“David? What are you doing? Are you feeling all right?” Petra asked.
“I’m feeling great. I just…” He swiped the last humorous tear from his eye. “Whew. This. Is Rich. This is really rich. You think I’m talking about them. Dear, Petra… I’m here for you, you evil…twisted…conniving…bitch. Man, it felt good to finally say that.”
“David. How dare you!” she fired back, grasping at her pearls. “After all we’ve been through together and done together.”
“Is that a subliminal reminder or threat of some kind?” David waved his hands in dramatic motion, and his pitch was high and mocking. “Oh David, all we’ve done together. News flash, I was never on your side. I was only infiltrating your little club.”
Petra’s jaw clenched, and her face turned to crimson.
David went on. “Took me a while, but I found the puppet master, guys. Meet Petra Delfonzo, the ringleader of the Chalice. You know what a chalice is, I imagine, so I don’t need to go into detail here…to put it simply, these members think they are above the law, are the law, can do and say anything they want with endless resources that come with their appointments whether they be in the private sector or political.”
And there it was, all Petra and the Chalice’s dirty laundry, just like that. The brothers knew what they were walking into at least to some degree after another message landed on their server. It was satisfying to witness, though, based on the smirks they each wore.
“And for the love of all that is good in the world, you don’t have a daughter. I told you it was asinine to even say. Do you know who these men are? They knew your truth before they left the room after that one…Molly is your Shih Tzu. Isn’t that right, Petra?”
“Go to hell…” Petra fired back.
“Oh, I’ve been living there for years, but it seems…I might finally be free of it. Free of you and your bullshit elitist groupies.” David was on fire. Years of pent-up anger fell from his lips, and with each word shed, the weight of his shoulders seemed lighter as he stood taller and easier. “Let’s run this all down real quick, for the record. Your plan has been in motion for years. Esteban was the key in the beginning but these guys made that a little tough for you. Just when things were getting back in order, another series of events got in the way with the dead senator, general, and we can’t forget that asshat FBI director.”
David was referring to the cases the brothers managed over the past several years. They all seemed to be one thing and completely unrelated to one another, but in the end, it turned out they were all a part of a master plan, and they just kept stepping in the way of it.
“There were hackers, and that other guy, the Speaker of the House’s assistant…I forgot his name?” David began to snap his fingers as if it would help him recall it.
“Terrence Blachley,” Luke answered as that case was especially significant to him because his now wife had been caught in the crossfires.
“Blachley,” Kimble snapped. “That’s right. Never liked the guy. Anyway…you promised a lot of things to a lot of people if they did really bad things for you. Some survived and became very rich, but too many crossed the O’Reillys’ path, and that just wasn’t working for you anymore, was it? So here we are. Your fugitives you created, standing before you so they could take the fall for what you had planned.”
“David, stop.” Petra sniffled.
“How about I take over?” Wylie stepped forward mere inches from the despicable woman who nearly cost him everything. “We know the plan. It was a good one until you got greedy and restless.”
“I couldn’t afford for you assholes to interfere any longer. You cost me too much money and headaches galore. You made a mess of everything, and you didn’t even know what the hell you had all along. How good are you at your job, if that’s the case?”
“I think the real question is…how good are you if we foiled your plans without even trying? Ooh, burn, right?” Wylie went on. “We know your plan was to use the cartel as your own personal army to import narcotics, opioids to be specific, and distribute them. Massive amounts because you wanted the existing addiction problem to exceed existing epidemic levels. Why? To sell more of your magic pill.”
“You have no proof.”
“We have all the proof. See, we have teams arresting all of your associates as we speak. They’re all coming down, and they’re singing to save their asses. You’re going down.” Wylie shook his head in disgust. “Once people use your drug, and the crisis is managed, the money slows down. Sure, it would be a nice boost in the beginning, but your drug is so effective, it will run out of patients…it only has one big boom. Unless you create a bigger problem, with a bigger need, and make a lot more money. You needed more addicts so you militarized the cartel, gave them ports of entry, even gave them pallets and pallets of seized narcotics to get them started and got the right people to look the other way so they could create your problem, and you could come in like the second coming of Christ and save the world from it. Then let the cartel go down because you were never going to keep that kind of evidence around.”
“You think you’re so smart.” Her demeanor switched from emotional to downright evil. “You may be right, this drug will only have one boom, as you put it, and become nearly obsolete, but it’s versatile, and with minor alterations, it becomes something altogether different. I just need to create the right crisis and become the savior over and over again. It’s beautiful really.”
“It’s disgusting,” Wylie said as uniformed federal agents entered the room to take her into custody.
A maniacal guffaw escaped her. “You think you have it all figured out. You can cuff me, charge me, and throw me in a cell, but you’ve forgotten one thing. Who is at the head of the cartel if it isn’t your precious Eva? This isn’t over. Not even close. I wish I had a front row seat to this one.”
As the agents ushered her out, she turned and sneered, “Tell Esteban I said hello…”
35
“Who are those men?” Wylie asked. “Who is taking her?”
“Don’t worry, they’re with me,” Kimble remarked, waving Wylie off.
