Page 53 of Hurry Up And Wait

“But you know them,” I pushed. I felt like a broken record.

He sighed, glancing over at me. “Why do you want to know?”

“If you were nearly blown up, and then a man who you didn’t know took you home from the hospital, wouldn’t you want to know a little about him?”

“You chose to get in the car with me.”

“Only because everyone said to trust you,” I shot back.

“Then why don’t you just fucking trust me?”

“Because I don’t fucking know you,” I retorted.

“Fine. What do you want to know?”

“I think you already know.”

He glanced over at me again, irritation marring his face. “I met them through Jane.”

Wow, a wealth of information, this one was. “And who is Jane?”

“She’s IRIS’s wife. He works for OPS.”

I waited for more, but it never came. “Okay, so tell me about Jane.”

He cut me a harsh look. “Why do you want to know about her?”

I tossed my hands up in the air, only to wince when my shoulder pulled. “Christ, this is like pulling teeth. I’m not asking for your life story. I just want to know a little about who you are.”

“And what will that get you?”

“A sense of security. The knowledge that I’m not going home with a serial killer. Hell, at this point I would like to be able to say, yes, I know IKE. He’s friends with Jane.”

“You already know that.”

I growled in frustration, which only seemed to humor my new non-friend.

“I know Jane because she’s a mystery writer. We…crossed paths while she was researching a book.”

“Which one?”

“I won’t tell you that.”

“Because you’re in it?”

He hesitated. “There are elements of me in them.”

“Okay.” I shifted to face him more. I was intrigued about how he fit into a mystery writer’s life. “So, she met you on a job. What happened then?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

“Not nearly,” I said, a little too excitedly.

His eyes shot to mine. “If you want to know more, you have to answer some of my questions.”

“How is that fair?”

“What if you’re really a black widow killer, and by housing you, I’m putting my life in danger?”