“I said I’m fine.” I hold the agent’s eyes, trying to read him. He seems to be avoiding my gaze. “What happened? Is it over?”
“You did great, kid.” Stanhope steps up to Pomroy’s side. She’s smiling. “We got ‘em. Hold was chock-full of heroin and meth. Biggest drug bust in Massachusetts state history. At least three tons, maybe four. It’ll take days to measure it all. The crime scene guys nearly blew a gasket when they got a look inside.” Her grin gets even wider. “Your brother’s crew is going away for a long time. Lopez, Cisco, and Figueroa already have pretty long records. We’re running background checks on the ones they call Gordo and Stutter. If they aren’t already in the system, they will be after this.”
“And my brother?”
Both agents are noticeably silent. The grin on Stanhope’s face fades a bit.
“About that…” she hedges. “There’s a tiny fly in the ointment of our otherwise spectacular success.”
“We had eyes on every member of the crew. But when the smoke bombs went off inside the trawler…” Pomroy trials off. Guilt twists his features. “It was impossible to maintain a clear visual. We lost sight of your brother in the chaos.”
I look from him to his partner and back again. Stanhope is no longer smiling. She looks downright contrite. Neither of them can seem to bring themselves to say it. But they don’t have to — I already know.
Jaxon escaped.
“No,” I hiss, voice vibrating with anger. “No. Do not tell me he got away from you.”
“Kid, relax. He won’t get far.”
“How the fuck did you lose him?” I explode. “You told me — you promised me — you’d get him. That’s the whole reason I agreed to this plan in the first place. And now you’re telling me you let him get away?”
“We never promised. We don’t make promises in this business.” Pomroy sighs deeply, running a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Archer. Truly.”
“Sorry isn’t going to fix this, is it?”
“Watch your mouth. Pomroy is right — we never promised you a damn thing. No operation is perfect. No raid ever goes off without a hitch. But make no mistake, we will apprehend your brother eventually.”
“That’s such a comfort,” I snap sarcastically. “Thanks. It’s so great to know eventually I’ll be able to live my life in peace. It’s such a relief to know eventually he’ll be behind bars, unable to terrorize the people I love.”
Stanhope’s eyes narrow to slits. “We’ve got the entire area surrounded. His whole crew is in custody. He has nowhere to turn.”
“That’s what you said about the trawler,” I growl. “And that clearly didn’t turn out the way you expected.”
“Kid—”
“I’m not a kid. Stop trying to placate me. I want to know how the fuck you managed to let my brother slip out of your grasp.”
“With a sting operation, there are always a lot of moving parts. By the time you called in your extraction code, we were already in motion. Our agents began closing in the moment we had verbal confirmation of the drugs onboard. We were poised for a perfect strike. But when you said that code… emergency extraction trumps everything. Wires got crossed in the chaos. A few agents moved before they were meant to. As a result, one exit point at the stern was left unmanned for approximately two minutes.” She sighs. “Our best guess is, during that short interval, your brother jumped from the trawler into the water and swam off.”
“No one saw where he went?”
“It’s dark. The harbor is pitch black.” Pomroy stares at his shoes. “It wouldn’t take more than a few strokes to be completely out of our scopes.”
I’m so angry, I don’t trust myself to speak.
“We’re going to find him,” Stanhope repeats. “The Coast Guard has a firm eye on the coastline. State Police have barricades set up all along the harbor perimeter. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a radio call any minute now, confirming he’s in custody.”
“And if they don’t catch him tonight? What am I supposed to do?”
“Lay low. Let us do our jobs. He won’t get far on foot.”
I glare at Stanhope, then Pomroy. “He’s going to come after me. You realize that, don’t you? He knows I betrayed him. He knows I’m the reason his operation fell apart. He’s going to take revenge.”
“That’s not going to happen, kid.”
But I’m not listening to their assurances, anymore. Because, even as they make more hollow promises about bringing my brother to justice… a memory is unfurling across my mind with startling clarity. I can see the menace in Jaxon’s eyes; hear the scathing vow he uttered.
You think you have nothing to lose. You think you’re untouchable. But if you breathe a word about my business to anyone, you won’t be the one who suffers. I promise your precious Josephine will pay the price.
“I need a ride,” I say abruptly, cutting off Stanhope mid-speech. “Now.”
She blinks at me, startled. “What do I look like to you, a taxi service?”
“Where do you need to go, Archer?” Pomroy asks quietly. “I’ll take you.”
I glance at him and give a shallow nod of thanks. “The Valentine family estate, in Manchester. If my brother manages to elude you… I guarantee that’s where he’ll go next.”
“Why there?”
“Because if he wants to hurt me…” I swallow roughly. “The best way to do that is to hurt her.”
It’s nearly midnight when Pomroy leaves me at the ornate wrought iron front gates with strict instructions to keep my phone on and contact him if there’s any sign of my brother. He taps the steering wheel restlessly as I unbuckle my seatbelt, eager to get back to the manhunt at the docks.
When we bring him in, you’ll be the first to know, he promised hurriedly, before racing off into the night. Don’t worry. You did great getting us that confession— but your part in this is over.
It was clear from his overly soothing tone that he only brought me to Cormorant House to mollify me. My hunch means nothing to them.
Why trust the gut-instinct of a nineteen-year-old kid when you have the full force of federal law enforcement at your disposal?
The DEA is confident they’ll capture Jaxon within hours. They don’t think he’d be stupid enough to resurface — certainly not to seek revenge. They think I’m nuts for even suggesting that instead of running for cover, putting as many miles as possible between himself and the North Shore… he’d dare to show his face in front of the brother who betrayed him.
But they don’t know Jaxon.
Not the way I do.
They don’t know how his brain works. They didn’t see the flash of unadulterated hatred that filled his eyes the moment before that first smoke-bomb went off, as he realized I’d betrayed him.
He will come for me.
I know it in my bones.
I punch in the front gate code, praying it hasn’t changed since last summer. There’s a moment of silence, followed by a low clanking sound as the gates swing inward. I walk up the circular driveway, my footsteps crunching on the imported pea stone as I make my way to the house.