by JA Huss
“So this means,” Tony says, “that it’s all connected. This Spencer dude. Chek. Wendy. Sasha. Whoever James is. Johnny. Me. Alonzo. Tara.” He points at Soshee. “You and Zach. All of us.”
“All of you,” Vann says, “except me.”
“How do you figure that?” Tony asks. “You’re the one who knows all this shit.”
“Yeah, but aside from my sister’s marriage to Spencer Shrike, we’re not part of it.”
“You should be part of it,” Soshee says.
“Yeah,” I say. “You really should, Vann. How did your family stay so clean over the years?”
Vann puts his hand over his heart, mockingly offended. “Are you implying the Vaughn brothers aren’t upstanding citizens?”
I roll my eyes at him.
He shrugs. “I have no clue. But if I had to take a guess, I would say… it was Gramps.”
“Your grandpa?” I ask.
Vann nods. “You know he won our mansion in a poker game? Who wins a mansion in a poker game?”
We all kinda agree with this point. It’s a one-in-a-billion kind of win.
“No one fucks with us,” Vann continues. “The whole town might hate us, but no one fucks with us. We don’t even pay property taxes.”
“Shut up,” Tony says.
“Seriously. I know for a fact we don’t pay property taxes. It’s like ten grand a year. We can barely afford the rent on the Sick Boyz storefront.”
“You guys have dirt on someone,” I say.
Vann looks at me and shrugs. “Probably?”
“Someone in charge, then,” Tony adds.
“Someone at least in charge of property taxes,” Soshee says.
“OK, hold on a second,” I say, putting up a hand. “What about the bookstore?”
“What bookstore?” Tony says.
But Soshee is already pointing to it down below. “That one. Right?”
“Yeah. The blue-haired girl. She’s not right.”
We all crowd up against the glass to look down at the bookstore. And who comes walking out of it? Blue-haired girl herself. Her back is to us. She’s locking the door, maybe?
“Not right how?” Tony asks.
But just as he says that she turns and, without hesitation, she looks straight up at our window.
“Shit!” I say. And we all duck back out of view.
“Did she just look at us?” Soshee asks.
“No,” Tony says. “She was looking up at the sun.”
“The sun is on the other side of the street,” Vann says.
I peek back out. “Hmm. She’s gone.”
“I’m not convinced she matters,” Tony says. “I think everyone who matters is right here in this room. And I think the people we need to concentrate on next are in the Crappy Coffee Shop.”
“Agreed,” I say. “It’s them. I just feel it.”
“Our only proof is a dog,” Vann says.
“That’s not the only proof,” Soshee says. “It was weird from the beginning. I mean, who opens a crappy coffee shop across the street from a cool coffee shop? No one goes in there. And if the rent for an Old Town storefront is as high as you say it is, Vann, then who is paying that rent?”
“She’s got a good point,” I say. “And I’m convinced blue-haired girl is in on it. She’s weird. I went in there to try and like... make friends with her. I was missing Tara and needed a new BFF. So I was considering all my options. But she’s not real. She told me she’s not into tattoos because they’re too permanent. What kind of counter-culture chick says something like that?”
“Maybe she’s not counter?” Soshee says.
“That’s my point. Why look the part if you’re not into the culture? Plus, her name is Midnight. What the fuck is that? Only people whose parents are witches have names like Midnight.”
I think Soshee gets offended at that. Maybe because her mom is a fortune-teller?
“I’m not talking about you, Soshee. Your name is… practically normal.” I wince at Vann and he makes a slicing motion across his throat, telling me to quit while I’m ahead.
But I feel behind. I need to justify this better. “My real point is that she was way too friendly.”
Vann rolls his eyes and laughs.
“Hey, if you dress anti-establishment, you’re anti-social. That’s just the law. And if you break the law, then all the rest of us real law-abiding anti-social people get to question your street cred, OK? That’s how it works.”
“I think we should stay away from the blue-haired girl,” Tony says, tuning me out.
