by Dean, Ali
I tried to keep up. “The drug side of things, meaning, the business they have that’s caught up with Braven. They still receive shipments from Braven for their lab?”
Cruz nodded. “After what happened to Mom, we’ve been pretending to fall in line.”
“Until Flynn,” I clarified.
Frowning, I glanced at my dad. It was suddenly very quiet.
Cruz’s grandfather must have left to refill his plate while we were talking because he returned now and broke the silence.
He let out a long sigh. “How many times do I have to tell you? Eat before talking. Nothing good comes from empty bellies.” He shook his head as he moved into the chair on the other side of my dad.
As he sat, he smiled at me. “Hi there, Hazel. So happy you’re with us.” Then he moved his eyes to the guys on the other side of the table. “I strategically place the food on a table you have to pass before reaching this one. So you’ll see it, get plates, and eat, before getting into it. Now, I heard raised voices and then silence. That can’t be good. Everyone shut up and eat.”
No one argued. We put our heads down and ate. I didn’t dare say a word even as my mind spun with questions about Ruby and Neil, about all that had been building up to Flynn’s death, and what had happened since. Mostly, I wanted to know what was next.
Once everyone had cleared their plates and Spike and Bodhi had gotten seconds, Mitch finally allowed us to speak by saying, “All right, let’s start with Ruby’s report.”
Ruby put her fork down and slid back in her chair. I noticed she hadn’t eaten much and had been picking at her food.
“I haven’t seen him much since the drug bust last Saturday night. Neil’s been dealing with cleaning that up. Even skipped some classes, so your goal at distraction worked.”
“But he was at Patriot Taphouse Monday night,” Bodhi said.
“Yeah, and when I told you that, I didn’t think you guys were going to go there to fight them,” she said like an accusation. “One of you broke his nose, by the way.”
Emmett snorted. “He’s fine.”
“I heard about that fight,” Mitch said. “Was that also part of our distraction plan?” he asked, eyebrows raised, one side of his lip tilted upward. “I don’t recall discussing that at our last meeting.”
“That was simply necessary,” Cruz stated, deadpan. “And after Thursday night, my only regret is that we kept it to fists.”
I sucked in a breath.
“It was pretty tame,” Spike added, as if he thought Mitch needed reassurance. “No one ended up in the hospital.” He paused, tilted his head. “At least not that I know of.”
Ruby huffed out a sigh. “Anyway, between the drug bust and the fight, I haven’t heard anything about Jeremy, Seamus or Flynn since what you all told me last week. I didn’t even know your house was broken into.” She glanced at Dad, then me. Her face softened when our eyes connected. “Since the guys suck at giving you background, I’ll tell you this much. I’ve been with Neil since Mayflower Academy, so a long time. I won’t give you the details, but for over a year I’ve been helping these guys. I’m on your side.”
I appreciated her sincerity, and also her little dig at all the guys in the room, Mitch and my dad included. They did really suck at giving background, that was an understatement. However, I had to fight not to cringe at her words “I won’t give you the details right now…” I was getting really sick of hearing that. Even now that I’d seen the spark between her and Bodhi, I couldn’t let go of the lingering question about any history between her and my boyfriend. What prompted her relationship with my guys in the first place?
She was still talking though and I leaned forward. “Neil doesn’t talk to me about all the businesses or include me in any kind of discussions, but I hear enough and see enough to be helpful to you all. Neil knows I know he does something at a lab that’s not entirely kosher, but that’s about it.”
I cleared my throat. “What about Thursday night? Not last week, when they broke into our house, but two days ago. Did he say anything about that?”
My pulse quickened as I waited for her answer. The idea that this had been discussed outside of the people who already knew made me sick. That it could have been planned by people above Branden and Sean made me close to vomiting up my lunch.
Her eyes softened even more at this, and her voice as well. “Your cousins told me, and I am so so sorry.” I nodded, respecting her for looking me in the eye and saying that, when it wasn’t comfortable for anyone. She could have just answered the question. And she got to that next. “But no, all I got was a comment from him later that night. He was supposed to come by my apartment but he cancelled. He said he had to deal with his idiot younger brother and cousin. I asked what that meant and all he said was that they were ‘dumbasses.’” She used air quotes and then pursed her lips in distaste.
I swallowed the bile in my throat. That word was so dismissive, it somehow undermined what they’d done.
“That could mean a number of things,” Mitch said. “They might have acted on their own, wanting to get their family’s respect for getting info, or they failed at the follow-through, getting info or whatever the mission was.”
Mission? Is that what they called it in the mafia? I really did think I might get sick. Maybe eating before all this hadn’t been such a good idea after all.
“Or,” Cruz said, “Sean and Branden told everyone that Hazel was in on it and had info. They thought that was the case from seeing us together. Based on that intel, Seamus gave the green light to break into the Rosses’ house and later take Hazel. When Jeremy had to save her, they knew they’d crossed a line, and they’d done so based on bad intel. They didn’t find anything at the Rosses’ house, and Hazel didn’t have any information to give.”
