27. Twenty-Six

“Sign here, initial here, sign and date here, please.” The lawyer that set the paper down in front of me was one of many.

There was practically a small army of them waiting for us in the board room that Maxime escorted us to, each one with a whole book of NDAs for us to sign. The one in front of me had a familiar letterhead, but one I hadn’t seen since my black ops days. I didn’t need to read the paper to understand that it was legalese for “tell anyone anything you saw here, and they’ll never find your body.”

So far, I’d seen paperwork from the CIA, FBI, NSA, and half a dozen other private companies that probably held military contracts. I scrawled my signature on each page, initialed where they indicated, and didn’t ask any questions. These pencil-pushing idiots wouldn’t know anything useful anyway. They were there to get their paperwork signed, collect a check, and go home. I was an old pro at not asking questions. Maybe that’s what’d gotten me into so much trouble.

The real power in the room was Maxime. If there was one thing I’d learned doing black ops, it was to never trust a middleman with a computer to do anything other than screw you over. I glanced up at him and found him watching me with his dark eyes.

“Christ,” Xander muttered, flexing his hand like it’d cramped. He slid the bright pink sucker out of his mouth. “How many more of these do I have to sign?”

“Only a few more,” Maxime said with a shrug, finally looking away from me.

Xion glared at him. “And then we can leave?”

“Legally? Yes.” Maxime smirked. “But considering your lack of clearance, you’ll need an escort to exit the building, and I’m afraid one isn’t available until after your debriefing.”

“What debriefing?” Xander scoffed, adding another page to the pile in front of him. “What is all this paperwork, anyway?” His words came out muffled since he’d put the sucker back in his mouth.

“Just sign it and quit complaining,” Xavier mumbled. “It could be worse. You could be Shepherd.”

I winced when I looked down the table to where Shepherd sat, signing even more forms than the rest of us. It wasn’t clear why he had more paperwork to do, but I assumed it had to do with whatever deal he’d cut with Algerone.

“Listen to your brother,” I advised and went back to signing.

Church snorted. “You boys act like you’ve never dealt with the American government before.” He slapped a page from one pile into another. “If you think this is a lot of paperwork, you should try immigration.”

“It’s as much paperwork as is necessary to protect all parties involved,” Maxime said, pressing his tablet against his chest. “But the gist of it is simple. You were never here. This building does not exist. You spoke to no one and saw nothing. If anyone asks where you’ve been, you were on vacation in Aruba. I hear it’s lovely this time of year.”

Xander frowned and lowered his pen. “And what happens if we don’t keep our mouths shut?”

Maxime sighed as if answering the question was beneath him. I would’ve thought the answer was obvious, but Xander seemed like the kind of kid who needed shit spelled out for him.

I licked my thumb and flipped to the next page, scrawling my signature on yet another dotted line. “That’s why people like me exist. Trust me when I say you don’t want to talk. Not if you value your life and the lives of those around you.”

“But we didn’t even get to see anything top secret,” Xander complained.

Maxime wrinkled his nose in irritation. “Everything in this building is classified.”

“So you’re telling me this pen is classified?” Xander smirked as he held up his pen. “And this table? I know those shoes aren’t. They look like you stole them from your grandpa.” He pointed at Maxime’s shoes with his sucker.

Maxime’s jaw fell open, and he glanced down at his feet, aghast. “These are Ferragamos! Custom made from the finest Italian calf leather!”

“They’re made from baby cows? You know who wears baby cow skin shoes?” Xander pointed at him with his pen. “Evil henchmen with bad taste.”

“I am not a henchman!” Maxime declared.

“So you don’t deny being evil?”

Maxime’s eye twitched. I was worried he might be having a stroke until he clutched his tablet to his chest, let out an audible huff, and turned away. Xander lifted his hand to Xavier for a high five, but his request was denied, and he wound up turning back to his mountain of paperwork.

I looked over at Church on the other side of me. He hadn’t said much since our conversation in the chapel downstairs. Of course, I couldn’t blame him. He’d tried to apologize for cracking under Algerone’s interrogation and giving up Xion, but I understood. Xion was mine to protect, not his. Church didn’t know it, but he’d saved my life by giving Xion up. I was certain Algerone would’ve killed me to get to him, and I would’ve died to protect him. That would’ve been a mistake. Xion was worth living for. We just had to find a way to negotiate our way out of this mess and keep our heads down going forward and everything would be all right.

At least, everything with me and Xion.

