32. Samuel
As I fumble my phone out of the pocket of my jeans, I hear Mr. Barron”s pained groans coming from inside his office. I should have been more specific with Ruby because judging from the way she looked at him, she wouldn’t need to shoot him to kill him.
I wish I could call Rockwell with better news.
He trusted me with getting this under control and now we produced a huge fuck-up, not to mention we didn’t even get the info we wanted. It’s not exactly the worst-case scenario since everyone is still alive, but also far from the best possible outcome.
None of us expected her father had plans of his own, which, in hindsight, was fucking dumb of us, but even less I can understand how none of the others back at base noticed it.
They were supposed to monitor his phones, every goddamn word that left his mouth, but when I think back to the memo, it makes sense.
Guess I’ll have to share my idiot-of-the-month medal with Charlie.
Rockwell picks up the phone before it even rings properly, obviously expecting my call.
“We have a problem,” I say as I pace up and down the hallway.
“How bad is it?”
“No one’s dead. We didn’t get the names, though. And we have to keep this confidential. More confidential than usual, I’ll explain later. Not a word to Sanders until we have this sorted out, please.”
He grumbles something that sounds like fine. It’s not like this entire mission was official from the beginning.
We always operate in the gray area between the execution of law and, well, being criminals. We’re the ones they call for the dirty work. For the things that don’t make it to the news, for the things that don’t even make it to most people in the military.
We didn’t get the name we wanted, and that won’t make the higher-ups happy, especially not that new Sanders asshole.
Now that Mr. Barrons is out of the game, his partners or bosses or whatever will have to rearrange, but the threat still isn’t neutralized. A fact Rockwell and I are painfully aware of.
“We’re going to be there in around—” He yells at the others to get ready before he continues. “One hour. Keep everything under control until then.”
They must have flown here last night. Rockwell really has some kind of sixth sense when it comes to things like that.
“Yes, sir,” I say before we hang up. I breathe in deeply, shaking my head as I look at myself in the huge hallway mirror.
It’s dead silent as I walk back towards the office and for a moment I’m worried that Ruby strangled her father, or killed him with a goddamn ballpoint pen straight to his eye socket, but she just stands there, shaking like a leaf as she stares out of the window.
He’s unconscious on the floor, looking more roughed up than I remember. Blood seeps from his nose and there’s a nasty-looking split in his eyebrow.
Ruby doesn’t turn around as I lift him into his chair and tie his hands together with duct tape before I do the same with his ankles. His head slumps forward, so I decide against putting tape over his mouth.
She seems to have done quite a number on him.
He’s going to be unconscious for a good while. I roll him out of the office and into one of the spare bathrooms. Lights out, he doesn’t need to see anything while we wait for his ride to arrive.
I already have an idea about what Rockwell has planned for him. He won’t spend his remaining years in federal prison, but compared to where he’s going to end up, prison would have been a vacation.
It’s honestly the best solution. Having him in detainment allows us to get more information out of him without causing problems for Ruby.
Not that there would have been an official report either way, but if someone asks, her father died from a heart attack while on a business trip. Too much cocaine isn’t good for the human body in the long run, after all.
Forging documents is usual business, and we’ll provide Ruby with all the necessary stuff to prove his death to the authorities so that she can inherit his money and live the rest of her life in peace.
At least that’s what I tell her while I force her to sit down on the couch in his office, where we watch his blood seep into the wooden floorboards. I’m pretty sure she’ll need to replace them.
“Did you know what he did to my mom?” she speaks up after what felt like an eternity.
“Found out a few days ago,” I say. “Told one of my men to do some digging. Your father isn’t the most humble person, bragged about to a few of his goons who were happy to talk for the right amount of money. You lived in Indiana back then, right?”
She nods, her jaw clenching as I put my hand over hers.
“Is she buried there?”
“We’re pretty sure.”
Tears run down her cheeks and I pull her closer.
“I never believed that she ran away,” she forces out in between sobs, her whole body shaking. “That she left me behind.”
I’ve never been good at calming people down and I physically can’t bring myself to tell her that everything is going to be all right because I don’t know if it’s the truth.
Sure, we are going to take care of the situation with her father. She’ll get his money and is finally free to live her life, but something tells me that this isn’t all it takes to make sure she’s okay.
I don’t allow myself to think about what it really needs, because I don’t think I can be the one to give it to her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t. I didn’t know how you’d react and there was too much at stake.” I swallow thickly before I continue. “I only thought about myself. I’m sorry, Ruby. I should have told you the second I found out.”
“It was probably better that you didn’t,” she mumbles into my shoulder. “I would have shot him the second he set foot in this house. Sorry that I ruined everything.”
“You didn’t—don’t worry about that now, okay?”