“Agreed,” Vann says. “We’ve got enough going on. We don’t need tangents to distract us. What we need is a plan. A way to find proof that the Crappy Coffee people are really FBI.”
“Or Company,” I say.
“They’re not Company,” Vann says.
“How do you know?” Tony asks.
“Because if they were, and we got in their way, we’d already be dead.”
And just as that last word comes out of his mouth, there’s a knock on the door.
“Well, that’s not ominous,” Vann whispers.
“Who’s that?” Tony whispers.
We all look at Soshee. “I don’t know,” Soshee whispers back, then starts to go for the door. But Tony pulls her back and puts a finger up to his lips, telling us all to be quiet.
He walks over to the door and peeks through the spyhole. But he backs off quickly and turns to us.
“Who is it?” I whisper.
“It’s her,” he says. “The blue-haired chick!”
She knocks again.
“What’s Midnight doing here?” Soshee whispers.
“Don’t say her name out loud,” I protest. “That’s like… calling the Devil.”
Soshee huffs. “Who the fuck do you get your anti-establishment facts from?”
“Quiet!” Vann whisper-yells.
“I can hear you,” Midnight calls from the other side of the door.
“Shit,” Tony says. “Now what do we do?”
“Just be quiet,” Soshee says. “She’ll go away.”
“I can still hear you.”
“She cannot hear us,” Soshee protests. “That door is made of steel.”
“Hello? You crazy kids need to open the door now. We have a bug in there. We heard everything.”
“What?” I say, looking at Vann for help.
“I’ll handle this,” Tony says, straightening his shirt and tipping his chin up like he’s putting on his brave face.
“Good idea, Mr. Dumas,” Midnight calls. “Because I’m here for you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - TONY
“What the…,” I mutter, looking over my shoulder at Soshee. “What the hell does that mean?”
Soshee’s eyes go wide. “The little dog is coming back to bite you. But don’t worry. We got you. It’s four against one.”
I look at Belinda, feeling pretty confident that she and Vann do not ‘got me’.
“Hey,” Belinda says. Planting both hands on her hips. “There’s no way this is not all connected. Which means Tara is probably involved too. I’m not stepping away from that fight.”
“We should probably stop talking now,” Vann says. “She just admitted there was a bug in here.”
“I’m still waiting,” Midnight calls through the door.
I glance at Soshee one more time and she nods. “We’re in it together. I’m your sister’s brother-in-law’s cousin. We’re blood, for fuck’s sake.”
“Soshee,” I wince. “That’s not even funny.”
Soshee smirks at Belinda over my shoulder and shrugs. “It’s a little bit funny.”
“This isn’t a joke. There’s a blue-haired witch called Midnight on the other side of the door asking for me by name.”
“I can ask for all of you by name if that makes you feel any better,” Midnight adds.
“Bro,” Vann says. Coming forward to place a hand on my shoulder. “This town might be crawling with dirt
y FBI and leftover Company, but my team is the one in charge. If these people want to fuck with the Vaughn family on our home turf, we’re ready to roll. My sister will even get in on the action. We’re one phone call away from a total Sons-of-Anarchy moment. OK? We got you. Open the door and let’s get this show started.”
Vann really does have a way with words. He might’ve watched Easy Rider a few too many times, but he makes me want to believe him. I can see why everyone thinks he’s charming. “OK,” I whisper. Taking one last look at the four of us. We are kind of intimidating in our own way. Vann and I are big tatted up dudes, Belinda can shit-talk her way out of almost anything, and Soshee is the supervillain in disguise.
Maybe we really are all on the same team? Maybe… I was even looking for this when I decided to make the trip up to Colorado? Belinda and I aren’t meant for each other. Not that way. And I really did owe her an apology. The minute I realized that and said those words to her, everything in my life got lighter. Like all the pieces of the puzzle finally fit into their proper places. Me and Soshee. Belinda and Vann. And everything that comes with being connected to the Vaughn family.