I wasn’t so sure where I stood with the Junkyard Dogs. Most of them were scattered around the table signing their own mountain of paperwork. Only Happy was notably absent. I’d already worked out that the emergency with his mother was probably bullshit, but I didn’t know if he’d sold us out or not. It was possible Algerone just held his mother over his head to get him to leave. Either way, he’d walked away from the Dogs when we needed him. He’d gone back on an oath, which meant he was dead as far as I was concerned. If he ever showed his face at the yard again, I couldn’t promise I’d let him walk away alive.

As for the rest of the team, they seemed distant. Our comradery had fractured that night. I didn’t even know if I still had a team.

Once we finished the paperwork, the lawyers collected it and retreated. It was edging toward lunch, and we’d been promised food, but I was more focused on the rising tensions in the room. The moment the paperwork was done and Maxime and the lawyers were gone, people broke up into small groups. The Junkyard Dogs gravitated to one corner while Xander and Xavier occupied another. Shepherd and Annie talked quietly in a third, leaving me and Xion on our own.

I got up from my chair. Xion started to rise to follow, but I put a hand on his shoulder and shook my head. Some things a man had to do on his own, no matter how dizzy he got. I crossed the room toward where the Dogs had congregated, noting how their conversation abruptly came to a halt when I came near.

I cleared my throat. “I know you’re all pissed at me.”

“Pissed doesn’t begin to cover it,” Bowie whispered. “We are in a mountain of shit here, Boone. And for what?”

“For Xion,” Ragnar said.

“For love,” Leo added. When everyone looked at him, he blushed and pushed his glasses up his nose.

Bowie leaned against the wall. “And here I thought we all agreed when we signed up to keep our personal shit from spilling onto the job.”

“I know. I fucked up and you all have had to pay the price for it. It ain’t right, and I’m sorry I got us all mixed up in this. But I won’t apologize for protecting him. You all have to understand that this isn’t some passing fancy. I love him.” I glanced over at where Xion sat all alone when I said the words in a whisper. “Love makes people do stupid shit, like putting their people in the line of fire when they shouldn’t.”

“Like keeping secrets from the people who are supposed to have your back?” Church asked.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yeah.” I lowered my head and took a deep breath. “Look, after everything that’s happened, I’ll understand if anyone wants to walk away. You deserve a leader you can trust. Someone you believe in and if it ain’t me… Well, no hard feelings.”

“Bullshit,” Leo said, and I lifted my head to find him frowning. “I’m not ready to walk away from this. The Dogs are the best thing that ever happened to me. Recent events aside, of course. You guys are my brothers. I don’t want to work with anyone else.”

Wattson nodded. “Bleed, patch up, keep moving forward. It’s the only way to heal.”

Church stepped forward, towering over me. He was the one I was worried about the most. Without Church, the Junkyard Dogs would fall apart. I’d fall apart. He was more than my right-hand man. Church was my friend. I couldn’t run the Dogs without him.

“It’d be my honor to continue serving under your command, sir,” he said, stiffly holding out his hand.

I stared at his outstretched hand for a moment before looking back up at him and taking it. Coming from Church, that was plenty. “Glad to have you back aboard.”

As we shook hands, the doors opened. I turned, expecting to see more of Algerone’s staff with takeout containers. Instead, more of the Laskin clan started filing in. Yuri, Warrick and his partner Paxton, and finally River and Theo. None of the mafia side of the family was present, but everyone else was there. Algerone and Maxime followed them in along with another man I’d never seen before.

I narrowed my eyes, watching the newcomer with suspicion. He was older than me, or at least he looked it with his tousled silver hair and neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard, but that wasn’t what’d gotten my attention. The guy walked into the room like he owned it, carrying with him the unearned confidence of a man who was used to having everyone follow his orders on instinct. His aura said danger, but his swagger screamed law enforcement.

What the fuck was a fed doing here?

“What are they doing here?” Church echoed my thoughts as he let go of my hand.

His question was nearly drowned out by the audible pop of Xander removing his sucker from between his lips. “Damn, daddy. Is it hot in here or is that just you?” His line was clearly directed at the fed, who wasn’t having it.

The fed walked straight up to Xander. Wearing an expression made of stone, he seized the sucker straight from Xander’s fingers and tossed it into the trash. “I strongly suggest you start treating this situation seriously. You’re in a lot of trouble, young man.”

Xander leaned forward, clearly unfazed. “Oh, am I going to get a spanking?”

The fed glared at Xander for a minute before retreating. He joined Algerone and Maxime at the front of the room. “You don’t seem to understand just how much of a mess you’re in. If the rest of you gentlemen would take a seat, we can get started.”

