Page 64 of Coup De Grâce
“How long before you took another fucking job that interfered with their plans? You guys are attracted to the dangerous jobs. You thrive on helping the little guy. Eventually, you would have landed on their radar again, and they wouldn’t let you walk away a second time. Every single one of you would have a target on your backs. The only way to stop it from spiraling out of control was to end it. Cash knew it, and so did I.”
“So, you let him shoot you,” I scoffed. “You nearly died.”
“For my family, I would fucking die a thousand times to make sure they survive.”
So fucking noble, just like Rafe. I wasn’t sure if I was impressed or disgusted by it. Frankly, I was tired of the whole group of them. All of them, willing to sacrifice anything for a noble cause. It was fucking disgusting.
I used to be that way. How foolish I had been. And then I realized the odds were twisted, always stacked against me. I would never win, and the cost would always be too high.
“If you want to survive, if you want your families to live, you can’t just drop off their radar. They’ll never stop watching you. The moment you make one wrong move, you’ll be a target again.”
“That’s why Cash left,” Lock cut in. “To cut ties. He pissed us all off to fucking save us?”
As he looked around the room, the gravity of his words resonated with every man and woman at the table. They had been willing to help him before they knew the full picture, but now…
Now it was war.
I sighed heavily, shifting in my seat. All I wanted was for this to end, and if that meant going along with them and helping, I would do it. It was the only way to have some semblance of a normal life.
And I desperately needed that right now.
Jason stood suddenly, pushing his seat back. “You’re missing the bigger picture. If they’ve been following us for this long, then FNG and Thumper were most likely followed. They’ve led these guys right to Cash. You need to get ahold of them and warn them.”
“I already sent a fucking message,” Lock snapped. “They’re not answering.”
“Because they’re dead,” I surmised. “A fitting end.”
“Hey—” Jason spun on me, jabbing his finger in my direction.
“Enough,” Jack cut in, standing to get between us. “Let it go.”
I couldn’t find it in me to feel even a little remorse for my comments. It wasn’t that I hoped Cash was dead. He was one of the good guys and he sure as hell didn’t deserve the mess Rafe dropped him into. But I was trying to be realistic. If these guys were tracking Cash, FNG, and Thumper, and none of them were answering, that most likely meant they were already dead.
And it was fitting that so much hate and manipulation would end in such a horrible way, with Cash set up to take the fall for the murder of a president.
“I’ve had enough of your shit,” Jason snapped as Jack held him back. “This sucks for everyone, and a lot of that lands on you, but let’s not forget who got us into this mess in the first place. It was Rafe, not Izzy. She never fucking asked for any of this!”
I held in my temper and calmly explained my comments. Anything else would only fuel the fire. “I didn’t say she did. All I’m saying is that logically, if they’re not answering their phones, it’s most likely because these assholes have already caught up to them. Would it really be that hard to conceive since they went after Johnny’s family?”
That got him to shut up, and despite the anger still thrumming beneath the surface, he backed down and stopped glaring at me like I was the problem.
“Look, right now, I don’t care who started what. I just want this to be over. We can’t assume that Michael is on our side since he’s not even bothering to check in with us when his son has just been accused of murdering a president.”
“We’re not making any assumptions,” Lock cut in. “Until we have verification that something has happened, we work as if they’re still over there, trying to get Cash to safety. The goal is the same. We bring Cash home no matter what.”
“How are we supposed to do that when they’re watching our every move?” Slider asked.
“We make it so it’s impossible to track us. I don’t know how many of them there are, but if we all disperse and spread them thin, it’s less likely that they’ll be able to track our movements thoroughly.”
“That doesn’t solve the problem of how to get Cash out,” I pointed out. “If they’ve tracked your guys to him, then they already know where he is.”
Lock nodded. “He’ll have to figure his own way out of this. He’s smart. He must know by now that they’re watching. And now he has backup with FNG and Thumper.”
“And Fox,” Rae grinned.
“Fuck,” Lock rolled his eyes. “Didn’t I tell you guys to keep an eye on him?”
“I did. I watched him walk out the door,” Rae said. “Well, it was more of a jaunty dance, but either way, there was no stopping him. He said something about the mouse telling him where to go and that he was off to the box social.”
