Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ty sat next to Will on the living room couch, listening to Mason’s play-by-play of the storage unit operation that was officially underway on speakerphone. It was two fifteen a.m., and he was absolutely wired. Adrenaline and exhaustion left him jittery while his heart raced.
Ty bobbed his leg up and down—double time. “Where’s Russo?”
“We haven’t seen him yet.”
He clenched his jaw as he moved his leg faster, glancing at the time.
If Russo didn’t show, they were going to have big problems. The DEA would only be able to stall for so long before they would be forced to have the local boys make a traffic stop and ultimately seize the narcotics in the truck.
If that happened, Russo would be in the clear, and Will would look suspicious. “Where’s our decoy?”
“Parked half a mile down the road behind a diner,” Mason said.
“Maybe I should have my guy call Russo and make sure he’s still coming,” Ty suggested.
“Let’s give it a couple more minutes.”
Ty nodded, even when Mason couldn’t see him. “Sure.”
Will rushed to his feet and immediately started pacing across the area rug, clearly as on edge as he was.
Ty pushed the mute button on his phone. “We have to trust this guy. He’s supposed to be a good agent.”
Will nodded as he continued to move. “I just—It’s starting to sink in that if Richard doesn’t show, I’m probably a dead man. I guess it’s a good thing that Mac left—that the kids aren’t here. Look what I’ve done, Ty. Look at the danger I’ve caused my family.”
Ty forced himself to take a deep breath and get his shit together. He was the one who knew how this game worked and needed to keep Will calm. “He’s going to show up. He’s smart, so he’ll wait. He’ll have his lookouts searching for cops, making sure he’s not about to get popped.”
Will looked at him, still pacing. “You sound like a cop again, man.”
It was so tempting to just tell Will the truth, but he shook his head instead. “It’s just common sense.”
“The truck’s nearly there,” Mason said as Will’s cell phone started to ring on the coffee table.
Ty looked at the readout. “It’s Russo.”
“Oh fuck,” Will said as he instantly paled.
“Russo’s calling,” Ty said to Mason, taking them off mute. “Calm down and answer,” he told Will. “He probably knows you’re not there yet. You’ll tell him that you’re right up the road. By the diner.”
Will nodded as he grabbed his phone and answered. “Hey, man. Yeah, I’m right up the road. I’m passing that little diner on 3A right now. I’ll see you in just a minute.” Will hung up with trembling hands.
“That was good,” Ty said.
Will shook his head. “What if he didn’t buy it? What if he knows that I’m right here?”
“He doesn’t.” And he knew that for a fact because after they got back from dealing with the mess that they’d made at the warehouse, he’d used one of the cars in the garage to drive around the area throughout the day, making sure that no one was keeping an eye on the compound.
“We’re sending in the decoy,” Mason told them.
“Okay,” Ty said, letting his leg bob up and down again, needing to get rid of his restless energy.
“The decoy’s one block from the storage unit. He just picked up a tail.”
Ty nodded as Will continued to pace, knowing that a tail in this situation was normal. Millions of dollars were at stake for Russo and Michael Giordano.
“The decoy’s pulling up in front of the storage building. Russo just pulled in, too,” Mason said with unmistakable excitement. “The decoy just tossed up a casual wave from the driver’s seat in the shadows. Where’s the fucking truck?” Mason said to someone else on his comms.
“Come on,” Ty whispered as things started getting dicey. If the truck didn’t hurry the fuck up, their pretend Will would have no choice but to get out of his car and make contact with Russo.
“The truck’s pulling in,” Mason said with unmistakable relief.
“Holy fuck. Holy fuck. Giordano’s with Russo.
He and Russo just got out of the car. Go, go, go!
” Mason yelled into his comms, and all hell broke loose on the other end of the phone as law enforcement vehicles squawked, and ‘Get down on the ground!’ was yelled by numerous people.
Time stood still while Ty waited for confirmation from Mason that all was well.
