Chapter 26

TWENTY-SIX

“ G o time,” Truman said to Dolan and Spence as remnants of Gani's building rained down.

Spence had flinched when the building blew sky high. “Jesus, you didn’t actually blow her up, did you?”

“Pretty believable, right, mate?” Truman slapped him on the back. “We’re up next. Let’s go.”

As the three of them exited the van, he pulled out his gun and held it loose in his hands. “CRZ, you all right in there?” he asked Zara.

She coughed and spluttered for a minute. “Hell, yeah. That was awesome. I slipped on a piece of glass, though, and sort of slid ass-first behind the counter rather than doing the action hero jump I’d planned.”

“Next time,” he assured her, “and we’ll get it on video.”

“Awesome.”

Bastian had moved to a front display window where Murphy’s had once showcased a car, staring across the parking lot at the demolished building with his mouth open.

Dolan was on Truman’s left, Spence on his right. Tension was high between the three of them, just like as young boys when Bastian was on their ass about something they’d done wrong.

Time to turn the tables.

Honestly, Truman was a bit chuffed that they’d been willing to help him. Their loyalty to Bastian had always been rock solid, like his.

But this… This went deeper than any brotherly bond.

They strolled across the street and up to the front door. Bastian saw them coming and scrambled behind a partition where the thermal imaging suggested the Vorpal Sword sat.

Truman tapped the butt of the gun against the glass door. “Pa. Let us in. We came to help.”

His former mentor peeked around the wall. Ducked behind it again. Silence. Thinking it over.

“Want me to break it down?” Spence murmured.

“Nah,” Truman said. He raised his voice, the smell of burning plastic and wood filtering to them. “I killed her for you, Pa. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

There was no response. Julia spoke in their earpieces. “Heist Zero, do I need to come in early?”

“Not yet,” he muttered. “Give him a minute.”

The man appeared, marching toward them as if on a mission. He’d come to some decision, and Truman hoped it involved placing his trust in his three ‘boys.’

The deadbolt on the door chunked, and he ushered them in. “What the hell, Truman? Now we’ll have every cop in the land here.”

“Good to see you, too, Dad,” Spence drawled in his American accent. “Truman told us you were in trouble. We came to help.”

He sized them up, especially Truman. “What are you up to?”

“Getting your ass out of a jam. The Feds are onto you. They know you forced Charles Grant to steal the diamonds, and that you kidnapped him. You need to get out of town, now.”

For a heartbeat, Truman was sure Bastian knew he was lying. “Why did you run off with the girl?”

He moved in, staring down the shorter man. “She knew, Pa.” He fell into the old version of himself, using the familiar term from his childhood with practiced ease. There’d never been a formal adoption of any of them, but that didn’t mean Ian hadn’t encouraged their love and loyalty. “She knew everything. She was going to go to Pearson and divulge you were the Mastermind behind the Red Hearts.”

“Figured it out, did she?” He scoffed. “What if she had? Pearson’s a git and wouldn’t have believed her. I had it all under control! I was using her to take the fall for the diamonds.”

From the far distance, the faint sound of sirens drifted to them. “She had proof,” Truman insisted. “A confession Catherine recorded naming you as the person behind all the heists.”

He waved it off. “Her word against mine. No one would have believed her.”

“What I want to know is,” Dolan said, “why gemstones?”

“Use your brain, Lanny.” He marched to the back, and they followed. So far, so good. “They’re small, easy to conceal, and worth fortunes.”

Behind the partition, Charlie Grant was tied to a chair, gagged and bound. He was listening, though, and he’d figured out that Emma had gone up in the explosion. Muffled curses came from behind the gag as he tried to gain his feet but couldn’t.

“He needed to fund our schooling,” Truman said, ignoring the raging man. He’d already shared his theory with Dolan and Spence, but it was important to get confirmation on the recording. “Right, Pa?”

Ian smiled like a proud father. “You’re quick and smart, boy, but blowing your cover to chase some ass? Stupid.”

“I told you. I did it to protect you.”

“You always had a thing for her. Couldn’t keep your dick in your pants where she was concerned, and look what it got you. What it’s ruined for all of us. What was the one rule I taught you boys?”

“The mission comes first,” they said in unison.

