Page 13 of Phoenix

That announcement surprised everyone in the room, himself included. In reality, he should be the person who had the most information about what happened to his father. After all, unbeknownst to anyone, he had been there that day, and he knew who did it. But that was all he knew because that had been the last time he had heard from Tor, and his brothers insisted that he hadn’t gotten in touch with them either.

Taking the silence as a positive sign, the chief continued talking. “We have evidence that ties a person named John Jones to the murders of Attorney General Sterling and Victoria Dunworthy, but we haven’t been able to apprehend Mr. Jones. We believe he has strong ties to an organization called the Knights. He may be their leader.”

“What are the Knights?” Jule’s mother asked.

“To be completely frank, we’re only now starting to learn about them. They’re a cartel that we believe started as an offshoot from one of the bigger prison gangs and they may still be connected. They’re insular and incredibly well organized, which is how they’ve managed to fly completely under the radar until now, which I assure you is a concern I’ve raised with my staff. The ATF is involved because of their firearms dealings, and the DEA is on board because of their involvement with controlled substances, among other things. Many other things.”

“My gracious,” his mother said on a gasp, her hand over her mouth. “Is that why they targeted Harold? Was he investigating them? Are we in danger?”

Both of his grandparents looked down. Jule understood that it was because they, unlike his mother, knew exactly who Victoria Dunworthy was, which meant they knew the situation was probably more personal than professional.

“We don’t believe you’re in danger,” the chief assured his mother. “Of course, we’ll tell you if that becomes a concern. For now, I’m here to give you that update and to answer anyquestions you may have.” He paused. “Any questions that I can answer, that is.”

Everyone remained silent for a while as they processed the information they’d just received. Jule had known John Jones was bad news. Tor had told him that very clearly on more than one occasion. But he hadn’t realized the scope of it. Tor’s father was the head of some dangerous cartel. He had no idea what that even meant but the details about what he was involved with gave him a clue. Maybe Tor was hiding. He had run into that house right after everything happened so maybe his father realized he saw something, and Tor had to get away. But where would he go and why wouldn’t he tell Jule about it?

“What’s the plan of attack, Chief Montez?” his grandfather asked. “What precisely will this task force do to get justice for my son?”

“We’re working out those details, but right now, we believe an infiltration is our best option.”

“An infiltration?” his mother asked.

The chief nodded. “As I mentioned, this cartel is extremely organized and deeply insular. They’re also very dangerous. This is a death penalty crime and they’re closing ranks around Jones. In order to find him, we need to infiltrate his organization, gather information about their members and activities, and if we can accomplish that, we can get him and bring the entire thing down with him.”

“That does sound complicated,” his grandfather acknowledged.

“It is.” The chief nodded. “But we have a plan to make it happen. It’s a little unorthodox and it won’t be fast, but it will get done. We will get justice for Attorney General Sterling and the other victims of the Knights cartel. You have my word.”

***

Jule sat alone at one of the tables outside the cafeteria, a full tray of food in front of him. He wasn’t hungry. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been hungry. It was the first day of the last semester of his last year of high school and he didn’t care. He no longer cared about anything.

“Hey.”

He looked up and saw Maria Cruz smiling tentatively at him. She was one of the only people in that school he actually liked. “Hi, Maria.”

“Can I sit?”

“Of course.”

High school, like every part of Jule’s life, was compartmentalized. His honors classes were filled with people who lived in his neighborhood. Some of them were the children of people his parents knew, others were the children of people who wanted to know his parents. He knew how to play the part and fit in their space, at least on the surface, but none of that was real and none of them interested him. The people he actually liked spending time with had never been in his classes. They lived in Tor’s neighborhood and the two of them used to hang out with them on evenings and weekends. They weren’t friends exactly, Tor had always been his only real friend, but they were fun and Jule could be himself with them. Unfortunately, by this stage in school most of them had either graduated or dropped out. Maria was an exception. She lived a couple of streets down from Tor, she was chill, and she had been in the same classes as them throughout high school.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you that I’m sorry about what happened.”

“Thanks.” He never knew what to say when people offered condolences about his father, so he took pages from his mother’s script, even though it was bullshit. “He lived an honorable life. He’s in a better place now.”

“I was talking about Tor,” she whispered. She leaned forward and covered his hand with hers. “I can’t imagine how hard it is for you that he’s gone.”

Wetness formed in his eyes and he nodded.

“Do you talk to him?”

He shook his head.

“I’m sorry. Nobody knows where he is, but I thought you…”

He shook his head again.

She got up, stepped over to him, bent down, and hugged him. “I’m here if you want to talk about it, Jule. Take care of yourself.” With that, she walked away.