43. This ends now
Chapter 43
This ends now
TOMER
T hank fuck Mia is coming back to work this morning. Klein texted that they were on their way not too long ago. I need a full staff now more than ever.
Sunrise arrived with more than burning eyes, body fatigue, and woozy thoughts from the lack of sleep. It brought a metric shit ton of unresolved issues with Lettie and zero time to address it. And I do mean zero time . I haven’t even had a chance to scan her phone to see how she’s coping after our argument. No clue who she’s texted about it. Probably Stella, who’s likely mounting a posse to hunt me down.
Lettie’s texts and the few seconds I heard her voice painted a vivid picture of the worst possible scenario coming to fruition—her blocking me, cursing my name, and declaring we were finished for the last time.
Fuck.
Add it to my list of problems. Unfortunately, Lettie’s justifiable anger will have to wait.
For now, she’s safe, which is the most I can hope for. Once I ensure my Redleg family is protected, I’ll visit her to explain the situation. She won’t pick up another call from an unknown number after earlier. I doubt she’ll read my texts, not that I have time to adequately type a response that won’t have her terrified. Best I can do right now would be something like this.
Hey, sugar bear. Not to worry, but the mafia tried to kill the father you’ve never met. Also, we’re all in grave danger, including you. Not a big deal. Call you later.
Yeah. That would go over well.
Not only would it be insensitive as hell, but it might also be detrimental to her recovery process. She deserves to feel safe after everything she’s endured.
Something at the back of my mind has me second-guessing my approach, though. Maybe it would have been better to tell her why and send a guard to wait outside her room. Would that have been smarter?
How the hell am I supposed to know? Too late now.
As much as I loathe knowing she’s enraged at me, I have bigger priorities.
Pressing away from my desk, I rub my eyes with the heels of my palms and quickly glance at the time on the bottom of my monitor. Shit . It’s time to head to the conference room.
No rest for the weary.
All the activities we started overnight bled into the morning. More tasks were tacked on with each passing hour. In addition to bringing in a contingent of off-duty law enforcement officers to further protect the building and leasing a walk-through metal detector for the lobby entrance, we had to activate some of our contract workers to provide extra support.
Leo and I spent most of the morning getting all the new people trained and up to speed on the current situation. In this upcoming meeting, we’ll tell the Redleg employees why it looks like they’ve entered a militarized zone this morning.
After undocking my laptop, I tuck it under my arm. While ambling down the hall in a partial daze, I pass Sawyer’s office and peek inside. Sammy’s seated in his chair with her feet up on the corner of the desk. Her head is tipped backward, and she’s snoring softly. His coat is tucked around her like a blanket. I shut off the light and close the door so she can rest. It was a long night for her.
I’m sure she’d rather be at home in bed. But there was no way Sawyer was going to let her stay alone. He tried to get her to lie down in the bunk room repeatedly last night. Despite her pregnancy, she stayed on her feet, helping where she could until she finally couldn’t go on.
Last I saw, Madeline was sleeping on the couch in Big Al’s office. Sue is around somewhere as well. None of us went home last night.
A twinge of jealousy pricks at the back of my neck. They have their partners here with them, where they know they’re safe. Partners who they can openly love as themselves.
Peggy, Boss’s assistant, arrived safely this morning. I sent two guards to look after Kri and Valerie so Shep could report to work for the meeting.
My mind shuffles through the faces of the people important to my Redleg family, hoping I haven’t forgotten anyone.
Only one comes to mind. Klein’s mother.
Shit, shit, shit.
If Klein and Mia are coming in, then his mother will be left alone with her Alzheimer’s caregiver. As I pass Leo’s office, I stick my head in. He’ll likely know off-hand if we have anyone available. Normally, that shit would be clear in my mind, but worry over Lettie and this entire shit show has clouded my thoughts.
Fortunately, Leo’s standing over his desk, shuffling paper around and muttering to himself.
“Hey, Lionheart.”
“Ready for the meeting, T?”
Not bothering to answer his irrelevant question, I pose my own. “Did you send someone to guard Klein’s mother? He and Mia are coming in shortly, so she’ll be vulnerable. Considering they don’t know the extent of the threat, they likely didn’t set up anything else for her.”