If you find yourself thousands of miles away from the safety of home you could do a lot worse than having these three on your side.
So I nod and take a deep breath. Then walk across the room and open the door.
The girl on the other side of the door does not have blue hair. It’s blonde and pinned to her head with a thousand clips. But she is twirling a blue wig on her finger. She smiles at me, then pushes past me. “Be a peach and close the door, will ya?”
I close it and turn to find her standing in front of Belinda, Vann, and Soshee with her hands clasped behind her back, sorta rocking on her heels.
“So?” Vann asks. “What do you want?”
“I’m here to give you a friendly warning.”
“Is that right?” I ask, pushing past her so I can stand between Belinda and Soshee.
“Why do you think we need a warning?” Belinda asks.
“Bug. Remember?” Midnight points to the ceiling. “We bugged you weeks ago.” She turns her attention to me. “I lost the bet, by the way.”
“Bet?” I ask.
“That you would show up here.” She juts her chin at Belinda. “But apparently there was a lot of unfinished business.”
“You were listening to our private conversation?” Soshee asks. And she doesn’t ask it nicely.
“Calm down, Soshee,” Midnight coos. “It’s just a job. I don’t judge. And I don’t care. At least, not about your personal lives. Though I will say they are not boring.” She pauses for a moment. Makes a big deal about pretending to think. “All this personal angst might’ve actually saved you though.”
“What?” I ask. Confused.
“Why the fuck are you here?” Vann spits.
Midnight smiles. And I can’t tell if she’s one of those people who just presents as mouthy—like Belinda. Or if she’s hiding a deep, dark secret weapon that can annihilate the world when you’re not looking—like Soshee.
“OK,” Midnight says. “I see that we’re all a little tense after that whole ‘we had an FBI agent killed with poison by a Company assassin’ conversation.”
“That’s not what we said,” I object.
“Close enough.” Midnight shrugs. She points at me. “You are going home. Tomorrow.” She points at Soshee. “You’re going with him. Pack your shit and show up at the Fort Collins airport tomorrow at noon.”
“What?” I say. “You can’t fucking—”
“I can,” Midnight says. Sternly. And with a new look in her eyes that makes me pause when I see it. “And I am. You are leaving town, Tony Dumas. You’ve found enough evidence to assure your brother, Alonzo, that nothing is OK. That’s fine. Because it’s not. We’ll figure out the rest when I join my people in Key West next week. Got it? Good. Now you two—”
“No, no, no,” I say. Stepping forward. “You’re not calling the shots here. We don’t answer to you.”
Vann steps forward too. “You don’t run this town. We do.”
Midnight cocks her head at him. Grins with mocking friendliness. “You sure about that, Vann?”
Vann grins back. It’s his self-confident grin. The one he unleashes when things start to not go his way. Like he’s gonna give everyone a moment to catch up to his awesomeness. “I have three brothers just like me down the street, a brother-in-law with a gang of friends who took care of you guys once already, and an ex-Company assassin called Sasha on my side. So, yeah,” Vann growls. “I’m very fucking sure.”
“Hmm,” Midnight says. Her gaze lingers on Vann for a moment, then switches to me. “OK. Fine. He wants to play bad-boy biker with us? He’s right. There’s not much we can do about that. But you, Tony?” She shakes her head. “You don’t have that luxury.”
I put up my hands and shrug. “Hey, I have three brothers too. Not to mention three brothers-in-law by the name of Boston.”
“And don’t forget your cousin-in-law,” Soshee says. Sidling up next to me and hooking her hand around my arm. “That’s four Bostons. Five, if you count me.”
“Right,” Midnight says. Her smiles drops and her mouth forms a dead-straight line across her face. “As I said. It’s not enough.”
“Sounds like enough to me,” Belinda says.
