Page 58 of She's Mine

“Pamela, you know I can’t—”

“Promise me, Charles. Promise you will bring Joseph home.”

“I’ll do my very best,” I vowed. In the forty years Pamela and I had been together, I had never broken a promise to my wife. I didn’t intend to change that now. I’d try my very best to get through to Joey and bring him home.

“I love you, Charles. Please, come back to me.”

“I love you, too, Pamela. Don’t worry, I have no intention of leaving you a widow.”

I ended the call without another word, and then marched to the elevator, where Jeffrey was waiting for me. From there, we took the lift up to the office building roof, where the private chopper Jeff had commissioned awaited.

“This is your last chance to back out, Charles. No one would blame you if you stayed behind.”

“I’d blame myself!” I insisted and strode confidently towards the chopper.

I was used to flying in private, luxury choppers, and the speed they offered, but it still seemed like hardly any time at all had passed before Jeffrey informed myself and the team that we were nearing our location.

It had been agreed we’d land a little further away from the location Felicity had pinpointed for us, so that we could approach on foot and hopefully catch the Bloodline unawares.

One by one, members of the two teams filed out of the chopper and split into groups. The scouts went first, and reported back to Jeffrey that there was a cabin on the other side of the ridge that was swarming with Bloodline members. We’d found the correct place. Next, Jeffrey deployed his snipers, who surrounded the Bloodline’s cabin, to ensure no one escaped. After that, the team who would search for Alyssa and David were sent out.

Finally, only the team who would confront Hernández – me included – remained.

“We have two priorities – make sure no member of the Bloodline escapes. If we can arrest them, we will. But if we must use lethal force, so be it. We also need to keep the cartel occupied long enough for the other team to safely get Alyssa and David out of the area. We don’t want them caught in the crossfire,” Jeffrey said.

With the instructions clear, we marched over the ridge. As we approached the woodland cabin, the whole of the cartel came into view, and began engaging Jefferey’s team in combat.

I raised my Glock and took out an assailant who rushed towards me, but I only had one thought in mind – finding Hernández and Joseph.

Side by side with Jeffrey and his team I took out Bloodline members, until I finally forced my way to the entrance of the cabin. There in the doorway stood the two men I was looking for.

“It’s over, Hernández. Lower your weapon and turn yourself in,” I said.

The Bloodline leader smirked at me, wrapping his arm around Joseph’s shoulder.

“But don’t you want to know how your son happened to become my second in command?”

I stared at Joseph, who looked like a phantom impersonating the son I’d lost. His dark eyes were devoid of emotion, and his skin was sallow.

Remembering my promise to Pamela, I lowered my gun. “Joseph, it doesn’t have to be like this. Come home, son.”

“I’m not your son,” Joseph spat. “You left me fordead.”

“The coroner told me it was your body. I had no reasonnotto believe him,” I replied desperately.

Everything had happened so quickly, from Jeffrey telling me Alyssa had been taken, to learning Joseph was alive, and then leaving on the private chopper that I hadn’t had a chance to process everything.

My son -- my oldest child – is still alive. I had so many questions, but I knew time was also of the essence. Me and Joseph could talk as much as we wanted to, later, when Hernández and the rest of the cartel were caught.

Joseph whipped around to face Hernández. “Is this true? Did youpayoff the coroner to lie to my family?”

Hernández sneered. “I did. And it was all too easy to convince your father that you had died. It was like he wasrelievedyou were gone.”

“That’s not true!” I shouted desperately. “I was in shock. If I’d had any idea, you were alive, I wouldn’t have stopped searching for you. Why do you think I devoted my career to taking out the Bloodline? I was desperate to avenge your murder.”

Joseph’s arm, that a moment ago had been raised and pointing a gun at my head, quivered as he struggled with this revelation.

I took a tentative step towards my son, but as I approached, Hernández raised his gun and shot.

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