“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Dace argued, “Those assholes had my son. They kidnapped my son and held him on a boat surrounded by drugs and weapons. How did that get dropped?”
Carter shrugged with a shake of his head. “I was pulled from the cases due to that conflict of interest I mentioned the other day. That’s all I know right now.”
“So why not just assign these cases to different AUSA’s?” Wylie asked, staring at the pen he was spinning on the table in front of him. “Is your boss a part of this damn club in Washington?”
“Either that or someone has something to hold over him. Not to mention every judge these cases went before,” Declan fumed, sorting through the files with the rest of the brothers in total disbelief.
“Assigning it to another assistant US Attorney is exactly what should have happened. Not even a missed Miranda reading will get an entire case tossed. Especially one this big,” Carter added. “We’ve bent far more rules than this, and the cases have stuck. Criminals have gone to prison for good without a single squawk from anyone. I can see using it as leverage for reduced sentencing, but…”
“We’re all vulnerable now. These guys are coming for us just like whoever is behind this is coming for us. The cartel thrives on the hunt and kill. This changes everything now.”
“And leaves Eva even more vulnerable. We have no idea who she’s with or if they can be trusted,” Wylie added, flicking his pen across the table as he leaned back in his chair. “If they weren’t after her before, they certainly are now. There’s no way she went completely unseen at that bust. They were clearly already working against her since it was her operation we busted, and she had no idea they were even operating this deal.”
“We’re going to find her, man.” Liam laid a hand on Wylie’s shoulder. “We always find them. She’s good, really good. There hasn’t been a single hit on her since I expanded my search. If she’s traveling, she’s sticking to the backroads and blink-and-you-miss-it towns that don’t have any kind of security measures, or I would have seen her.”
Declan chimed in, “We know all her safe houses. She turned over that list in the very beginning so we could help keep tabs. I have teams on all of them but have come up with nothing. Anyone have anything else? Anyone she’s mentioned? Favorite vacation spots? Anything?”
“She works more than we do, so I don’t think she takes vacations,” Liam said. “I’ve looked at all the ports and international airports and run their footage. If she left the country, I don’t know how she got out.”
“She wouldn’t leave,” Wylie snapped. “Not like that and without a word. Something happened.”
“The hospitals have all been—”
“Seriously, Liam,” Wylie interrupted. “You think the cartel or some twisted politicians are going to wreck her world and then drop her off at a hospital? Jesus. You new at this?”
“Wy…c’mon.” Luke intervened. “He’s just trying to find a lead anywhere we can. It doesn’t hurt to look everywhere. You know that.”
“Sorry, man. I’m just…not myself.” Wylie spun his chair with his hands resting behind his head. “I’m just racking my brain, trying to think of something—some kind of clue to go on.”
“How did we work this long with her and not know a damn thing about her?” Liam questioned under his breath.
“We know what we needed to know, and that’s exactly how she wanted it,” Wylie answered, his words leaving a pinch in his heart. If only he’d given her a chance. “How do we stop the bleeding, Landry? Can any of the remaining guys detained be kept behind bars?”
“I’m no longer in the know. The bust wasn’t sanctioned by the government, and your team isn’t contracted or employed by the government. We broke a plethora of laws, according to the DOJ and AG, so they’ve all been cut loose with the deepest apologies on behalf of the United States government.”
“Some of these guys are wanted on international crimes,” Dace added. “And they’re here, committing capital crimes on US soil, and we just cut them free? There is an opioid addiction crisis in this country, and they had enough dope to cause a massive epidemic. Do they get their drugs and guns back too?”
Carter guffawed. “Oh, they won’t just hand them over, but I’m guessing they’ll look the other way when this cell tracks it down and takes them again. That’s probably how they got it in the first place. We haven’t learned much in these past few days, but we know there are some dirty sons of bitches in Washington with something to gain by all this.”
“We can have teams on these guys and on the goods. We’ll get them again, and the right way this time,” Liam offered, nodding his head toward the screens on the wall at the front of the room. “I have eyes on all of it. They split it up and put it in multiple locations. If it moves, we’ll know.”
