Gordy cleared his throat. “Which means we have to move fast if we’re going to keep him safe.”
Hiro folded her arms across her chest again. “We need to break the Code. We need to go to the police.”
The instant she said it something inside him grabbed at it. This was truth. Cooper nodded. “You’re right.”
He could see her shoulders relax.
“You mean it?” Her voice sounded softer—like the old Hiro.
“Definitely.” More than anything, now. “I just want to figure out the best way to do it.”
Her shoulders tensed again. Her chin went up and her eyes narrowed. She stared at him like she was reading his thoughts. “Don’t play games with me, Cooper MacKinnon. I’m not going to let you stall this. We go tomorrow morning together, or Gordy and I will do it ourselves.”
She didn’t trust him. Didn’t trust him. He saw it in her eyes. Cooper glanced at Gordy. His face looked apologetic. Obviously they had this whole thing decided before they ever climbed onto The Getaway. Break the Code with us tomorrow morning or we’ll do it without you.
He’d done it to himself. Why hadn’t he seen it before? All the lies, the deception, the half-truths were their own type of poison. It had a toxic effect on their friendship. Hiro already distanced herself from him. Now even Gordy seemed to be pulling away.
If I had a chance to do this all over again, I’d do it so different. The truth of that thought swept over him. God forgive me. Please forgive me.
“Did you hear me, Cooper?” Hiro’s voice sounded hard again. “I’m not letting you stall me.”
Cooper looked down at the candle. “I’m not stalling.” The flame flickered and danced. Squirming like his own gut. He felt like he’d fallen into a sewer. Only the sewage was his own dishonesty. He reeked with it. “I’m so done with the lies,” he whispered. “I’m sick of it.”
Gordy and Hiro stayed quiet. Maybe they didn’t know what to say or had the good sense to let him think. But their silence allowed the truth to fully surface in his mind. And he didn’t like what he saw. The Code was his idea. All his. He pushed it. Enforced it. And with every day they followed the Code, he got them deeper into a mess. And now Frank’s life was in danger. Because of him.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Cooper said. “It was all about our protection.” The flame settled into a glowing taper. “Mostly my own, I guess.” But if saving his hide meant losing the things he valued most—like best friends, and self-respect—then he’d made a very big mistake. Huge.
“I thought this would be like, you know, silence is golden. I mean, even the word golden sounds so right. But it wasn’t golden at all. It was fool’s gold. It was dark and wrong. Evil. I never thought it would turn out like this. Never.”
The candle flickered and bounced. It looked harmless enough, but fire was fire, and thanks to him all of them were going to have to walk through it.
“Somehow I lost my compass. I got us into this mess. It’s my fault. I’m so sorry.” He glanced up at Hiro. “I won’t let you down.”
Her eyes glistened in the candlelight. A single tear escaped and raced down her cheek. She didn’t seem to notice. Instead she gave a slight nod and smiled. Just a half smile. But it was something.
Gordy stood and slapped him on the back. “I knew you’d come around. I told Hiro you would. Talked her into giving you one more chance.”
Hiro didn’t say anything. Maybe she was still playing it safe.
Cooper studied her face. “Got a plan?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Hiro said. “Each of us talks to our parents. Tell them what happened. Then we all meet here at nine o’clock. We take the hard drive and go to the police. Together. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Gordy said.
Something bothered Cooper. Not the plan so much as the timing of it.
“Coop?” Hiro’s voice had the slightest shake in it.
It felt like déjà vu or something—the three of them making a pact. Only last time he’d been the one pressing for a commitment.
Her eyes weren’t hard and cold—the way she’d looked when she came in. He saw desperation. Pleading. Like she wasn’t just fighting for Frank. She was fighting for their friendship. She was trying to save him. Hiro was determined to do the right thing and that meant leaving their friendship behind if she had to. Somehow he knew that. She was moving on to a new place but she was throwing him a lifeline.
But there was a flaw in her plan. He was sure of it. “What if tomorrow is too late?”
