28. Mila
28
I know by their expressions that something serious is going on. Snark came down and whispered something to Reaper and Mack while Scrapper was teaching me how to shoot pool. The way they looked at me out of the corner of their eyes set me on edge immediately. Enough that I put my cue down and walked over to them.
“What? It’s Danny, isn’t it? Tell me! I know you don't want to give me bad news, but if I need to know, I need to know.”
“Let's go to your room,” Mack says, nodding his head towards the hallway.
“O… okay.” I don't like the sound of this at all.
Scrapper looks as confused as me, but he reads the situation, and they escort me to my room like a squad of bodyguards, even though I'm sure I'm safe inside the clubhouse. All of this is putting my nerves on edge. Mack closes the door behind us, while Reaper pulls me down onto the couch and into his lap, so he has a solid grip on me.
“Enough with the melodrama, guys,” I say, trying to lighten the mood a little. Hoping that it's something that can be lightened.
Mack sits across from me, while Scrapper drops into the couch next to me and Reaper. Mack's got his phone in his hand, but he's making very sure that the screen's pointing away from me. “Snark's been keeping tabs on the email account you used to contact Mullerby, looking for anything dangerous or unusual. You know that.”
I nod. They suggested it, and it made sense. It’s an account I only use for school, anyway. You never know what they might try to sneak onto your computer. I trust Snark to do it respectfully. “Why? Did something come in?”
“It did,” Reaper says quietly. Tensely. There's a simmering fury under it that I'm not used to hearing. “A video was sent a few hours ago. You can make the call, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea for you to see. We don't wanna mess with your stuff, but we had Snark delete it from your mail anyway. It's… graphic.”
“But it involves Danny,” says Mack.
Oh my God. “Is he… he's not?—”
“He’s involved, but as far as we know he’s still alive.” The way Mack phrases his answer makes it hard to be relieved.
“What aren’t you telling me? You know how worried I've been. Just tell me what they sent.” There's a lump like a beach ball in my throat.
Mack’s expression shutters, like he has to close himself down to get this done. “The video shows Danny killing Mullerby, and then several guards burst in and beat him into submission.”
I blink, totally unable to process that. My Danny? Mullerby? How would they even end up in the same place? How? All these questions, but all I manage to produce is, “Wha… what?”
“The video's pretty straightforward,” says Mack, shaking his head. “If this is fake, it's good work, and from what Eagle-eye’s contacts say, this is what they’re blaming the riot on. They’re gonna say that your brother heard his old attorney was gonna visit the prison, overpowered a guard to get a gun and kick off the riots as a cover, and then tracked down Mullerby and killed him in revenge.”
“No.” I shake my head, refusing to believe. “No. Show it to me. It's fake. You don't know Danny like I do. I'll be able to tell you it's fake. I promise.”
I don't miss the skeptical glance that flashes between Mack and Reaper, and I'm pretty sure Scrapper doesn't either. I have to see it. I’ll see something they missed. It might not even be Danny. AI is getting really impressive these days.
Mack puts the phone in my hands. The video is already up, so all I have to do is start it. It takes me a good five seconds to build up the courage.
Then I tap.
The camera is fixed near the ceiling, like CCTV. There's smoke, something exploding. People are yelling angrily in the background, but not in the shot. The video cuts to a different camera. Mullerby waiting in a room, pacing back and forth. He looks agitated and he’s wringing his hands. The door opens and Danny walks in. His prison uniform is torn, but he looks unhurt for now. The expression on his face is something I’ve never seen. Like he’s shut down everything that makes him himself.
“Who are you? Please! I don’t even work in the prison. I’m not who you’re looking for.”
Danny cocks his head. “You don’t recognize me? Thirty-eight fucking years behind bars. And it’s all your fault.” He reaches into his waistband and pulls out a gun, aiming it at Mullerby.
I scream at the screen. “No, Danny! What are you doing?”
“No!” is the last thing Mullerby yells before Danny pulls the trigger. Blood splatters everywhere, and Mullerby hits the floor, the ruined wreck of his skull mercifully hidden behind his shoulder.
“Serves you fucking right,” grinds out of Danny.
It all makes perfect sense. He was given an opportunity for revenge and he took it, but it looks and sounds forced to me. That wasn’t a crime of passion. If Danny had really been plotting for years to get Mullerby, wouldn’t he have sounded a little more, I don’t know, excited? But how well do I know my brother anymore?
Three guards burst into the room right after Mullerby falls. They shout for Danny to drop the weapon. He does, and the guards tackle him to the ground. Danny struggles, and the guards pull out pepper spray and batons. I look away, but the sound follows. Danny’s grunts of pain, and the animalistic sounds of him being beaten.
The video cuts off suddenly. I release my held breath in a sudden gasp. My fingers are digging into Reaper so hard it's got to hurt. My knuckles are pure white and my nails ache from bending.
“Fuck,” Reaper growls. “I knew we shouldn't have shown her.”
I shake my head, fighting back tears and knowing it's going to be useless. “No. I needed to see that. God. What happened? I thought Mullerby was on a leave of absence? Why would he have been visiting the prison? That's not the Danny I know. He caused trouble and got arrested, but he was never mean or violent. That’s why I could never believe that he was responsible for armed robbery, let alone gunning someone down in cold blood.”
Reaper squeezes me. “Prison changes you. Trust me, I know.”
