Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
The man seated across from him smiled, showing even white teeth and a single dimple in his left cheek. “There’s nothing a good woman can’t fix. I’ve learned that myself. Well, nothing inside a man she can’t fix. There’s plenty of stuff we fuck up ourselves that need fixing.”
“Amen, brother.” He still had to deal with the blackmail, but he had some time. His lady blackmailer would back off for a while. He had three months before he had to make a decision. Three months to talk it all over with Kay and decide what to do. When they got back from Mexico they would sit down with a crisis management publicist and a lawyer and talk everything out. “My girl might not be able to fix everything, but she makes it seem possible, if you know what I mean. Things that before were impossible problems seem a little simpler to solve.”
“I do indeed,” Williams replied. “I married a lovely woman. She fixed a lot of my problems simply by loving me, but things from the past creep up. Especially in my business. You make some tough calls out in the field and you have to live with them.”
They’d gone over a few of Williams’s issues with the script, some procedural flubs the screenwriter had made and some language Williams thought the fictional DEA agent would use. Williams had been open about all aspects of working for the government—some good and some bad. He was an easy man to talk to. “You have many of those regrets?”
For a moment Williams’s eyes seemed to darken, and that was the moment where Josh could see the agent he’d been. Dark. Ruthless. Capable of getting the job done. “Oh, yes. I made a lot of calls in the field. I stand by most of them. I made them for the right reasons at the time. When you’re out in the field you have to go with a combination of the intelligence you have in front of you and what you feel in your gut. Sometimes your gut is far more important and then sometimes you ignore your gut because the setup in front of you is too perfect to pass up. That’s the worst thing you can do.”
He was completely fascinated by this man. He didn’t even fully understand why, but there was a rich character arc flowing through Tyler Williams’s seemingly normal veins. Josh could see how interesting it would be to dive into the man’s psyche. “At the time? Are you saying you wouldn’t do the same thing now?”
“I’m saying I’m a different person now,” Williams corrected. “The person I am today does not make the same calls, but I understand his reasoning. And honestly, I don’t know that the person I am now would be better at his job than the person I was. It’s the difference between youth and wisdom, though sometimes wisdom never comes to some. As I’ve aged and seen the world from a different light, my priorities have changed. But for the purposes of this script, I can explain things from my old self’s point of view.”
“How did you get into the DEA?”
“I went into the military straight out of high school,” Williams explained. “It was the only way I could get into college. No money. No family. I was good at being a soldier. I enjoyed the discipline of the lifestyle. After, I found myself recruited by the government. I worked for them for a good decade and then left to pursue other opportunities. It’s funny but when I joined up, it seemed like an inevitable thing. I had a brutal childhood and I went into a rather brutal business. It was what I knew. Sometimes we take the road we know simply because we don’t think to look for off-ramps. We have blinders on, and even a violent world can seem normal and comfortable while you’re inside it. Being able to see through another’s eyes, to understand that there are other worlds out there, that’s the true mark of maturity.”
“Are you sure you’re not a shrink?”
Williams chuckled. “Just a guy who’s seen a lot. I’m worried about you.”
That was a surprise. “About me? Why?”
Williams’s face went grave. “I’m not going to beat around the bush, Joshua, and I hope you’ll do me the courtesy of being open and honest with me. There’s a reason I wanted to meet with you before we get on set. I’m no longer in law enforcement so your answer to this question is merely for my own intelligence and will not leave this room.”
Shit. What the hell was going on? He’d been a little surprised the guy had insisted on meeting in his hotel room when Josh had offered to take him out to lunch. Had the ex-agent brought him here because he’d found out about Josh’s previous use? He found himself tightening up for the first time that day. Damn. He hadn’t realized how much of his life was spent tense and waiting for the other shoe to fall. “All right. Ask away.”