Chapter 15 #2
A shudder ran through Trixie at his name and she felt a crack in her control. Saying his name was fine, but hearing it from someone else… He’s not dead, he’s not dead…
“You served with Lee, right? You’re a former Marine?”
“Once a Marine, always a Marine, Ms. Romero,” the captain confirmed. “We served two tours together. We were in different units, but we knew each other very well.”
She could feel her heart hammering in her chest. “I don’t know how all this police shit works.
You people have royally fucked up my life for over two years.
First with Marco and Lindsey, and then Lee apparently becoming a cop but not even telling his family, and now with you stealing Cayden from me for Lee’s stupid crusade.
I’m so sick of it. I tried to be strong.
I tried to be supportive. But all of this is bullshit. ”
“I understand—”
“You don’t understand how I feel,” she interrupted.
She knew she was being disrespectful, but she couldn’t find it in her to care.
“Why would you allow Lee to go after a crook like Massey? And don’t tell me that you don’t know he’s your anonymous source or that Lee is responsible for what he does on his own time. ”
Trixie crossed her arms over her chest. She hoped it looked like it was in anger but, in truth, she was just trying to hold herself together. Literally.
Holloway, though, paled. Not the response Trixie had been anticipating.
“Because Massey is, as you so aptly named him, a crook. He needs to be stopped and no one has been able to do it. When Lee came to me after Marco’s funeral, I saw my first real opportunity to take that first-rate bastard down.
Lee was an unknown, meaning he never walked a beat, but he is a Marine.
He is smart and he is trained, perfect to go under. ”
“So you gambled Lee’s life to further your career?” she spewed out the words like they were vile. She had never wanted to hit someone so hard in her life.
“No,” Holloway snapped so immediately that she believed him.
“I gambled my career on Lee’s success.” He squared his shoulders, reminding her very much of Lee.
“Your brother is one of the finest men I know, Ms. Romero. He took a bullet for me on my last tour. Did you know that? I wouldn’t be here today if not for him.
I wouldn’t have been able to return to my wife and children if he hadn’t done what he did.
“So when Lee came to me after Marco’s funeral and told me he was going after Massey with or without my help…
Well, I jumped on the chance. I knew it was dangerous.
I knew it was selfish. I knew I could be throwing away my career and pension, but I had to take the chance.
Massey needs to be brought down. Too many lives have been ruined by that man’s greed and cruelty.
And Lee? He doesn’t fail. Did you know that about your brother, Ms. Romero?
I’ve never known a finer man or soldier.
And even after everything he’s been through, his moral compass still points north. ”
Trixie was still trying to figure out how to respond to that when Holloway’s phone rang. He picked it up. Her ears perked up at, “Don’t bother, she’s here with me now.” The only person she could think of that Holloway would talk about her to was Lee.
She approached the desk, needing to know. Not needing to know. What if… No, don’t think it. He can’t be. She needed him to be alive. She gripped the coin hanging from her neck tighter. Please… Please be alive…
Then Holloway hung up the phone. He took a deep breath before saying, “I don’t know if it’s good news or not, but they didn’t find a body in the water, and they say there’s no sign of him at the crash site.”
Trixie hung her head, her hair falling from her messy bun. It wasn’t relief she felt, but at least it wasn’t grief. “What now?”
He rounded the desk. “Now I’m going to ask you to remain here. I’m going to go help my men and do what I can to find yours. There’s a couch behind you, make yourself comfortable. I’ll send one of the rookies to check in on you. Do you want any coffee, water?”
She shook her head. The only thing she wanted was Cayden.
Holloway guided her over to the couch and then helped her sit. He seemed to realize she wasn’t capable of doing it herself. This numbness was different. He wasn’t dead, but he also might not be alive… She needed to know.
“Captain?” He was reaching for the door when she spoke and stopped to look at her. “Thank you,” she said. “For being honest with me.”
He gave a small sigh before walking back over to where she sat on the couch.