I glanced back at Church who shrugged. He was right. We didn’t really have a choice.

I don’t like where this is going, I thought as I reclaimed my seat next to Xion. The rest of the Laskins filled out the table, occupying every seat. Was it coincidence that they’d put just enough chairs in the room? Probably not. When it came to the feds and people like Algerone, there was no such thing as chance.

As soon as we all settled into our seats, the lights dimmed, and text appeared on the smartboard: Operation Blackhat.

Shit.

“This is Special Agent Valentine,” Algerone began, gesturing to the fed. “Just so we’re all on the same page, he’s aware of who you are and what you do.”

Yuri and Annie exchanged a glance, shifting in their seats.

“Most of my co-workers would wet themselves with excitement to be in this room with so many serial killers,” Valentine said, stepping to the center of the room so that some of the projected text fell across his face. “Personally, I don’t care what you do so long as you keep your efforts focused in the right direction. I’m not here about that. I’m here because of this man.” He clicked a button.

Xion flinched as the image on the screen changed to show Harold Spencer. His palm was cool and clammy as I took it in mine.

“Harold Spencer,” Valentine announced. “Wanted for questioning regarding his involvement in an illegal human trafficking ring. Imagine my surprise when a key witness in the case I’ve been building for two years disappears.”

“He’s dead,” Xion said coldly.

I squeezed his hand. “Don’t say anything else.” The last thing we needed were the feds sniffing around.

“I figured as much once I realized you all were involved,” Valentine said with a sigh. “As far as my superiors are concerned, that makes this case a bust. They’re ready to shelve it and move on since all legal avenues of investigation have closed. I’m not. That’s why you’re all here.”

“We don’t work for the government,” Yuri Laskin said. “Any government.” His gaze cut sharply to Algerone.

“Don’t be stubborn.” Algerone drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “You were already looking into this case. I have the files from Xavier’s computer to prove it. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”

“The Bureau doesn’t know I’m here,” Valentine said. “This is not an officially sanctioned operation. Not anymore. While my bosses might be willing to drop this, I’m not. I want to see the bastards behind this get what’s coming to them. They’ve hurt a lot of people, and if I walk now, they get away with it. That’s where you people come in.”

War’s chair creaked as he sat forward. “What exactly is it you want from us, Agent Valentine?”

Valentine clicked to another slide and another shot, this one of an average looking man with glasses and messy brown hair. If I’d met him on the street, I wouldn’t have looked twice. Everything about him was average and forgettable.

“This is Kevin Calcin,” Valentine said. “Age thirty. Occupation: shift manager at a Walmart in Louisville, Kentucky. He’s also the man behind the dark web exchange board you’ve all become aware of. I’d like for you to take him out.”

“That’d be a waste of time,” Xavier said, folding his arms. “The exchange is already in operation. Killing him won’t take the website down or the servers offline.”

Valentine nodded. “We have a plan to DDOS the servers and take them offline. Temporarily first, and then permanently.”

Leo shook his head. “Even if you tried, a system like this has fail-safes built in. Someone else will just take over and migrate everything to some untouchable server in Russia or somewhere else. If they’re smart, these servers are already somewhere beyond your reach.”

“But not beyond yours,” Valentine said and looked over at Algerone. “Between you, Xavier, and Lucky’s people, there’s enough hacker talent in this building to topple the world economy. I’m pretty sure you can take down a pedophile website and keep it down long enough for us to execute phase two. It’ll be a coordinated attack. We’re taking out all the ringleaders at once.”

“It’s a massive operation,” Algerone cut in. “Neither the Junkyard Dogs nor the Laskins have enough people to carry this out, but I do. With your help.”

I crossed my arms. “And nobody’s going to care that we drop five, six bodies around the country at the same time?”

Valentine shrugged. “Accidental firearm deaths happen every day in this country. The current statistic says six people die every hour because of guns. A one-hour spike is a statistic. No one will even notice if you do your jobs right.”

“I’ll have clean-up teams ready to go,” Algerone added.

“You’re all talking like we don’t have a choice,” Xion said. “We don’t, do we?”

Algerone stood straighter, folding his hands behind his back. “This is a widespread operation. When it’s done, we’ll have saved hundreds, maybe thousands of lives.”

In other words, no. There was no opt-out. We were doing this whether we wanted to or not.

“And what about the people whose lives these assholes already fucked up?” Xion drove a finger into the tabletop. “What’s your plan to help them?”

