AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His support sends my right eye twitching and my lips trembling. I look away, toward Dada. She has both hands and her cell clasped protectively in front of her.
“You know things, Dada. You have a contact there. Find out where they fucking took Sandesh.”
She holds up her cell. “I just texted him.”
The doors swing open and closed again. This time, Momma enters, takes one look around the room and says, “I don’t think they would hurt him.”
It calms me down, even though we all know what she didn’t add.Yet.
Eventually, they’ll take him to Walid and the torture will begin.
The thought hollows my stomach. I have to get out of here anddosomething.
Dada’s phone chirps.
I fist my hands at my sides to keep from sprinting over and grabbing it.
She looks down, clears her throat. “Sandesh is on his way to Mexico. My source…” She pauses, lowers her eyes. “Sean confirms this is so.”
“I don’t trust this guy,” Gracie says, and despite the fact that she’s much shorter than Dada, her voice and her tone command attention, even when standing next to Dada.
Dada stiffens and looks down at Gracie. “He has proven himself by getting us this information, and when he could have run—shouldhave run—when another man was accused of being the spy, tortured, and killed in his place, he stayed to provide us insight. More importantly, you can trust him because we have his son.”
She puts a hand on her belly.
Gracie gasps—literally gasps—then her mouth tightens and her eyes grow hard.
Shit.Dada’s pregnant, and though I’d suspected it before, now that it’s confirmed, I can see the swell of her belly.
Gracie looks sick to her stomach.
The room is silent.
After a moment, Tony says, “‘Bout time you admitted it.”
Bridget lets out a breath. “Strategically, considering The Guild’s goals of secrecy, this is good news.” Stunned, everyone turns to look at her. “Not the pregnancy. I mean, that’s good, congrats and all, but I meantMexicois good. Doable for our government. I saw some agents scurrying out of here, so they likely know Sandesh was taken. We’ll find a way to pass on the information of where he is, and they’ll go after him. They’ll assume it’s all related to his work with the IPT.”
I see red—literalred—burst through my eyesight as if I’d been hit with a hammer. Why is she even in here? Old habits die hard, I guess. “We arenotleaving Sandesh in the hands of that sick bastard while the government makes up its slow-assed mind whether or not to go in there.”
“Justice is right,” Leland says. “Even if the authorities do get him out, there will still be the issue of Walid and what he knows about us. We need to get him before that happens. Which means we have less, not more, time.”
“Hold on,” Gracie says. “Do we…
I lose her words, sinking instead into the cold dread suddenly lining my bones. I feel brittle and frozen and broken as my family calmly discusses the pros and cons of doing something that we need to already be doing.
Memories of Sandesh and me in that small room in Israel, of him holding me, his warmth against me and inside me, invade my mind, causing fear to rise like a knife to my chest. Fuck all this talk.
Wringing my hands, I stand and look around at my siblings. I need to cut through this bullshit. I need to lay myself on the line and drawmyline.
I clear my throat to get their attention and look directly at Momma. “I love Sandesh.”
A whisper of disbelief comes from each of my siblings, but I ignore them and keep my gaze on Momma. Mostly because I’ve never felt more vulnerable. “I’m going after him, Momma, but I’m not willing to make that choice for anyone but me.”
Momma’s eyes soften as she keeps my gaze, and I feel the warmth of being seen and loved and known.
She nods her acceptance of my declaration, my line in the sand, and I finally turn to the rest of the room. I don’t ask, but they know it’s been asked:Who’s with me?
Gracie raises a hand and a devilish eyebrow. “I’m in. I like Sandesh, though obviously not as much as you.”