“And who will we call, Liam?” Carter’s question wasn’t sarcastic but the deadpanned truth of it all. “We can’t trust anyone. There’s no one to make a bust.”
“Then we watch it and see where it goes. It can’t be like this forever. We’re going to figure this out, clean house, and have reliable people back in the right roles.” Liam was an optimist, but even he didn’t believe his own bullshit at the moment.
“I hate to make matters worse, but I found these two on my way in,” Eli announced as he entered the lair. “Seems our good fortune has spilled over onto our dear comrades.”
Eli Clayton was the newest member of The Keepers, hired after assisting the brothers on their last mission that not only brought Dace’s fiancée home but also helped to recover the son he didn’t know he had. Eli knew Dace’s fiancée, Ivy, and son, Cash, because he had been their bodyguard all those years on the run—hired by Ivy’s father, David Kimble. When things started to fall apart around Kimble, Eli joined the brothers and helped reunite a family and take down the threats—including the bust on the coast that was now costing them everything.
“Charlie Tango, Mendoza…what’s up?” Wylie asked. “This is an unexpected visit.”
“Funny you should mention visits.” Dr. Rick Mendoza was an old friend of the brothers, having served with them during their years of active duty and as a Keeper when they needed him. “I had an interesting visit today myself.”
C.T., known as Charlie Tango to the group, took a seat and tossed his hand in the air. “Same.”
“What kind of visit? You being threatened?” Wylie leaned in, resting his elbows on the table as he clasped his hands together, hoping this was a lead coming in. “Those bastards get out of jail and come to you?”
“Out of jail?” C.T. questioned. “Who’s out of jail?”
“The bastards we busted at the coast, but you go first. Let’s see if we can pull a clue out of this.”
“I got called into the captain’s office at the precinct,” C.T. began. He was a detective with the Portland Police and a good friend of the brothers with a similar history as Mendoza. Though he wasn’t on their payroll, they tended to help each other out when they needed to, and he’d even run missions with the brothers. Just as he had the day they stormed the Oregon coast and took down the cartel, seizing their illegal contraband. “Some suits were there. Pretty sure they were DOJ, but sure as hell didn’t act it. It wasn’t by the book, if you will. They asked a lot of questions, mostly about this place, and then asked me how often I broke the law.”
“What the hell?” Dace interrupted.
Eli snickered, his accent heavy. “You didn’t think we’d get off easy, did you? I told you from the beginning that Kimble was into some shady shit, and this is a case in point. I’m not surprised in the least, but please go on…”
Mendoza took over. “I had the same visit. We compared notes and are pretty sure they’re the same assholes. Apparently, we are both a part of an investigation. An illegal search and seizure at the Oregon coast has been reported by a civilian claiming financial loss and corroborated by witnesses.”
“Cartel? Are they witnesses? Because they’re pretty honest a
nd reliable.” Wylie shook his head in disgust as his stomach roiled at this new information.
“Nope. Private citizens and some Port Authority guys, low level,” C.T. answered. “Apparently, we’re being investigated for kidnapping, unlawful detainment, and they’re pressing charges for trespassing since we stormed his damn dock and ship without permission. Oh, and there’s a civil suit coming. It turns out, his vessel took a few bullets in the gunfire, and he’s a little pissed.”
Dace’s jaw dropped. “You mean the vessel loaded with drugs and weapons, not to mention a child that had been kidnapped? That’s all kinds of trafficking on his vessel.”
“That didn’t seem to be of importance,” Mendoza added. “I’m also being investigated for releasing a person of interest from the hospital. Apparently, Ivy is now under investigation…I’m guessing it has something to do with her father and what went down in Moss Bridge.”
“Her father is a CIA Agent. And what went down in Moss Bridge was a fucking disaster orchestrated by the cartel, then cleaned up by the cartel. How would they even know about it?”
