Kelley Eskridge

Kelley Eskridge by Solitaire Page B

Book: Kelley Eskridge by Solitaire Read Free Book Online
Authors: Solitaire
Jackal thought, you just be very careful, you just let me howl.
    “Did you ever hear of Las Tres Hermanas?
The Three Sisters. Waves a hundred feet high and as wide as you can
see. They hunt ships.”
    Chao's phone beeped. She thumbed it off
without looking away from Jackal.
    “They creep beneath the surface, stalking
your ship. Then they surge out of the water around you. Impossibly
tall. They blot out the sun. Everything darkens in a heartbeat. Las
Hermanas try to catch you sideways, to roll your boat over and eat it.
So you do your best to turn yourself and meet them head-on, even though
there's never any time, because the first sister has opened a hole in
the sea and you fall in and she throws herself on top of you. You're
overwhelmed. You watch the portholes to see what color the water is
around you. How deep you've gone. Green water means you're in the
wave's hands: she may just swat you and toss you back to her sister
behind her. But if the porthole glass is black then it means you've
been eaten, you're deep in the belly of the wave…” Was this her voice?
Was she the one babbling like this, words tumbling out so fast that she
couldn't even take breath between them? “And then you begin to drown.
My abuelo told me that some people
fight as the water climbs their bodies, they swim even though there's
no longer a surface they can reach, but other people just give up even
though they don't want to die and maybe it's because they're already so
tired—”
    She didn't seem to have anything more to
say. She watched the fog through the window; it was easy to imagine a
little boat, perhaps it was called The Jackal ,
riding an ocean that swelled gently, safely, until that unexpected drop
into an open mouth. She barely noticed Chao rising from the table,
unlocking a door at the rear of the office and stepping through,
reappearing seconds later with a small packet that turned out to be a
medpatch.
    “I want you to put this on,” she said.
“Give me your left arm, please.” Diazepam, Jackal read upside-down. Ten
milligrams.
    “I don't need that.”
    “You certainly do. You have your first
meeting of the Garbo project in two hours—well, I'm your advisor,
Jackal, I've certainly made it my business to know your schedule. Put
this on—” she peeled the cover off the patch and pressed it into the
crook of Jackal's elbow “—and sit here. I'll make sure you're not
disturbed for ninety minutes. That will give you time to rest.”
    Jackal curled up in the womb chair.
    Chao produced a blanket and draped it over
her, tucked the edges around her hips and under her feet. It was an
unexpected kindness, and Jackal could feel herself begin to tremble
again.
    “It will be all right,” Chao told her.
“You are under an extraordinary amount of stress right now. It's
situational. It will pass. We will help you manage it. We won't let you
fail.”
    Jackal didn't know whether to be reassured
or not. Chao left her. She watched the fog until it seemed to swell
into the room and tumble her into sleep.
     
    She woke to the gentle touch of Chao's hand
on her shoulder. “You have a half hour to get to your meeting,” she
said.
    “Okay,” Jackal said, struggling to wake
up. She washed her face in Chao's bathroom and peered at herself in the
mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the skin underneath was puffed and
sickly gray. But she would manage. The drug gave her a sense of cool
distance from herself; she hoped it would last a while. She rolled her
sleeve down to hide the patch.
    When she stepped back into the office,
Chao was there with another woman, fifty-ish, short and dark, soft
around the middle. “Senator Bey, allow me to introduce Ren Segura.”
    “Jackal,” she said automatically, and
shook hands.
    “The Senator is the Asia Regional Director
of the Hope Program,” Chao went on.
    “I have followed your progress for a very
long time, Ms. Segura. I know you'll be a valuable addition to our work
in Al Iskandariyah.”
    Jackal

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