“I don’t need to pack.” She assures me. “I’m ready now.” She reaches for my suitcase to pull it down the stairs, and I jerk it away.
“Okay, I’ll get the suitcase.” I shake my head at her childlike attitude before remembering she’s still a teen. Technically, an adult but still not mature in many areas. She jumps down the steps, and I follow her, feeling my anger begin to grow again when I remember why Scout isn’t here. It feels like a dream, like it’s just not real that she’s out of my life for good.
I hate it, but I hate what she did to me even more.
All I have to do is continue to remind myself that she doesn’t truly care for me. If she had, this wouldn’t have happened. As we head to the car, all I can playback is the way everything went down.
“Tito, I need to speak with you, alone. Come.” Vince looked like he was about to blow my head off if I asked any more questions. But I followed him out, thinking I was being rude for not taking Scout with me. He walked me over to his car, and the moment he opened the door, I noticed a familiar face hovering on the back-facing seat.
“Agent Jack Beys.” I grinned, sliding in as I remembered all the times he helped my family get out of very sticky situations. And then there was our little escape in Hawaii. He’s a good one. Great one, actually. Has really helped our relationship with the FBI.
We slap our hands together into a handshake as Vince slide into the car.
“To what do we owe the pleasure of your annoying company.” I jest, and his smile turns to one that looks as if this is not a pleasure at all.
“So, I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Well, actually, I love that I’m getting to do this because it means you’ll stay safe. And I would hate it if anything happened to your family. You guys are seriously top-tier. I was talking to some of my—” Vince cut him off while he was at it, and I’m glad he did because I don’t think he’d taken a breath since he started speaking. The guy was about to knock himself out from lack of oxygen.
“On topic, Jack.”
“Right, right, right, right.” He quickly mumbled, pressing the back of his finger to his bottom lip. “Where do I begin?” He seemed as if he were asking himself, but then he looked at Vince, and I started to get a little concerned.
“Just start explaining.” Vince raised his hands like he was fed up with him and Jack took a deep breath, eyes to the floor, before he turned to me.
“One of our operatives for a special sector in the FBI was killed last night.”
“Oh shit. What happened?”
“Russians.” I furrowed my brows a little, lost because it sounded odd. Why would the Bratva attack the FBI? Their biggest goal has been taking down our family.
“Why would they—”
“Because we believe the Russians have wormed their way into the hacking division to shut down your tech project. They want the tech all to themselves.”
“I’m slightly flattered that they see it as such a big threat. But they haven’t succeeded; we’re all good here. They haven’t even been down this part of town. Not that I know of, anyway.”
“They might not have been, but Scout Summers has.”
“What?” Everything was becoming fuzzy around me, and a sinking feeling of dread began to prod at me.
“I did some digging after I realized something was off, and the department filed for protection against them. Turns out they have been working with the Russians for months now, messaging on burner phones and meeting in dark alleys’ you know, the usual bad guy stuff.”
“Jack.” Vince motioned for him to get to the point.
“Sorry. What I’m trying to say is that in their files, I also found evidence of a contract with someone on the inside of the San Giovanni circle. Scout Summers. She’s been corrupting tech, working for them behind the scenes. Turns out she even delivered tech to this sector. The problem is, she gave them prototypes that didn't work, and when the Russians found out they couldn’t use them, they retaliated. Poor old Agent Bobby Marx was shot right outside our offices as a warning. Agent Riggs, head of the department and a large chunk of his team, is no longer reachable. We don’t know what they plan next, but I just wanted to warn you about it before—”
“Scout isn’t… she doesn’t—” I couldn’t put into words the devastation I felt. This entire reality I had built like a nicely furnished home was ripping itself apart from the inside. Paint peeling off the walls as I stood in the center of it, waiting for the remaining structure to break apart and crush me.
“She’s not going to get away with this, and neither will the Russians. The elders will see the importance of your tech, and we’ll take them down before the month is up.” Vince assured me. I guess he thought that would solve everything, getting revenge. But it wouldn’t and won’t. None of this is going to change what has happened.
“Hurry.” Olive’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts, and I meet her at the top of the stairs to our jet. A group of security guys has tagged along for the trip. All of them are behind us still, and the other half have already made it into the plane.
“You’re in quite a rush.” I laugh, and she shrugs, sitting across from me as a flight attendant brings us cups of water.
“I like your tech too, you know. It’s not just Espie who’s smart.” She says after we begin to move down the runway.
“Where’d that come from?” I take a sip of my water and look out the window, feeling so tired I could pass out at any moment. I look back at her with heavy eyes, and she studies my face for a moment before crossing her arms over her chest.
“What happened, Tito?”