Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“What do I say?” Lorenzo asked.
“As little as possible,” Remington replied. “But we’re going to make this one semi-official, so it’s all right to admit he was kidnapped and beaten.”
Lorenzo nodded, then scooped me up into his arms like I weighed nothing. I might have been more impressed if I weren’t in such agony. I bit my lip again and winced. It hurt like hell. My whole body hurt like hell.
“Sorry, but I’ve got to get you out of here. They can’t see the mess that Rafe made.”
“Yeah, I know, but I need to talk to Rafe.”
“Soon.”
Rafe turned and looked at me. “What are you doing?”
“He needs to go to the hospital,” Lorenzo said. “It’s okay. I’ve got him.”
Remington and Dante held Rafe back as Lorenzo took me upstairs to meet the ambulance.
36
RAFE
“Let me go!” I struggled to free myself from Remington and my brother.
“No, Rafe, you’ve got to stay here,” Remington said. “You’ve got to make an official statement.”
I shook my head. “A statement? What do you mean? I can’t—” I glanced back at what was left of Ivanov. “Oh, fuck.” I stumbled toward the corner of the room and vomited.
My stomach was trying to turn itself inside out. Dante moved his hands in circles on my back until I was done. Then I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth. The room spun around me when I rose.
“I couldn’t stop shooting,” I said.
Dante put an arm around me. “It’s okay. I don’t know that any of us could have in that position.”
I glanced at Remington. “You want me to admit that I did this to the cops?”
“No,” Remington said. “I want you to say you saw Zach do it.”
“Absolutely not! I won’t have him arrested. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect him. I’ll go to jail—”
“Stop!” Remington cut me off. “All you have to do is talk to Maria. You just need to give her a statement.”
“Maria? Zach’s boss?”
“Right. She should be here by now.”
Had I missed something? “Here? What the fuck is she doing here?”
“Working with us.”
Had I been right? Was Remington giving her info? “Why would I say it was Zach?”
“It was self-defense,” Remington explained. “He had no choice.”
“But…” I shuddered. “He wouldn’t have done that for self-defense.”
“He was under intense mental strain. He’d been in captivity. You know what Ivanov is like. You say Zach’s been working undercover; he was confused. Maria will write it up, and it will be fine. I know you want to protect Zach, but this is the best way to do it. It doesn’t link him with any of us.”
“But it links me. I’m here.”
“You were spying on Ivanov. That’s all.”
I thought I might vomit again. “I don’t think I can do this.”
Dante squeezed my shoulder. “You can do this, Rafe.”
“But won’t she know I’m lying?”
Remington smiled. “As long as she has a story to tell her superiors, it doesn’t matter.”
“How do you know that? How do you—?”
“That’s enough for now.”
“Are you working with them?”
“Xavier is working with them, and I am facilitating it today.”
“Wait, what’s going on? I—I thought what we did was real. I thought we were—”
“Everything is real,” Remington said. “We’re not the good guys, but sometimes when you have a common enemy, you do whatever is necessary to bring him down.”
I shook my head. “Does everyone but me know this?”
“I sure as fuck didn’t,” Dante said.
“No. Everyone does not know, and you’re not going to mention it to anyone.”
“Okay. I won’t. I just never expected…”
“Yeah, and neither would my father. If he finds out, things will go south real fast.”
“He’s never going to find out from me,” I promised.
“Me either,” Dante added.
When I stepped outside, a woman with dark, curly hair, wearing a black pantsuit, hurried across the lawn as we exited Ivanov’s house. There were several black SUVs and a few New Orleans PD cars. Fuck. This wasn’t good.
“I’m Maria.” The woman held out a hand to me. I accepted the handshake.
“I’m Rafe. Zach’s, umm… He’s not here anymore.”
She nodded. “I hope he’s on his way to the hospital. I understand he was badly hurt.”
“Yes, but he’s going to be okay. His injuries aren’t… Ivanov didn’t…”
“Thank God.” She leaned in and lowered her voice. “I won’t be able to speak freely tonight with my colleagues around, but thank you for what you did.”
“I… I’m just glad he’s alive.” She took a step back and said in a loud voice, “I’m going to need to take your official statement. As a witness.”
“Of course. Where should we go?”
“Let’s walk over to my car.”
I gave a fake testimony the way Remington had instructed, and then Maria shook my hand once more, passing me her card. “Maybe after everything’s resolved, I’ll see you again at some point.”
I nodded. I’d like that. She was friendly, and she seemed very capable. When I heard her talking to her colleagues, she was almost as scary as Remington. I could see how they respected her, and I understood why Zach did too.