“One more thing.” He put up his finger to have Sean wait, and walked over to the plane. He spoke briefly to Jack and Matt, then went inside and came out empty-handed. Odd.
This week had surprised him. JT and Jack had Kane’s back. They didn’t work south of the border anymore, but when Kane and Sean needed them, they were there. That kind of brotherhood went beyond blood. And for the first time, Sean felt like he was really one of them. Not just Duke Rogan’s smart-aleck troublemaking little brother, but one of the team.
Returning to RCK had a lot of pros, more pros than cons. The only big hurdle might be Sean himself—whether he could forgive his brother Duke, whether he could pull himself out of the role of the troublemaking little brother, whether he could get over his insecurities and resentments. Maybe his entire problem with RCK in the first place had been psychological.
JT came back over to him. “The bearer bonds. They’re in the lock chest on the plane. I need you to take them to your house. You have a safe, correct?”
“Yes.”
“State of the art, I assume.”
Sean smiled. “Yes.”
“Those bonds are hot right now. There are a lot of people who want those bonds for a variety of reasons. Until things cool down, I’d like you to keep them in your safe.”
“Okay,” Sean said, skeptical. “Though RCK has a safe, too. Bigger. Better.”
“It’s complicated. But Rick Stockton and I have an agreement—and it works for us. One of the terms is that we don’t keep certain information from each other. After the operation, he heard about the bonds … and asked me if I had them. I said not anymore. So I can’t have them, at least not right now. When things settle down, we’ll arrange a time for you to bring them back to RCK.”
“Okay.” Sean was curious—more than a little curious—but he would do research on the bonds later. Talk to Kane.
First things first. Reunite Jesse with Madison. See Lucy.
“You’re good here?” JT said. “Kane’s going to go with you to San Antonio, just in case. I don’t expect trouble, but…”
He didn’t need to say anything else.
Sean asked, “Do we have a report on casualties?”
“All I know for certain is that Samuel Flores is a confirmed kill and Jose Flores is alive and well. He’s the least of my concerns.”
“There was a girl, with Alberto. Young. And an infant.”
“Gabriella got the girl and baby out, but I don’t know where they are. The Romeros will try to get them back to the States. I don’t have a report on Alberto, Dominick, or Jasmine, but we have people down there. We’ll have intel soon.”
“Thank you.”
“Watch your back, Sean. Until we get a full and confirmed report, we all have targets on our back.”
JT left with Jack and Matt. Kane walked over with Jesse. “Ready?”
“We’re fueled, let me just check over the plane and we can go.”
“What’s going to happen now?” Jesse asked Sean.
“The FBI will talk to Carson. Decide if they have enough to arrest him. There’ll be a trial. Your mom will be questioned about how much she knew. You may be questioned.”
“My mom didn’t know anything. She wouldn’t have let me go if she did.”
Maybe, maybe not. Maybe she was willfully blind to the truth.
“Carson isn’t all bad,” Jesse said.
“No one is all bad.” That wasn’t true. Sean had promised never to lie to Jesse, and he’d just lied. “Well, there are some people who are mostly bad, but let me tell you something. When Carson recognized me last night, the first thing he thought about was you. He was worried about you.”
“But you weren’t going to hurt me.”
“No, never. But he didn’t know what the plan was, and he knew that whatever it was it would be dangerous. And he didn’t know if I was there to take you away from your mother.”
“Would you?”
“I thought about it for half a minute.” Sean stared at Jesse. He hadn’t been there for him. Through no fault of his own, he hadn’t been there. But would he have made a good father? He didn’t know. “Look, right or wrong, your mother did what she did and we can’t change that. But she loves you. She was there for you every day since you were born. I wouldn’t take you away from her. Okay? Don’t worry about what’s going to happen.”
“I can’t help it.”
“I get that. But you can’t affect it. It’s going to happen, good or bad, based on the courts and the FBI and lawyers and everyone except you and me. But we’re good, Jesse, I hope. I want—I want to get to know you. Is that okay?”
“Yeah. I want that, too.” He bit his lip. “Can I call my mom? Let her know I’m okay?”
“I already sent her a message, but yeah, it’s safe to call now.”
Sean wanted to take Jesse back to Madison and then go to Lucy. He had an uneasy feeling that something was very wrong.
*
Two hours later, Sean knocked on Madison’s hotel room. She opened the door.