53. Hazing
hazing
Mirren
Vibrations in my pocket pull me from the meeting I’m in.
Mom
The hotel is seedy as shit. Definitely not my style.
What time should I expect you?
The plane that exploded was a continuing flight.
One hundred and seventy-three people on board.
Best info I can find, it was Minneapolis to Phoenix with a stop in Austin.
Why Austin, I have no idea. Air travel makes no sense.
Who makes these routes? Regardless, fourteen through passengers became thirteen.
One deplaned in Austin after leaving their suitcase on board.
What are the chances with all that’s going down this week that your cohort from Minnesota was on that flight?
Okay, call me when you can. And grab some dinner for us on your way back. I’m thinking barbecue. The good stuff.
Will do.
Will do will annoy the hell out of her, but I don’t care.
She’s looking for me to engage, and I’m too busy.
I turn back to the two men I’m meeting with, still staring at my phone as if I can see through the message to understand the bomb and nearly two hundred lives lost as if it were no big deal.
Two hundred families wrecked just before the holidays…
not that it would be easier in August or February.
The city of Austin is scrambling or at a screeching halt with no in between. Feds are en route if not already on the ground. State officials are in crisis mode.
“The flight was from Minneapolis, according to reliable data,” I say looking up from my device. “One of the trio I’m meeting for this op is from the greater Minneapolis area. I think we need to double down on comms, safety, and back-ups for our backups.”
Young looks to his friend and employer, a lean man, shorter than Young by a handful of inches but one whose physical strength may only be outshined by his mental acuity.
The Army-to-FBI pipeline isn’t for the lazy or the unintelligent, and Exton Ranger is neither.
Lucky for me, he is also kind and welcoming.
“Any friend of Fitz is a friend of mine,” he said before kissing my cheek when we met.
“And a Ranger who earned her tab is worthy regardless.”
“Can we get the manifests for the Minneapolis to Austin leg and the one for Austin to Phoenix? It would be great to know if we have run-of-the-mill insurgents or psychotic terrorists.” I may have underestimated the depravity of the people I’m targeting.
“With your handiwork, they could say the same, you know?” Exton holds up an iPad with the “evidence” of the Four Corners power generation station explosion.
“Go big or go home…” I shrug. “But mine was fake.”
He juts his chin out toward the front door.
“But they don’t know that, so meet them at their level of crazy, and thwart this attack.
My wife and kids have no clue that anything is going on, much less in our back yard, and I’d like it to stay that way.
For my family, for my siblings’ families, for my community.
” He looks pointedly at Young. “Let’s make sure we prevent this and wrap up the case with all the evidence needed to make sure these guys go down for life. No loose ends.”
“No loose ends,” Young repeats, collecting papers on the desk, and turning to me. “I’ll take you back. Need anything on the way?”
“Will you kill me if I ask to stop for barbecue takeout?”
“Only if you ask for some inferior national chain. I’ll take you to a real place on the way to the hotel. Then, at least, I know you’ll get the real stuff.”
Exton extends a hand. “We’ll have your back. Even if you don’t see us. And, Jones… you won’t see us. I owe you for this.”
Shaking his extended palm, I correct, “No, you don’t. It’s what we do.”
He jerks a quick nod as Young holds the door open for me and we exit the house.
Once on the road, he asks what I’d like to know about him, and what I’d prefer he doesn’t know about me. “Why’d you leave?”
Rubbing the outside of my right knee, I blow out a breath. “Blew out my knee. Medical discharge. Total mindfuck.”
“I bet. I’m not in the one-up game, so I won’t, but just to say it also sucks to become the old man on the team and be too geriatric to make the cut.”
The man is ripped in a way that makes Jamie look like a slouch. Thick, solid, all muscle, and, weirdly, has the same defeat written all over him the way I do.
Kindred spirits.
“So, our bodies betray us either way.”
He nods. “And we’re left wondering how we could’ve outsmarted them.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m twenty-seven so I wasn’t far from being the eldest on my team either.”
