That statement is fucking monumental, and I could kiss Diesel for his loyalty.
“Thank you,” Theo says. “And we trust you too.”
Diesel’s eyes lift in challenge, pinning in one obvious direction.
“We do,” Saint agrees after a few silent beats. “Because you’ve proven that to us too.”
“Can I just say how fucking proud I am of all of you.” I beam like a gratified mother hen. “And you’ve no idea how happy it makes me that you’re all getting on.”
“Don’t throw a party yet,” Saint drawls. “We won’t be holding hands and singing “Kumbaya” around the campfire anytime soon.”
“Challenge accepted.” I fold my arms and purse my lips, fighting a smile.
“Entertaining as this is, we need to move our asses,” Diesel says, dropping his arms and straightening up. “And don’t bother carrying weapons. They’ll just confiscate them.”
Saint is grumbling over the no-weapons order as we stash our guns and knives in the trunk.
“Don’t worry, dude,” Caz says, cracking his knuckles and flexing his biceps. “This body is the best weapon known to man. I’m all you need.”
Saint rolls his eyes, a hint of a smile threatening his lips.
We trail Diesel into the hardware store, following him as he crosses the room toward the single door at the rear. He punches in a code on the keypad, and we walk through the door in single file, moving along a narrow corridor and down three flights of stairs.
A man wearing military fatigues with a rifle strapped across his shoulder escorts us into the underground facility hidden beneath the industrial park. It’s massive down here, and we go through various security checkpoints before we’re escorted, on electric carts, to a conference room where the others are waiting.
A deathly hush descends on the room as everyone stops talking when we enter. My fingers curl around my necklace, in what I hope is a natural nervous gesture, and I subtly press down on it to activate the recording software.
Diesel introduces us to the men sitting around the table, before we claim seats alongside Howie. Bryant isn’t here because Howie insisted his brother stay away. VERO, Homeland Security, and the FBI aren’t aware of his involvement, and we all agreed it was safer to keep him out of this. We’ll update him after the meeting has ended, so he’s still in the loop.
“On behalf of my boss, I would like to thank you for returning the missing intelligence files to Homeland Security,” a small, thin man with a mop of dark reddish-brown hair says, opening the conversation.
We nod, as a group, in acknowledgment.
“The purpose of today’s meeting is to plan operations for the party on Saturday night,” a tall man with wavy brown hair says. Diesel introduced him as the head of VERO and his boss. We were only given job titles. No names. To protect the privacy of these important pricks. “We will need details of the security systems on the property in Thornton Heights so our people can deactivate it to gain entry.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Diesel says. “Theo will handle it securely and safely from inside the house.” He jerks his head at Theo, urging him to speak.
“I’ll disable the exterior cameras, to mask your presence, while leaving the interior ones active to record proceedings. I’ll deactivate the security system when you are en route, and Diesel will provide the codes to access the front gate and the entrance doors.”
Sinner has upped security at Galen’s house in the past few weeks, but there isn’t much Theo can’t do, and it took him less than three minutes to hack into the system last night and get everything he needs to ensure this happens smoothly.
“What is the stated objective of the operation?” the FBI representative asks. He’s the youngest person in the room, besides us, but Diesel did say he’s a relatively new FBI agent so it’s not all that surprising.
“The objective is to take Neo ‘Sinner’ Lennox and the board of The Sainthood down. To force the organization to its knees. To stop the supply of drugs and illegal weapons on the streets. To halt his sex trafficking plans,” Diesel’s boss says, confirming he’s up to date on his intel.
“How do you see this going down?” Saint asks, earning a warning look from Diesel.
“We will surround the property while the party is in full swing and wait for the right time to intervene and arrest them.”
“On what grounds?” I ask, ignoring the heated stare Diesel sends my way. I get that he wants us to be quiet—he’s probably afraid we’ll mouth off—but he knows us well enough by now to know we won’t stay mute.
“We’ll raid the house and discover the illegal stash he’s hiding in the ballroom.” He uses little air quotes with his fingers, and it just looks weird on a man of his age.
“He’ll say that it’s not his,” Galen cuts in.
Diesel exhales heavily, sitting back in his chair with a resigned look on his face. If we weren’t surrounded by these pricks, I know he’d roll his eyes or call us out for blatantly disregarding his instructions.
“And you can be damn sure you won’t find any fingerprints on any of the supplies,” Saint says.
“He’ll pin it on my mom,” Galen adds. “I don’t want her caught in the crosshairs.”
“If you’d let me speak,” the VERO boss man snipes, clearly agitated. “It’s a two-fold strategy. We’re relying on you to manipulate him into incriminating himself. Get him to admit he killed Daphne Leydon and he conspired to murder the commissioner.” From the lack of surprise on everyone’s faces, it’s clear they are all aware of what went down.
Commissioner Leydon’s state funeral took place yesterday, but the people in this room know it was a ruse. That the commissioner is alive and well and hiding in a government safe house until Sinner is arrested and he can come back from the dead.
“And what if they can’t get him to fess up?” Howie asks. There’s another DEA agent with him, because Howie is still officially on extended leave from the Drug Enforcement Administration, or maybe they know he’s a bit of a loose cannon and they don’t trust him to represent them alone today.
“They must,” Diesel’s boss says. “Otherwise, what the fuck are we doing here today?”
“We’ll get him to admit it,” Saint says, confidence blistering in his tone.
“And what then?” the FBI agent asks, drilling a look at Diesel’s boss.
“The drugs and guns seizure will enable us to detain them while we search The Sainthood properties and gather enough evidence to pin him for the murder and conspiracy to murder charges,” he says. “Then we build a solid case and put him away for life.”
“We want possession of the drugs and firearms,” Howie’s DEA colleague says.
Diesel’s boss nods. “That’s already agreed.” He throws a bunch of pages down in the middle of the table. “VERO and Homeland can’t have fingerprints on this. As far as the public will know, this was a joint effort between the FBI and DEA to take down the country’s most notorious criminal organization.”
A muscle clenches in Saint’s jaw, and Galen’s hands grip the armrest on his chair tight. Theo remains impassive while Caz rubs his hands along his thighs.