“It’s not,” Midnight says. But she doesn’t look at Belinda. Her gaze is most definitely trained on me. “Trust me, Tony. None of that will save you or your family. Not with the shit you’re involved in. That’s why I’m here.” She looks at Vann, Belinda, and Soshee in quick succession. “I’m trying to protect you.”
“Protect us from what?” Vann asks.
“Well, not you,” Midnight admits. “Your family is out now, Vann. And if you were smart, you’d keep it that way. Do you really want to drag them all back into the secrets? Spencer has settled. He has kids, Vann. Lots of them. All his friends do too. They got out and Spencer took your family with him by marrying your sister. Sasha, on the other hand.” Midnight bobs her head back and forth like she’s non-committal about this one. “They’re not done with her just yet. Lots of missing pieces with that one.”
“So what?” Vann snaps. “Tell us something we don’t know.”
“OK.” Midnight looks back at me. “I will tell you something you don’t know. I wasn’t going to say anything. Didn’t want you leaving town all stressed out about prison and whatnot. Didn’t want you returning home and getting those brothers you have all excited. But you seem to be forcing my hand.”
I don’t want that sick feeling creeping through my stomach. I really wish it wasn’t there.
But it is.
It’s a deep, gut-wrenching feeling that has been living inside me ever since I agreed to help my father smuggle kids into the United States nearly a decade ago.
And I recognize it now.
It’s dread.
Just thinking that word shifts my world and changes the whole idea of why I came here in the first place.
I thought it was Belinda. I really did. And for sure, we did need to sort this out. But that wasn’t all of it. She was there when that shit went down eight years ago, so yeah. She was part of it.
Just not all of it.
The relief I felt after apologizing to her is gone now. It was never really about Belinda. Not as it relates to our past relationship, that is.
It was only about what I did to her.
What I brought her in to.
And, yeah. I understood the danger associated with what we were doing. I’ve heard the word prison mentioned so many times now, it has lost all meaning. And anyway, I figured the good outweighed the bad. That the righteousness of what we were doing would prevail.
So far it has.
We have prevailed. We saved those kids.
But we have never been the only ones smuggling kids into the United States.
We were just the only ones doing it for the right reasons.
So
I know what Midnight is going to say before the words even leave her mouth.
“They set you up, Tony.”
“What?” Vann asks.
“Who?” Soshee says.
Midnight doesn’t say anything. She just stares at me with a very sad look on her face.
I want to object. I want to deny this revelation and make it go away. The same way I denied, for all these years, that I stole Belinda’s life from her when I had her sent away.
But I can’t.
Because both of those things are true.
Belinda steps forward and puts her arms out in front of her. Like she’s going to protect all of us from the girl called Midnight. “You need to explain that.”
“Do I?” Midnight asks. Still looking at me. “Do I really, Tony? Did you really not understand your role in all that human trafficking?”
“That’s not fair,” Belinda says. “They weren’t trafficking. They were saving those kids. And I know for a fact that these kids were saved. I saw them! I helped them! I was there! They have new lives, and new names, and new families—“
“They do,” Midnight snaps. Her attention on Belinda now. “You’re right. The ones you saw, do.”
“What?” Soshee asks.
Midnight looks back at me. “It’s hard. I get it. It’s sick. And none of us want to be involved with it. But we are.”
“No,” I say. Shaking my head. “Not us. We did not—“
“You’re right. You didn’t. You just covered for the ones who did.”
“That’s not true,” I say. Still shaking my head. “That’s not true.”
“Hey.” Midnight throws up her hands. “I’m not saying you did it knowingly. I’m just telling you that this has been happening, in your marina, for decades. And your little humanitarian missions were just cover. To make all the locals turn their heads. Blind eyes and all that good junk. If anyone got suspicious and started asking around. What do you think all those old sailors would say? Hmm? Oh, they’d be quiet about it. Make it into a big secret. Shhh.” Midnight puts a finger to her lips. “Don’t say nothing. Those Dumas boys are one of us. They do good works. Trust me. I’ve seen it. I know them.”