“Because this damn group of dirty bastards in DC is running the show.” Wylie was nearly laughing at this point. “You see what’s happened here, right? They were there for Kimble, failed to clean the mess when Ivy and Eli got away, and now they need to silence everyone. They didn’t clean up the entire mess.”
“Anyone comes near my family…” Dace was coming unglued. He’d only just got his family back, and they were already being threatened again.
Wylie put up a hand to his brother. “Stop. Nobody is coming for them. They can’t get in here anyway. Now that we have a heads-up, we can be proactive and hide them if we have to.”
“Oh, they’re coming for your family, Dace,” Mendoza declared. “They are coming for all of us. C.T. and I are both on administrative leave pending investigations, and our passports have been stripped.”
“I can get you out of the country,” Eli offered. “I can get Ivy and Cash out too. I have a place to hide them where they’ll be safe.”
“They aren’t going anywhere,” Wylie fumed. “We’re fighting back. We have something. It’s small, but it’s something.”
“I’m here,” Mendoza assured. “I’m not going anywhere. Just tell me where you need me.”
“Me too,” C.T. added proudly. “I’m all in and have a lot of time on my hands now. Put me on the clock.”
“We know DOJ and the AG’s office are both dirty and taking orders from somewhere. Somewhere up the food chain,” Wylie continued.
“You think this is coming from the Oval?” Dace asked Wylie.
“I don’t know what to think other than it isn’t off the table. Let’s get Mercy in here. See what he knows about his brother and what he’s been up to at the helm in the Oval Office. If nothing else, having the president on your ticket can’t be a bad thing as long as he isn’t dirty too.”
5
“Thanks for letting us use the shop, Rip.” Wylie extended a hand to Rip, owner of Rose City Ink. He was a friend of the brothers, or the closest thing Rip had to friends anyway. He was a quiet man who kept to himself, gaining his name because of his size.
Rip tipped his head. “No problem, man. Sounded important.”
“We’re being watched, all of us.” Wylie scanned the group that filled the shop. “I couldn’t think of anywhere else where we could all meet that was under the radar.”
“Watched by who?” he asked.
“Anyone and everyone. Cartel. DOJ. Feds at every level and branch. Homeland. And who the fuck else knows.” Dace slapped Rip’s back in a friendly gesture. “Appreciate your help here tonight.”
“No problem at all. We’re closed tonight, and I’m just here doing the books.”
The bell above the door rang as Pete Langley, head of the FBI Portland Field Office, entered.
“Thanks for coming, guys,” Pete said, shaking everyone’s hand as he passed them. “I know this is pretty unprecedented, so I appreciate your cooperation…and your trust. You guys are under a lot of fire, and I have information for you.”
“You’ve never done us wrong in the past, Pete, so we’re hoping you have something we can use. Sounds like you know what we’ve been dealing with, and we can spare you the briefing?” Wylie asked.
“Unfortunately, I do know, and that’s why I’m here.” Pete ran his hand through his hair. “Your names came across my desk today, and as we speak, a task force is being formed to deal with you tactically.”
“What the bloody hell,” Eli interrupted while peering through the blinds to see if anyone was lurking in the shadows. “Is this some sort of ambush?”
Pete put his hands up. “No. Not at all. I’m trying to prevent that from happening. Look, we go back a long way and have worked together on a lot of shit. I know you guys, know how you operate, and know what you’re all about. The shit going down isn’t right, and to be honest…I have no idea where it’s coming from.”
“Funny.” Wylie snickered. “Neither do we.”
“I reviewed the case file, and that bust over on the coast was the same as the others we’ve done together. Someone has it in for you, and it’s coming through my office for an assist.” Pete looked at C.T. and Mendoza. “I know they’ve already rolled on you two and have cars sitting on your homes.”
“Yeah,” Mendoza stated, “we were both tailed on our way here. After we lost them downtown, we decided not to risk it, so we parked and walked the tunnels the rest of the way here.”