“What’s going on, man?” Will asked as sweat dribbled down his temples while he paced a frantic path.
“They’re securing the scene—making sure no one gets hurt.”
“We’ve got them!” Mason came back on. “Giordano, Russo, a bunch of their guys, and a truckload of heroine. Holy fuck, Ty!”
Ty closed his eyes as he let his shoulders relax. “This is good.”
“Are you kidding? This is great! Holy fuck,” Mason said again. “We’re throwing cuffs on our decoy, too, so it looks like he’s busted. They’ve just put him in the back of a police car.”
Ty nodded, appreciating the extra measure to further protect Will from any suspicion. “Sounds good. I’ll let you go. I know you’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Thank you, Ty. This was as big as you said it would be. Bigger now that we’ve got Giordano, too.”
He wanted to hang up before Mason said something to give him away. “We’ll talk later.”
“Okay, bye.”
Will stopped pacing. “So, it’s over?”
Ty nodded. “Yeah, mostly. You should probably prepare for questions about being a contact in Richard Russo’s cell phone, but there’s nothing that ties you to tonight’s operation, so you’re in the clear there.”
Will sighed as he nodded. “Luckily, there shouldn’t be much to work with in the texts that he and I have sent. I’m a lawyer and a politician’s son, so I know how to be careful when I put words in writing.”
Ty nodded. “I can imagine.”
Will wiped at his forehead with his sleeve. “We’ll spin the contact if it turns into an issue—say something about attorney/client privilege.”
Ty nodded again. “I’m sure you’ve got it under control.”
Will jerked his shoulders. “I still owe him twenty-five grand, so that’s not great.”
Ty raised his brow at him. “Richard Russo has much bigger problems than your twenty-five grand. He’s looking at decades in prison, even if he takes a plea deal.”
Will nodded as he sat down again. “I really don’t know how to thank you, Ty. You went way above and beyond.”
He shrugged. “I like you. I like your family. You’re good people. I hope you’re going to talk to your parents—tell them about your problem and get some help. Hopefully, you can fix things with Mac.”
Will nodded again. “I’m going to take a couple of days and head down to DC, then stop in Connecticut. Telling my mom and dad is going to suck. Telling Mac is going to be worse.”
Ty nodded because Will spoke the absolute truth.
Will sighed as he shook his head. “It scares the hell out of me to think that I’ve ruined everything. Because there’s a good chance that I have.”
He couldn’t help but see the parallels between his and Will’s situations when it came to the women in their lives. “You’ll have to see how it all plays out.”
“Yeah,” Will said on another sigh. “I’m sorry again that things didn’t work out for you and Lydia. You’re a good man, Ty. You two seemed really good together.”
He rubbed at his chin, thinking of the text that she’d sent him, still trying to grasp that he and Lydia were truly over. “I’m heading to the airport in a couple of hours. I’m going to head over to Lyd’s and make sure I didn’t forget anything.”
Will nodded. “Yeah, sure. You’re flying into Reagan?”
Ty nodded. “Yeah. I take off at eight thirty.”
“I might see if there’s a seat available on your flight. We could share a car to Logan.”
Ty nodded. “Sounds good.” Getting up, he headed outside and down the path to the pool house, punching in the code.
He stepped into the dark, clenching his jaw as he breathed in Lydia’s floral and vanilla scent melding with his aftershave.
Flipping on the light, he glanced around the pretty space that felt different without her in it. Heading upstairs, he quickly checked the bathroom, then paused to stare at the bed where they’d slept and made love.
Moving back downstairs, his gaze stopped on the couch where they’d snuggled so many times, including yesterday morning before everything changed.
But that was over now. Lydia wasn’t his anymore. She wasn’t here anymore, and he didn’t want to be either. Nothing was the same without her.
Looking around one last time, he shut off the lights, then left the place that he undoubtedly wouldn’t see again.
It was time to get the hell out of there and get back to DC.