by James Hunt
Nate didn’t carry a weapon on him. The people who had his son would have just frisked him and taken it from him anyway. He had the heroin sample, and Jim hung back from the car as Nate made his way over. He told him to explain to the dealers that he showed up alone but had someone nearby with the stash. It was pretty standard, and Jim didn’t anticipate trouble.
But Jim hadn’t been on top of his game lately, and he was worried about what would happen to his friend if he were wrong. An innocent life hung in the balance, and Jim didn’t want any blood on his hands.
“Okay, thanks.” Mullocks hung up the phone and looked over to Kerry. “Everything’s set up, pending you can do what you said you can do.”
“Well, then let’s hope Arthur comes through,” Kerry said.
“Yes,” Mullocks replied. “Let’s.”
Kerry adjusted her grip on the steering wheel and looked at the lieutenant. She seemed oddly calm considering the circumstances, while Kerry felt like she was barely holding it together.
“Thank you for doing this,” Kerry said. “I don’t know of any superior officer I’ve had in my career who would do something like this.”
“I’m a very special person.” Mullocks grinned.
Kerry was thankful for the levity, but after the past year at the precinct with Mullocks as her lieutenant, she still hadn’t quite nailed the woman down. “You’re very difficult to read.”
“I know,” Mullocks said. “It’s a practiced art. There’s only been a few who have cracked the code.” She looked at Kerry. “Just keep trying. You’ll get there.”
Kerry adjusted her grip on the steering wheel. “Even with the help of the DEA agent, Cutters will still try to tear me apart in the media.” She winced. “It’s going to be hard to watch my family go through that. I know what it was like.”
The lieutenant was a mother herself. She kept a picture of her son on her desk, and he looked just like her. Same freckled face and the same strikingly green eyes. She rarely talked about her home life, but on this occasion, she opened up.
“When I was on the VICE unit, I became an addict,” Mullocks said. “I’ve been clean for a long time, but those demons of my past haunt me to this very day. But I think what’s frightens me the most about all the things I did when I was high is the fact that my same genes have been passed on to my child. He could grow up to be an addict just like I was. I know it’s still too early to tell, but there’ll come a day where he will go to a party and there will be booze and drugs. All it took for me was one time. Just one time. They say addicts have some chemical imbalance in our brains that causes us to become addictive. I don’t know if my son has that same gene or not, but I know that I’ll be there for him. Even if he doesn’t want me to.”
The lieutenant turned to Kerry. There was a strength in her that Kerry latched onto. It was like a life preserver after being stuck out at sea, treading water and barely keeping your head above the waves.
“It’s going to be hard for your family,” Mullocks said. “There’s no sugarcoating that. But you have to understand that no matter what happens, no matter what other people say about you, and the press is going to have a field day with this, you are not your father, just like my son is not me. You did not make the same mistakes your father did. You are operating in two completely different worlds, and the sooner you understand that, the easier all this will be. Yes, you broke the law. But you are a better person than your father ever was. Anybody who knows you understands that. And you can be damn sure that your kids know that too.”
Kerry couldn’t help but tear up at the lieutenant’s words. She reached for Mullocks’ hand and held it firmly in her own. “Thank you,” Kerry said, her voice catching in her throat.
When the moment had passed, Kerry felt closer to the lieutenant. There was much she had wanted to ask the lieutenant about her career and seeing as how she wasn’t sure if she would get the chance to ask again, she rolled the dice.
“You told me once that great partners are rare and that you knew from experience,” Kerry said.
“That’s right,” Mullocks answered.
“Your partnership with Chase Grant,” Kerry said. “If you were me, would you have told him what you did?”
Mullocks smiled. “Honestly, Grant would have figured it out before I had a chance to tell him. He was the finest detective I ever knew. He was like a brother to me.”
“I was sorry to hear about his passing,” Kerry said.