“We’re still tracking down where the email really came from. The only thing other than the video was a warning that if you keep your mouth shut, it won’t get out.” Mack pulls his phone away.
Scrapper grunts skeptically. “Think he was set up? This was obviously filmed as a threat. If that footage goes out, Danny's gonna be put away for life, if they don't give him the death penalty.”
“I can't let that happen.”
“Damn right we won't,” agrees Reaper. “We're gonna find every one of those fuckers and?—”
But I stop him. “No.”
Mack's brows narrow in confusion. “No?”
“It's just going to hurt more people. What can we do that will make sure they don't hurt Danny more? What if they kill him? What if they kill us?”
Scrapper straightens angrily. “You think we're gonna let anyone harm a fucking hair on your head?”
“You can't protect me all the time. What was I thinking? I’m nobody and I thought I could take on something like this? Like I was going to be the one to blow the whole lid off it. Danny was right. I bet I'm not even the first to try, it's just that no one's heard of the others, because they're either dead or silenced.” It all feels so hopeless. “I can't keep going.”
Reaper sighs, but he doesn't say anything while I burrow my face into his chest and just let him hold me.
“No,” says Mack, his voice deep and deadly. Measured. He's thinking, not reacting. “No, we're not going to let this lie, but we're not gonna do anything unless we're damn sure we've got the upper hand. We have to move real careful.”
“Don't you get it?” I explode, pushing myself angrily up to sit so I can glare at him. “If we do anything; They. Are. Going. To. Kill. Him. That can't be so hard to understand.”
His jaw twitches, but he keeps his voice calm. “You think they're done with you? This threat, it's because they can't get to you. You wanna know why Mullerby was there? You were the one that said there are no coincidences, so think it through. Even if they didn’t find out that he squealed, they know he panicked and tipped you off that something was happening when he could’ve just kept his mouth shut and let you go home thinking you hit a dead end. They decided he was a liability, removed him from the equation and then sacrificed him like a pawn when it bought them something useful. And you’re a liability. We are too. What do you think that means?”
His hard words have my chest tightening. “You don't think they're going to leave it? They've got Danny as leverage for me, and me as leverage for him.”
“They don't wanna maintain that,” Scrapper says, as serious as I've ever heard him. “It's unstable and relies on trusting both of you to behave. They're gonna come for you, and as soon as you're gone, Danny's gonna have an accident in prison.”
I shake my head. I don't want to believe it. “I didn't mean to make all this happen,” is all I get out, through sobs.
“You were doing the right thing,” says Reaper. “This is real. This is something that needs to be exposed. If this is allowed to continue, more and more people will get shafted, just like Danny did. That coulda been me. And they're fucking scared of you. Scared of what you're digging up.”
I look up at him. He's blurry through my tears. “Scared of me?”
Mack reaches over to put a hand on my thigh. “If they weren't scared of you, scared of the things you're bringing to light, they wouldn't fucking bother with any of this. They'd just let you yell yourself hoarse about corruption in the justice system, and laugh at you while you did. That they're reacting like this means you've got them running scared. And like an animal backed up in a corner, they're lashing out.”
“But… what if it all goes wrong?” I keep wanting to think that if I just behave, then Danny will be fine, but he's not fine. He's trapped in prison for more than thirty more years. And if the guys are right, then even after all this, we're not safe.
Scrapper leans in to kiss the top of my head. “With the four of us together, how wrong can it go?”
I let out a short bark of a laugh that surprises me as much as anyone else. “You want a list? I got a lot of ideas from talking to the other old ladies.”
“Here's the deal,” Reaper says. “Until this is resolved, it's gonna be hanging over us. Maybe nothing happens right away, but we won't know and as long as that's true, we're not gonna be able to do anything again without making sure we're protected, making sure we're not exposed. At some point, we're gonna let down our guard. We’ve gotta succeed every time, they only gotta succeed once.”
That gives me chills. “So what do we do?”
“For starters, we’re getting eyes on Danny in prison. The plan is to get him put in solitary where we have contacts who can make sure he doesn’t fall into someone’s knife while we figure this out. Snark has started decrypting some of the files on that flash drive you gave him, and we’ve called in some help in figuring out who they’re using for muscle.” He locks eyes with me, his stormy dark blue orbs roiling with fury. “We can't force you. We can't tell you not to give up. But it’s not all in your hands anymore. They slipped up when they attacked us the other day and ran you and Reaper off the bridge. It’s not just about your brother anymore. That shit can’t go unanswered.”
“You’re fucking stuck with us,” Reaper says. “And we don't want to see you hurt. Let us protect you the best way we know how. Life is always a risk, but you deserve to live one without all this bullshit hanging over your head.”
“I'm scared.” I hate to admit it, but right now, it's the only thing I'm feeling. The only thing that I can process. “I'm so scared.”
“Baby, it's fucking terrifying.” Scrapper brushes my hair out of my face. “That's why you got us here. Because we're even fucking scarier, and we're on your side. So when you're scared, we're gonna be there. And we're gonna make this all right.”
Oh, wow. I don't… I really don't know how to respond. He’s talking about a type of justice that’s much more basic than what I’m used to. It’s scary, but at the same time, it’s comforting to know that I’m not in this by myself anymore, and behind Mack, Scrapper and Reaper, are the Screaming Eagles.
“Are we going to make it?” I ask as they pull me into their embrace.
“Make it or die trying,” Reaper replies. And somehow, it makes me feel better.