Page 109 of Alonzo

When I turn away I practically bump into Jesse, who tries to charm me with one of his patented smiles as he prods me with a hand to the small of my back. “Come on, it’s time to go.”

He waits for me to start walking down the dock and then falls into step behind me. We’re on another boat a few finger piers over.

“He’s right, ya know.”

“About what?” I’m so annoyed. What was all that bullshit about my own dangerously beautiful life? That’s not how it works. We’re supposed to be partners.

“That’s not the part you’re supposed to play.”

“How would you know?”

“Believe me, I know how you feel. Johnny is the one in charge of all our dangerous missions. He keeps me out of the loop on everything. The only reason I know as much as I do right now is because worlds are colliding, Tara. His world, my world, your world, Alonzo’s world. All of the worlds are about to crash into each other. That agent? Madrid? She’s not regular FBI. You get that, right? The whole thing was a setup. And maybe you’re a part of it, and maybe you’re not. But Alonzo is just like Johnny. He’s gonna keep people safe the best way he knows how, for as long as he can. Because one day he won’t have that kind of control anymore. It’s all gonna go off the rails, and he’s gonna need you.”

I frown. “I could help him now.”

“You are helping him now.”

“I’m being shuttled to some superyacht. I get to be there when it’s all over.”

He grabs my arms and stops us in the middle of the dock, forcing me to turn and look at him. “Is that really what you think?”

“Yes. Even you get to do more than wait around.”

“I’m the bait, Tara. And it sounds pretty bad when you say it like that, but if I don’t do my job then Alonzo can’t do his, and you can’t do yours.”

“I don’t even have a job!”

He smiles again. “Yeah, you do. You just haven’t done it yet. So you don’t know what it looks like. I’ve done my job before. I was always the bait growing up.”

I just stare at him for a moment, utterly bewildered that he can say that with a calm face and indifferent attitude. “Don’t you hate that, Jesse?”

“If you had asked me a year ago how I felt about being bait I’d probably have seen things your way. But now?” He shrugs. “It’s just my job, Tara. It’s not who I am.”

I sigh. Because I don’t even understand what he’s talking about.

“Anyway.” He points to the boat filled with a bunch of young local sailors. “This is me. You want me to walk you the rest of the way to your ride?”

“No.” I huff. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“OK, then.” He gives me a little salute. “See ya on the other side.”

Then he turns to the boat of men who are waiting for him, boards, and disappears into the cabin, never looking back.

I exhale and look down the dock to where Vann and Belinda are waiting for me on Mr. Dumas’s boat.

“Come on,” Vann yells. “Let’s go.”

I reluctantly walk down to the boat I’ve been assigned to.

Alonzo and Tony spelled out how this mission typically happens. They have local contacts in the origin city where the kids come from, and those are the people who smuggle the kids out. Then some time in the middle of the night, the Dumas brothers show up and transfer them all onto their boats. They pay off friends in the Coast Guard to turn the other cheek, and then they motor up the coast of Florida and drop the kids off in a prearranged marina where they are picked up by various humanitarian agencies and shuffled into foster families until their new forged paperwork can be procured.

But the appearance of Madrid yesterday made it very clear that business as usual was not going to happen this time around. She told Alonzo and Diablo, in no uncertain terms, that this group of kids was to be turned over to her. And no one at the Coast Guard would be helping them tonight.

The FBI is looking for someone. Specifically, a little girl named Angelica. One of Creepy Wendy’s… friends? Co-workers? I’m not sure. Johnny didn’t elaborate. And I got the feeling, while watching him talk last night, that even he’s not sure what’s up with this kid.

But Chek knew. And Wendy knew. And they told us, with very serious faces, that the little girl called Angelica would never end up in the hands of the FBI. Ever. It was their job to make sure that didn’t happen.

I don’t think Johnny works for Chek, but they are definitely on equal footing. Because when Chek made this thinly veiled threat, Johnny just nodded his head, pulled out his phone, and started making calls.