Hiro stared at him. Her lips parted slightly like she wanted to say something. Or maybe it was realization hitting her.
“If the hospital notified the police that Frank is coming out of the coma, and Hammer is a dirty cop …” Cooper left the thought hanging for them to process.
Gordy’s eyes widened. “They’ll try to get him tonight.”
“Oh, no.” Hiro shook her head, fresh tears forming. “What if you’re right?”
What if Frank was already dead? Cooper couldn’t go there. “All I’m saying is that if we’re going to do this, we have to do it tonight.”
Gordy slumped down in his seat. “My parents are at a Halloween party. They won’t be back until late.”
Hiro nodded. “My mom is with them.”
“We could go to the police ourselves,” Cooper said.
“Without even talking to our parents first?” Gordy looked at him. “And if Hammer is in on it …” He looked at Cooper, then at Hiro. “I mean—that’s a lot more risky.”
Of course Gordy was right. Cooper knew that. And the sense that this was all his fault flooded back over Cooper again. How could he have ever thought any good could come from being dishonest?
“If we go together,” Hiro said, “it would be a little safer.”
Gordy eyed Cooper. “You don’t think they’d try something with all three of us, do you?”
How could he answer that? If the men were desperate enough to keep their sorry tails out of jail they’d do anything. And there may be a lot more they were hiding. Things that would come out if they were being investigated. Things they would want to keep hidden—at all costs. And if this involved organized crime in any way, they’d have the muscle and the means to do it.
“Coop?”
Cooper shook his head. “Maybe not.” But his mind kept saying something different. They needed their parents. The risk was too great even if all three of them went. How could he let his friends put their lives at risk for a mistake he’d made? If something happened to one of them because of him—he might as well be dead. He could never live with that.
In that instant he knew what he had to do. Goosebumps rose on his arms. He might not be able to protect himself anymore, but he could still protect them. His mouth went dry. If going to the police turned out to be a trap, he wasn’t about to let his friends walk into it. God help me. God, please help me. A plan began to take shape in his mind. He just needed time.
“Okay.” Cooper checked his watch, calculating how much time he’d need to work out his strategy. “It’s almost 8:00. We can hold off a little bit. Not much. Let’s meet back here at say, 11:00. Maybe our parents will be home by then.”
Gordy shrugged. “Maybe we should just wait here until they come home.”
“No—not here,” Cooper said. He said it way too fast. Almost blurted it out. He took a deep breath. Tried to look calm—however that’s supposed to look. “I just need some time,” Cooper said. “Alone.”
Hiro studied his face. He didn’t dare look away for fear she’d know he was hiding something. He definitely felt she was trying to read his mind. And with that women’s intuition stuff, sometimes it seemed she could.
“So let’s make sure we’re all agreeing to the same things.” Hiro didn’t take her eyes off him while she spoke. “We meet at 11:00 pm. Tonight. We’ll talk to our parents—then we’ll go to the police. Together. Are we all agreed?”
“Agreed.” Gordy didn’t hesitate.
Cooper didn’t want to lie. Not anymore. Not to his very best friends in the world. But he had to. One more time. Not for his protection. This time it was all about their safety.
“Coop?” Hiro’s voice was soft. Tinged with something else. Hope? Maybe. But it sounded a lot more like fear to Cooper. She knew him better than anybody. Did she guess what he planned to do?
He took a deep breath and whispered a silent prayer in his heart. Forgive me, God. Just one more stinking lie, and if you get me out of this, I’ll never lie again. He looked at Gordy, then back at Hiro. “I’m in.”
CHAPTER 51
Hiro ducked out of The Getaway’s cabin and took in a deep breath of the cool evening air. Thank you, God. This was a huge answer to prayer. Massive. Coop hadn’t lost his conscience—silenced it. But it seemed to be speaking to him now.
