Now he was like a dog with a bone. He couldn’t let theRussians go. It was personal to him for some reason. I didn’t know why becauseI had never bothered to ask him and what research I had done turned up nothingon the guy. He was a straight up enigma.
“Caroline Valera,” he said as way of greeting.“Nice of you to join us.”
I rolled my eyes. “Did I have a choice? Because if so,I’d be happy to reschedule. I have shit to do.”
“You might want to clear your schedule,” he countered.“This might take a while.”
Warning bells blared in my head. Run, my instinctscreamed. Get out while you still can. I spun around only to find more agentshad entered behind me. This was a trap.
My lip curled back. I was a cornered wolf. “What’sgoing on, Payne? Are you going to arrest me?”
His voice softened as if trying to soothe the wildanimal inside me. “Calm down, Caro. We’re just here to talk.”
Mason had taken it upon himself to use my nickname,like we were friends or something. He was maybe the most irritating human onthe planet. But right now wasn’t the time to correct him.
“Go on,” I ordered, feeling increasinglyuncomfortable. “Talk.”
He stepped closer to me so we were only inches apart.He held a file folder in his hands and tapped it against his open palm in anervous sort of gesture. “I’m only telling you this because we have history,okay? This is a favor I’m going to do once. That’s it.”
I swallowed the building panic, waving my hand for himto hurry this along. To be fair, we did have a sort of history. For the lastfive years I’d managed to interact with him on a semi-regular basis withoutgiving anything up. Not that he hadn’t tried. And not that it wasn’t temptingsometimes.
He’d even offered witness protection at one point.That had probably been the most difficult to say no to. A new life? A cleanslate? And all I had to do was put a giant target on my back by ratting out theentire operation first?
Thanks, but no thanks. That was not how I wanted tostart over.
Besides, I knew without a doubt Sayer would never gofor it. He was on his way to becoming a spy. There were rumors that the currenttwo from our family were about to retire. They were old. They were makingmistakes. Minor mistakes, but everybody knew it was better to quit while youwere ahead. Then the way would open up for Sayer and Atticus. Gus wouldeventually become the bookkeeper. Our future was as good as made.
I was happy for Sayer. This was everything he hadalways wanted. He respected thebratvaand in return, he was rewarded. And he deserved it.He really did. Nobody was more loyal. Nobody worked as hard or as long. Nobodycould do what he did.
He was invaluable to the brothers.
He would never leave them.
And I would never leave him. When I was younger, I’dwanted a different life. But that was before Sayer. Now I only wanted a lifewith him. And that meant I would have to take the syndicate with him. Thatmeant eternal entanglement with thebratva.
That meant more thieving.
“We’re moving on the brotherhood,” Mason said. “In away you’re not going to like.”
Fear spread through me like frost over a window. I wasclean. He didn’t have anything on me. I knew that.Because ifhe did, he would have arrested me by now.Mason wanted to pretend likehe could take me in at any second and didn’t because we had some kind ofdysfunctional relationship. Like he was doing me some kind of favor by lettingme live my life and that meant I should trust him. I knew better.
But what about Gus? Francesca? Sayer? Had they been ascareful as me in all of their dealings? Had they always covered their tracks?And recovered them? And then buried them six feet under?
“Who?” I demanded. Mason didn’t drag me all the wayout here to dangle empty information in front of me.
His head dipped with a meaningful look.
Sayer.
“He’s the best chance at taking down the entireorganization.”
I let out a sharp breath. “If you’re arresting him tomake him talk it won’t work.” I shook my head at how ridiculous it was. “Iwon’t. And he definitely won’t,” I promised. “You don’t have enough on eitherof us to make anything stick.”
Mason flinched, forcing me to doubt myself. “We haveenough, Caro.” Holding his hand up, he started ticking off the counts. “Grandtheft, fraud, bribery, money laundering, identity theft… should I go on?”
“You have nothing real. That’s all speculation,” Itold him, only half-believing my words. Sayer only worked with me some of thetime. The bosses had him on all kinds of jobs, most of them he didn’t talk tome about.
Mason’s expression was sympathetic… pitying. “What’samazing to me is how white collar his crimes are. It’s the drugs, traffickingand weapons we’re after. But don’t misunderstand, we’ll get them any way wecan.”
