Chapter 6
Detective Alvarez was in her mid-forties, with sharp eyes and a scar across her left cheek.
She didn’t smile when she walked in.
She didn’t waste time with small talk.
She led us into an interview room, closed the door, and sat down across from us.
“Show me what you have,” she said.
Ethan pushed the ledger across the table.
She opened it.
Her eyes moved fast down the pages. Names. Dates. Dollar amounts. Payoffs to cops, to judges, to city officials. A list of people who’d been hurt, who’d been killed, who’d lost everything to the ring.
She closed the ledger.
She looked at Ethan.
“You’re Ethan Carter,” she said. “The guy who died in that car crash three years ago.”
Ethan nodded.
“Faked my death,” he said. “I owed them two hundred thousand. They were going to kill me. Then they were going to kill my sister and her kid. I had to disappear.”
Detective Alvarez leaned back in her chair.
“I’ve been after this ring for five years,” she said. “I’ve had witnesses disappear. Evidence vanish. Cops on my own team tip them off every time I get close. This ledger?” She tapped the cover. “This is the holy grail. This could take down the whole operation. Every last one of them.”
She paused.
“But it’s not going to be easy. These guys are dangerous. If they know you have this, they’re not going to stop until you’re dead. All of you.”
I leaned forward.
“We know,” I said. “They followed us to the station. They have a photo of my daughter. We’re not asking for protection. We’re asking to help. We’ll do whatever it takes. Wear a wire. Testify. Whatever you need. We just want this over. We want to be safe.”
Detective Alvarez looked at me.
She held my gaze for a long time.
“Okay,” she said finally. “Here’s how it’s going to work. We’re going to put you in a safe house for the next week. We’ll set up a meet. You’ll wear a wire. Get their leader to admit to the murders, the extortion, the payoffs. Once we have that, we move in. Arrest everyone. Take down the whole ring. But if this goes wrong? If they find the wire? We might not be able to get to you in time. Are you sure you want to do this?”
I looked at Daniel.
He nodded.
I looked at Ethan.
He nodded too.
Mom squeezed my hand.
Lily was asleep on the couch in the corner of the room, worn out from the running, from the fear.
I looked at her.
My baby.
She’d already been through so much. She’d hidden from the man in the walls, she’d been followed by bad men, she’d watched her whole family fall apart and put itself back together.
I wasn’t going to let her live in fear for the rest of her life.
I wasn’t going to let the bad men win.
“I’m sure,” I said.
We spent the next week in the safe house.
It was a small, plain apartment in a neighborhood no one would look for us. Bars on the windows. Two federal marshals posted outside 24/7.
We couldn’t go outside. We couldn’t call anyone. We couldn’t post anything on social media.
It was like being in prison again.
But this time, we were together.
And this time, we were fighting back.
Detective Alvarez came every day.
She went over the plan a hundred times.
I’d be the one to wear the wire.
The sharks didn’t know me. They’d never met me. They’d think I was just Ethan’s scared sister, ready to pay them off to leave us alone.
I’d meet their leader, Rico, at a warehouse on the edge of town. I’d bring a bag with half a million dollars in marked bills. I’d get him to talk. To admit to everything.
Once he did, the feds would move in.
It was simple.
And terrifying.
The night before the meet, I couldn’t sleep.
I lay in bed next to Daniel, listening to his breathing. Lily was in the next room, asleep with the marshals outside her door. Ethan and Mom were in the living room, watching TV.
I got up.
I went to the kitchen.
Ethan was there, pouring a glass of water.
He saw me.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said quietly. “I can go instead. It’s my fault. I should be the one to face them.”
I shook my head.
“No,” I said. “They know you. They’ll be on guard around you. They don’t know me. They’ll underestimate me. They’ll think I’m just a scared housewife. That’s our advantage.”
He was quiet.
“I’m scared too,” I said. “I’m so scared I can barely breathe. But I’m tired of being scared. I’m tired of running. I’m tired of letting them control our lives. This ends tomorrow. One way or another.”
Ethan put his glass down.
He pulled me into a hug.
“You’re the bravest person I know,” he said. “You know that? When we were kids, you were scared of the dark, scared of spiders, scared of everything. Now look at you. Taking down a whole crime ring by yourself.”
I laughed.
It was a small, wobbly laugh.
“I’m not doing it by myself,” I said. “I have you. I have Daniel. I have Mom. I have Lily. That’s all I need.”
We stood there for a minute.
Just the two of us.
Big brother and little sister.
Back on the same team again.
The next morning, we got up early.
Detective Alvarez was there at 6 a.m.
She helped me put on the wire.
It was small, no bigger than a dime, taped to my skin under my shirt. A tiny microphone sewn into the collar of my jacket.
“Remember,” she said. “Keep him talking. Ask him about the people he’s hurt. About the cops on his payroll. Get him to say his name. Get him to admit he’s the one running the ring. And if anything goes wrong? If he finds the wire? Say the safe word—blueberry. We’ll move in immediately. No questions asked. Okay?”
I nodded.
My hands were shaking so bad I could barely button my jacket.
Daniel came over.
He fixed my collar.
He looked me in the eye.
“You’ve got this,” he said. “You’re the strongest person I know. I’ll be right outside the whole time. As soon as you say the word, I’m coming in there to get you. I promise.”
He kissed me.
It was a hard, desperate kiss.
Like he was scared it would be the last one.
I kissed him back.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you too. More than anything.”
Mom hugged me.
“Be careful, baby,” she said. “Please.”
Lily was still asleep.
I went into her room.
I knelt by the bed.
I stroked her hair off her face.
“I’ll be back soon,” I whispered. “When you wake up, all the bad men will be gone. And we can go home. And everything will be normal again. I promise.”
I kissed her forehead.
I stood up.
I took the bag of money from Detective Alvarez.
It was heavy.
May you like
It felt like the weight of the whole world in my hand.
“Let’s go,” I said.
