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He couldn’t tell them that. He could never tell anyone that. Of course the Feds would not have sanctioned a hit on a child, but they would have had him bring her in, and that would have been far worse for her. There would have been a trail, and that kid would never have been safe.
“What are they saying was taken?” Rafe scanned over the information in the folder, looking for any mention of the girl. Did they know that she’d been there? Had there been another witness that he’d missed?
Had she told anyone what she’d seen? Or had she listened to him when he told her to go to her room and pretend she’d been there all night. He’d warned her that he’d know if she lied. That he’d come back and find her.
Yes, he was truly a thing of nightmares.
“It’s a twenty karat blue diamond called the Jewel of the Sea. Not sure how much you know about jewels, but blue diamonds are rare. And expensive as hell. This thing is worth more than twenty million dollars.”
Rafe whistled. “And they think whoever killed their father, did it to steal the diamond?”
They exchanged a look. Off the record, Dawkins knew that Rafe had been the one sent in to take out old man Vandergraff, but they never spoke of it directly. But he could tell what the other man was thinking. If you were being sent to do a job, why not make a little money on the side? Rafe almost laughed out loud. If he’d gotten his hands on a diamond worth that much, he wouldn’t still be hanging around. He’d have already flown Nonna and Lucia to their own private island by now.
“Well, when I was there…visiting, I didn’t see any kind of jewel. That’s not the kind of thing I’d miss either. So whoever took it, must have done it before I arrived.”
Dawkins nodded. “That’s our official word on it. If you think of anything else that might be helpful, let us know. Something tells me the Vandergraffs aren’t going quietly into the night on this. I have a feeling those sons of his are going to be pains in our asses for years yet.”
Later when Rafe was on the way home, his thoughts went back to the girl. Did she know what her family was into? Probably not since she was so young. He could only hope that they treated her better than the thousands of girls the Vandergraffs sold on the black market every year. There was nothing he could do about what she’d seen. It was done, and she’d never be the same.
But damn it, that didn’t stop Rafe from wishing that there’d been something he could have done to help her that day. If her brothers were anything like their father had been, killing her might have been the kindest thing he could’ve done for her.
Before he left, he met his new handler’s gaze. “Listen, I’ve been trying to put off a move against the Del Tinos, but Orion’s not inclined to listen. We’ve got to get our man out of there.”
“We’re aware of the situation.”
Rafe glared at him. “Look, I know we haven’t gelled yet or whatever, but you have to fucking listen to me. Orion is going after our man. He’s disguised it as going after Papa Del Tino, but my gut tells me he knows we have a man in there. You have to pull Calhoun out.”
“I hear you. But we have it under control. You just do what you do best. We’ll handle the rest.”
Rafe stared at the other man. “You ‘handling this’ is going to get an agent killed. Or a couple at this rate.” Rafe left without another word.
chapter 3
One week later…
“The kid’s gonna do the job.”
The day had started out so normal. So happy. Rafe would never have guessed that today would be his last day. His last opportunity to laugh with his sister. His last chance to hold Nonna. Those simple words from Orion and he was running to save a life.
One step in front of the other. Heart pumping. Breathing ragged. Rafe ran as fast as he could.
Please don’t let me be too late. Please don't let me be too late. Please, God, if you are fucking up there, do not let me be too late.
Everything had gone to shit in a matter of moments.
One minute he’d been with his sister enjoying the day on Coney island. The next, he’d gotten the call. One he’d dreaded.
Orion, the fucker, had called go on the Del Tino job. Worse, he’d assigned Noah. Shit was so fucking sideways. He’d been with Lucia and there hadn’t been time to get her home, so he’d brought her and tucked her safely in the car. At least he prayed to every god he could think of that she stayed safe.
Rafe thought he’d been able to postpone this. He prayed he’d warned their undercover agent in time. But hell, he understood what would happen if Noah killed an undercover FBI agent. The kid’s life would be over. All because he believed in the organization that he worked for. All because he trusted the words Rafe had fed him.
Up until now, their hits together had been government sanctioned. Clean hits, clean kills. For the ones that were less sanctioned, the ones that were under the table, Rafe had only been on one of those himself. And that one had gone horribly wrong…for ORUS.
Luckily, Rafe had managed to get word out to the FBI. There’d been one hell of a firefight, and they’d lost an ORUS agent. One just a little older than Noah. And Ian, another ORUS agent, had been injured on that mission. Nothing serious, just a dislocated arm.
Rafe had a sinking feeling that mission had been a test. And he was pretty sure, he'd failed. Orion hadn’t given him another kill mission after that.
But he was okay with that. Rafe had managed to save the target’s life, and keep most of the ORUS agents alive. That had been something that was important to him, a condition he’d worked out with the Bureau.
