One nickel is real.

One nickel is not.

Well, that’s not true, they are both real. But one is special.

“What’re you doing?” Sasha asks as she comes out of the bathroom.

I pick up the special nickel and then I stick the mini precision screwdriver in a groove that runs the diameter of the smooth metal on the side. There’s a barely audible click as the two halves of the nickel separate, and then I use my fingernail to split them apart.

I smile when the contents are revealed.

“What’s that?” Sasha asks.

“That important something I took when I ran away last year.” James was lying. Or he really was talking about some other files. Because these files are right here. This is the same micro-SD card Nick left hidden inside the USB flashdrive I took from the locker back in the UCLA library. I know this because he knew I wouldn’t be able to read the card, so he put a tiny red dot on one corner of the label so I could identify it.

The tiny red dot is right where it’s supposed to be.

They never found it.

I breathe out a huge sigh of relief. “This, Sasha”—I turn to look at her amazed face—“this has enough information on it to bring the whole Company down.”

“How did you get it?”

“I didn’t. Nick got it.”

“He’s smart, huh?”

“Very. But he’s also hot, you know what that means?”

She nods yes. She knows, she grew up with the hunters. I only grew up with one hunter, but he and I were inseparable. Even though we were not together on his missions, he told me about every single job. He told me every single detail. He told me every weakness he ever saw in every person he ever met on a job. Hot means he’s got a hit on him. Hot means he might already be dead.

So me and this little card might be the last chance there is to set things right.

Nick never mentioned James. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. If all the assassins are dead except James, Nick, and that Merc guy—and James was the one responsible for those deaths—and my father had me kill all his guests at my birthday party last year using James’ calling card, then James is being set up.

“I can save him,” I tell Sasha. “I can get James out of the Company, and probably you too.”

“How?” she says with an incredulous snort.

“You help me find Nick and we can give this to him. If I can find Nick, then he can make it all OK. He’s got a plan, Sasha. We need to find Nick. And you said he came to see you. Lots of times.”

Her face hardeners. “I’m not telling you what he told me. He said to tell no one.”

“I’m his sister! Besides, you already told me he was there, what’s the difference?”

She shakes her head. “Big difference. You’re just a girl. You can’t even shoot. You can’t even drive. How would we get there? We should give it to James.”

“I really like James, Sasha, but I do not trust James. I don’t think he’s on our side. Yet. He needs me to convince him to leave. I want to convince him to leave with me. And he won’t do that unless Nick and I can finish what we started. James is still a wild card, he’s not on the right side.”

Her eyes squint down and her gun comes up. It points right at my chest as she steps back a few paces. “You’re wrong. I’m on his side, so if you’re not, then it’s you who’s on the wrong side.”

Chapter Thirty-Five - James

I watch her from the roof. It surprises me that Sasha goes along. Then again. Girls. They have to do everything in pairs. That includes pissing and obtaining stolen micro-SD cards.

That’s the only drive the files could be on. I’ve ruled out all other options. I’ve known Harper’s had them since last summer when the Company briefed the assassins after she ran. She was a high-priority target. Not my target. I was busy with Merc last summer. I was busy with Tony last summer. I was not even remotely interested in hunting down the Admiral’s daughter and finding those files.

But Nick changed everything.

Nick found me in Colorado last March right after I killed my brother. The second I got out of my truck at the Burlington airport so Harrison could take me back to the OC after Tony’s hit, he was there. He called me James. He talked rational. He made his case. He made an offer. And I wouldn’t even have to kill anyone.

All I had to do was keep Harper alive until they made their move.

The Admiral was already sending me to the beach to take the edge off, so it was set. No changes had to be made until summer, and then he’d be in contact with Merc, who would be in contact with me.

We set up the secretary, we set up the fake lawyer names, we agreed to meet in July.

But this week something happened.

Sasha happened.

That’s when I lost control. Sasha.

And that kidnapping. Harper said the message she found on the phone at my desert house was from Nick, but it wasn’t Nick. The assassin Harper killed wasn’t working for Nick.

But the only thing on my mind right now are the files. I need those files to make a deal. Not a deal with Nick. Or Merc. Or the Admiral.

My deal.

A micro-SD card can be concealed in just about anything. It’s barely the size of a fingernail. The cursory checks were done early. Every time she left the apartment I searched. I looked every-fucking-where. A futile assignment because if someone wants to hide one of these micro cards, that f**ker is gonna be hidden and there’s just no way around it. They are just too small.

Add in the fact that the files could’ve been transferred to paper, or flash drive, or hard drive and you can see the Company’s problem. Hell, who’s to say there aren’t hundreds of copies of these files floating around? Who’s to say Nick didn’t replicate the f**k out of them and spread them around.

I don’t think he did, mostly because he told me he didn’t when we first started working together. But also because it decreases his power if someone else gets a hold of them.

This was always my plan. I might’ve forgotten it for a while as my mind decompressed from the last mission, but this was always my plan. I was never here for Harper, I was always here for the files. Not officially. Sure, the Admiral knew he could count on me to keep an eye out for her if he put her in front of me. And I’m sure that’s why I was sent to the beach. I have kept an eye on her because of Nick’s job, but the Admiral is not pulling my strings. Not this time. Not ever again. He set me up.