Dad sat up straighter beside me. “I think that’s exactly it. They’ve used Hazel as a threat to get me to do what they want for fifteen years. Now that they’ve hurt her, they’ve actually executed the threat. They could still hurt her again, but me pushing back even for a few weeks would hurt their businesses.”
Moody was nodding from his chair across from us. “We always knew their biggest mistake was putting too much in your hands. They’d never relied so much on someone outside the family in the past, but you were too good at what you did, they just kept getting in deeper.”
Dad shrugged. “That’s only because it’s technology. Times change. You can’t run the world without a hacker anymore, and you can’t breed hackers like you can criminals.”
I looked around the table at my dad’s declaration. Did anyone else find that statement as absurd as I did? Emmett’s mouth was twitching, and Spike was fighting laughter too.
Moody said, “They saw what you could do, and they couldn’t help themselves. They were amazed and fascinated and greedy. You can infiltrate any system, get them anywhere they want to be. Terrorists, governments, the most secure private industries, they could access through you.”
Moody’s voice was reverent and my eyes swung between the two guys.
“You can do all that?” I asked Dad.
He shrugged. “I’m not proud of it. I wish I’d been using it for something better. I want to. That’s why I’m taking these risks to get out.”
I’d known Dad was smart. He’d been able to get enough work to support us by the time he was only a year older than me, and without a high school diploma. I’d known he was special. I hadn’t a clue he was some kind of hacker genius.
“Can you get out? What exactly are you planning to do with all the information you have about the Malones’ businesses?”
Dad looked around the table, from Mitch and Cruz to the others. “That’s what we’re here to decide.”
Chapter Nine
Cruz
We finished debriefing Ruby and then had her leave. I didn’t like that she was in this position. On her own, with no protection. If Neil found out what she’d been up to, she could walk right into his arms without realizing wh
at he was about to do to her. I struggled to hide a shudder. I knew what they’d done to the two women I loved most. But Ruby knew as well, and she’d chosen this.
I looked over at Bodhi, who was still staring at her empty chair. I didn’t envy what he was going through. None of us did. It was almost like when I had to leave Hazel and watch her be with other guys throughout high school, only much worse. I’d done that to keep Hazel safe. Ruby was in the line of fire.
“It’s all set up,” Jeremy said. “I’ve got every illegal enterprise documented and saved in numerous locations. Each set of information has a trigger, multiple actually, to send it to the necessary outlets should that time come.”
Hazel turned to her dad. “Slow down. Explain. What do you have set? What outlets? Should it come to what?”
Jeremy had a hard time breaking things down into manageable chunks, especially when he was coming off one of his hacking binges. I watched him give it his best shot for his daughter. “Over the past fifteen years, one of my jobs for the Malones was to erase any traces evidencing their wrongdoings. Not the dumping bodies in the river kind of clean up, the online sort,” he clarified, giving his daughter a tight smile.
“And you didn’t do that?” Hazel asked.
“I did. I knew the Malones also had a private security firm tracking my online activity as well as their insiders on the FBI. I erased it from their viewpoint. But I also saved all of it.”
Jeremy said all this like it was some simple task, as straightforward as putting out the trash bin on the correct day of the week for the garbage truck.
“I also pulled and saved data and information from illegal enterprises they were engaged in before my time. Arms dealing was already fading out by the time I came on the scene, but some of those particular transactions were the most damning.”
Sometimes I wasn’t sure if the man was extraordinarily humble, or actually believed that what he could do wasn’t extraordinary. He went on as we all listened, somewhat dumbstruck.
“The magnitude of the financial and political scandals together with the drug dealing and pharmaceutical drug corruption are bad. All that alone will seal their fate. But assisting terrorists to obtain weapons is a nail in the coffin.”
The rest of us knew all of this, it’s what we’d been working toward for years, but it still took a moment for it to sink in.
Hazel absorbed it quickly before asking, “But now what? That’s what I want to know.” Her eyes moved to me but she forged on. “Last time Cruz’s parents had solid evidence against the Malones, it didn’t end well when they tried to give it to the feds. Do you think it will be different now that there’s so much more evidence? They’d have to have someone in every department to shut down all the investigations that could arise from this kind of twenty- or thirty-year span of documented activity, right?”
Hazel had honed right in on the first major hurdle.
“Your dad hasn’t been the only one with a job. We’ve been working on something else too,” I told her. She’d been tense, in business mode, since we’d arrived. Now, I couldn’t stand the tension radiating from her any longer and I reached over to squeeze her knee.
I let Moody update her on our project, knowing he was the one who’d pulled the most legwork, and it was really his baby.
He told her, “We set up our own security company. We spent the first couple years doing small projects, built up some credibility, and now we’re doing some bigger contracts with the government.”
Spike explained, “We used Moody’s dad’s connections in the financial world and my parents’ in the media world to get some business early on. We don’t go by our own names, obviously. They just recommended our firm by its business name.”
Hazel was shaking her head, not on board with this. “But you’re so young, how does that work? I know your voices have changed and everything, but do you get on client calls? Do you ever have to meet in person?”
Emmett answered, “We pretend to be weird computer geniuses who don’t like social interaction and prefer to communicate by email.” He said all this without looking at his uncle.
