for support. His legs felt like water, and his stomach churned. What if Brunner already has a tail on me?
What if our visit to Cross was noticed? What if he already knows we're onto him?
As if Jason could read his mind, he said soothingly, "Wouldn't make sense to keep tabs on you 24/7. He's probably doing check-ins from time to time. Watching for an obit... if your theory is right."
Chris pinched the bridge of his nose, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. How could he just sit here and do nothing? After ten agonizing months, the pieces might be starting to fall into place, and Jason expected him to just twiddle his thumbs and wait for the outcome? He couldn't do it.
"Are we agreed?"
He opened his eyes. "Do I have a choice?" He already knew the answer from the stubborn set to Jason's jaw. He looked at his hands on the countertop in frustration. "I just don't know if I can stand the waiting."
Jason reached out and tilted his chin upward. "You've done nothing but wait for the past ten months. Isn't it just a little bit easier for you, knowing that this time you might actually get some answers?"
A single tear traced a course down Chris's cheek. Jason's eyes filled with compassionate tenderness as he said, "I promise you, I will do everything I can to make this right for you."
Chris mustered a wan, grateful smile. Without quite realizing what was happening, he found himself wrapped tightly in Jason's arms, pressed close to his lithe, powerful body. As they came together, the planes and angles of their forms aligned as if they had been made to fit one another.
Though he was shocked by this wanton surrender, his body was responding to a much deeper need. Intimacy, the touch of another human being---these were comforts he'd not been afforded for a very long time.
Strangely, this moment transcended any closeness he'd ever known.
He knew he should rail against it and put down this raw emotion.
He knew, but once ensnared, he could not find the will to break free.
As Jason's presence gathered around him like a summer rain, Christian James gave in fully to the agony he'd endured not only since his world had fallen apart, but all the wrongs that had come before. He let go of all the unfulfilled needs he'd ever known and clung fiercely to the surcease of intimate touch.
As much as he could take, Jason gave measure for measure. As tightly as he dared to cling, Jason held that much more tightly. The rapid staccatos of their hearts were the only sounds in the universe that mattered. They were separate and apart from the world they inhabited.
They were caught up in a moment they both needed and they both feared.
Time had no meaning, but Chris finally summoned the courage to move away. Though the emptiness between them drew at him like a singularity, he resisted the pull. He'd been far too careless. Jason could not be an anchor for him, nor he for Jason. Not with so much uncertainty ahead.
A deeper part of him realized that he had been irrevocably changed.
Some core of him, long drained, had been filled, if only for a moment.
Now that he'd tasted that rich draught, the thirst would never be so easily slaked again.
He stepped back, ashamed and unsure, afraid to meet Jason's gaze for fear of what he might see there and how he might yet again relent. I can't do this. There's no place for this in my life. He knew these things, and yet....
"I should go," Jason said, his voice strained.
Chris flicked his eyes upward only for an instant, but that brief glance was enough to see that his torment was a shared one. "You'll keep in touch?"
"I promise. You'll know what I know as soon as I know it."
Chris held onto the counter for support, still looking anywhere but directly at Jason.
"Chris---"
"I can't." He cut Jason off