“Have you heard from Ash?” Gadget asked.
“Wasn’t she with you? When I left Soho House, y’all were supposed to be right behind me!” Honor exclaimed.
Luna’s brow furrowed as she dialed Ash’s number one more time. “I mean, we were. She went back in to use the bathroom. I left before her, but she was on her way out.”
“But you don’t know if she actually made it back to the hotel?” Honor shouted. “Bitch, you know the rules. Door to door!”
“She was right behind me! It shouldn’t have taken her long to use the restroom. She was supposed to come right out. She had to make it back here! She’s probably just hungover,” Luna defended. She stalked over to the front desk. “Excuse me, can I get the key to Ashton LaCroix’s suite? We’re her sisters and she isn’t answering her phone. We just need to do a wellness check.”
“Let me get my manager,” the woman replied, retreating to the office in the back.
Honor hadn’t thought twice about retreating to her room last night; but now that Ashton was MIA, regret lived in her bones.
“And where the hell is Sutty?” Luna asked. “Have you heard from her?”
“She’s on her way back to the hotel. Said she had an early meeting.” Honor’s intuition was telling her something was wrong. She knew Ashton was the youngest, but Ash was trained. Ash knew the rules. Ash knew how to move accordingly. So if their little sister was unreachable, it was because something was awry.
“What kind of meeting did she have on a Sunday morning?” Luna questioned.
The clerk returned. “I can’t give you the key, but I can escort you up,” she explained.
“Let’s wait for Sutty. She’s five minutes away,” Luna said. Honor was too anxious to stand still. She made her way through the lobby and paced the front of the hotel, avoiding the busy pedestrians as her mind worked in overdrive. Anxiety was a motherfucker. All the possibilities played in her head. When Sutton hopped out of the back of a yellow cab, Honor frowned.
“A meeting in last night’s dress?” she asked. “Sounds like a dick appointment to me.”
“Sounds like you need to find you some business,” Sutton fired back. “Why are you policing the entrance to the hotel? And why is Luna blowing me up every five minutes? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Ash. We can’t reach her,” Honor said. “We have the key to her room. We’re about to go up to do a wellness check. Something feels off.”
Sutton stopped walking and her eyes widened, fear lacing them, causing them to prickle. She could feel the sting of worry. She blinked the emotions away, but her stomach knotted. The last time something felt off, they lost their father and Ashton to prison.
“Call her,” Sutton said.
“We have.”
“Again, Honor, call her again,” Sutton ordered.
Sutton pushed into the hotel and hugged Luna.
“We’re ready to go up,” Sutton told the hotel clerk.
The ride up was long, silent, as the steel box carried them up thirty-five floors.
“What if—?”
“Nope,” Sutton interrupted. “We’re not doing that. Just be quiet.”
The girls spilled out into the hallway, following the hotel worker to the door. The chirp of the electronic lock made Honor’s heart skip a beat and she paused at the threshold.
“I’m going to stay out here,” Honor said.
Luna looked back in concern.
“If something’s wrong, I don’t want to see it,” Honor said.
Honor watched her sisters enter the suite and she braced herself for the worst.
“The bed is made. She didn’t sleep here last night,” Sutton said. “Did you check her locations?”
“Her locations aren’t on,” Luna replied.
“Where the hell is our sister?” Honor asked.
Ashton could hear her phone ringing in her bag and the sound pulled her back from the light she was walking toward. She could barely breathe. She felt like she was choking as she lay on the cold cement floor of that abandoned building. Her entire body hurt. She was clinging to life. Her body was beaten so badly that every breath she took felt like it would be her last. August’s men had left her for dead, but not before having their fun. Rape and murder. That had been their plan, only Ashton didn’t die. A part of her wished she had.
Again, her phone rang. Ashton groaned as she tried her hardest to move. There was blood in her line of sight, and she couldn’t even pick her weight up off the floor. She lay there, trembling violently in a pool of her blood.
