Page 106 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Colon swallowed, then he took a breath. “I swear it.”

Jamie caught Kade’s eye and cocked a brow.

Yeah. Who’da figured? Despite the evil flowing through Colon’s veins, he truly loved his mother.

In exchange for Kade acquiescing to Cecelia’s demands that she be here, she’d stuck to her part of the bargain, insisting that she could extract such a promise from her son. When she began sobbing silently, all Kade could do was rest his hand on the woman’s shoulder.

It was over. It was finally over.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Unseasonably pleasant and dry early morning July air rolled through the open window of Jamie’s SUV, blowing strands of hair into Laia’s face.

She brushed them away, then counted all the K-9 SUVs angle-parked across the narrow lot with their engines running. Kade had retrieved his government-issued vehicle, and she could just make out the tips of Smoke’s ears in the kennel. To the right of Kade’s SUV were Dayne Andrews’ and Eric Miller’s K-9 Interceptors. She’d met both men that awful day in the Poconos. On the other side were Deck, Brett, and Evan’s SUVs.

Laia looked up the concrete steps to the entrance of the Peter Rodino Federal Building in Newark. Somewhere inside that ominous, dark-windowed fourteen-story building, Kade and his friends were meeting with the federal prosecutor to go over everything that had happened over the last week.

The infamous ledger had been returned to the DHS evidence locker, and the digital recording of Colon’s confession that Laia hadn’t known until this morning had even existed had also been logged in as evidence, a copy of which was, at this very moment, being turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

She dragged a hand down her face, then yawned. Not knowing whether Colon would keep the promise he’d made to his mother and not seek revenge against her, Rosa, and Kade had eaten at her throughout a very long, nearly sleepless night. That and worrying about Kade, who hadn’t returned to sleep at the shack.

Jamie sat in the driver’s seat, reading a text message he’d just received. Since he’d been the only other direct witness to Colon’s confession, he’d already talked to the prosecutor yesterday. “He’ll be down in a few minutes with the rest of the guys. You’re up next.”

“Thanks.” Since leaving the Poconos two days ago, she hadn’t seen or talked to Kade, though he’d been on her mind constantly.

Her first priority had been getting Rosa to a hospital to be checked out. A DHS agent she didn’t know had shown up at the ER to drive her and Rosa back to Manasquan. It had been Deck who’d called her hours later to let her know they were all still in the Poconos securing the scene and answering questions.

The Pennsylvania State Police had arrived first to assist in transporting Colon’s men to the nearest federal facility for processing. Colon had been taken to another hospital to have his broken nose set and his bite marks attended to. Then DHS agents had swarmed in to take control, including the Newark DHS Special Agent-in-Charge. It was anyone’s guess what would happen to Kade for stealing the ledger.

“How’s Rosa doing?” Jamie asked.

Laia smiled tiredly but honestly. That morning, she’d dropped Rosa off at Alvita’s, along with the minivan. “She’s doing great. The drugs are finally out of her system, and she’s as hungry as a hippo. Think you’re up for pineapple pizza tonight?”

“Sure.” Jamie set down his phone. “Although I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to think of pineapple pizza the same way.”

“Me either.”

As soon as Rosa had been coherent enough at the hospital to start remembering things, she’d asked for pineapple pizza. Again, begging the questions: how had Colon’s people known that was Rosa’s favorite food, and how had they found them at the shack in the first place?

Turned out the night Kade had caught Rosa playing on Laia’s cell phone, she’d actually been talking to Colon’s people. Their initial goal had been to scare Laia into turning over the ledger. It had been an unexpected boon for them that Rosa had answered. They’d taken total advantage of the situation by asking what her favorite food was, then telling her they could deliver it to the house. After more subtly probing questions that a five-year-old would never pick up on, Rosa had inadvertently given them their approximate location by describing the carousel at the nearby kiddie carnival. Enter the arguing couple on the beach.

The Manasquan police had done their due diligence but had never found the couple who’d most likely been paid to distract Laia while Colon’s men had moved in and taken Rosa.

For the umpteenth time, she looked at the stairs, half expecting to see Kade dragged out in handcuffs. Not knowing what would happen to him was driving her absolutely crazy.

Jamie leaned over and rested his hands on top of hers. “He’ll be okay.”

“How can you know that?” The desperation that had been slowly building inside her finally cut loose. “How do you know they’re not snapping handcuffs on him as we speak? He’s in a lot of trouble, and it’s my fault.”

“None of this is your fault.” For emphasis, he squeezed her hands before releasing them. “All of this is Colon’s fault. Don’t ever doubt that. We make the best choices we can at the time we have to make them. Doesn’t always work out, but that’s all we can do.”

A dark cloud seemed to pass over Jamie’s eyes, as if he were talking more about his own choices than Kade’s.

“Look,” Jamie continued. “Best—and probable—case scenario, he’ll only be suspended.”

“That’s a best-case scenario?” Not to her. Mostly because that meant there was also a worst-case scenario.

“Worst case, he’ll be fired. Absolute worst case, criminal charges could be filed, but I don’t think that would ever happen.”