8. Kavanaugh

8

KAVANAUGH

I walked into the bar and scanned the room for Eli and Red. Back in the corner, they had a booth and beers waiting. I nodded to Mike as I passed, then slid in across from Red.

“So, why the hell did we have to meet here instead of at OPS?”

“Because things are shit with Cash right now, and I need to decide if I’m going to help him or walk away.”

They both tensed at my words, but it was Eli who asked the question I already knew was waiting on his lips. “Leaving OPS?”

“Possibly,” I sighed, grabbing the beer in front of me. I took a long swig, then spun the glass on the table as I composed my thoughts. “The senator wants me to work with him again.”

“Fuck that,” Eli muttered.

“And he also wants protection for the rest of the campaign.”

“Why? If he wins the nomination, he’ll have Secret Service.” Red chuckled, but when I didn’t laugh along or even look remotely in agreement with him, his smile faded. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”

“Because you’re not.”

“Fucking hell,” Eli sighed. “What is it now?”

“The senator has informed me that there is someone bigger than The Syndicate out there.”

“Wait,” Eli stopped me. “I thought that’s what the original deal was—to get whoever was supporting The Syndicate.”

“He did give me that, but it turns out that information is useless, and if I want the guy behind the curtain, these are his terms.”

They were both quiet for a minute. “Do you want to work with him?” Eli asked.

I frowned as I stared at the foam in the glass. “It might not be about me. See, the reason the senator needs protection is because of how big of a threat this poses.”

“How bad are we talking?” Red asked.

“Really fucking dangerous. The senator asked if I was willing to put Isla in danger. If I was willing to put all of you and your families in danger.”

When they were both quiet, I knew I had given them something to really consider, and I wasn’t sure they would be on the same page as me. Family was something you didn’t fuck with, and while Isla agreed that I should do what I felt was right, I wouldn’t knowingly put anyone else in danger if they weren’t on board.

“I talked with Cash and you can guess how that went. He didn’t really give a fuck who would be in danger as long as he got the information he needed.”

“So, what did you decide?” Eli asked.

“Well, I’m sitting here with you two fucks, trying to decide if helping Cash is worth the risks involved. And I gotta tell you, after the shit he pulled the last time with the senator, I’m not inclined to help him.”

“I sense a but coming on,” Red groaned.

“But it’s Cash,” I sighed. “We all know that he’s not himself. He’s fucking drowning, and if we don’t step in to help, we might never see the real Cash ever again.”

“If we step in and help, we could get ourselves killed,” Eli pointed out.

“And our families,” Red added. “I’m not sure anything could be worth all the bullshit that this would drag into our lives.”

I scrubbed a hand along my jaw, considering what they were saying. I was torn. Every fucking way I looked at it, someone would lose.

“Fuck,” Eli sighed. “He’s gonna do it.”

“I haven’t decided yet.” I cleared my throat, trying to avoid leaning one way or the other until I really thought this through.

“No, but your face says it all. As much as you fucking despise the shit Cash pulled on you, you’re not ready to let him suffer.”

“He had to kill his brother,” I snapped. “I can’t even imagine the shit going on in his head.”

“Is that really a reason to get yourself killed? What about Isla? What are you going to tell her?” Red asked.

“I already talked to her about it. Without giving her specifics about the job…she said I have to do what’s right.”

“Does she know this could get her killed?” Eli asked.

I nodded. It was bold and brave, just like her. But I had the feeling she was agreeing to it because she knew it would eat at me. “Fuck, I don’t know what to do.”

The table was quiet as we all considered our options. The last job was a shit show, and repeating it wouldn’t help any of us.

“You know who would know what to do?” Red said, his lips curling at the corners.

“If you say Fox, I’ll shoot you,” Eli snapped.

“Hey, I’m just saying, he’ll know whether or not it’s realistic.”

Fox was exactly the type of man we needed on this job. He was ruthless and willing to do anything to get the job done. And he had an ally that had high stakes in this. “He’ll bring Knight into it.”

“Christ, are you serious?” Eli scoffed. “The last thing we need is to torture Knight. Hasn’t he been through enough recently?”