She couldn’t move her head, it felt like bones were broken. Her body, in addition to her spirit, was shattered.
She reached one hand out, inching bloody fingers across dirty concrete toward her phone. Her nails were broken from fighting the men off. She could see it, but it felt so far away. It was just out of arm’s reach. The ringing stopped and Ashton sobbed. It felt like a lifeboat was retreating to shore, leaving her out to sea to die.
Ashton’s instincts clicked in suddenly and she turned her head, enduring blinding pain to let blood drain from her mouth. Though she could barely get her jaw to move, she croaked out, “Hey Siri!”
Her voice was too low for the phone to pick it up and she cried.
“God, please,” she whispered and tried again, louder this time. “Hey Siri!”
“Hmm?” the automated voice answered.
Relief flooded her. “Turn on my locations and call Gadget.”
“Your locations are now on. Calling Gadget.”
Ashton sobbed as she waited a few seconds for Siri to place the call. Even if they didn’t make it in time, just knowing her sisters were on the other line brought her comfort. If she died, she wouldn’t die alone.
After a minute, she spoke as loud as she could. “Gadget—” More blood came up, choking her. She couldn’t breathe. She could barely push words out. “Help me.”
“Ash!”
She heard her sister screaming her name through the phone, but she didn’t have the energy to keep her eyes open. Everything went black.
“Ashton!” Luna shouted. “Ashton!”
“Track that location now, Gadget. I don’t care what you have to hack into. She’s hurt,” Sutton ordered. Honor sat on the edge of the bed. Her legs barely even worked.
They walked out of Ashton’s room, following Gadget back to hers.
“I can hack into the phone company’s database and see which cell tower her phone is pinging off of,” Gadget said, her voice shaking, matching her trembling fingers as she flipped open her laptop. “This is a federal crime, Sutty. If I’m caught—”
“Make sure you’re not,” Sutton interrupted.
Gadget traced the call and squinted in confusion. “Wait a minute—” she whispered. She opened an additional screen. “The tracker we placed on August Sinclair is at this location too. He’s there.” She googled the address, pulling up the street view of the building.
“Something is wrong. We’ve got to go,” Gadget said, urgently. There was no reason for Ashton to be in an abandoned building. Her mind automatically assumed the worst. She slammed her laptop shut and picked up her phone, calling 911.
“You’re calling the police?” Honor asked.
“It’s an abandoned building. Somebody hurt her and left her where nobody would look. She’s in trouble.”
“Ashton!” Honor shouted as she banged on the front door of the restaurant. “It’s chained! Where are the police!”
“Down the alley! There has to be a back door,” Luna said, leading the way. Sure enough, it was slightly ajar. Sutton barged in first. The boarded windows made the inside dark. They moved through the restaurant searching desperately. Honor felt sick to her stomach as she followed closely behind.
“Ashton!” she shouted once they reached the kitchen.
“Sutton, I think this is blood,” Luna gasped as she came to the freezer door. Honor shook her head. She was sick with worry.
“I can’t go in there. I’ll stay out here,” she said, turning around, eyes burning with tears.
Luna pulled open the commercial freezer.
“Oh my God!” Sutton whispered. Honor heard it in Sutton’s tone of voice. Confirmation. Their sister was inside.
“Ashton!” Sutton shouted. “Honor, get in here now!”
Honor’s feet felt like they were weighted, like someone had tied bricks to them and tossed her in the ocean. When she stepped inside the freezer, tears filled her eyes. Ashton lay on the floor, beaten and bloodied, a pool of blood staining the floor beneath her. Her panties were ripped and dangling from one foot. She looked like a mass of blood and hair on the floor.
“Is she breathing?” Honor asked, frantic as she came to her knees in front of Ashton’s body.
