“I see you’ve already made yourself comfortable,” my father said as he walked into the office. I fought the urge to start immediately with a smug grin. That wouldn’t get me very far, and in fact, it might just cause them to get a whiff of what was coming.
“I apologize, but I figured if you wanted to see me, being early was better than being late.” It was a true enough statement. My father had drilled into my head the need for punctuality from an early age. “What was the purpose of this meeting?”
“Yes. You are correct.” He sat down across from me and looked me over. “You’ve been following a lot of orders lately and I wanted to check in. See how you were. It’s been good work. And I don’t often say this, but it’s been exceptional work.”
He called me in here to compliment him? It felt like the fifth f*ck
ing dimension.
“You want to thank me?” I asked, gape-mouthed. “Do you even know what happened at the farm?”
“I do. And I don’t agree with your decision. You had the perfect opportunity to align yourself with James, but you stood by your man. Loyalty is important. I respect that.” My father hesitated, then said, “But I need you to do me a favor.”
“What?” I asked.
“Hunt down the Butcher, kill him,” my father growled. “I’m still pissed you let that ass*ole
get away.”
“I cannot do that, Father. I don’t know where he has gone.”
“Then you keep an eye on him. Find out where he is. Keep tabs. If he comes for any of us, that’s on the two of you.” He pointed at me and then looked around. “Shit’s been going down lately, not with the other mob, but with the damn little gangs up around Brooklyn. Tired of their shit. Gonna have a new list of names for you.”
I nodded. This was nothing new. I’d been taking out small time gang leaders left and right these past few months.
It was an ugly job, but someone had to do it. Instead of enforcers, they’d been sending me. Me to leave the messages carved into their skin. Me to do all this shit. If they only knew how much I wished I could turn the tables and carve into their faces.
But it would be soon now. It would be soon.
Everything moved in slow motion the moment I saw Michael. He was actually leading up the team that came in, bulletproof vests on, guns in their hands. It was a full swat team.
“Michael Mactavish, you are under arrest,” he said as he came forward.
“You.” My father glared at Michael. “What the f*ck
? On what charge?”
“Thirteen counts of murder.”
“You can’t prove that,” he said as he stood and struck out his hands.
“We don’t need to prove thirteen. We only need to prove one. But thirteen is the number of bodies we got.”
I swallowed hard. I’d put more than five times that into the ground in the last ten years. I knew one day they’d be coming for me.
But today wasn’t that day. I just stood there gape-mouthed. “Father, what can I do?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at Michael. I still had a part to play in all of this. In the family. I would never blow my cover.
“You need to call the family lawyer, son. And take over my duties. You’ve been trained. I’m sure this will all get cleared up soon.” He pushed the hands of the FBI officer away. “I will come willingly. You don't need to touch me.” His composure gained, he started walking down the hall. Then he looked at Michael. “You will pay for this. Don’t f*ck
ing forget it.”
“I look forward to it,” Michael said in a sneer. He didn’t even look at me. It was like I didn’t exist in his mind.
But I relished the moment when my father was taken away, the moment I had been fighting for my whole life. It may not be because of all of the things he did to me, but it was still justice.
Now, we just had to make sure that we made it worth it. That we raised our children in a better world than the one we were raised in ourselves.
All I needed now was my woman at my side and I knew everything was going to be all right.
Kathryn
“How do you feel?” Janson asked me. I’d been back in the condo for a week and I still couldn’t get enough of it. The fresh air, the view of the night sky. It was so gorgeous. I loved this part of Baltimore.
I loved anywhere that I could be with him.
“It’s beautiful tonight,” I said as I looked up at him. I’d put some rustic string lights up on the balcony and a few candles blazed in mason jars. It was just the right touch.
“You are beautiful tonight,” he said. We had dinner delivered and were spending what was probably the last viable night outside before the weather turned.
“So it’s all over?” I asked as I looked up at the stars. I could see Orion in the night, the sword blazing through a normally polluted atmosphere. It was the perfect night for stargazing.
“No, not yet. It’s just begun. They have to get lawyers, go through processing, get a trial date, and then we’ll see.”
“Bond?” I asked.
“I’ve been told it won’t be offered under any circumstances.” He grabbed my hand and looked across the table at me. “But I don’t want to talk about that tonight.”