“You wouldn’t have if Ned hadn’t gotten nervous and started threatening Micah, which made Micah start pushing Shiloh, giving away too much information.”
“How much does this Ned guy know about this?” Adam asked.
“Almost everything,” Mercer said. “So, even if you kill me, you’re fucked.”
“Who else?” Aiden asked.
“Did you think I could pull off an operation like this alone?” Mercer snapped, then grinned. “If you kill me, Ned has instructions to mail all the evidence straight to the Attorney General. It’s not perfect, but it will be enough to trigger an investigation. Do you think your house of cards will hold up under scrutiny? You’re better off letting me go and hoping for some kind of plea deal.”
“Can I please beat this dude’s brains in?” Avi asked, staring down Mercer until the man’s grin slipped a bit.
Thomas arched his brow. “The Attorney General…of the United States? You were going to completely bypass everyone else and go straight to him?”
Mercer smirked. “Yeah. You’re going down.”
Thomas pulled out his phone, thumbing through his contacts, then hitting a button. “Coleman, how are you? Sorry to bother you so late, but are you free to talk? It’s about Project Watchtower. This is a secure line?”
The color drained from Mercer’s face.
Levi looked at the twins, then Aiden. “Who’s Coleman?”
Aiden grinned. “Coleman McDougall. The Attorney General of the United States. Also known as one of the members of theProject Watchtower committee and also Tommy’s golf buddy whenever we’re in D.C.”
“We’ve got an issue,” Thomas said. “Seems a district attorney of yours, Grant Mercer, and one of your prosecutors, Ned Bates, have been investigating my family off book. He claims that, should anything happen to him, you’ll be receiving a package in the mail filled with said proof regarding our work. Now, I doubt that evidence will ever see the light of day, but should it come across your desk, I’m sure you know what to do with it.” His gaze flicked to the man tied to the chair. “Mercer? Don’t worry about him. I’m sure we’ll come to some kind of…understanding.”
With that, he disconnected the call.
“Are you going to kill me, too?” Mercer cried, all his smugness and bravado disappearing in an instant.
“Does he meet the code, Dad?” Avi asked.
Thomas sighed. “Well, we know he’s corrupt. We know he had no problem throwing an innocent kid in prison for an indeterminate amount of time. We know he rigged the system and tried to run some kind of operation out of bounds while he proved his case. But I’m torn. If I’m being honest, I’m not sure what we should do with him.”
“I have kids. I have a wife. I’m a good person.”
“I bet Malachi Mizrahi would beg to differ,” Thomas said. “But this little issue is much bigger than you or even me, as you can see. There are very powerful people, like my attorney general friend, who have a vested interest in ensuring that my family remains free to continue our work.”
“Your work?” Mercer echoed.
“Yeah, asshole,” Aiden said. “We take out the trash your office lets slip through your fingers. The rapists, the pedophiles, the child killers. If you come after us, you’re basically on their side and that makes you just as bad as them in my book.”
“You…kill bad people?” Mercer said.
“Hundreds,” Avi said. “Shit, maybe even thousands by now.”
Thomas raised a hand and Avi fell silent. He moved closer to Mercer so he was forced to crane his neck to look up at him. It felt like a power move. “The point is, we make the world a better place. And because we’re not the bad guys, we’re not going to threaten your wife or your kids. And, to be honest, I don’t really want to kill you. But I just don’t know if I can trust you.”
“You can. You can. I swear, you can. I didn’t know. I didn’t…understand. I’ll fix it. I’ll make it right. I’ll get Malachi out of jail and Micah where he belongs. I can make the evidence disappear, shut down the investigation. I’ll handle everything.”
Thomas braced a hand on the back of Mercer’s chair, getting in close enough to kiss him. “I need to be very clear so there’s no misunderstanding. If you ever, in any way, attempt to harm my family, or bend the law to frame some innocent kid for someone else’s crimes, I promise you, people with far greater authority than me, will make sure you stop breathing.”
“Yeah, and from what I’ve learned about those people,” Aiden added, “they like to make things messy. Stage a break-in, a car accident, a random shooting on the street. Often people around you get hurt in the process. People like your family. And while we would never harm your family, I can assure you, those other people could give two shits. You’re not even people to them. You’re obstacles. So, keep that in mind any time you think maybe you could take your information to someone else, someone higher up. There’s no branch of the government that won’t bend over backwards to keep this quiet.”
Mercer shook his head quickly. “It’s done. We’re done. I already told you, I will make it go away. And if you ever need anything, you can always reach out, anytime, day or night. M-My card’s in my wallet.”
“Once you’re in your car, I think you should head to the office and get started on that paperwork right away. You’ll find thatMalachi is no longer in custody. I had a friend take care of that a few days ago. But I need his record clean enough to eat off of. Got it?” Thomas asked, gesturing for Avi to remove the cuffs.
Mercer was nodding like a bobblehead. “It might take a few d-days, but I’ll make it happen.”