The brothers and their associates looked at one another and shrugged it off. It was likely another one of those off the record, deep cover agencies that seemed to be more prevalent than any of them realized.
“That was you on the server, wasn’t it?” Liam asked.
Kimble nodded. “I couldn’t blow my cover, still shouldn’t because we aren’t done yet. I needed to get those pieces to you, and it’s the only way I could ensure they landed in the right hands. I was being watched too closely. My loyalty had been questioned more than once.”
“Your loyalty?” Wylie asked. “Why am I afraid to hear what comes next?”
“Because I think you know what I’m about to say. I think you already know, have known, who’s behind the curtain.”
“Esteban,” Wylie sneered.
David nodded. “You didn’t kill him back in McKenzie Ridge. He’s been alive and well all along.”
“I saw his body after. We ran DNA…” Declan began, but David closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.
“That was matching DNA, sure, but not him…”
“Who was it?”
“Someone who’d spent a lot of time studying him, portraying him, and stepping in for him when it was a little risky…like back in McKenzie Ridge when all of that went down.”
“He had a twin,” Liam concluded. “They have identical DNA.”
“Eva said there was only her father and Aunt Salma growing up. Esteban practically raised her,” Wylie defended, afraid to admit being wrong because of what it implied.
“Salma didn’t know. Eva had no way of knowing. Hell, I didn’t even know until he broke me out of that damn hospital,” Kimble admitted. “They were separated as children. When their parents died, they were all sent to the same orphanage, but Alejandro was adopted. Esteban and Salma were left behind. When Esteban was a young boy, he worked the streets
, slinging whatever he could and eventually ran with Salma, and he did indeed raise her on his own as a young boy himself.”
“He went from that to major kingpin in the cartel?” Wylie asked.
“Impressive, right? I mean, he’s a real son of a bitch who makes Satan look like a saint, but how he got to the top…remarkable,” Kimble informed. “It wasn’t until Esteban had made something for himself, and he and Salma parted ways that Alejandro sought him out, and the rest is history, as they say.”
Wylie shook his head violently. “This can’t be true. He’s been out there all along? He’s had access, opportunity…”
“He’s had all of those things but chose to lay in wait and let the Chalice rebuild what he couldn’t without being detected. He had many connections in the crime world, but Chalice…Petra was his in. Petra and Esteban were like family. Both from the same home. He got her out too and helped her get where she is. Originally, it was the straight and narrow for her, but she eventually joined his ways, and look where it got her. She is intensely loyal to him and played the role outwardly that he could only do from the shadows.”
“Shit. We are already taking the Chalice down, and if it isn’t already all over the media because of how high up this went in the White House at the very least, then it will be everywhere any minute,” Liam warned.
“Eva,” Wylie said. “She has a team, but…”
“You need to go,” Kimble insisted. “Those men you’ve been watching—who had Wylie—they may already have her. They’re the Dirty Dozen.”
“The what?” Wylie was equal parts confused and angry.
“They’ve been in the background all along. They’re the Chalice’s personal militia that takes care of the dirty deeds, if you will.”
“Assassins?”
“If need be. They’re an elite team, much like you all. The same kinds of background, training, and resources. They believe they’re a part of a deep cover government agency. They have no idea they’ve been played…or they hadn’t until now. Petra’s arrest is the giveaway.”
“Jesus. And they have Eva?” Wylie asked. They’d finally found their way to each other and once more been ripped apart. “She isn’t answering her phone.”
“I’d say they handed her over and now they’re realizing they’ve been Satan’s helpers for years, working against the greater good, not for it.”
“We need to get to her,” Wylie said. “Are you coming with us?”
“No. I’m in the wind from this point on. Too many enemies coming out of this. I’ll always be around; you just won’t know it.” Kimble tipped his head to Dace in a silent passing of the torch where his family was concerned. “You take care of them.”
Dace nodded with pride. Knowing David Kimble was good, a hero, would go a long way with Cash and Ivy, and he was honored to know him.
“Anything we should know about this Dirty Dozen before we take this next run?” Wylie asked.
“I doubt you’ll cross paths now, but you will again, under different terms, I’m sure. Once this story breaks, they’ll be on a path to redemption and clean up whatever messes are left after the courts are done. There will inevitably be a few who escape prosecution, and the Dozen will take care of that.”
“Damn. They do sound like us,” Dace commented.
“Remember the name Dirty Dozen. I have a feeling they’ll need your help, eventually. Right now, it’s going to be all about vengeance. They’re learning they’ve been used and taken out a lot of innocent people. Many of your cases, in fact. They were the hired gun in the Senator Martinez case.”
“Holy shit,” Wylie shook his head. “This just keeps getting deeper and deeper. We can’t get into all this now. What do we need to know about Esteban other than the bastard is dead?”
“I’ve only known he is alive and well a very short time, I don’t have a lot, and he didn’t let me too close. I know he had some scores to settle, starting with you all and his biggest priority…”
“Eva.” Wylie finished his sentence in a near panic to which Kimble nodded.
“There was no stopping this. You see that, right? It had to go down like this for it to end…”
Wylie stepped to David. “What are you getting at, Kimble?”