She nods, snuggling closer to me. I hold her, stroking over her head while I tell her silly stories. I can’t stand even a second of silence between us right now, even less than the tiny sobs that still come from her from time to time.
Over time, she calms down. She stops crying and even starts chuckling softly when I tell her about the time Max fell through the ceiling in one of our safe houses.
I try to tell myself that this means she’s going to be okay, as if she’s not just trying to shove everything back into the corners of her mind where she doesn’t have to think about it. But honestly, I can’t even suggest a different approach. I have been doing the same for all my life.
“Come on, we need to get up,” I say as I hear a car in the driveway. “My team is here. You’ll like them.”
I think about holding her hand as we walk to the door, but she shoves them into the arms of her sweater, deciding for me.
Her eyes are red and swollen and I catch her looking at her reflection in the mirror before we walk out of the door. She’s nervous, it’s obvious, but she really doesn’t need to be.
A black pickup stands in the driveway, a humongous thing, and I have a suspicion who got to pick out the car this time.
“That’s Logan,” I tell her as a black-haired guy slams the passenger door shut, walking towards us with a smile on his face.
“Hi,” Ruby says while he looks her up and down, his smile turning into a frown as he glares at me.
“Why is she crying?” he snarls at me while Ruby looks at him with big eyes. “Did you make her cry? Did he make you cry?”
She just looks over at me, a helpless expression on her face, and I groan.
“No, I did not make her cry and now tone it down, you moron.”
Logan only seems pleased when Ruby nods, the charming smile back on his face as he holds his hand out to greet her.
“Logan Cabrera, it”s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m—”
This time I’m the one interrupting them.
“Who let you pick out the car?” I yell as Max jumps out of it, his face lighting up as he sees me. While Logan is dressed for the occasion, Max looks like he’s waiting for his check in at an all-inclusive resort. The only thing missing is a Pi?a colada in his hand.
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Logan rolling his eyes. He opens his mouth to say something, probably to Ruby, but Max just yells over him.
“Bloody hell, LT, I fuckin’ missed ya,” he screams before he greets me with a hug.
We all repeatedly told him that his hugs border on physical assault, but he means it well. He really is like a golden retriever turned human. Maybe Logan stole him out of a facility where they experimented on shit like that.
“You’re the one who made him so crazy in the past weeks, eh?” he asks Ruby and a tiny smile flashes over her face.
“That’s Max, and you shouldn’t listen to anything he says,” I say while he greets her with a hug. A way softer one, at least.
“You should see the texts he sent me about you,” he whispers in her ear, thinking I can’t hear him.
Idiot.
Before he can fish his phone out of his pocket, I slap the back of his head.
“Don’t want to hurt you in front of a lady,” I hiss and he raises his hands in defeat.
“I”ll show you later,” he tells her.
“Hell you will,” I mumble, giving Logan a look that says keep him in check, because Rockwell gets out of the car.
He looks tired, as if the last few hours have aged him a few years. Long car rides with Logan and Max do this to a person.
He puts on a friendly smile, nodding to me before he reaches his hand out to greet Ruby.
“Nice to meet you, Miss Barron,” he says while she looks at him a bit like a lost puppy. “Even though the circumstances are less fortunate.”
“Please, Ruby is enough,” she says with a smile and he nods.
A few moments later, Max and Logan try their best to get Ruby’s attention. A pang of jealousy shoots through me but I know that they only do it to distract her, and because they all seem to share the same humor, which is equal parts good and concerning.
“C’mon, we need to have a word,” Rockwell says, walking towards the house with me.
I’m happy to see them again, but it’s not like they are all here to spend a nice afternoon. We still need to take care of the fiasco Ruby and I caused.
“Can’t understand why you were so worked up the past weeks. You could have had a worse companion,” he says, shaking his head with a laugh.
“Don’t let that innocent face fool you, captain. She can be a real pain in the ass if she wants to,” I say with a sigh as we come to a halt in front of one of the bathrooms.
“You sure about that?”
I just dismiss him with a flick of my hand. The screams of Ruby’s father prove to be a good distraction. Less than gentle, I cut through the tape that kept him on his chair until now, yanking him up with a tight grip on his neck.
“Mr. Barron,” Rockwell says. “Horrible first impression.”
“Fuck you,” Mr. Barron spits out while I shove him towards the door.
Rockwell just laughs, more than used to this by now. If we would get a dollar for every hostage who insults us, we would probably earn more than we do now. Kind of concerning when you think about it for too long.
As soon as Mr. Barrons sees Ruby, he yells at her. Worse profanities than back in the office and it seems like he used his bathroom time out to come up with even more highly targeted insults.
I push him and he lands face-first in the gravelly driveway, unable to stop his fall with his injured hands. Plural, because I’m pretty sure Ruby stepped on the one I didn’t shoot.