Yet she still didn’t feel as relieved as she thought she would. Maybe it was the thought of talking to her mom or going to the police. But that is exactly what she’d wanted to do for days now. Was it Frank? She idly rubbed her dad’s star hanging at her throat and tested the thought. Tried it on. No … Frank was going to be okay. She knew it.
It had to be Coop. She felt a definite heaviness the instant she thought of him. Gordy, on the other hand, looked like he could float off the deck. Like he could vault over the boat’s rail and land on his feet in the yard below.
The way Hiro saw it, Gordy had been through a lot in the last few days. He never said it, but she knew. He’d put himself in the middle—working both sides to try to bring the three of them together again.
The three of them. Again the heaviness. Would it be the same? How could she ever trust Coop again? Even now, she felt he was holding back. Hiding something.
Coop joined them on deck just as Gordy climbed over the side.
“Hiro, can I ask you something?” Coop took a step closer and smiled. The smile looked stiff. Plastic. Like he wanted to look casual but wasn’t feeling that way at all.
Hiro paused.
“What’s it like … when you get that feeling?”
A chill swept over her. How could she describe it? “It’s a sense of doom.” Like walking down a dark street and knowing someone or something is following. She felt her dad’s shield. “Sometimes it is so strong it feels like the room is getting smaller or darker. Like you know something terrible is going to happen and there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it.”
He nodded. “Is that how it felt just before you heard about your dad?”
She felt the tears well up. She didn’t want to cry now. “Yeah.”
“And the other night, at Frank’s … before the robbery?”
“Exactly.” But she didn’t want to go back there. Not now. She didn’t feel strong enough.
“That is spooky,” Gordy said.
She swung one leg over the rail and started down toward him.
“Hiro.” Coop called her name just barely loud enough for her to hear.
She stopped and looked at his face.
“Got any feelings like that now?”
She shook her head, and the heaviness in her heart seemed more pronounced. “Maybe just a sense that we’re running out of time.”
CHAPTER 52
The minute Gordy and Hiro left the yard, Cooper climbed out of The Getaway and ran to the back door of his house. Fudge bounded alongside him, ready to be part of whatever came next. If only she could.
But this time he had to work alone. No Gordy. No Hiro. If things went south, well, at least he wouldn’t be dragging anyone else with him. He slipped inside a kitchen that had no color at all, only shades of gray near the windows and black in the shadows. He didn’t turn on the light, but whipped out his cell phone and dialed his dad.
“C’mon, Dad, pick up. Hear the phone.”
“Hello.”
“Dad? I—”
“This is Carson MacKinnon. Please leave a message after the beep.”
Nuts. Cooper redialed, but with no more luck than the first time. He hung up and tried to think. Fudge nuzzled his hand. For days he’d been totally focused on keeping everything secret. Now the Code felt like a time bomb in his hands. He had to get rid of it before anyone else got hurt. Before somebody bought Frank a transfer from a hospital bed to a coffin.
He checked his watch. For his plan to work, he needed his dad to pick up that phone. Now. With his back against the wall, he slid down and sat on the floor. He dialed again, praying that somehow his dad would hear the ring over the noise of the circus. When he got the answering machine this time, he knew he had to leave a message.
“Dad? It’s me. I need to talk to you. I need you here. I didn’t want to do this over the phone, but I don’t know what else to do.” He looked around in the dark kitchen. “I’ve been lying to you and Mom all week. I am so sorry. I—”, Cooper paused.
Was he sure he had to do this? He took a deep breath. No turning back now.
“I was at Frank ‘n Stein’s last Thursday. I saw everything. There were three men. The two I saw wore masks. They had cop pants on, so I was afraid to go to the police. Gordy and Hiro were there, too. We just barely escaped. One of the robbers got my house key. Said he’d find our home and kill us all if I told.”
Fudge stared at him, ears flat to her sides. Like she remembered the night. Remembered smelling Frank’s blood on his pants.
“So I made Gordy and Hiro form a pact of silence with me. I was hoping the robbers would be caught and we’d stay safe. It was wrong and stupid.” Warm tears ran down his cheeks.
