Fuck.
“What are you doing here, Agent?” I ask, hoping I can play the idiot when I’m so scared for my mates. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
She scowls and points to a shiny black SUV parked in the driveway next to my car. “There might be, yes. I seem to have found a missing witness here, along with some suspects in his disappearance. Care to speculate how he got here, or why the other two are not cooperating with us?”
Okay, so we’re not playing nice. “Well, considering you invaded our home and took them against their will, I’m not surprised at the lack of cooperation. That was just plain rude of you.”
“Rude like stealing ID badges and personal items?”
Oh. They noticed. “I think kidnapping is a little ruder than some petty theft.”
“Detention is not the same as kidnapping, Ms. O’Neil. Now, speaking of detaining, we need you to come to headquarters with us as well.”
Fuck. Are they going to try to pin the whole Langley-slash-DeltaCorp mess on us?
“I didn’t do anything wrong, and neither did they. Isn’t one of your ‘detainees’ the person who blew the whole case open for you? Like, he risked his life to get evidence to the authorities. Detaining him is kind of a shitty way of saying ‘thank you.’”
Agent Elgin huffs out a frustrated sigh. “Ms. O’Neil, please, we aren’t trying to be difficult, so there’s no need for you to be. We’re trying to protect your pack from the people behind the trafficking. The company the Langleys were working for is run by some rather … unscrupulous individuals, and we want to ensure your safety.”
“You mean DeltaCorp?”
She folds her arms over her chest. “I doubt you believe DeltaCorp is a legitimate entity. It’s one of many shell corporations, with layers upon layers of false fronts, that lead back to some nasty people you really don’t want to know about.”
I rub my temples as a headache blooms. “What are we supposed to do for you? We’re small-timers. We can’t help against people like that.”
“You’d be surprised what ‘small-timers’ like yourself and your pack can do.” Agent Elgin gestures at the SUV again. “No one has gotten close to DeltaCorp before you guys. After the takedown, we discovered decades of falsified contracts that resulted in hundreds of packs trafficked across the globe.Youbrought them down. Now we need to keepyousafe untilyoucan testify and keep them down.”
“And if we refuse to get involved?”
“Then we’ll do more than just detain you four. We’ll have to arrest all of you for obstruction of justice.” Her severe expression softens, which scares me more than the glare. “Ms. O’Neil, I know you’re pregnant. I know that one of those men in my car is the father. What I don’t know, or perhaps I just don’t understand, is why you’re so determined to refuse our help.”
Tears come unbidden to my eyes. I’ve never been one to cry at much, but lately it seems like I cry all too often. Perhaps it’s related to the baby.
“What will we have to give up if we help?”
“This shithole house. That rusty old car. Any personal connections outside of your pack. You’ll have to wipe the slate clean.” She taps her new badge. “And you’ll have to give up the scams. No more stealing or lying, beyond the lies we give you to live.”
Normally, it would be an automatic “no” from me. We can handle ourselves, and we certainly don’t need someone else telling us how to live our lives. However …
I look back at the SUV. My mates are in there. My pack. My family. One of them fathered my child, and I know that I can count onallof them to step up to the plate when it comes to raising the baby.
I can’t think about life in terms of my benefit anymore. Not even just for me and the guys, now I have to think about what’s best for all of us and the baby. All five of us.
“What kind of job will you give us? Will it have benefits?”
“We’ll make sure you’re all taken care of. Benefits, dental, whatever you need. The government will set you up somewhere new, remote, but safe.”
I eye her suspiciously. “All that, just for testifying?”
“Yep.”
“They’ll all be safe?”
She nods. “And you, of course.”
Safety.
A new beginning.
