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The man winced like I’d stabbed him in the gut, something about his spirit visibly crumpling and I knew immediately I’d stepped right into whatever steaming pile of shit they’d been hashing out when I’d pulled up the drive.
“I’m so sorry.” I swallowed hard. “None of my business. That was a stupid assumption.”
“It’s ok,” Mike said quietly. “The truth is…not anymore. I haven’t gotten used to it yet–can’t take it off.” He swallowed hard and his eyes were so shiny that I had to look away, because the expression on his face broke my heart.
“I hear we’re headed to the border.” Aaron swooped in to save the day, because I was about to sit down with Big Mike and have a good cry. I hated emotions, all of them, but watching a man cry–something I’d only seen a handful of times–absolutely tore my heart out.
The squawk of the screen door’s spring heralded the arrival of Achilles, all dancing excitement, sparkling eyes and happy little doggy noises as he danced around our legs, and it was Michael who bent first to accept all the affection the animal had to give. There was a hole in his chest, one I could almost see if I looked hard enough, one that could only be filled up with a love the dog couldn’t give.
“Gentlemen.” Scott’s raspy voice silenced Achilles even without a command. “And Madelyn–glad to see the three of you made it. Come on in; the wife’s been at it all morning. She’ll stuff you so full of food, you’ll all have to spend the night.”
I was the first up the steps after Scott, following him into the gracious house and straight into the sneak attack hug Mia launched my way. She was pure affection and kindness, something I’d known little of during my life and certainly not from other women, the women in my family the rule, not the exception.
“Madelyn.” Her smile was warm and genuine. “You must be hungry after that drive. I have quiche and muffins out.” She gestured toward the counter. “Come help yourself to some coffee.”
Aaron and Michael moved in right behind me, passing Mia between them as they each wrapped big arms around her and she disappeared into them.
“God bless you, Mrs. Katsaros,” Michael’s voice scraped as he viewed the spread. There was a hell of a lot more than just quiche and muffins laid out across the island countertop.
“Go on.” She waved a hand dismissively, but the smile on her face indicated she was pleased. “I love keeping my man full of good food, but these get-togethers always help me to up my game a bit.”
Scott moved soundlessly into the kitchen and pressed a kiss to his wife’s head in a gesture reminiscent of the way Adam kept kissing the top of my head. Maybe, I hoped, the gesture wasn’t as innocent as it seemed. It did seem to convey an awful lot of affection when Scott did it, but I wasn’t sure I had a read on Adam’s intentions yet.
It was funny how you could know someone your whole life and not know them at all.
It didn’t take us long to get right down to it. Scott gestured we should all head into the spacious office, where a large table sat in the middle of the room. We all spread out there with our food and coffee, and he started right in with briefing us.
“Three weeks.” All of our eyes snapped to him. “Timing’s not ideal, but you knew that when you took the job. Wings up on the twenty-eighth. Kiss your kids, your wives, your dogs–” he shot me an apologetic look, “and have an early Christmas if you have to. We have no firm return date on this one and FBI’s pulling point. We’re there to help, so be prepared to stay until they say the job’s done.”
“Weeks?” Aaron asked, a small wrinkle between his eyes. I was pretty sure he had two young kids at home and I couldn’t imagine his work schedule made his wife’s life easy.
Katsaros shrugged. “Maybe weeks, maybe months.”
Aaron winced, but Mike looked relieved and I wasn’t about to ask why. I had some idea, probably having to do with keeping his mind off things.
We were each given folders with photos and names, a long list of code words to memorize and numbers to commit to memory: land lines, cell phones, coordinates.
“We don’t know just how extensive this is,” Katsaros said quietly. “We also don’t know whether there’s additional military presence involved. It’s possible and probable they’re involved with the trafficking ring and the cartels, and they’re not going to take kindly to ready sources of revenue being confiscated.”
I was pretty sure he didn’t mean our military.
“Cover story?” Mike asked, and he looked relieved to have his head finally in the game.
“Aid organization, which isn’t entirely a lie.” Scott tapped the whiteboard mounted to the wall. “There’s an organization affiliated with the diocese in Watertown that funds and largely runs a small home for displaced and orphaned children.”
My eyes probably widened, because I could confirm that. Every week Kennedy slipped something into the plate marked for the Sacred Heart Children’s Fund.
“Obviously none of their staff will be making the trip. You’ll be presenting yourselves as employees of the organization and of the children we’re unable to reunite with their families, Sacred Heart will take as many as they can. We’re working on lining up other groups; one isn’t even close to enough and there’s no way they’d be able to handle the number of kids we’ll be placing. This is a tragedy all around.”
Something cold and clammy wrapped around my heart as I imagined what an adjustment it would be for the children we brought back to New York.
“So our part is the kids?” Aaron asked slowly, his forehead corrugated again. “How many agents do we have on the ground and who’s providing protection? If there’s trafficking happening, I have no doubt cartels have their hands in this, all in the name of diversification.”
“You know this isn’t risk-free.” Scott’s voice was hard. “It’s not only possible, but probable that you’ll have more than one run-in with the cartels. You’re going to see some ugly shit. This is big money for them, on top of the other products they’re pushing into the states, why not take advantage of a tragic situation? Why not deliver productandkids to Phoenix, Denver, Los Angeles and Chicago?”
Mike looked like he was going to be sick. “I’ll do my best, Scott.”
I looked at him quickly and kindness and understanding flashed across Katsaros’s face. “I know, man. I wouldn’t expect anything else from you after what we’ve seen.” Something passed quickly between them. “But not at the risk of your life. You know Claire would never forgive me. I’m still on her bad side after...”
