Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“They are good?” Sasha asked the question softly, as though he’d prayed for the right answer.
Ian nodded. “They’re all good. Jax and River are in Bliss. Owen and Rebecca and Robert and Ariel are still at The Garden for now, but Rebecca’s probably going back to research work when she can. Hey, Tucker went into a coma, and when he came out he found a girl.”
Sasha laughed, a booming sound that would definitely wake up the neighborhood if this wasn’t a dream. “Tucker could always find a girl. The problem was in keeping one.”
“Well, he’d already knocked this one up,” Ian allowed. “He did not get a proper lecture on condom usage. Roni showed up at the door of The Garden with a two-year-old and the coolest mom ever. I mean it. Sandra rocks. She’s mean as shit, and twice as sexually aggressive. I’m pretty sure this Agency wunderkind named Drake lost his virginity to her.”
Sasha sat back. “Oh, it’s good to know they’re happy. I’ve missed them. They are good men. They deserve the world.”
“Hey, since you’re obviously some manifestation of my worries or hopes or some shit, maybe I can ask you some questions,” Ian began. As long as he was here, he might as well give the whole talking to himself a try.
“Is that what I am?” Sasha chuckled and sat back. “I’ve got a few minutes. Ask me anything.”
“Do you have any idea where Solo is?” It was hard trying to find a person when the world had shut down. Adam had been monitoring the situation in every way he could.
“Solo is missing?” Sasha frowned. “I assumed she and Ezra would fix their problems.”
“Damn, I was hoping I knew something I was overlooking.” Sometimes the truth was down deep, down where he apparently kept the people in his life who’d died.
“I’m not all-seeing, though I do keep up with the people who are truly important to me,” Sasha admitted. “Sometimes in a way they would likely find…invasive, but I make no apologies. Now it is my turn to ask you a question.”
“Okay.” It was cool to see this side of Sasha, even though he was aware this was all in his head.
“It would have been easy to hand us over to the authorities.” Sasha was staring at him, his skin pale in the moonlight. “I understand why you took in Robert. He’d been with Theo for a long time. But why the rest of us? I wasn’t particularly grateful.”
It had been one of the easier things he’d done. “You went through something unimaginable. I’ve been in bad places in my life. I’ve been tortured before. I don’t talk about the things I saw when I worked for the Agency, but it was bad. And every single time I had a bedrock to fall back on. I had my memories. I had everything I’d learned before. In the beginning it was my brother and Alex. I couldn’t let them down. After I met my Charlie…it was always her. Even when I thought she was dead, that woman lifted me up. You were sent to hell without anything to lift you up. How could I give you over to a group who would at best subject you to tests, and at worst complete the doctor’s work?”
“You are a good man, Taggart. Without you and Damon and Ezra, we would have truly been lost. I wish… It’s hard to even find the words. I wish to thank you and Charlotte and your children for taking in my girl. I don’t know what would have happened to her if you had not,” Sasha said quietly. The words seemed to come with a warmth to them, a sensation Ian felt in his soul.
Gratitude. He could feel it.
“She’s a wonderful girl. She’s kind and thoughtful and she’s smart. I’m not sure how she came from you.” Sarcasm was his go-to when things felt too real.
Even in a dream.
Sasha’s eyes glowed, but it seemed like a benevolent thing. Like some gift death had given him, along with the peace Ian sensed. “She got all her goodness from her mother. And now she will learn from you and Charlotte. Teach her well. Never let her forget that she was loved by so many people.”
“When we can travel again, you should know I intend to take care of the men who did this to you,” Ian vowed.
Sasha shook his head and reached into the jacket he was wearing, pulling out a bottle. “No, my brother. I do not need vengeance from you. I am past that, and I need you to protect my daughter. Fate will take care of those men.”
That didn’t sound like him. Except maybe he’d started to realize that he owed Sasha more than vengeance. “This is the weirdest dream.”
“Have you figured out what it is about?” Sasha asked, as though deeply curious.