“Do you need to ask?” Her voice was soft and cajoling but she didn’t cower in the face of the gale storm gathering in Jared’s eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with him. There was a vulnerability in his eyes that he was doing his best to hide from her. “It was my fault that Kezlin was taken, Jared. I always fix my own mistakes and I protect those I care for. I had to be the one to find her. You had the harder task. If not for your presence and guidance, this entire operation wouldn’t have gone as smoothly as it did.” Her hand flailed in the air. “Because of the Cobras all these women and children have a second chance. Yes, they might spend years in therapy trying to deal with their PTSD but at least they can return to their homes and live a full life.”
“Your flattery is out of place under the circumstances, Paxton. We played a small role. The operation was much bigger than just us.” He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. “I understand what drove you but your interference has jeopardized what we aimed to achieve.” He sighed heavily. “Everyone on this team knows that all it takes is one misstep for the whole thing to blow up in our faces. Every raid is planned down to the smallest detail and timed to the minute. Your presence forced me to have to improvise at a very critical moment.” His gaze was reproachful as he walked past her. “Because of that Conti, Lopez, Marco Boneiro and Diego Rossi managed to escape.”
“Jared, you have to understand... Jared!” she called after him but he ignored her.
She’d fucked up. Jared finally had a chance to put Marco Boneiro behind bars. Because of her eagerness to prove her competence and insistence to be the one to save Kezlin, she’d foiled that opportunity.
Worst of all... she’d put Jared’s life in danger. Luca Boneiro now knew his brother was alive. It was only a matter of time before Marco found out, too. She tapped the comms in her ear to switch it off as she went searching for Evelyn. The little girl flung her arms around her neck, sobbing uncontrollably.
“You kept your promise.”
“I did. It’s over, Evelyn. Soon, you’ll be back home with your family.”
“If they’d want me back.” Her eyes lowered in shame. “I’m dirty now. They might hate me for what I’ve done.”
Paxton squeezed her tightly. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong. You had no choice and I promise you; your family will understand. Have faith. Everything will be fine.” She handed her over to the hostage rescue team once she calmed down.
“God, I still can’t believe Jared is Marco Boneiro’s oldest son,” Knox said as she joined her outside the house. She tapped her ear to disconnect her comms. “Damn, I don’t know how these guys do it. All the voices are driving me nuts.” She looked at Paxton. “Did you know about Jared?”
“Jared told me the story of how Angelo Boneiro had supposedly died but not that it was him.” Her eyes landed on the tall figure standing with FBI Agent Brown. Even from a distance, she could read his body language. He was angry. She couldn’t blame him. “Thinking back, it should’ve dawned on me that he knew the story too well. Especially since we couldn’t find any intel about the existence of an older son.”
“You had no reason to suspect anything. I can’t imagine how something like that must’ve haunted him over the years. I guess that explains his stoicism.”
“Yeah... and now that Luca Boneiro knows, he’s right back where he left off.”
Knox stared at Jared. “What do you mean?”
“He was at the mercy of a monster as a thirteen-year-old child. Marco might not know his son Angelo is still alive but he will soon. I shudder to think what he would do to keep that from becoming public knowledge.”
Boneiro hideout cabin, Ridge Trail, Brisbane...
Marco Boneiro was furious. He loved Isabella and kept his indulgences to a limit. It was the first time in over a year that he’d decided to enjoy the debauchery at the Malibu Colony Beach party— mainly because the other four leaders of The Commission were going to be there. A show of camaraderie, so to speak— and in doing so, he almost got caught.
Lucky for them, Matias Lopez had the foresight to ensure there was an underground escape tunnel where they had managed to hide, along with him, his daughter Olivia and Conti until they were assured they could escape further down the beach without being detected. If not for the fact that Olivia had come to warn them in the study at the time of the raid which alerted them to the FBI’s invasion on the CCTV footage, they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to escape.
Rossi and Marco’s arrival at the mountain cabin coincided with the early morning sun that suffused the horizon in an aura of saturated mandarin.
“How is it possible that our FBI informants were unaware of the raid on the Malibu Colony Beach party?” Marco was highly agitated as he switched on the lights upon walking inside.
“Could your sons being detained a couple of weeks ago have something to do with that? Perhaps they compromised our informants in an attempt to strike a deal for their release,” Diego Rossi’s voice crackled with an air of intuition.
Marco turned red-faced. “My sons know better than to compromise the family. They’d never throw their own father under the bus, no matter what situation they were in.”
“How sure are you about that, Boneiro? This isn’t the first raid on our operations since their release. There are just too many coincidences.” Rossi scowled “And now three of our associates are in jail.”
“Costa will get them out. I called him on the way over. Like many others, they were at the house as guests. To try to prove they intended to indulge in any of the entertainment would be extremely difficult.” Marco poured a stiff drink and threw it back.
“And Luca? Did they get him?” Rossi’s voice cracked through the air.
“I don’t know. I haven’t been able to get hold of him.”
“It’s a total goat fuck, Boneiro.”
“Stating the obvious isn’t going to solve the problem.” He started pacing again. “Who and what are the Cobras? I heard this name bandied about as we made our way into the tunnel at the Malibu house.”
“If we can get hold of any of our informants, we might find out. In the meantime, we’re flying blind.” Rossi downed his drink. “I’m not hiding out in this shithole. I hate the mountains. We managed to escape. Even if they saw us arrive, they would have had to have caught usin flagrante delicto. They have fuckall. We were there for a dinner party. No money changed hands for any ‘favors’ and besides, even if they bring us in for questioning, they have nothing substantial to charge us with. I’m going home.” He got up and glared at Marco. “I suggest you get hold of those idiot sons of yours, Boneiro. If they were behind what happened tonight or are in some way responsible for the raids on our tobacco and liquor warehouses, they’ll be up to their necks in shit.”
“Leave my sons to me. If they waxedmea culpa, I’ll personally make themcastrati.”