“Repeating.”
“Repeat again, 5x slower.” Watching the video of the bullet come out of her brain, I noticed the trajectory was going upward…it wasn’t going down. Most snipers shot from a sniper’s nest. Like a bird’s nest, a sniper’s nest was higher and usually farther away, allowing snipers to never come close to their victims. But this person…this person had shot from nearby, very near. The person who shot Ivy was definitely on that airstrip with us. “Cain, cross-reference all personnel on Airstrip 17453 with the employee log, exclude family.”
As Cain searched, I laid our three biggest threats on the table. Sayalero of Miami. Rocha of Houston. Villalobos of New Mexico. It would have actually been easier if they were mafia families. I’d know who was the head and at least who to go after. Cartels were a pain in the ass for the very same reason they were useful… they were nothing but pawns. If one died, another would replace him. You needed to destroy the whole structure. Ethan and our parents used local cartels to hide their footprints and to keep locals fearful enough to stay out of certain areas. When the cartels were loyal, they got a decent cut, got a reputation, and all was right with the world. For Villalobos, Ethan had found out that the current head was a kid by the name of Joaquin Agar, who had made a name for himself by killing his uncle eight months back, putting a cog in our well-oiled machine.
“Looks like a little cunt,” I said looking at the photo of Agar, a shaggy-haired, tan-skinned thin man. But I couldn’t imagine he’d been the one to order Ivy’s death. In all honesty, killing Ivy was insane. Why? To punish Ethan? Even then, Ethan is known for being cold-hearted to almost everyone. If the shooter was on that strip, he should have taken a shot at Dona or even me. Why Ivy? Ethan could replace a wife, but a sibling is impossible—especially knowing how much our family valued family.
“One unidentified person,” Cain stated, forcing me to look up to the screen there. Near an exit with a dumpster was the back of a white-skinned man. Due to his uniform and the hat he wore, I couldn’t see his face…wait.
Taking the remote pad, I zoomed into the photo myself, turning the feed slightly until zooming in on his arm.
“I had a feeling you’d be in here,” Sedric said, breaking my focus as he walked into the room, a towel around his neck. He dried his hair with it as he walked over to me. “You know it’s the first night all the family is together. It wouldn’t kill you to have dinner with everyone—”
“Dona, Helen, and Ethan aren’t here, so the family isn’t all here. So it’s not any different from any other dinner,” I replied, still concentrating on the image.
“Jesus fuck.” He laughed, and at that I looked to him.
“What?”
“You legitimately sounded like Ethan just then.”
I froze, my face contorting as I remembered what I said. “I did. Dear God.”
He laughed so hard it was almost deafening, but then calming himself, he added, “I asked my dad once why he stepped back and let your father take over. And he told me this stuff has a way of consuming you. That your parents spent all their time thinking and plotting, sometimes they’d even forget to eat or sleep. He didn’t want to live like that.”
“I’m sure Ethan would have some kind of timer set to make sure he ate just so he could stay in tip-top shape for this.” I was only partially kidding.
Sedric didn’t seem to find it funny. “I hope he doesn’t. He isn’t Cain. He isn’t a computer, or a robot. He needs people, and mental breaks, too. I was thinking as tragic as this is for him…it’s his own lesson, too. He cannot be all knowing all the time. He’s only human…like you are only human—”
“Sedric, what does this look like to you?” I lifted up a photo to him. He took it, tilting his head to the side as he stared.
“A gorilla.”
I nodded and pointed to the screen. “Look similar?”
He turned all the way around and lifted the picture up to see them both before glancing down to me. “Who does it belong to?”
“Rocha.”
They were a southern cartel. Finally, I knew who to kill next.
“Now that you know, come to dinner,” he pressed, getting up on the edge of the table. “Grandma refuses to let anyone else eat unless she sees your face in the dining room.”
“So that’s the real reason for your pep talk? Food?” I questioned, gathering up the file and the photo from him as I stood up.
“Do I need a better reason?” He asked.
Everyone in this family was ridiculous, but I couldn’t imagine them not being here. When I tried to, I thought of Ethan. Even though I felt like they had left me, I still had family here. What was it like when we weren’t here? When he was alone here?
“You comin’?”
“Yeah,” I said, glancing around the room. “Goodbye, Cain.”
“Goodbye, Wyatt,” Cain replied before the room went dark.
“Still find that thing creepy,” Sedric muttered, shaking his head as we walked toward the elevators.
“Don’t let Helen hear that, or she’ll ban you for life,” I said. But the moment I said her name, I felt the same ache and annoyance as before.