Mullocks looked away, and Kerry couldn’t see the lieutenant’s expression. “Yeah. Me too.” She faced forward again a moment later and then cleared her throat. “Why are you asking me about this now?”
Kerry shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess it’s just… Jim and I were good at what we did.”
“You were,” Mullocks said.
“And after what you said about our partnership, how special it was, I recognized it too, and after what I did…” Kerry trailed off. “I didn’t realize how difficult it would be for me to walk away and how much I wanted to come back.” She swallowed. “But after this, I guess I won’t have the option to come back at all. I guess what I’m asking is, now that you know what I did, if everything goes according to plan, should I come back?”
The question hung in the air, and Kerry was nervous to hear the answer. She held a high opinion of the lieutenant and hearing what she had to say about this manner frightened her.
“I can’t make that decision for you, Kerry,” Mullocks said. “But I will tell you this.” She shifted in her seat and pivoted so she was facing Kerry directly. “If the chips fall the way we want them to, I want you to come back. More than anything. But I want all of you to come back. If your heart’s really not in it, if you have doubt, then you should stay away. Because there is no room for doubt in our line of work. Doubt gets people killed.”
It wasn’t the feel-good answer Kerry had hoped for, but she knew it was honest. The lieutenant didn’t have time to bullshit. And so Kerry decided to set aside her doubt for this meeting because while she wasn’t sure if she was coming back, she was certain she wanted to bring Cutters down.
Jim hung back and watched as Nate entered the fenced marina. He had the rest of the heroin with him and was ready to make the drop whenever he received the text. But what he didn’t notice was any other vehicles in the area until he saw one approaching from the opposite direction.
The vehicle disappeared through the entrance on the opposite side, the vehicle blocked by the old marina building in the center of the area. It wouldn’t be much longer now, and Jim waited for the text. He was alert and ready, adrenaline coursing through him.
It had been a long time since he was involved in something of this magnitude, and Jim understood the consequences of his failure.
A few minutes passed, then five, then ten, then fifteen, and Jim’s phone remained silent.
“C’mon, Nate,” Jim said, whispering to himself. “What’s going on?”
Just when Jim feared something bad happened, he heard a commotion from inside, and he heard Nate screaming. Jim left the heroine and reached for his pistol. He sprinted toward the marina’s building, the shouts inside growing louder and more panicked.
Jim raised his pistol as he entered, his eyes adjusting to the dim sunlight that penetrated the building’s windows and open doors.
“Seattle PD, everyone freeze—” Jim skidded to a stop. He couldn’t believe what was in front of him. “Kerry? Lieutenant?”
Kerry and Mullocks stood with their weapons aimed at Nate, who had his hands up, standing between them.
“Jim?” Kerry asked.
Jim lowered his weapon, and Kerry and the lieutenant did the same. “I don’t understand— What are you doing here?”
“I invited them.” A voice echoed from somewhere inside, and everyone turned to see Benjamin Cutters emerge from the darkness, flanked by three bodyguards. “It’s glad to see everyone together again.”
19
The cold sense of dread that started the
size of a marble in the pit of Jim’s stomach now spread throughout his chest, arms, and legs. His mouth was dry, he moved his tongue around inside of his mouth, and it was like scratchy sandpaper.
Jim sat there for what felt like an eternity as he reckoned with the realization of what was happening. He still couldn’t quite connect the dots of what Cutters had planned, but if Jim knew one thing about that man, it was that he was dangerous.
“I’m so sorry, Jimmy,” Nate said. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
Jim turned back to his friend, and he was suddenly transported back in time, fifteen years ago when the two had been teenagers, getting into so much trouble. At that moment, Nate looked like he had when he and Jim were kids, looking to Jim for answers to a problem that he didn’t know how to solve.
“I imagine this must be hard for you,” Cutters said. “All of you, really. To be on the losing end of the deal.” He stepped forward, and the security detail stepped in unison around him. “But you shouldn’t be too hard on yourselves. After all, I’ve been at this a very, very long time.”
