“You’re not sacrificing yourself for my family,” Steel ground out.
“And you wouldn’t?” his friend asked. “No. The truth is, you would. You have been all this time. Hell, you still are. Every time we deploy on a project, who does the heavy lifting so we’re more likely to go home to our women… and now the children? You think we don’t know why you do it? No. It’s time those debts are repaid.”
“You owe me nothing, Waters.”
“On the contrary. I owe you everything. So do every one of your teammates. None of us would be where we are now if it weren’t for you. So shut the fuck up about settling the score.”
“Then don’t disrespect the sacrifice by throwing it all away!” He threw himself into a chair. “Pendejo!I swear to God, Waters. If Kubrick doesn’t kick your ass, I will.”
“She’d be the first to tell me this is the right thing to do.”
“Even if we agreed to this stupidity, it wouldn’t work. They won’t stop. You can’t bargain with the devil and win,” God reminded him.
“No, but it will buy you time to get Daleyza to safety. I know you’ll come back for me.”
“And what if we don’t get back in time? It’s Sarah all over again. No. It’s too risky. I forbid it.”
Waters raised his eyebrows. “You ‘forbid it’? Jesus Christ, who are you, my father?”
With a sigh, Steel looked up at him. “If he says no, you’re just going to do it anyway, aren’t you? Just like with your sister. You’re going to go off on your own and try to solve the problem. Then we’re going to have to go back in, haul your ass out of there, this time probably more like your corpse. What happened to we do none of this alone?”
“We all meet our end at one time or another,” Waters said quietly. “Do I want that to be the way it goes? No. The thought of the pain that would bring to Kubrick, Catalina, and Liliana guts me. But you are my family, too, and if there’s a chance to survive, you know I’ll do whatever it takes.”
The team leader looked at their boss. “That shipment years ago was Zion’s, but we’ve been a thorn in their side long enough that they won’t be able to pass this gift up. The only way to end these assholes is to get to whoever is running the show. So it’s time to stop fucking around and be the mongoose. Lure the cobra out of his den by giving him the juiciest egg to snack on. Then, while he’s distracted playing with his food, the farmer cuts off his head. The body of the Salieri relies upon the absolute chain of command of the power structure. They will writhe in confusion without their leader and fall into chaos. By the time they figure out how to shore up their defenses, we can rescue Ka-Bar. Then Tribe, along with Mythos and Tripoli’s people, can make short work of the rest of those sick fucks.”
“Fuck me, Henry,” God muttered again, quoting another one of Waters’ girlfriend’s favorite phrases. The man stared into his coffee cup, as if it held a miracle to prevent Waters’ suggestion from becoming a reality.
The silence ticked on and on.
“Kubrick’s going to have my balls,” he said to no one in particular. “How am I supposed to justify sending you to these monsters, leaving her and those two little girls orphaned again?”
“Because you know you have to. Because she knows it too. If it’s going to go to shit, make the sacrifice mean something. I’m one life. If we do this, and we do it right? If we rain down justice on this group, then my life will be worth the thousands of women we save from their hands.”
Neither Steel nor Waters moved or spoke. God’s edict would merely be the official answer because Steel knew his friend was determined to do this, no matter what the answer was.
How did you repay such a sacrifice? Because that’s what it was. They all knew the Salieri wouldn’t be able to resist Waters walking into their den, and he’d be a dead man walking. How would Steel ever be able to look Kubrick in the eye again, knowing that he and his family were the reason hers was going to be torn apart?
“Fuck,” the man whispered. To them all? To himself? It didn’t matter. The choice had been made. “Make sure your paperwork is up to date with Cherry. Push back the meeting another three hours, though no amount of time is enough. We better come up with a damn good plan.”
Without a word or a look, Waters left the room.
8
AUGUST 20, 2024
Steel
How didyou apologize to a woman for sending her partner, your friend, to his death?
You didn’t.
He glanced to the garage. A pair of bicycles—one pink, one purple—leaned against the side of the building. Jesus fucking Christ.
The door to Kubrick’s personal residence opened. That was something, at least. She would have checked the security feed to see who was at the door.
He braced himself for a violent outburst of swear words directed personally at him, but nothing came. Instead, she stood at the door, her features pale and haunted, eyes red-rimmed. She wore a sweatshirt that was too big for her and bore the word “NAVY” across the chest, sweatpants, and mismatched socks.
Without saying a word, she stepped back from the door and disappeared into the living room off to the right. Hesitant, he stood onthe screened-in porch, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides, working hard to keep his breathing unlabored and his face a blank mask.