He waggled a finger. “Mission with a capital M. The choices you make determine so much more than these petty little crimes. Invictus is steering the entire world .”

This was a pivotal moment—he needed the man to confess to being a general in the shadow government. But if he pushed too hard…

“Why do you care?” Truman asked like a dutiful student.

Bastian pinched his ear, just like he’d done when they’d misbehaved as kids. “Power! It’s all about power and rising above the idiots out there struggling every day to put food on the table and play their stupid games on their phones. Someday soon, Invictus will span the globe and things will be the way they should. We’ll be in charge and have everything we deserve.”

Truman pointedly glanced toward the front, the sirens growing ever closer. “No more steering for you, General. You have to go into hiding.”

“Not until I wrap up one last thing.” Bastian glanced at Charlie.

Truman didn’t hesitate. He raised his gun and fired.

The rubber slug was less lethal than a bullet, but he still had to be careful where he aimed. Even rubber could kill a man if it hit his heart.

It smashed into Charlie’s right shoulder and sent him careening backward. The chair hit the floor with the man’s full weight.

Right on time, Julia knocked on the front door. “Hey, anybody in there? I need help!”

Bastian, giving Truman a nod at killing Charlie, growled, “Christ, who the hell is that?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Dolan said, grabbing Bastian’s arm and propelling him to the back exit. “We’ll take care of her and the body.”

Ian shoved Dolan off. “Truman, you must come with me, boy. They’ll throw you in the brink, and I won’t be able to get you out.”

He stood in front of the stunned Charlie. The slug had to hurt and the fall had caused him to whack his head on the concrete. Just so long as Bastian didn’t notice there was no blood or that the man was blinking. “I haven’t completed my mission to get Michael Stone to join us.”

Bastian frowned. “I didn’t give you that assignment.”

“It came from another general,” he lied.

“Who?

“You know I can’t say.” He tried to look like he regretted that fact. “Maybe they’re retiring you from your position.”

Ian’s face flamed red. “They have no right to do that! I’ve been with Invictus since I was a lad. I’ve devoted my life to them.”

And there he had it. “Invictus doesn’t care about you anymore.”

The sirens blared. Stone barked in his ear that Pearson and the task force wanted to know what the hell was going on. Julia pounded harder. “Let me in! They’re coming for me!”

Bastian shook his head. “Lies! You’re lying. They told me to complete this mission, and then I could move south.”

Truman held out his empty hand. “Give me the diamonds.”

“What? No. They’re for my new life.”

He raised the gun and pointed it at Ian’s face. “They told me to retrieve them. Invictus thanks you for your service. Give me the diamonds.”

Ian’s face went from red to ghastly, his shocked expression priceless. “Truman, you can’t… They wouldn’t…”

He sounded like a whiny three-year-old. “Pa, don’t make me shoot you.”

Bastian turned enraged. “How could you? I gave you everything, you little piece of shit.”

Dolan patted down Ian’s jacket, finding the bag of jewels. “They aren’t worth your life.” He tossed them at Truman’s feet and steered Ian toward the rear exit as if he still loved the old man and wanted to whisk him away.

Truman suspected there was a part of all of them that would always love the bastard in some weird way.

It almost worked. Ian was about to run out the door, right into the hands of the Feds when…

Emma bolted inside. Her gaze went to Truman, then dropped to her father. She wheeled on Ian and landed a solid right to his jaw, knocking him to the ground before rushing to Charlie. “Daddy!”

Bastian recovered, leaping to his feet. “You. You’re…”

“Dead,” she said. “Yeah, I know. It’s been a rough day.”

“Walk away,” Truman ordered the man, keeping the gun trained on him.

Dolan started to grab Ian, but Ian shoved him. “You tricked me,” he snarled at Truman.

“And you lied to the three of us.” He indicated his brothers. “We’re not your puppets anymore.”

Ian shook his head, disgusted. “And you were my favorite.”

Emotions…just as deadly as actual bombs.

Truman struggled to find a snappy comeback but found he was tapped out.

The back door swung open, but before ASAC Pearson could pull out his cuffs, Ian had one more bomb to drop.

He reached into his coat and pulled out a gun.

Bam, bam, bam .

The very real and lethal bullets struck Truman square in the chest.