Jim struggled to focus on any one question that raced through his mind, and as he looked to Kerry and Mullocks, he saw the same confusion on their faces. But as he turned to Nate, a man who had saved his life, a man who Jim considered his brother, he saw the shame on Nate’s face, and everything suddenly became clear.
“You knew,” Jim said, speaking to Nate.
Cutters glanced to Nate and laughed. “Of course he knew. He helped set up this little reunion of ours, and I thank him for it.”
Anger slowly replaced confusion, and Jim adjusted his grip on the pistol. “Is your son even missing?”
“His son is perfectly safe,” Cutters answered for Nate. “And he’ll stay that way so long as he continues to cooperate.”
“I’m sorry,” Nate said. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t have a choice!”
Nate stepped forward, but one of the security guards held him back and then whisked him out of the building.
“You mind telling me what the hell is going on?” Mullocks asked, her gun up and aimed at one of the security guards who had drawn his own weapon.
“Ah, yes, Lieutenant,” Cutters answered. “I suppose it would be best to catch everyone up to speed.” He stepped forward, positioning himself between Jim, Kerry, and Mullocks. Despite their weapons still being drawn, Cutters looked incredibly at ease, far too comfortable for Jim’s taste. “You see, over the past year, the two of you have been a thorn in my side. At first, I thought you would go away on your own, but the longer you’ve stuck around, the more I’ve come to realize that you are here to stay.”
Jim and Kerry exchanged a glance, and he wondered what the hell she was doing here? Had she and the lieutenant been working on something?
“I managed to procure Kerry’s services on the last case you worked with the Greeks,” Cutters said. “But I knew she wouldn’t come to my side willingly.”
Jim frowned, and Cutters laughed.
“I see you two have a lot of catching up to do,” Cutters said. “Well, in that case, I’ll make this as plain as I possibly can. You three—yes, even you lieutenant—all work for me now.”
It must have been a joke, but no one laughed.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Cutters said. “How? Why? Well, Kerry has already been with me for a few weeks now.”
Kerry lowered her eyes and stared at the ground, her cheeks flushed red. None of this was making any sense to Jim.
“But I knew you wouldn’t go quietly,” Cutters said, and he wagged his finger at Kerry like a principal scolding a student for running in the halls. “And you didn’t disappoint me, did you? Because what did you do? You tried to outsmart me. I have to admit, that was a clever meeting with the accountant. But I’m afraid you underestimate the level of loyalty within my ranks.”
Cutters raised his hand and snapped his fingers. At that motion, the guard who disappeared with Nate drove a Cadillac SUV through the entrance of the marina building where Kerry and Mullocks must have entered through.
The vehicle’s bright headlights supplemented the fading sunlight outside. Once it was parked close, the vehicle turned off, but the headlights remained on. The driver stepped out and then walked to the back, where he remained.
“Let me make one thing clear to everyone here,” Cutters said. “I own you. Each and every one of you.” He turned to Jim. “Nate wore a wire during his conversations with you, Jim. I know about the drugs, Jim. I also know how you failed to report him and his son to the investigative officers in North Carolina. Now, normally this would be enough to cause an average detective not to continue to pursue, but I know you better than that, Jim. That’s why I still have his son. And I have Nate. And if you go against me or make a move against me again, I’ll hurt them. And then I’ll hurt that woman who has moved into your house.”
Rage started to blind Jim’s judgment, and he didn’t realize that his finger had moved back onto the trigger of his pistol even though it was still pointed at the ground.
Cutters then turned to Kerry and Mullocks. “And I don’t think I need to remind either of you about what you’ve done. But, Kerry, I am disappointed. It seemed my earlier threats didn’t do the job, so I’ll offer one final attempt to make you understand.” He snapped his fingers again, and the trunk of the SUV slammed closed.
The big security guard who had driven the Cadillac inside stepped from behind the vehicle, carrying a large bag. Even before the bag was dropped and everyone winced from the sickening thud of the body hitting the ground, Jim knew what was inside. But while Jim didn’t recognize the man, he saw the look of horror on Kerry’s face.