“It doesn’t.” He turns onto the main highway, a small smirk playing on his lips. “Make me feel better that is.”
I laugh, and we share stories until he turns into a parking spot in the most unexpected place. “Stay here,” he says, getting out of the truck. “I’ll be right back.”
For twenty minutes, I sit there, waiting. And eventually, stewing. What the hell is he doing?
Turns out, he’s getting me the best damn meal of my life. Apologies to Queenie, but for real.
I know this because Mom and I devour it in our adjoining hotel rooms in the rundown seedy area by the airport.
Maintaining cover sucks, but the food is superb.
Strider
Some might call it a bachelor party.
To be frank, it feels more like hazing. Not the kind where you die… but the night’s still young.
“Cheers.” Mikey clinks his beer bottle to mine. For his part, he’s being cool, which is good, because I need an ally in this sea of Jones men. Harry abstained, which is a bummer, since he seems cool with me too.
The rest of them? Well, that’s the gauntlet I’m currently running.
Johnny opened his home to all of us. Seeing as how it’s the first time I’ve been here—hell, the first time I’ve met him—he’s sizing me up.
And if I read him correctly, he’s finding me wanting.
Not that he says that. He’s says next to nothing.
We’re milling about the kitchen island, the size of Rhode Island. I’m not sure where one finds a slab of marble this size, much less the structure to support it. It’s stunning, huge, and absolute premier quality. Come to think of it, that’s exactly how I’d describe Johnny’s house.
Charlie’s is comfortable and cozy, even if it’s not small. Jamie’s is… well, just like Jamie. Davie’s, the same.
But Johnny either has a stockpile of cash or wants people to think he does. I’m guessing it’s the former, because why would you want the latter? Aside from the whole keeping up with the Joneses mentality, that is.
Hell, if they only knew the secrets their parents were keeping, money would be the last thing on their minds.
“Cheers,” I reply a little louder than a mumble, my eyes never leaving the pack of wolves surrounding me. My mind, though… my mind is in Austin, with the woman I love. The woman who I trust, but whose life is worth more than all the Texans on the grid.
“You moved fast.” Charlie eyes me with suspicion.
“I’m not even here yet. After the first of the year, probably.”
“I meant with Scooter.” His voice drips with the duh he refused to add to the end of that sentence.
I spear him with my gaze and drop my voice. “If it were anyone but Mirren, I’d say you’re right. You know how they always say ‘you know when you know’? Fuck if it’s not true. I know… in the marrow of my bones. She’s it for me. I’d be a fool to bide my time hoping to confirm what I already know.”
“And what’s that?” His sarcasm is thick.
“She’s my one. I will treat her with all the love and respect she deserves, until the very last breath in my body. And if for one moment you think she isn’t being shown the care she merits just for being herself, I give you permission to toss me to the pigs.”
He tilts his head, studying me. “You’re serious.”
I nod once, leveling him with my words. “As life and death.”
He studies me until I extend a hand, and he grips it hard. “You make it hard to hate you.” He downs the rest of his beer. “And I want to. You’re too old for her.”
“Watch your words or we’re going to have to age-restrict who you bring home.”
Davie, having watched the whole exchange, snorts a laugh. “Dude, he just called your bluff in a way none of us can.”
Jamie clears his throat, and all eyes swing to him.
“Well, except Hambone,” Davie amends, looking away from the man channeling Eeyore in the corner. “But none of us are that brave.”
“Or stupid,” Mikey adds.
“You only get one chance,” Johnny puts in, looking at me. His low voice is gruff and commanding. “And even that’s only a half a shot.”
“That’s all I need.” I lose his gaze and I find each of the brothers one by one. “You’ll see.”
This goes on and on as the drinks flow. And it would’ve died down, too, I know it, if Mikey hadn’t dropped gasoline on the dying fire. “Hell, if I hadn’t walked in on y’all having sex when she skipped game night, and not gotten to know you like I did, this whole night could be awkward.”
As if it didn't just become that.