“The clinic,” Paxton offered. He glanced around the table before sitting forward in his chair. “We founded the Maya Cooper Memorial Mental Health Clinic for a reason, right? We haven’t broken ground on the facility yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get started by offering some help for people that need it. We already have the staff.”

“And the space,” War agreed.

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Yuri offered.

Theo nodded. “And I’d be happy to act as a liaison.”

“It’s settled then,” Algerone said. “Theo will be in charge of the victims post-operation with support from Warrick and Paxton and financial backing from one of my organizations. If you need additional funding, we can talk to a democratic senator I know who’d be delighted to help us set up a charity. Tax deductible, of course.”

“How many bodies are we talking about?” River asked. “And are we handling disposal or you guys?”

“We can work out the specifics of logistics and chain of custody for evidence once everyone’s agreed.” Algerone waved a hand dismissing River’s question for now. “Without help from both the Laskins and the Junkyard Dogs, this operation will fail. I need all of you to pull this off.”

“How do we know you won’t screw us on the other side?” I asked, drawing glares from all three men up front. They could be mad all they wanted. I was just saying what everyone was thinking. “This could be a setup. Get us to pull the trigger for you and then turn us into your patsies so you walk away clean. Don’t act like you’re not above doing that. And don’t bullshit me either. I worked black ops long enough to know how this works.”

Valentine crossed his arms and shut off the projector. The lights came back up and we all shared a collective wince. “I have as much—if not more—to lose as the rest of you. If official channels found out about my involvement in this operation—”

“You’d categorically deny involvement and throw us under the bus,” I finished. “Stop dodging the question. I want a fucking guarantee that my guys aren’t going to walk away from this with a target on their backs.”

“Same,” War said, nodding. “We can’t be involved without something more concrete than your word.”

Algerone leaned forward, letting his fingertips rest on the tabletop. “Let me make something abundantly clear. Participation in this operation is not optional. Your continued freedom and survival is conditional upon its completion. None of you are in a position to negotiate with me. I have enough dirt on each one of you to bury you forever. Now, I don’t want to do that, but if you leave me no choice… I will do whatever is necessary to protect what’s mine.”

Looks were exchanged all around the table, with some people being more apprehensive than others. It really didn’t matter in the end. They didn’t get it. Algerone “Lucky” Caisse-Etremont was not the sort of man anyone said no to, not if they wanted to live long. We were well past being able to negotiate our way out of this. All that remained was negotiating what we’d get out of it.

“I want the four million,” I announced and Xion’s head snapped toward me. “If we’re going to work for you, you’re going to pay us. The way I see it, the four million dollars I was promised from the beginning is only fair.”

“The four million was for a job you failed to complete.” Maxime’s tone was murderous.

Algerone put a hand on his assistant’s shoulder. “Technically, if you had followed through, you would’ve split that fifty-fifty with Shepherd, bringing your total to only two million.”

“Fuck that,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m taking all the risk here. You want my tech for your hack, and my gun for the kill. And honestly? After you beat the living hell out of me, I think I’m entitled to some damn compensation for pain and suffering alone. You’re lucky all I want is four million.”

Algerone considered me for a moment before countering, “Two point five.”

“You’ve got to be joking. After what you put my guys through?” I shook my head. “I won’t do it for less than three and a half.”

“Best I can do is two point six.”

I scooted my chair forward. “Two point seven. Remember, you’re not just buying me. You’re buying my bullets. Whether I take two shots or one is up to you.”

He narrowed his eyes at my veiled threat, but I could see the wheels turning in his head. Algerone was a pragmatist. He wouldn’t let emotion get in the way of him cutting a good deal. “Done,” he said sharply.

“Now wait just a damn minute,” War said. “If you’re paying him, we want the same deal.”

“The only deal on the table for you Laskins is this.” Valentine slapped a thick file folder onto the table. “You do the job, I lose this file. Permanently. And trust me when I say you want me to lose it. There’s some interesting information in here about the Volkov crime family.”

War and Yuri both paled.

Annie took War’s hand in hers and patted it. “We’ll do the job. But Agent Valentine? You should know that my family has a long memory. We Russians are experts at holding a grudge.”

Ain’t that the damn truth, I thought, surprised Valentine wasn’t sweating. If there was one person in that room I wouldn’t cross, it’d be Annie Laskin. She hadn’t lived as long as she had and survived raising her boys by being weak. If I had to guess, Valentine was going to pay dearly for his involvement in this, but that didn’t change the fact that we were doing this job, like it or not.

And I definitely didn’t like it one bit.