Gramps raised his hand. “I’ve stood in on a couple of calls when necessary. I’m not just here to provide the food. I’ve assisted Jeremy and the boys with their efforts,” he said with a curt nod. He’d done a hell of a lot more than assist.
“I mean, there’s also voice-changing technology, if we had to use it,” Moody mumbled.
“Okay, so explain how this security business helps us fight the Malones?” Hazel didn’t hide her impatience. She was impressed, but didn’t take the time to stroke our egos. She wanted answers.
I explained, “We used it to identify who the Malone insiders are in law enforcement. And to build relationships with the right people in the FBI. People who have enough authority, at least as a group, to get this evidence and a case through.”
Spike added, “And in the media. We had to identify the right people. All this information will go to the press if necessary.”
Hazel blinked a few times. “Wow.” She couldn’t hide her amazement, and my hand squeezed her thigh again.
“So, when do we pull the trigger?” she asked.
There was an even longer pause then. This was where we weren’t all in agreement. The twins, Spike, and Moody were itching to take down the Malones. They wanted to put as many as they could behind bars. The ones who managed to escape jail time – because some would, undoubtedly – the guys wanted to hit them in other ways it would hurt – finances, reputation, blood.
It had started with their need for vengeance on my behalf, for my mom and my family. For Jeremy, who’d been forced into a life he didn’t want. For Hazel, so she wouldn’t be a pawn in the Malones’ world without her awareness or consent.
As our knowledge of the Malones’ activities grew, so did our hatred and need for vengeance. After what happened to Hazel on Thursday night at the hands of Branden and Sean, I was guessing the guys’ position had only grown stronger. I knew I wasn’t alone in wanting to hurt those two. Rage boiled inside me just thinking their names. I didn’t know if any of us would be able to let them off the hook, even if it destroyed the truce. We could wait though. For now. After all, I’d waited years to avenge my mother.
While Mitch and Jeremy shared the same emotions, they weren’t quite so trigger happy.
Jeremy said, “We aren’t going to leak any of this evidence unless we have to. The plan is to inform the Malones of what we’ve got on them. Give them stipulations to follow. If they violate those, then we leak the information.”
Hazel’s mouth hung open and she opened and closed it a few times before Mitch continued, “We have enough information that we wouldn’t have to give it up all at once. We could do it piecemeal, with each infraction, until they understand just how much power we have over them.”
Hazel finally managed to get out, “Why?” She didn’t clarify her question.
Jeremy’s voice was solemn when he answered. “Dumping all this evidence on law enforcement and media in one go would be disastrous. It’d ignite World War Three, and we’d be right in the middle of it. They wouldn’t all go behind bars instantly; some might escape it entirely. They’d go after us while the law, the politicians, the reporters were still reeling with the information.”
Bodhi sat forward on his seat, his jaw flexing. “They won’t hurt us if we’re ready. We know how to defend ourselves and we’ll keep family safe. We’ve got the Spot. We’ve got weapons. We know what we’re doing.”
Spike was with Bodhi. “If we hit them with all this at once, their entire organization will blow up. They’ll be too busy dealing with fallout to deal with us, and it would be a dumb move to go for us with all eyes on them anyway.”
Spike and Bodhi were fired up, but Moody sat back, arms crossed, and reflected, “They haven’t proven to be the brightest bulbs. Maybe past generations built this up, but Flynn, Seamus and now Neil and Sean? They were lazy. They relied on Jeremy, risked everything
putting all that faith in him. They’re loose cannons. They might go after us just because they want to make a point. I’m with Jeremy and Mitch on this. Hold it over their heads until they fall in line, until they understand who’s in control.”
Emmett was almost yelling when he questioned, “So, what? We wait for them to test out the validity of our threats, sit on the defensive end? We going to scold them like kids, leak one operation each time they mess with us and send a few Malones at a time to jail? Why not just do it all at once before they get a chance to regroup? We have the firepower. We might be smaller but we have what it takes.”
Bodhi added, “They’re not going to agree to any of it. They might not retaliate when Braven stops shipping the supplies, but they’ll find other ways to continue what they’re doing. Or move on to something else, maybe even worse. I mean, the only thing they haven’t dipped in yet is sex trafficking. They need to be wiped out.”
I knew Bodhi’s position was fueled in part by a burning need to get his hands on Neil Malone, and I understood that. He wanted Ruby out and safe, and putting Neil behind bars along with the rest of his family would do just that.
All eyes moved to me. I felt the weight of them in my chest.
Gramps broke the silence. “Cruz, what’s your position?”
I looked at Hazel, and this time I felt her hand move to my knee to offer comfort. I needed it.
“I don’t think the Malones are going to let us blackmail them into getting out of all illegal activity. They might allow an agreement for Jeremy and Braven getting out without any recourse, but even then it would be tenuous. I know that starting World War Three will set the course for the rest of our lives. I don’t want that for any of us. But we might not have a choice.”
Everyone was quiet as I spoke. “I also don’t think we can let Branden and Sean off the hook for what they did to Hazel.” Hazel’s eyes were on her hand resting on my leg. “But I think that’s up to Hazel to decide.”