Single Lady Spy 01 - The End of Me

say, but I do know that there is a man who requested that package be delivered to you. Your husband owed him everything."
    I swallowed hard and tried to imagine how that was possible. Had he been gambling? After the other deeds I had learned about, gambling seemed like a rather small thing.
    He looked at me with emotions filling his stare, "The man who now owns you…is trouble." He looked around us, nervously.
    I scowled, "No one owns me, Mr. Wilkes."
    He ignored me and continued, "He is the worst of the worst. He owns your house, your van, your life. He has information on you, crucial information. He can make it look like you have done things. I have seen it."
    I stopped walking. The words wouldn’t sink in , I wouldn’t let them . I didn’t have any responses. I was already over my head in the debris my marriage had created.
    He glanced back at me casually, "Do you understand me?"
    I shook my head.
    He looked at my neighbor's houses and turned around, "Your husband did something. I don’t know what. But the man who sent that package, is the one who now owns your life. You're alive because he says it's okay for you to be alive." He looked wicked in the gloomy, dim light of dusk, as it fell upon my lush and rich neighborhood. It felt clandestine—something I had not felt in a long time.
    I frowned, "What?" Of course, I had heard of it. People disappearing because of the intel they had or being tried as traitors for crimes we all knew they hadn’t committed. It was like the military’s version of a ghost story. "Is the man military?" I asked. I could be tried as a traitor for the things I had done before.
    He nodded, "I would imagine something along those lines, or drugs, or weaponry. I am guessing, but I'm just a lawyer and a messenger." His words remained cold, but his eyes warmed to me. He took a step forward and put his hands on my arms. He gripped and looked into my eyes deeply, "You are in danger. Your husband is dead and his debt is now yours. Do you understand me?"
    My military training slowly crept back in. I nodded, like a good soldier.
    He smiled, but I could see the panic in his eyes, "You have tonight to run. Take your kids and your mother and run. Be fast and silent and find a new life. You know how to do it. You know how to disappear. As of Sunday, they're coming for you. You will be contacted either by that phone or by messenger at your dead husband's funeral."
    I took a step back, "What am I going to do?" My heart was in my throat.
    He shook his head and I watched him shut the emotion off, "I wanted to warn you. I knew your father. He was a good man and because of him, I wanted you to have the chance to run. I know very little of the details. What I do know is , if you get wrapped up in this, it will be bad for you. You and your kids and your dear mother."
    The momma bear anger lashed out. I shoved him back, "You leave my fucking kids out of this. You tell your boss to go fuck himself. Whatever James did, he did on his own. I had no hand in it."
    He put his hands in the air, "I am the messenger, I didn’t have to warn you. I wanted to warn you. You have to run, Mrs. Evans. Run and never look back."
    I looked down at my feet, still keeping my eyes on him and shook my head, "You have to be mistaken. You have to be at the wrong house. My husband may have been a lot of things, but he wouldn’t endanger his children."
    The emotion crept back into his eyes, "He obviously didn’t think he had a choice, and I think if you stay, you'll see that you don’t either. Knowing my employers, James did what he did to keep you and the kids safe."
    I scowled and walked back toward my house, "He died." It was bullshit , somehow it had to be .
    He called after me, "He did. His usefulness must have run out." He snatched my hand lightning fast and pulled me back to him, "No matter what, if you stay, don't let your usefulness run out."
    I looked at the severity in his eyes and jerked my hand free. I jogged back to my driveway. I turned and watched him climb into his Saab and drive away. The empty cold inside of me grew as I wondered what the fuck had just happened, and what the even-bigger fuck James had done to me? Was I really that stupid? Had I really been that blind?

Chapter Two - The Con job

    The phone rang from inside of the package as I sat on the bed and stared at his pillow. I wanted to burn the damned pillow in the outdoor fireplace, but I was scared of the smell and the possibility it would get out