Leo picks up his tablet and drags his giant finger across the screen to scroll. “Mia and Klein badged in twelve minutes ago.”
I move in, looking over his shoulder while he taps across a few screens.
He’s brought up our active-duty roster. “We are running out of guards. Shit. This is tight.”
As I study the screen with him, my chest fills with a jittery sensation like I had too much caffeine. “We can’t leave her exposed. Not after she fucking witnessed Mia’s abduction last weekend.”
“Agreed.” He swipes through page after page.
“There,” I say, pointing to the only unassigned guard. “Marley.”
“She’s supposed to be off today. Oh well. I’ll contact her now.”
“Tell her to stay outside. No need to worry Klein’s mother or her caregiver.”
“Good call.” He tips his chin toward the doorway. “Head down to the meeting. The troops are likely getting restless. We’ll be right in.”
“Thanks, Lionheart.”
He waves me off, lifting the ringing cell phone to his ear.
When I enter the conference room, it’s approaching capacity. It’s a large space with a table roughly fifteen feet long running down the center. Floor-to-ceiling windows line one side, and all the shades are drawn for obvious reasons. Extra chairs were brought in for this meeting, lining the back wall.
My typical seat is open, along with a few others around the head of the table. Not sure why people gravitate to the back of the room. Then again, I suppose it makes sense, given no one has a clue what this meeting is about. Probably best to give Boss some breathing room when shit is unstable.
Quietly and swiftly, I take my seat and open my laptop. Despite a long task list of shit to investigate, phone calls to return, and research to do, there isn’t anything I can handle from here. Not yet.
All I can do is wait.
Well, that and think through everything I’ll tackle as soon as this meeting ends. My mind catalogs tasks, shuffling them around into order of operations and importance. Prioritizing like this happens on autopilot now after this many years in this role.
“Hey, Tomer. How are you?” Mia asks from my right, shaking me slightly from my mental organization.
Keeping my focus on the Redleg logo on my screen, I respond flatly, “Fine.”
Fortunately, she doesn’t inquire about the heightened security. Un fortunately, she asks about something far worse.
“How’s Lettie doing?”
Before I can quell my instinctual reaction, my shoulders roll forward, and my chin drops.
Might as well get it out there. As much as I’d love to avoid discussing Lettie, it’ll come out today when we talk about the protocol for the shelter, which requires extra support and monitoring. “She decided to stay with some of the other girls we rescued at the house the Langley Foundation provided.”
Drop it, Mia.
Of course, she doesn’t let it go. That would be better than I deserve.
Instead, she squeezes my shoulder. Just that tiny touch. A pinch of comfort from a friend and the feelings I’ve been trying to cage all night long threaten to burst free. I press my eyes closed in a hard line and do my best to force it all away.
All my regret.
All my sadness.
My fear and crippling self-doubt.
I stow it back in the old box in the depths of my psyche. If only I could keep it locked there forever. Thanks to Lettie’s love for me, burying my emotions isn’t as easy as it once was. Well, the love she used to have for me.
Only you could fuck up something that special, boy.
Mia leans close, her breath fanning over my shoulder. “Did you ever tell her about... you know?”
Inhaling briskly, I nod slowly and thrust open my eyes. “That’s what sent her packing.”
Mia rambles through some platitudes that I don’t much care to hear. Something about telling me to be patient and shit like that.
Even if I had the patience of Gandhi, I wouldn’t be able to wait out Lettie.
She said it herself the day she left me—my deceit was unforgivable .
While I’m sure she has a long way to go to heal, she’s already strong enough to know she doesn’t need me.
On my mental to-do list, I add removing all my remote surveillance shit from her phone. She doesn’t need me looking after her anymore. Hell, she probably never did.
Done being coddled, I shrug Mia’s hand off my shoulder, where it remained while she droned on. “Nah. It’s over, but that’s for the best. She’s safer without me. And it wasn’t serious anyhow.”
Only the last one is a lie.
Aaron comes in a few seconds later, tipping his head at me as he takes his seat a few spots down. The group begins chattering, thankfully leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I close my eyes, tune out the rest of the room, and attempt to clear my mind.
