34. Cash
CASH
Freshly showered and dressed, I headed out to the kitchen where everyone was waiting. The package was a thick envelope with my name scrawled across it. Postage showed that it was couriered overnight to me.
An ominous feeling washed over me as I picked it up and held it in my hand. Why was he sending me mail? And did I even want to trust whatever was inside?
“What do you think it is?” Thumper asked.
I shook my head slightly. “I’m not sure we can trust him. After what happened…”
“You can’t not open it,” IRIS scoffed. “It’s a package. We have to know what’s in it. He sent this to you for you to open, not stare at.”
I was well aware of that, but once I opened it, I would possibly know if he was on the good side of things or the bad side. And I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.
“This means he knows where we are,” I pointed out. “If he knows, that means the others know.”
“Not necessarily,” Kavanaugh said. “Your father isn’t exactly known for being on anyone’s side. He did warn you about the hit on me.”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t going to do anything to stop it. That doesn’t scream loyalty.”
“Maybe not, but I’m saying things might not be as black and white as you think.”
Possibly, but still…
I turned the envelope over and slid my finger under the seal, about to break it open when my phone rang, scaring the shit out of me. Sighing, I closed my eyes and did my best to compose myself.
Fuck, I was turning into a goddamn mess.
“Rae,” I barked out harsher than necessary as I answered. Setting the phone down, I put it on speakerphone for everyone to hear.
“Boss…”
“What is it?”
“A news report, boss.” She cleared her throat, very unlike Rae. “Boss…”
“Whatever it is, just tell me.”
Silence greeted me for an entire minute before she continued. “We got a call from local LEOs out in Colorado.”
“And?” My heart thundered in my chest as I waited for the news. Claire. It had to be about Claire. And if the LEOs were involved, it wasn’t good.
“Boss, they responded to a 9-1-1 call. When they entered, they found Claire on the floor with a knife in her chest.”
My eyes slipped closed as the weight of the package I held finally sank in.
“He was with her,” I murmured, knowing it before she even said anything.
“Yes,” she answered quietly. “He was with her. Along with four other men. All of them dead. Michael was…he didn’t go down without a fight. I’m so sorry, boss.”
The package felt like a lead weight in my hands, ready to explode as the news of my father’s demise hit me. I glanced over at Knight, but the look on his face was the same cold expression he always wore. Then again, he hadn’t had contact with our father in years before this whole mess started.
Michael had left him and his mother behind for my mother. So, if anyone had a reason to be pissed at the man, it was Knight.
“Thanks, Rae.”
“As soon as I have the names of the other men, I’ll send them over to you.”
“And crime scene photos,” I cut in.
“Boss, do you really?—”
“Just get them,” I snapped, feeling slightly unhinged.
“On it, boss.”
I hung up without another word, staring at the envelope in my hands for a good minute before I finally broke the seal and pulled out the contents. I didn’t see a thing.
My mind was replaying the fact that my father was dead.
Killed alongside Claire, who didn’t deserve any of this after the shit she’d been through.
Whatever Michael had done, it finally came back to bite him in the ass.
The Shadow Government wouldn’t stop until we were all dead, and apparently, that included my father now.
Pulling out the documents, I spread them on the table, allowing everyone else to see them, but my fingers clutched the letter that was inside.
Cash,
If you’re reading this, that means I’m dead. I instructed these documents to be delivered to you upon my death. Don’t ask me how the courier knows where to deliver them. You’d only hate me for it.
I’ve included the last information you need to take out the Shadow Government.
Be smart, just like I taught you. There’s only one way to end this, and that’s by taking out the linchpins.
Iron, Brick, Watch, and Lock are the four key players.
Take them out and the rest of the Shadow Government crumbles.
I don’t know when it’s going to happen, and if this reaches you after the event, I’ll already be too late to stop it. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
The plan was put in motion over twenty years ago. At the time, it was a scenario we used to catapult our cause into the right position. It was never intended to go through unless certain things didn’t align. But men are greedy, and that has taken over the Shadow Government.
It has twisted their minds into doing things that would cause worldwide destruction. End this. Even if it costs you your life, this has to be stopped. There’s no other way.
I’m sure you probably hate me by now, and I won’t try to make excuses for what I’ve done.
Use this information and end their reign.
Michael
That was it? After all the shit he’d put us through, there was no personal message? Nothing to explain his actions? I didn’t know if he was a good guy or a bad guy. I had my suspicions, but nothing was confirmed.
That’s seriously what Knight and I were left with?
I handed the letter over to Knight, still confused as hell, but he just snorted and tossed it aside.
“What do we have?” I asked, trying to focus on the task at hand.
“Fucking World War III,” Thumper muttered. “Literally.” He handed me a document that laid out plans for an assassination of the President of the United States. “It would be made to look like the assassination is in retaliation for you taking out President Codi.”
“Except, I didn’t take out President Codi,” I muttered.
