6. Cash
CASH
I walked into the meet, ready for whatever they were going to throw at me. What I didn’t expect was to see my father waiting amongst the group of people. I gave a tight nod and then directed my attention to the others— Sloop, Iron, and Poker.
I didn’t have the names of any of them, but I memorized their faces and gave descriptions to Knight when I could. He was the only hacker, other than Rae, that I knew could run a search without getting caught.
“There’s a new job. Bullseye and Hound will run this one down,” my father spoke. “Iron and Sloop will cover, and Poker, you’ll be on secondary.”
They all watched my father intently, listening to him like he was in charge. That was odd. But this was my first meeting where he was involved. Maybe they just deferred to him because of his time in the organization.
“This is your target,” he said, handing over an image to me.
I recognized the man instantly. “Al-ahmar. He’s a known terrorist and is currently in the Middle East at a peace conference, which is ironic enough.
He’ll be meeting with President Codi. We don’t anticipate these talks going well, and there’s intel that he intends to meet with President Codi in order to use the opportunity to have him killed.
Let’s end this before it goes sideways.”
President Codi was one of the few European leaders who was greatly respected for his unwavering stance on terrorism, among many other heated foreign issues.
He didn’t hesitate to get involved and put a stop to whatever may cross his border, or those he protected.
He was gaining power by the minute, but there wasn’t a single European leader who didn’t respect him.
Other than Al-ahmar.
These peace talks were simply a way for him to gain a foothold in Europe before he finalized his plans. Which were most likely to tear down the EU and invade, starting World War III.
“You have thirty-six hours to get over there and scope out the location. Once the target is removed, you’ll have approximately half an hour to get out before the borders will be locked down. If you stay any longer, you’ll be trapped.”
Great, so I would need to pull the trigger and get out before I was taken out by a terrorist group. Easy peasy.
“Sloop and Iron will handle transport and Poker, you’ll cover security on the border.”
I nodded, but again, I couldn’t help but wonder why my father was leading this meeting.
“And you?” I asked, assuming he would be there for such a big job.
He raised an eyebrow at me in challenge. “And me, what?”
“I assume you’ll be there since you’re part of this meeting.”
A few of them laughed, and it was only then that I understood why they were laughing. It was in deference to Shadow. Because he was running this meeting, and they were all looking to him for orders. For guidance.
My mind whirled a hundred miles an hour as I thought back to the night I was inducted, how they all agreed on what needed to be done. There was a balance to the organization, but they still deferred to my old man.
Because he wasn’t just a member. He wasn’t just handing out orders.
He was the fucking leader.
Chills skated down my spine as his eyes locked on mine and the truth shone deep in them. For just a moment, he looked ashamed, but then he straightened and dismissed us all.
“Cash!” he snapped as everyone else started to disperse.
I hung back, my fists clenched at my sides as I kept my back to him. He fucking played me. All this time, I thought he had infiltrated a deadly organization. I thought he was trying to bring them down.
The doors shut and I spun on my father, fighting the urge to kill him with my bare hands. “You never fucking told me.”
“No,” he answered simply. “Would you have joined?”
“You run an organization that allows shit like The Syndicate to thrive,” I barked out. “All this fucking time,” I laughed. “You were running the whole goddamn Shadow Government.”
I didn’t need confirmation from him. The look on his face said it all.
I shook my head in disbelief. “That means you knew Zavala took Izzy and you did nothing about it,” I hissed.
“Son, there are things you don’t?—”
“Don’t even fucking tell me shit like that. You controlled Zavala, but you said you couldn’t get Izzy back. You had the whole fucking Shadow Government at your back. You fucking run things!”
“It’s not like that!”
“Yeah?” I scoffed. “And what about your son?”
He blanched at the accusation in my voice.
“Yeah, Izzy was kidnapped, but she was alive, right?” He swallowed hard and looked away.
“But Rafe…you fucking knew what he was planning and you didn’t try to stop him.
You had me fucking pull the trigger on my own brother when you could have stopped it the whole fucking time! ” I shouted.
“Cash, there’s so much?—”
“Don’t,” I snapped. I couldn’t hear another fucking word out of his mouth. The almighty Shadow Government knew about the kidnapping of his daughter by a known crime boss, and they did nothing to get her back.
“You may not like what happens here, but you have a fucking job to do,” he snarled. “You’re one of us now. There’s no fucking walking away.”
My eyes burned with rage as I slowly met his gaze. What I saw there was no longer the man I didn’t understand but would follow anywhere. No, all I saw now was a traitor who put other people above his own family. He always had and he always would.
“I will never forgive you for what you’ve done.”
“I didn’t ask for your forgiveness,” he snapped. “Go do your fucking job, and don’t come back until it’s done.”
I stared at my father, wondering how I hadn’t seen it all this time. I’d known he was working outside the borders of the government, but I always assumed it was for the greater good. It never crossed my mind that he would actually turn on his own kids.
Anger simmered in my veins as I turned on my heel and walked out of the meet-up location.
What the fuck had I gotten myself into, and how was I going to get out of it now?
My old man knew all about my plans. He was fucking there with Knight and me, planning out how we would take down the Shadow Government, and the whole fucking time, he was using us.
The only thing that ever mattered was protecting my family, and now I’d inadvertently put them in more danger than they ever were before, because now it was clear I was never going home. Was that his plan all along? To get me so trapped inside the organization that I had no way out?
I got in my truck and beat my fist against the steering wheel. It was all coming to a head. My life’s work, my brother who didn’t deserve to die just because he was trying to save his sister, and my family, who would be left without me.
It was all swirling down the drain, and I was drowning along with it. There was no going back, but I could still do everything in my power to fuck up their plans as best I could. If I wasn’t ever going to see my family again, I’d make damn sure that I took down as many of the fuckers as I could.
And that started with my father.