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Had the whole world gone crazy? Everyone playing the short game, all the innocents being sacrificed for a house built on the sand. No honor, no duty to a higher calling. It was evil’s nemesis, after all. It was devoid of being worthy. All the bad guys could do was be scarier than the next one in line. And the lines were longer the more money they made, greed infecting everything in their midst. Evil people claimed territory that was not theirs to claim, like vampires feeding off the souls of the good people of the world who just wanted to live in peace and freedom.
“So if you move off the island, you are no longer protected?”
“No, it’s supposed to apply anywhere.”
Then he realized one missing piece of the puzzle. “Your family is mafia as well?”
She looked at the empty basket on the table. Slowly, she nodded her head. “They helped put us up. We owe them our lives. It was the admission for our freedom.”
“But that’s not freedom, Moira. It’s temporary safety. Freedom means being unrestricted by those handcuffs, not having to hide, not having to seek protection. It’s how all the evil starts, how men and women compromise themselves, claiming it’s not as bad as it could be. Living a life of servitude isn’t being free. Anyone who thinks so is delusional.”
She was affected by his words, wiping the tears from her cheeks. No wonder she didn’t want to tell him all this. As operations went, this was perhaps the most dangerous he’d ever encountered. And they’d just stumbled into it, caught in the trap.It’s how foreign fighters would switch sides depending on what tribe would protect their families back home. It had nothing to do with loyalty to a cause or even country. It was a protection racket. There were no real freedom fighters, only fighters desperate to protect what little they had.
And it certainly wasn’t a viable solution to the overall problem; bullies of the world. He shook his head. “I can’t believe how entwined you and your family have become.”
“You used to talk about the frog in the pot of water not being able to jump out until it’s too late.”
Evil exists when good men and women do nothing.
It was part of their creed, that saying that all true warriors subscribed to. It had nothing to do with politics, nationality. Evil was pure evil. Always and forever. And it required the innocents to feed off of from a place of fear. It was so unfair, and Dimitri’s blood began to boil.
He’d asked the question and got the answer. Now what was he supposed to do? She was looking to him like he was the solution, and he was so far out of his league. He had come all the way over here certain he could help, and now he wasn’t so sure. Was his fate to die in her arms as she lay dying too?
No. That was not acceptable. If he had to die, he’d die fighting until he could not go further. He’d take as many bad guys with him as possible, send them back to the evil source from which they came. His Brotherhood of warriors demanded his best, regardless of the odds. It’s what was required.
Assess the risks. Practice and strategize. Plan for A, B, and C outcomes, and then when E or F outcomes show up, improvise.
That’s the only way it worked. Spending two seconds on the fear of it not working was a complete, dumbass waste of time.
She studied his face, waiting for his answer, waiting for him to solve her problem or to come up with a solution. So he’d do that. He was up for that. But he was also going to tell herthe truth. The odds were long. It was important for her to pay attention. In truth, their inattention had caused this.
He smiled and kissed her, tasted the sweetness of her lips, the remnants of the brioche’s sugar coating in the corners of her mouth. Her warm breath against his face made his heart race. She was so worth protecting. This was what he did.
He sat back, licking his lips with another smile. She began to slip off that damned robe.
“Moira, no. Not now. Not that I don’t want to just do that for days and days to come. We won’t get there if we don’t focus on something other than fucking. I know it’s blunt. But let’s go on a diet here, try to give that stuff up for a while, because, honestly, you are so damned distracting, I can’t think. You didn’t bring me over here to fuck your brains out, sweetheart, which I’m only too happy to do. You have asked me to go on a sacred mission to help save your family, right? That’s the long game. We’ll have time for play later.”
He leaned in one more time and kissed her slowly.
“I promise.”
She slipped the robe back over her shoulder. It was sweet what she said next. “I’ll try.”
At least, it was honest. It was going to take everything he had to do the same. Did no use wishing it was otherwise.
He put his hands together on the table, touching his fingertips to each other, the church and steeple thing.
“What if we bring him down? Wouldn’t your family benefit from that?”
“Not if there’s a war.”
“But what if the U.S. government intervened, caught him on corruption, and prosecuted him?”
“Yes, but our government is riddled with dishonest people, Dimitri. You know this to be true. They tried to frame Nathan for the botched raid. I think he was convinced we’d been killedby the personal special force Francone has. It was to be a joint exercise with the SEAL Team. The Italians went in first and destroyed everything during the raid, and he made Nathan take the blame for it. It was a lesson to him not to interfere with their business. He wanted to be rid of them.”
“So Francone partnered with Goldberg and then changed his mind?”
“I think Nathan introduced him to the military contractors. Then he didn’t need him any longer. This was a way to get him out. But they aren’t done with Nathan. They’ve got a lot of stuff on him. He’s probably being more useful as a senator. They will bleed him dry until there’s nothing left.”