He knelt in front of her. “When Lee came to me with the idea of using Cayden to get to Carver, I rejected it. He was a criminal. Regardless of serving his term or his relationship with you, it was what he was. It was Lee who got me to see that Cayden was just a man with a certain skillset that we consider to be illegal. It wasn’t that long ago that he and I were the ones in a country where our actions were the ones deemed…
less reputable, despite the flag we wore on our shoulder.
I am sorry for any pain our operation has cost you.
I do hope Cayden’s alive. I’ve gotten to know your young man over these past two months, and I have to say, as a happily married, completely heterosexual man, even I can see the appeal in your man. ”
A laugh escaped her, which was likely the captain’s goal. He handed her a tissue, squeezed her knees, and then left.
Please, Cayden, she prayed as she rested back on the couch. She needed a Christmas miracle now more than ever. Please be alive.
As soon as the high-speed chase turned into a diving mission, a crowd of bystanders grew thick on either side of the drawbridge.
The police barricades forced them back so the emergency vehicles could squeeze through.
A large boat with a crane slowly drew closer to the site from upriver.
Many had their phones out and were recording or taking pictures.
Cayden snagged a baseball cap from the back pocket of a younger man’s jeans, a cell phone from the outside jacket pocket of an older man, and a lollipop from a lady’s purse.
His mouth was dry, so the lollipop was more of a personal choice than necessity.
His cut was now balled up and left under the corner of a bench on the sidewalk.
The baseball cap was placed over his green spikes.
He walked with a purpose, holding his head high.
Sulking or sneaking around could draw more attention than if he changed his appearance slightly and moved like he had somewhere more important to be.
He only had a few precious seconds with the phone, so he made them count.
He entered the emergency screen and dialed the only number he knew would answer.
He couldn’t say what went wrong exactly. He’d been in communication long enough with Lee to know that the state police had received an anonymous tip regarding the theft.
The state police had been a setup, that much was sure.
If Carver knew about Cayden’s deal as a criminal informant, Lee believed Carver would call them to create havoc.
Cayden saw two flaws with that theory. First, Carver wasn’t the sneak-behind-your-back sort.
If he believed Cayden betrayed him, he was the shoot-first-and-ask-later sort.
Calling the police wasn’t Carver’s style.
And second, Carver really wanted the Raiju.
As soon as Cayden had figured out what motorcycle Carver had been after, he’d known that.
Even if Carver believed Cayden had betrayed him, he would have waited until he had the Raiju before turning on Cayden.
He needed Cayden’s talent more than he needed Cayden’s death or incarceration.
So the question remained: how had the state police known Cayden was going after the Raiju? Who would have called in that tip?
“I am so happy you are alive! Do not scare me like that again!”
A smile threatened to break through his black mood. “Love you too, man. What’s happening?”
The excitement didn’t drop from Paul’s voice as he started to break down the situation.
“Lee’s on his way to the crash site. As soon as we lost communication, he started to you.
The others are still converged outside the radius of the rendezvous.
They didn’t want to move unless absolutely necessary.
Otherwise, we risk losing Carver. We’ve been able to keep your name out of the press, but the state troopers now know it, so keep your head down. ”
“Trix?”
“She saw everything on the television. She’s driving down to the fifth right now.”
It was far too tempting to tell Paul to call her phone so Cayden could tell her he was alive.
Cayden couldn’t imagine what was going through her mind right now if she saw that crash on the news.
Even if the news didn’t have his name, Trixie was too smart and knew him too well not to have figured out it was him driving the Raiju.
“I only have maybe another minute with this phone. Patch me through to Lee.”
“Don’t worry about the phone. I’ll wipe the SIM and set it up the same as your old one. You’ll be able to use it freely in just a few.”
Cayden had no idea that was even possible, but he relied on Paul’s knowledge of technology more than he did his own.
That was why he’d made Paul his insurance policy.
Regardless of the deal he’d made with Lee and the police, Paul had all of the evidence that everything Cayden had done was sanctioned.
If something went wrong and the police decided to make Cayden their fall guy, Paul held the proof otherwise.
“What went wrong with the bug?”
“That’s what I would like to know.” Lee’s voice came very close to showing fear. Interesting.