“No, but the entire world thinks that you did,” IRIS pointed out.
“A retaliation by their government would light the fuse,” Kavanaugh said. “There would be no stopping the events that followed.”
“Like I said, World War III,” Thumper muttered. “If they succeed in killing the president, there will be no stopping any of this.”
“Then we have to stop it. Clearing my name just took a back seat to the fact that someone is going to kill the president. We need to be on a flight to the United States now.”
“Boss, there’s just one problem,” Thumper pointed out. “There’s no way in hell anyone in their right mind would let you into the country.”
“No problemo,” FNG grinned. “I think we can work out a simple solution.”
“FNG, no offense, but I don’t think smuggling Cash into the US with a shipment of wine is going to do the trick.”
I would have laughed in amusement at IRIS’s comment, but Kavanaugh was right. There was no way for me to get back into the US, and if we didn’t stop this, I was as good as dead anyway.
“Like I would really try smuggling him in with wine,” he scoffed. “Seriously, did you guys all forget that I have contacts everywhere from my year abroad? I am literally the most well-connected out of all of us!”
“Well, whatever your plan is, put it together fast. We have to get back to the US and find the linchpins and take them out before they start a fucking world war.”
“I’m on it, boss, like white on rice.” He started to leave, but turned back to us. “Maybe more like knives in an umbrella. Do you think that phrase could catch fire?”
“Go!”
“This is a fucking stupid idea,” I muttered as I limped across the frozen tundra. “We’re gonna get killed.”
“Like you haven’t already risked that?” Thumper snorted. “You were going to go this way, anyway.”
“Yeah, but that was when I was on my own. Besides, now I have more people with me and I’ve lost the element of surprise.”
“Relax, it’ll be fine,” FNG grinned, rubbing his hands together as we headed toward the house in the middle of fucking Russia.
The door opened and a very large, very Russian male stepped out, his face splitting into a grin as we approached. “FNG!”
“Ivan!” FNG ran at him, leaping into his arms for a big Russian hug. It was weird. I would never understand their relationship. How did an ex-KGB agent develop a friendship with FNG of all people? It didn’t make sense.
“Man, it’s so good to see you. How’s Marta?”
“She is good. Very, very good,” he laughed uproariously. “But that is story for another time. Come, come. We drink.”
“Ah, actually, I need a favor, and time is of the essence.”
“Is good favor, no?”
“No.”
“Then we drink,” Ivan grinned. “Come. We discuss over vodka.”
I rolled my eyes as Ivan waved us all inside. We didn’t need to get drunk. We needed to get out of Europe and back to the United States.
“Relax, boss. You know Rae’s on it. She won’t let us down,” IRIS said.
“Yeah, but we have no idea when this is going down. We have to find the four linchpins, take them out, and prevent a world war. It’s not exactly a small ask.”
“Well, your old man definitely wasn’t one for doing things the easy way,” Kavanaugh chuckled.
“It’s fucking cold over here,” Knight muttered, his eyes searching the tree line for any threats. “Who lives like this?”
“I believe you did for a while,” I pointed out.
“Not in fucking Russia.”
We stepped into the house and kicked the snow from our boots. FNG was already by the fire, downing shots with the mad Russian. There was no way we were getting out of here if they hit the vodka too hard.
“Come, come,” he waved us over. “We drink. Then we save the world.”
I shot daggers at FNG for daring to tell him anything. He might trust Ivan, but I sure as hell didn’t.
But I walked over to him and took a seat, ignoring the twinges of pain in my body. I was loaded up on more drugs than I ever thought possible, and they were doing the job reasonably well.
“So, is good job, no?”
“Oh, it’s so good, Ivan. You’d love it.”
“Come, tell me.”
“Well—”
“Hey!” I snapped, narrowing my eyes at FNG.
“What? He’s trying to help us out.”
“And you don’t think this information might be a little too tempting to someone like him?”
Ivan chuckled as he took another shot. “I like you. Very untrusting. Is good in our line of work.”
“My line of work isn’t the same as yours,” I pointed out.
“No?” He looked at me like he knew exactly what I had been up to, and the longer he stared at me, the more I realized the “ex” in ex-KGB might very well just be for show.
“What exactly do you know?”
He shrugged, grinning at me. “Is good to have friends.” He raised his shot glass and looked me dead in the eye. “To the end of the world.”
I cocked my head at him, refusing to toast to that.
“No? Ah, so you are on side of us all being friends.” He chuckled again. “Then perhaps you trust your friend to get you where you need to go.”
Against my better judgment, I lifted a shot glass and toasted, hoping I wasn’t making a big mistake. “To us all being friends.”
He clinked my glass and we both downed the contents. I was pretty sure mixing alcohol with my meds was not a good idea, but it wasn’t like I could deny the mad Russian when he was trying to help us.
“So, we save the world.” He pounded his fists on the table and shoved back from the table. “Good. We go.”