He sat on the floor in the darkness with his back against the kitchen wall. “I’m the ‘mystery witness’ the police are looking for. They don’t know about Hiro and Gordy. This thing has gotten so out of control.” He hiked his knees up to his chest.
“I think Lunk’s dad is one of the men. And I think Detective Hammer is involved too. There’s one more cop involved, so it could be anybody.” Why had he ever lied in the first place?
“Anyway, Hiro told me Frank is coming out of the coma. And he knows who was behind the robbery, so if I don’t move fast, somebody might finish the job. Gordy and Hiro are meeting here tonight at 11:00, but I’m not waiting that long. I just didn’t want them to be in any more danger than I’ve already gotten them in. I’m the one who got them into this mess—and I’m going to get them out of it. I was hoping you and I could do it together.”
The words poured out. Gushed out. And as they did, the magnitude of his lies became more and more clear. Why hadn’t he done this before? Why didn’t he see it?
He’d been digging himself into a pit. A grave. And he’d been dragging Gordy and Hiro in with him. Now he had to dig out before it swallowed them whole.
He looked at the clock on the phone.
“I need you to come with me to the police before something happens to Frank. I’ll wait here ten minutes before I go to plan B. If I don’t hear from you I’ll call you one more time to tell you what I’m going to do.”
He pushed the disconnect button and sat there, heart racing. He’d spilled. Broken the Code. But he felt better. Cooper shook his head and checked the clock. Nineteen minutes to be out of the house. Barely enough time.
Cooper hustled up to his room and grabbed a notebook. Reaching under his bed, he found the phone he’d used to call the police and slid it in his back hip pocket. He felt for the diner keys and pocketed them along with his own cell. He grabbed his flashlight from beside his bed, turned it on, and set it on the desk. The light swiped across the lined paper and left a bright circle on the wall. He pulled out a pen and started writing.
Dear Gordy and Hiro,
I’m so sorry for the lies. So very, very, sorry. It was all wrong—and all my fault. I see that now. None of us would be in the mess we’re in if it wasn’t for me and the stupid Code. Which is why I’m going to break the Code now without you. I got us into this, and I’m going to get us out of it. I have a plan, but it’s risky. If something happened to one of you
I could never forgive myself. If I haven’t gotten here and destroyed this note before you’re reading this, something must have gone wrong.
CHAPTER 53
He scribbled as fast as he could, briefly outlining his plan—just in case. Ending it was the hard part. Would this be it? Would he ever see them again?
You’re the best friends a guy could ever have. If I get out of this somehow, I’ll never lie to you again, or ask you to lie for me. I was stupid. I can’t undo things, but I can make sure Frank stays safe. And I have to try to fix things so you two aren’t in danger either. –Coop
He checked the time, turned off the flashlight and gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. Six minutes. He’d squared things with his parents, and now with his friends. But he was still missing someone. A big someone.
“I’m sorry, God.” He whispered, but knew God heard him just as clearly as if he’d shouted. “Help me fix this mess—and please, don’t let Frank die.”
Coming clean with God should have made him feel better. And it probably would if he could stop thinking about what he had to do next.
“Let’s go, girl.” He moved through the house without turning on one light. Fudge trotted beside him the whole time. He flicked his flashlight on once in the laundry room. The hard drive sat right where Mom left it. Stuffing the hard drive in his pocket, he noticed his hand shaking. C’mon, Coop. Get a chest.
“Alright, Fudge,” he whispered. “Let’s get this note to The Getaway before I go.”
Cooper opened the back door, and after being sure it looked safe, jogged across the yard. Fudge’s chain jangled as she loped beside him. Climbing into the boat, he unlocked the cabin door and ducked inside. He left the note centered on the table. Flicking his flashlight on, he laid it on top of the note so they wouldn’t miss it. The batteries would easily last long enough to do the job. He did the same with his dad’s flashlight, just to be sure. Backing out of the cabin, he left the wooden door unlocked.
Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price Page 25