David pulled his phone from his pocket and pecked at the screen before sliding it back. “You should all have a message on your devices. It’s how you find her. She’s wearing a bracelet.”
Wylie grabbed the older man by the collar. “You gave her a tracking bracelet and left? Is that what you did? You should have helped her, not hand her over.”
“If I helped her the way you wanted me to, we would have accomplished nothing else. This had to happen this way. It was the only way to get everyone. She’s okay for now because it’s Esteban. He drags these things out because he likes to torture his victims. You need to go now, though. As do I.”
“What the hell?” Wylie turned to his brothers, who seemed to agree with Kimble.
“Wy. What’s done is done,” Declan emphasized. “You’re wasting your time on him when your issue is with Esteban.”
“No, your issue is with Esteban. You want him more than anyone.” Wylie let go of Kimble and turned to the group. “You all do. He’s played all of you. And now me. He’s messed with every one of us in the worst ways possible. Through the women in our lives mostly. Lydia was his wife, for God’s sake. City was held hostage by a hacker who seemingly worked for Esteban. Daisy was a witness to a senator’s assassination, again called by Esteban. Ivy…you lost her and Cash for years because of Esteban. And now, Eva…his own daughter.”
Mercy put his hand on his shoulder, but Wylie shrugged it off. “Wylie…”
“No. I’m sure if we dig deep enough, he’s hurt your family too. Hell…your brother is in the White House, so he’s at the very least a target, and Eli has some odd affiliation with a random country he borrows planes from…Is that Esteban?”
“No, mate. I don’t have any idea who the man is, but I hate that he’s hurt all of you, and I’ll do anything to help you all right the wrongs of this monster.” Eli put his hand on Wylie’s shoulder and led him to the door. “Let’s go find your girl and bring her home…after we put that son of a bitch in the ground for good.”
Wylie stopped and turned to David Kimble, but he was gone. Left out the very door he arrived through. He was in the wind…just like he said he’d be.
36
“We’re closing in!” Mercy hollered over the near-deafening sound of the wind as their boat flew over the wakes left by the port’s traffic. “I see several vessels on the radar. The Coast Guard will help clear the water so we don’t risk any civilians.”
Wylie nodded, watching the green screen blip every second or so, eyes pinned on the one vessel that matched the coordinates of Eva’s bracelet David Kimble gave her. He was dumbfounded. Eva had to know why Kimble was there and why he was giving her the bracelet, yet…she didn’t call. She didn’t ask for help from her security detail. According to the Keepers left to protect her, she walked out of the front door and vanished.
Eva knowingly left in pursuit of her capture. How did that make sense? After everything they’d been through and all that happened to reunite them…she walked right into the wolf’s den voluntarily. To say she had unfinished business with her father was an understatement. It was a suicide mission.
Not on his watch. Wylie decided that Esteban didn’t get to win this time. There were no more surprise twin brothers—such a cliché—no more rising from the dead, and no more lives to ruin. He was done, and Wylie was going to show no mercy. He’d be dead this time—for good.
“We have a visual, get ready!” Mercy hollered out. “Coast Guard has the lead. They’re securing the ship. We don’t set foot on this thing without the go, you hear me, Wy?”
Wylie gave him a look that could kill and said he’d do what he wanted, when he wanted, consequences be damned. He was done playing by the rules when nobody else had leading up to this. He’d paid t
he piper in flesh, and he was paid in full. This was on his terms—nobody else’s.
“We got the all clear,” Mercy hollered, leading the charge. “They said it’s empty…just a small crew. No cartel, no Esteban, no Eva.”
Wylie grabbed his device and let it led him to the signal that brought them there in the first place…and he found it. A gold bracelet with a dainty pine tree charm. Cute, Wylie thought, Kimble has a sense of humor. “Son of a bitch.”
“She’s not here!” Wylie shouted for all to hear. “She’s gone.”
“Where? Where the hell do you go in the middle of an ocean?” Eli asked. “They said the chopper left, but it was all men on board. They didn’t see a woman.”
“It’s a fucking decoy!” Wylie shouted, “She was never on the boat. They dropped her bracelet here on purpose. She was under the boat. Shit! She was under it!”
“What the hell, man?” Mercy and Eli looked at each other, each confused.
“What is it, baby brother.” Declan squeezed his shoulder. “What do you have?”
“Under the fucking boat. She was never on it,” Wylie yelled, pulling up the radar once again. “Look here. It’s one of these. The submarines. These are subs. The Coast Guard cleared all surface vessels, but these are still in the radius that’s been cleared, and all three are going in opposite directions.”
“How can we be certain?” Dace asked.
“Because this is how they move drugs in and out of ports now. Ships are getting raided left and right, so they tow the shit in. If a ship gets boarded for a search, they release the tow and go back for the subs later using GPS. She’s underwater. He has her.”
“Okay…say that’s true,” Dace said. “How do we know which one she’s on? What do we chase?”
Wylie studied the three blips on the radar, and whispered to himself, “C’mon, baby. Which one are you on?”
Brother's Keeper V: Wylie (the complete series BOX SET): NEW RELEASE + Series Box SET included! Page 137