Page 60 of Dark Reunion

Walking forward, Mr. Keene placed the bars in a green rut sack, zipping it up tight. “Excellent, I’ll be back in a few weeks to discuss our new venture. Though, next time I want my money in cash. A pleasure doing business with you as always.”

Keene and the two soldiers walked out.

Carlos let out a satisfied sigh. “See?” he murmured. “When I say I will have something, I have it. The world is very simple when you accept the right truths.”

Dean turned to him. “Here’s one. You just signed your death certificate.”

Carlos smiled as if Dean had offered him a flower. “Maybe, but not today. Dinner will be ready for seven, we have lots to celebrate, make sure you’re on time.” Carlos walked out humming, as if a party were already waiting for him.

Silence dropped like a curtain.

Ricco walked in. “You want me to shadow him or Maeve?” he asked, voice neutral.

Dean pictured that little girl being set on the firehouse stoop and now she was a woman being ushered through a house of horrors with her chin up and her eyes shooting bullets. He pictured the service tunnel, the two second camera blink, the helo pad, and his father’s helicopter sitting there for the taking.

“No.” Dean picked up the ledger and set it square in the blotter’s center. Order was a spell, and sometimes you needed the shapes to line up before the world did. “I want you to watch Yasmine and the kids.”

“And what if he comes down to see them?”

“Text me,” Dean replied, sliding the pen into its groove. “Then duck when you see me coming.”

Ricco studied him, something like respect finally cutting through all the years of grime. “As you wish.”

When Ricco left, the room became just a room again. Bleach and wood. Clock and books. Dean stood a moment longer, hands loose at his sides, and let the plan he’d been knitting for months play through his mind.

His heart hurt. Whether it was is fault or not, the fact that Maeve was here and the fact that Yasmine and the kids had been dragged into this mess, felt like it pointed back to him.

His father was happy. His father felt safe. And that would be his downfall.

Dean opened the balcony doors wide, and let the heat roll in. Far below, men crossed the courtyard like pieces on a board, not knowing the table had been tilted.

He glanced up as Keene’s helicopter took off and flew out of sight.

Fucking prick.

Dean didn’t know what he hated more about the man. The fact that he betrayed his country and his men by lying and working for profit, or that he aligned himself with Carlos, leading to the death of people Dean loved.

Dean closed his eyes to help refocus. How the hell was he supposed to keep Maeve out of Carlos’s bed until he could signal Alvarez to attack?

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He had to come up with something and fast. Knowing his father, he would take her on the table during dinner to prove a point. He’d never wished for a natural disaster to happen, until now. One that would split the earth and swallow his father whole.