“Did you really think that he was just going to flip on me?” Cutters asked. “I told him that you might try something because I know how clever you are, Kerry, or how clever you try to be.”
Kerry shook her head, and despite the anger of her expression, she sounded on the verge of tears when she spoke. “Then why did you kill him?”
Cutters looked surprised. “Oh, I didn’t kill him. You did.”
“What?” Kerry asked.
“You see, I have footage of you threatening Arthur in his office,” Cutters said. “The bug in the lamp wasn’t the only form of surveillance I had on him. In fact, you were the last person to see him alive.”
“I had no motivation to kill him!” Kerry said.
“Didn’t you?” Cutters asked. “Anyway, it’s going to be difficult to prove otherwise given your state of unrest. And, since you’ve implicated the lieutenant, it won’t just be your own career that’s down the toilet.” Cutters shrugged and then clapped his hands together. “So, you now all see how you’re connected to one another. Your fates are tied together, and if any of you step out of line, then I’ll be forced to bring down the hammer. And, yes, you might be able to implicate me in some of this, but I have the money and resources to get myself out of trouble. You three, on the other hand, do not.”
Kerry hadn’t taken her eyes off the dead man, and Jim noticed how still she was.
“You see,” Cutters said. “I am untouchable. The people in my organization are so loyal, they’ll come to me and tell me what’s happening even if they are afraid of the repercussions. Because they know I will eventually find out sooner or later.” The playfulness ran out of his voice now, and there was a sinister look in his eyes. “I always find out.”
“Why?” Mullocks asked, finally breaking up the silence. “Why us three?”
“I suppose that’s the only question that matters, isn’t it?” Cutters asked, and then he clasped his hands at his waist. He looked around the dilapidated structure of the marina and smiled. “You know, this was where I first started my business, thirty years ago. It still looked as bad as this thirty years ago, but what others saw as a money pit I saw as a means to bring in product. The police never bothered in this part of town back then.” He turned to the three officers. “They didn’t think it was worth their time. So I took ad
vantage of that, and through the Seattle Police Department’s negligence, I built my empire. I always knew, no matter how much I lost, I could always come back to this place and start again.”
Cutters smile faded. “But the path hasn’t been without its obstacles. And there was one group that threatened my existence above all others. It wasn’t the police, or the ATF, FBI, or DEA. It was the Greeks.” He turned to Jim and Kerry. “An organization so big and so powerful, no one even knew they existed but the select few. And despite my formidable attempts, I could never crack the code. And then you two come along.”
“If they were your competition, you should have been thanking us,” Kerry said.
“I do, truly,” Cutters replied. “But it was then I also knew that you were a threat to me.” He narrowed his eyes as he focused on Jim. “They were made up of some of the most powerful people I’d ever known. They were the only other beasts in the jungle I feared. But somehow, against all the odds, you three brought them down. That’s when I knew how dangerous you were.” He tilted his head to the side. “Any of you students of military studies? No? Well, in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, he speaks of making the enemy your friend.”
“Hell of a way to make friends,” Mullocks said.
“You should consider this a compliment,” Cutters replied. “I don’t go to such great lengths to recruit people the way I’ve done with you.”
“If you know us,” Jim said. “Then you know we’ll find a way out.”
Cutters smiled, tilting his head to the side as he studied Jim. “There’s that eternal optimism. You know, for somebody who grew up with such a hard life, you do have incredible hope, Jim. It’s not a side I think people recognize in you. All they see is a man who is calculated and cold, save for the few you allow into your personal life. People like Kerry. Your foster parents.” The smile widened. “And, of course, Jen.”
“So what happens now?” Mullocks asked.
It seemed the lieutenant was the only person who was had managed to keep her emotions in check. And while Jim wasn’t sure how Kerry was feeling, he felt his grip on control slipping.
