She lifted her chin. “I prove them wrong.”
He liked her. Hell, he’d appreciated her looks since the night before and approved of her resilience after the scares she’d had. But here, talking directly to her was comfortable. He’d settled into it without thinking. And he couldn’t remember the last time he’d conversed with anyone beyond a specifically business-related exchange of information. Not a detail worth tracking down. It’d been a long time.
It only made this job harder. Even if they did find her sister, depending on where she was and who was holding her—assuming she was alive—the effort to extract the girl could be incredibly expensive. Maylin wouldn’t be able to afford it.
But, following his own advice, one step at a time. If the girl was someplace they could infiltrate as a single fire team, there was a chance to keep costs reasonable for Maylin without making his superiors at HQ squawk.
“We can’t change everything that isn’t the way we want it.” He’d watched people try. Demand he make it so. “My team isn’t going to create a miracle for you.”
She nodded. “That’s fair. And thank you for telling me the truth.”
“Not many people thank me for truth.” They cursed him. Screamed at him. Blamed him. Or shot him in the back.
“Well, I’m at least one.” There she went, practical again. No snark in her tone or mocking. “You don’t seem to have had enough in your life and I’d think you’ve done a lot to deserve gratitude.”
The memory of his last client’s wife’s catty attitude was so fresh in his mind, he almost added it to Maylin’s words inside his head. Only it wouldn’t have been fair to Maylin. She might be one of the most straightforward people he’d met. Ever. “People tend to remember the bad.”
“And take the good for granted?” She whispered her question and tipped her head to the side. “I can see it. My experience isn’t the same, but never good enough was a recurring theme for a long time.”
If she was going to be fair to him, he should make an effort to do the same for her. “It’s a lot of the reason I didn’t want to take on this mission for you in the first place. You, your sister...you’re family. Everything about this is personal and emotionally driven. You aren’t going to remember anything about this but the outcome, and the outlook is not as good as you want to hope.”
There was a long silence. Yeah, he was harping on the realistic outcome of this whole thing, but it was damned hard to find neutral in all this.
“What kind of jobs would you have preferred?” Her tone was carefully measured.
He’d upset her and he didn’t want to. Ultimately, it might be for the best. She shouldn’t like him and definitely didn’t have to. Course, here he was getting to know her better. And there she was making a postcard moment out of every time she paused to look at a piece of greenery. Picture-perfect beautiful without even trying.
He cleared his throat. “The best contracts are the business driven ones. Escort cargo from point A to point B, for example. Easy. Straightforward. Harder ones are when there’s a need for a team to infiltrate or take down an enemy site. But it’s still impersonal and if we can manage it with good planning and optimal timing, no body count.”
“But sometimes there are casualties.” Her very serious gaze met his and he didn’t look away.
“Yes.” Most of the time. In truth, any well-guarded facility was going to have somebody on duty at all times. And there were other contracts, other missions he didn’t want to talk about. Those were the kind of thing a person could only understand if they’d been there too.
“I started looking online for other cases of missing loved ones and kidnappings when I first tried to figure out how to find help.” Maylin started to wander through the trees alongside the trail. She wove in and out of them as if being a little lost would help her talk through her worries. “The things I read about... I didn’t want to think could happen. At the same time, I truly believe they happen every day. We’re lucky we grew up here, in this country, where to us, it’s all the stuff of action movies. Only, our father isn’t alive to rescue her with a very specific set of skills. There’s only me.”
Movies and television. She really did watch a lot of it.
“Your father didn’t have the skills for this.” Shit, that came out harsh. Not what he meant.
Maylin swung around a tree trunk to pin him with her startlingly clear green gaze. “No. You do. Even if Daddy was alive, I wouldn’t have gone to him for help. My stepmother would’ve said it was An-mei’s fault for putting herself where she’d be vulnerable. Would’ve said to leave it to the proper authorities.”