“And we would need Shadow,” Red added. “He has the contacts to work this job.”

“You can’t be seriously thinking of going along with this.” Eli leaned back in his seat, shaking his head at Red. “Think of what you’re suggesting. It’s bad enough with Fox on a normal day, but now you want to bring in Knight and Michael and have them all in a room? Are you fucking outside your mind?”

“Are we really thinking of doing this?” I asked Red.

“You’d need the support of everyone else. I don’t know that they’ll go along with it. Either they do or they fucking hide. Any association with us could get them killed if this is as big as the senator says it is.”

“Sure, we’ll all just hide our families,” Eli grimaced. “No problem. I know a huge fucking compound that could hold all of us.”

“Actually…” I scratched the back of my head, unsure of why I was even suggesting this. “There might be a place up for grabs.”

“The silo is no place to hide all our families for months on end. Are you fucking crazy? Do you want them to never see the light of day again?”

I looked at Eli, shrugging helplessly. “It’s not the silo.”

“Then what the fuck—” Realization dawned in his eyes and he immediately started shaking his head. “He’d never allow it.”

“Why not? Rafe was his brother. Don’t you think he wants revenge just as much as Cash? Why wouldn’t he go along with it?”

“Because Knight is a territorial prick,” Red said without missing a beat.

“And he has all that space waiting for him. It could work.”

“It would never work,” Eli cut in. “There’s no fucking way you’ll convince all our families to go along with this. You couldn’t even get Isla to agree to extra security. How the hell are you going to persuade her to give up her life here to move to another state indefinitely? And how would you convince everyone else? Is Duke supposed to give up his business? What about Bowie? He’s not part of OPS, but he works for Duke. Do you really think Duke would leave him behind? And what about the rest of the fucking town?”

“Breathe!” I snapped, stopping the rant that could have gone on for days. “I’m not saying it will happen. I’m just talking about what-ifs.”

“What if my leg gets bitten by a dog and I get gangrene?” Eli said. “Yep, I can put out scenarios like that too.”

I rolled my eyes, desperately trying to hide the chuckle that wanted to slip free. I’d never known Eli to be so crazy in all my life. Which meant he was hiding something. Something fucking huge.

I narrowed my eyes at him and he sighed. “Sarah’s pregnant.”

I shook my head at both of them. “What is it with you guys? You can’t keep it in your pants for one fucking night? Is it impossible for you guys to not procreate? You know, the planet isn’t on the verge of collapse.”

“Hey,” Red argued. “I’ll have you know that I don’t fuck Zoe every night.”

“Thank fuck for that.”

“Sometimes, it’s during the day,” he grinned, shrugging at his own joke. “Hey, when you get married to Isla, you’ll know what I’m talking about.”

When I married Isla…I was beginning to wonder if that was a real possibility. It felt like every time I turned around, there was something standing in our way. And once again, the senator was getting involved, which was never a good thing.

I sighed, scratching my scalp as prickles shivered down my spine. All of this felt wrong. Yes, we could do it. Things would be hard for all involved, but it was a very real possibility. But what would that do to everyone? To pick up our lives and leave…it felt wrong. This was our home.

I will not abandon it.

I smiled as I remembered the lines from the movie I loved so much as a kid.

“Something funny?” Eli grumbled.

I quickly wiped the smile from my face and stared at my team. They were my family, and while I knew they would go along with anything I decided to do, could I really ask this of them?

“I need to think about this.”

“Yeah, you think about this,” Eli retorted. “Think of spending weeks in and out with this smelly son-of-a-bitch.”

“Hey, I am not smelly,” Red snapped. “Why are you picking on me so much all of a sudden?”

“You’re an easy target,” Eli shrugged.

I sat back in the booth and stared at my beer, thinking of all we would be missing out on if I took this job. Then I remembered the look on Cash’s face when he walked through the door after Rafe had been killed—after he’d been forced to shoot him. Pain like that would eat at him for the rest of his life. But sacrificing everyone for his revenge mission wouldn’t make anything better. What happened when everyone involved was dead? Would that be enough for him?

Would OPS be enough for him?