A few minutes later, the conference door slings open, and in come Sue, Lionheart, and Sawyer. Boss trails them, closing the door behind him. The room goes deadly silent as everyone adjusts to the vibe shift.
Even I notice the mood change. And that’s saying something since I normally can’t read a room with a map, a flashlight, and bifocals.
Big Al stands at the end of the table, his hands gripping his chair’s back. “Thanks for waiting, everyone.” After a beat, he inhales and settles his hands on his hips. “I’m sure you’re all wondering what’s up with the extra security downstairs and the increased safety protocol. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but we’ve got to be vigilant as fuck until further notice.”
Silence settles, tension crackling.
I keep my gaze trained on Boss, observing his bloodshot eyes and unkempt appearance. Throughout the night, I never noticed how utterly frazzled he looked. It’s unlike him to address his staff while in physical disarray.
He loves Madeline and Redleg. Knowing both are in grave danger has hit him hard.
A gnawing sensation under the top of my rib cage expands, quickly growing more incessant. With an open palm, I make a futile attempt to rub it away.
No longer beating around the bush, Big Al announces, “Lenkov is out for Redleg blood.”
His words detonate like a bomb.
Klein is the first to speak after an uncomfortable stretch of silence. “What happened, Boss?”
The veins in Big Al’s neck bulge and contract. “An attempt was made on my life last night. In the process, Madeline Mason, Leo’s mother,” he swallows, “Madeline was shot.”
As expected, rumbles and gasps echo around the room.
Pressing on before the group has a chance to react further, he clarifies, “She’s fine. Thankfully, it was only a graze of her arm. She was treated and released from the hospital last night. I brought her into HQ today for her protection and my sanity.”
Leo chimes in, expressing concern for his mother’s safety. “Mine too.”
Shep breaks the very tense quiet that follows, asking how we know it’s Lenkov. Boss explains how he took out the shooter, who had two photos on him.
Before he can explain further, Jonesy interjects. “Doesn’t necessarily implicate Lenkov. Could be someone else in the trafficking ring.”
I thought the same thing before learning the identity of the shooter.
With fury in his tone, Boss says, “The man I killed was one of Lenkov’s hired guns. He’s the same man who kidnapped Valerie Franco and Kri from the mathletes shit a few months ago.” He tips his head at Shep. “He was there when Valerie’s parents were murdered. The Russian with the silver-tipped cowboy boots.”
Shep slams his fist into the table but doesn’t speak. Given his hatred for the man who was so closely involved in what happened to Kri and their foster daughter, I’m not surprised he’s extra charged up over the news.
Relatable.
If I found out that Boss killed Yev or Viktor last night, I’d probably beat the shit out of something more violently than Shep just whacked the table. I’d be relieved that those monsters were no longer breathing the same air as Lettie but cheated that I didn’t get to do the honors.
Klein asks about protection for the informants, Savin and Tasha, to which Boss answers with the latest. “They’re being transferred into federal witness protection this morning. They’ve agreed to testify against Lenkov, and now that the mole has been exposed at the bureau, I’m assuming they can get a case together that’ll stick. From what I heard, the fraud and laundering case against Lenkov is fizzling out. But he’s not getting away with what he’s done to those girls.” His eyes cut to me briefly, and my chest expands with a large swell of oxygen. “And what he did to Maddie last night. Not this time. He wants a war? He’s got one.”
Immediately after Big Al’s ardent vow, the room erupts. Some jump up and shout. Others bang the table or clap. Loud voices carry around the room, making it clear where everyone stands.
With Redleg.
They aren’t bitching or moaning. And they damn sure aren’t celebrating.
This is a rally cry.
Not because we’re duty-bound to Redleg out of employment or even moral obligations. This shit is personal.
The men and women in this room are uniting. Enthusiastically banding together to protect those we love and seek retribution. Justice for our Redleg family and all the innocent people harmed at Lenkov’s hands.
For the families destroyed and lives lost.
For those abducted and assaulted.
For people like Savin and Tasha.
Valerie, her parents, and her aunt.
Kri and Mia.
Madeline.
And for Lettie.
Lenkov’s time of reckoning is here. Enough is enough. In solidarity with the people in this room—my family—we’ll fight.
And we’ll fucking win.