“You should watch your steps,” I say, and as if on cue, Logan walks up to us. He’d never miss the chance to discipline someone, especially not an asshole like Mr. Barron.
But Mr. Barron seems to be learning resistant because he continues to scream at Ruby until Logan silences him with a kick to the ribs.
“Do you want me to pull him some teeth?” he yells back to her. Her father gargles panicky on the ground, spitting out a bit of blood and I shake my head no, even though I wasn’t the one Logan directed the question to.
“No, ahm, thank you?” Ruby answers. Max pulls her away, saying, “Don’t mind him, it just means he likes you. And he enjoys pulling teeth.” Ruby nods as if this was a completely reasonable exchange of words.
I was right when I thought that she’d fit in perfectly with us.
Logan helps me put a few rounds of duct tape around Mr. Barron”s mouth. He doesn’t need to speak, not unless he wants to tell us about his business partners.
“You should stay with her, Samuel,” Rockwell says after we shoved Mr. Barron into the backseat.
“No,” I reply after thinking about it for a second. “It won’t take long.”
He just shakes his head as I climb into the passenger seat. I’m more than thankful that he’s driving because I have enough of people honking at me in this town and with the half-tank Max had picked out, it will be even worse.
“Ruby,” I yell towards her and Max, “we’ll be back in a few hours. Behave. Logan, keep them under control.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ruby and Max yell back to us.
If someone had told me I’d get to witness a situation where Logan is the normal, responsible adult, I would have laughed in their face.
Staying with her would have been the right thing, but I can’t bring myself to do it. It’s not her fault, but I have to get away from this house. Away from her. Maybe it’ll help me clear my head.
For a while, we drive in silence, and the na?ve part of me hopes that the rest of the drive to the small local airport will be equally quiet.
Rockwell arranged something with one of our partners, Red.
Red takes care of the things that are a level above our permissions, like finding a nice secluded home for Ruby’s father and making sure that he’s not leaving it until we decided what we’re going to do with him.
I’m pretty sure that it’s not his real name, but Red certainly fits him.
“What’s going to happen between you and her?” Rockwell asks.
So much for my quiet drive.
“Nothing,” I reply. “Nothing happened and nothing will happen.”
“I saw how you looked at her, Samuel. Jesus, do you think I’m senile? You’re one of my best men, as if you really needed more time.”
I only groan, looking out of the window. Maybe he’ll stop pestering me with this if I ignore him for long enough.
“And Max told me a few things.”
“Fucking snitch,” I say, adding it to the list he deserves a whopping for. He’ll end up in the infirmary the next time we spar. I don’t care if I have to bribe Logan to not interfere.
“What’s the problem with liking her? Sure, relationships are hard for us, and I know you’re still cautious because of the whole C—”
“Don’t,” I say. “Please.”
“She’s not Carla, Samuel. She’s good for you, even if you don’t want to accept it.”
Before I can argue with Rockwell, her father stirs in the backseat. It’s concerning that I am happy about him interrupting us, but at least it keeps Rockwell from talking. I put more tape over his mouth and his nose and soon, he slips in and out of consciousness.
Red is already waiting in front of a jet as we arrive at the airport, a few of his men behind him with machine guns.
I hope Mr. Barron sees his nice welcoming committee. I also hope he’ll enjoy his last flight on a private jet because the rest of his life won’t be as pleasant.
He tries to protest as I yank him out of the car. He’s a mess; bloodied, battered, and bruised, his expensive suit torn in a few places. He’ll get used to it.
“Have fun in Mexico, asshole,” I whisper in his ear as I shove him toward Red.
“Hola, Jay,” Red chuckles as he grabs his shoulder. “Ah, we’ll have a good time, I’m sure. Butcher, take care of him.”
He shoves Mr. Barron towards a big guy with a gnarly scar over the right side of his face. Probably a burn, and as he grabs Mr. Barron to guide him into the plane, I see that he’s missing two fingers.
We all quickly learned to stop asking too many questions when Logan introduced us to Red a few years ago. Apart from Max, but since Red and Logan both have a soft spot for him, he gets away with way too much.
“Aye, was nice to see you again guys, but we should hurry a bit,” Red says before we part ways, but not without inviting us to his mansion. He also called Rockwell Rocky and said something about him being a wild one, which in return caused Rockwell to clear his throat in a very sad attempt to distract from it.
Didn’t Max say something about them going to Mexico for a short mission a while ago? Guess the fuckers were just there to party.
But Red is right. The sooner Mr. Barron is out of the country, the better. Anything else can wait.
“Did you two get close over too many tequilas?” I ask with a laugh while we watch the jet roll away on the airstrip. “Rocky.”
“We’re going back to base tomorrow,” he sighs, ignoring my question as we walk back to the car.
“Why not tonight?”
“Because you still have something to sort out.”