“Good. Smart,” Pete remarked before turning his attention to Toby Gannon, President of The Keepers MC who also worked for the brothers when they needed him. “I know they raided your clubhouse and are running all your guys through the system.”
“They destroyed the place. I don’t know what they thought they were going to find,” Gannon ranted. “I run a clean club. Everything is legit.”
“They aren’t after you, per se. They want these guys.” Pete nodded to the brothers. “For some reason, there’s a fucking target on each of the O’Reillys. Guys, this isn’t about the bust at the coast. This is something else entirely, and I have no idea what. I wish I had more than that.”
“It helps, Langley,” Wylie said, acknowledging his brothers as he did. “We appreciate it. We sort of expected this but wouldn’t have seen it coming.”
“I just came in from DC on a different case, so if there was any talk before that, I don’t know, and nobody is talking. They have to know about our relationship, though. How can they not after everything that happened when that asshole general and Director Waterman were here a few years ago? That’s why I hesitated to say anything. I didn’t want to walk you into a trap if I was the bait.”
“Funny you mention the general and director. They’ve come up a few times for us too. It’s all connected somehow. Like a club of some sort, there's a group made up of politicians, dignitaries, and who knows who else, and they’re dirty. We think the general and director were a part of this backroom organization.”
“Oh, shit.” Langley dropped his head as if defeated. “I’ve heard about this club, but I didn’t think it was real. There are rumors about it, but it sounds so much like a damn movie I don’t think anyone ever gave it credit.”
“It’s real. Or so we’re learning,” Dace confirmed and proceeded to give Pete the backstory as they knew it.
“Jesus. How the hell do we figure this thing out? What can I do?” Pete was genuine and honest in his offer to help.
“Exactly what you are doing, man. Anything you have, let us know,” Wylie reassured. “As discreetly as possible. We don’t want you to take a fall.”
Carter interrupted. “I’ve been taken off all the cases from the coast, but I’m still filtered information here and there. I had to denounce Brother’s Keeper, deny my friendships, and name them as criminals just to get in on what I have. And they put me on this case. It’s my only case.”
Muffled derogatory responses filled the room as
each of them took in what Carter had just shared. Carter was supposed to bring them to some sort of faux justice.
“So they trust you now?” Pete asked Carter.
“I don’t think anyone trusts anyone, brother. I know I don’t…not beyond this room, anyway.” Carter gestured to the bank of chairs in the space. “You guys are going to want to sit down for this.”
“Car out front,” Rip announced, reaching for a weapon just as the other men did.
“It’s Ronan and Ryker.” Carter put his hands out to calm the room. “I told them to meet me here.”
“So they drive right up? You really think that’s smart?” Eli asked, completely taken aback.
“When I tell you why they’re here, you’ll understand,” Carter informed.
A deafening silence fell on the place as the O’Reilly cousin bounty hunters entered the space, acknowledging the audience they walked in on with a subtle nod to each.
“Alright, the suspense is killing me,” Eli spewed. “Who’s going to deliver the plot twist because I feel one coming.”
“We have a bounty from the US government,” Ronan said, cutting to the chase. “Approved by the DOJ and AG’s office.”
The bell above the door rang once more and in walked Blake Cooper, the family’s friend from McKenzie Ridge. He ran ops with them before his semi-retirement from an off-books unit that, as official as it got, its existence was thoroughly denied.
“Jesus,” Wylie snapped. “Let’s just add a neon sign out front that says we’re all here so they can do whatever they’re going to do.”
“I’m with Ro and Ry,” Blake glowered. “My unit has been commissioned as…support.”
“What? Support for what?” Dace looked at his brothers. “What’s going on? Someone better start talking because I’m sick of waiting for this punch line.”
Carter let out a deep sigh and began to unfold what was certain to shock everyone in the room. “Arrest warrants. We have arrest warrants and a seven-figure bounty in play. Pending charges are conspiracy, murder, treason, espionage, and it just goes on from there.”
Brother's Keeper V: Wylie (the complete series BOX SET): NEW RELEASE + Series Box SET included! Page 119