“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.
“What if we don’t find the Leydon evidence?” the FBI agent asks. “A confession alone may not be enough to convict him. I thought you wanted to wait until the missing evidence was located?”
“We don’t have time for that now. Sinner is expanding his business, and the last thing we need is the streets flooded with kidnapped sex slaves. He is too dangerous to sit on this any longer. Especially now he’s wiped the board with his competition. If we must put him away for the drugs and firearms charges while we build a more stable case for other crimes, so be it.” He puffs out his chest. “The objective now is to get him off the streets. By any means necessary.”
CHAPTER 43
NEWS OF THE Arrows arrest is all over TV screens and splashed across internet headlines on Saturday. While full details are only emerging, the reports confirm that several members of the board were responsible for the brutal Roark family slaying all those years ago.
Caz comes with me to visit Sean after breakfast, and I explain how Bry had the evidence proving involvement of The Arrows and how a friend helped us get it into the right hands within the FBI.
But the arrest is not just for the cold case.
When FBI agents raided The Arrows warehouse, they found a ton of dead bodies—casualties from the shootout with The Sainthood. Although The Arrows didn’t kill their own guys—and they are no doubt pointing the finger of blame at The Sainthood—with no weapons and no traceable bullets, there is no evidence to haul The Sainthood in for that.
Darrow’s body was among the bodies found in the warehouse, but I feel zero remorse. Darrow dug his own grave.
It plays out how we planned it with reports confirming Taylor Tamlin assassinated the commissioner and ended up dead when her partnership with Darrow Knight turned sour. Media speculation suggests The Arrows retaliated by killing one of their own because he risked the entire crew through his actions.
“The power these men have is sickening,” Theo says while we lounge in the main living room in Galen’s house on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s scary as fuck,” Caz agrees, helping Galen to load more logs on the fire. Galen spends a fortune on heating this old house, and it’s still cold as fuck. I’d wager it’s colder inside than outside today. My pebbled nipples prod against my hoodie, and I pull the blanket higher over my body, snuggling closer to Saint on the couch.
“What we’re doing tonight is risky as fuck.” Saint peers distantly into the flames. “Who’s to say they won’t arrest us too?” he adds before taking a swig from his beer.
“Diesel won’t let that happen,” I reply, plucking the beer from his fingers and lifting it to my lips.
“I trust Granddad, but—”
“That’s a sentence I never thought would leave your lips,” I admit, cutting across him.
“Pay up.” Caz shoulder checks Galen. “Told ya.”
I arch a brow as Galen plops down on my other side. He leans forward, glaring at his cousin. “Fuck you, Saintly. You’ve just cost me a fifty.”
Saint glares at him, because he doesn’t like to be reminded he’s changing. Also, he fucking hates being interrupted midsentence, and Galen is bearing the brunt of that frustration.
Saint’s jaw tenses and then loosens. “As I was saying, before you all decided to be buttheads, I trust the perv, but we don’t know the others won’t double-cross him. His boss is a self-serving prick who’d throw anyone under the bus if it got him what he wants.”
“I don’t disagree,” I say. “I didn’t like him either, but what choice do we have? This is our best opportunity to end this, and no plan is without risk.”
“We have to trust in Diesel and the plan,” Theo says. “It will work.”
“What are you doing with your mom?” I ask Galen.
“Locking her in her room until it’s over. Mrs. Murphy will stay with her. I’ll warn her not to come out, no matter what she hears.”
“Maybe we should move them to the barn,” I suggest.
Galen shakes his head. “We can’t be sure Sinner doesn’t know about our place, and I’d prefer to keep her near.”
“You don’t trust her not to ditch Mrs. Murphy and look for a good time,” Saint says, and Galen nods.