Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 51825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
His lips curve. “No?”
“No,” I confirm.
“Maybe?” he counters.
“Maybe. The rest of the politicians are full of a whole lot of hogwash.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he says. “Maybe I should have you become my campaign manager.”
“Sure. Then your slogan can be ‘Fuck you very much and where’s my coffee?’”
He laughs. “I like that, but we better pass.” He sobers. “Let’s talk about what comes next. I’m personally asking you to keep an eye on Calvin, while of course, moving full speed ahead with your investigation.”
“Your definition of ‘full speed’ includes not interviewing people who might hold helpful information and waiting on classified information I need desperately but is still on lockdown.”
“I’m afraid that is how this plays out,” he confirms. “We can offer you Homeland agents to aid your efforts.”
“I’ll use my team and I’m headed back to New York where I started this investigation with the person I knew the best, which would be Murphy. In the face of disadvantage that will be an advantage.”
“Understood,” President Arden states. “I’d like you to consider Ellis your direct report while maintaining your FBI badge. This will make you a bit of a double agent yourself.”
“I’m really not interested in spy games,” I say. “I hunt killers and I’m good at it. Let’s keep it that way.”
“I’m going to repeat this with the President here to validate our offer,” Ellis interjects. “We’ll protect Kane.”
“Kane runs one the largest fuel companies in the world,” I say. “He doesn’t need protection.”
“He can’t erase his family,” Ellis replies. “And we don’t want him to either. He has an army behind him that can contain Pocher until we can take him down. We want him to use that power.”
“Think about it, Lilah,” President Arden says. “And talk to Kane. Feel free to bring him to speak with me. I wouldn’t mind having a conversation with him about energy management while we’re at it.”
There was a time when I would have just said no.
But that was when I believed Kane’s father was dead.
He’s a problem Kane doesn’t feel he has an answer for, but maybe he does now.
***
Kane
I sit at Lilah’s desk inside Purgatory after deciding to approach my problem with my father exactly how she solves her cases. I’m not leaving this office until I know what the hell I’m doing about him. It’s not working, and I push to my feet, pacing because it’s all the fuck I’ve got right now. I step to the window and curse. I am never without a decisive answer, but I do not have one now.
“Kane.”
I rotate to find Kit standing in the doorway. “What now?”
“I’ll do it.”
“Do what?”
“What Lilah suggested. I’ll step into the cartel. I’ll help you do what you’ve always wanted to do and turn it into a legit operation.”
“You’d have to kill a lot of people to do that, Kit, and they’d do all they can to kill you first.”
“I can handle it.”
“No,” I say. “Hard no. You’re too valuable by my side.”
He leans on the doorjamb. “What about Enrique?”
“Enrique doesn’t control his emotions.”
“Then it has to be me.”
“You’re not a Mendez, Kit. The only way I convince the Society I am the cartel and a threat is if it’s a Mendez. The only way to convince law enforcement I’m not running the damn thing is that it’s nothing more than a bloodline I reject.”
“You leave your father in place and control him. He wants you to run it. You tell him it’s your way or you’re out, and you won’t just walk away. You’ll destroy him.”
“He’ll target Lilah.”
“What happened to wives being off limits? He has to know you will kill him.”
“In his mind, if he dies and takes Lilah with him, I inherit the cartel without Lilah to hold me back. He believes she’s all that stands between me and the cartel besides him. So as to your question, he will say she’s protected and off-limits. But that is all for show. Because that’s what liars do. They lie.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Director Ellis stays behind at the White House while I’m escorted to the Pentagon, where I meet a bunch of people I don’t care about and search Murphy and Rodriguez’s desks. I’m sitting behind Murphy’s desk when I dial Kane, only to land in his voicemail. I glance at the clock, which reads 7:00 p.m. and I’m not sure how it got this late. When my attempt to reach Kit results in reaching his voicemail again, I assume Kane’s in his meeting. My next and final call is to Jay, who has sent me about ten text messages.
I’m here.
Where are you?
Lilah.
Lilah.
Lilah!
Needless to say, he answers on the first ring. “Where are you?”
“I’m about to head to the airport. Do we have a chopper waiting?”
“Yes. Where are you? I’ll come and get you.”
“The Pentagon, and you can’t get to me. I’ll Uber. Give me about half an hour.”