Page 118 of Fighting With Light
Reaching into the truck I pull out a bag Emerson and Kai brought filled with US bills. I think it’s about fifty thousand, give or take. For emergencies, of course.
Emerson pulls up to the church, and we all hop out. Kai and I help the women out of the bed, and Aelia gets the kids out of the truck.
I look up at the large doors of the church, and a smaller one off to the side opens. A nun steps out as she takes us in, in confusion and Kai runs up to her, explaining everything in Spanish. She nods and gestures for the kids. They follow her with hesitant steps. I smile at them encouragingly, telling them they will be okay. I hand the nun the bag of money and gesture for them.
“Ayudarlos,”help them,I say.
She opens the bag, and her eyes widen, seeing the money. “Sí, sí, sí, señor, gracias señor.”
I nod and go back to the truck.
Emerson explains everything in Russian, and the two wave at him and start to follow the others, then a blonde woman with a nasty black eye turns and throws herself into Emerson’s arms. He startles for a moment and hugs her back briefly before setting her on her feet and urging her towards the others. She nods her thanks at each of us, and the nun closes the door behind them.
“We gotta go,” Emerson grunts. We all pile back into the truck, and he drives us to the plane that’s ready and waiting for us.
Emerson parks the truck, and we wipe it all down. I spray the doors and the windows, and Kai gets the bed, cleaning it front to the tailgate, while Aelia does the interior, careful not to touch anything else as she goes.
We leave the keys in the truck unlocked, only bringing the title and license plate, and jog up to the plane.
“Get us in the air, now,” Emerson says to the pilot. The two flight attendants get the door closed, and we all collapse into our seats, still holding our breaths until we are out of Colombian air space.
“So, did we get what we came for?” Kai asks.
I pull out my phone and grab my computer from my backpack. “Yeah, I think we just proved that someone in the United States government, in collaboration with the US Embassy in Colombia, is helping to move cocaine through official channels into the United States. Yeah, I’d say that’s a RICO case, maybe even treasonous.”
“We could only be so lucky,” Emerson grumbles, unstrapping everything from his body.
“Ladies and gents, we are officially out of Colombian airspace and en route to the Costa Mesa private airport,” the pilot says.
We all collectively sigh, and everyone looks at me.
I pull up the pictures from my phone onto the computer and flip through them.
“Is this our smoking gun?” Aelia asks.
“It could be, but we need to prove Congressman Fred Coldwell’s connection to Colombia.”
“Well, that’s not hard. He’s on a foreign affairs committee. It wouldn’t be surprising if Colombia is on that list. I’m surprised you don’t already know,” Emerson says.
I shrug and pull up the foreign committee’s government website with our father on it. Sure enough, Colombia is on the list. I chuckle and lean back against my seat.
“Yes, Aelia, this is our smoking gun. We just proved that our father and potentially other government employees are using US tax-paying dollars to move illegal narcotics across borders onto US soil for a known head of the Costa mob, and other criminal organizations.”
Kai whistles. “Good job, little brother. But…”
“What?” I ask, bracing myself to be chewed out because that was basically a shit show.
“Let’snottell Cordi that there were explosions and gunfire.”
“She’s going to find out, dude,” I tell Kai.
He sighs. “Let me get some sleep first because she’s going to rip me a new one. And there’s no doubt in my mind Mom will be right after her.”
I wince. “I have a surfing competition I have to get to, so that’s all you.”
He rolls his eyes and tips his head back on the seat.
“Oh, I meant to ask, how is Ben?” I ask my brothers.