“Baby, wake up! Ashton!” Sutton shouted as she pulled Ashton’s body into her lap, covering herself in red. Ashton’s face was swollen and red bruises marked up her skin. Her nails were broken, like she had fought someone off, and the handprints around her neck showed that she had been choked. Ashton looked lifeless. Perhaps she was. Perhaps they were too late to save her. Honor’s heart ached. How could someone do this to their baby sister?
“How did this happen! I left her with you two!” Sutton shouted.
“I don’t know! She was fine when I left the club!” Luna defended.
“We should have never left separately,” Honor said, shaking her head in regret.
The room suddenly became crowded as paramedics rushed in.
“She’s not waking up!” Sutton cried.
EMT workers pushed the sisters out of the way as they began to work on Ashton.
“Wake up, wake up, wake up,” Honor whispered.
Ashton was whisked out of the room on a stretcher and Sutton was right behind her. “Meet me at the hospital!” It was the last thing she said before hopping in the back of the ambulance.
Honor and Luna clung to one another as they watched it drive away.
The hospital was freezing. Sutton’s clothes were damp from the blood and she shivered as she paced the halls while screaming into the phone.
“He did this to her,” Sutton whispered.
“Who?” Honor asked. “August Sinclair?”
Luna lifted the jacket she had taken from the restaurant. She dug through the pockets until she found her button tracker.
“I put it in his pants pocket,” Honor said.
“Maybe he moved it. Either way, it’s his. He was there. He did this shit to her,” Sutton said, already browsing August’s social media. “It’s his,” she confirmed.
“It’s not their fault, Sutty,” Luna said. “I can just hack into their security system to get the footage.”
Sutton turned to walk away but she couldn’t hold her judgement a moment longer. “I left her with you two! We don’t leave a man behind.”
“Fall back, Sutty, you’re going way too hard,” Luna said. They all knew Sutton’s way of masking fear was by piling anger on top of it. She didn’t mean to take things out on them, but she had nowhere else to redirect this feeling. The pit in her stomach was bottomless and she was free-falling.
The doctor entered the waiting room, interrupting the quarrel.
“How is she?” Luna asked.
“She’s conscious but under heavy sedation, so she’s a bit out of it,” the doctor revealed. “She has three broken ribs and a ruptured spleen; lacerations to the face, neck, and groin. There was also evidence of rape, which resulted in miscarriage of the fetus.”
Honor gasped. “She was pregnant?”
It was against their rules, but Ashton had always been a rule breaker. She was the sister who went against the grain, the youngest, yet somehow the most rebellious. Babies made them vulnerable. They complicated things, making it hard to move around, making it impossible to evade trouble if it came their way. Babies planted roots and they had always been taught to be the leaves on the trees, not the root in the ground; that way whenever the winds of life came along, they could blow along with them.
“He beat a baby out of her?” Sutton asked, lips trembling and eyes prickling.
“The police will have some questions for your sister when she’s feeling up to it. They’ll want to conduct a physical examination and rape kit,” the doctor said. “We haven’t washed her for this very reason. We could get rid of important evidence.”
“Can we see her?” Honor couldn’t contain her urgency and Sutton felt a streak of guilt because she knew Honor would never purposefully leave Ashton in a dangerous situation. She grabbed Honor’s hand, brought it to her lips, and then patted it for reassurance.
“Yes, this way.”
Sutton’s phone buzzed and she stopped walking. “I’ll be in. Give me a minute.” As soon as her sisters were out of sight, Sutton broke down. She covered her mouth, crying so hard a nurse stopped to assist.
“Are you okay, miss?”
Sutton quickly sniffed away her emotion, wiping her tears as she nodded. “I’m fine, thank you.”
August Sinclair had hurt her baby sister and Sutton felt responsible for the offense and the resolution.
I was sleeping with some nigga I don’t even know while my sister was in trouble.
“Oh, I’m going to ruin this motherfucka!” Sutton hissed, nostrils flaring as her temper blazed. She was so angry she couldn’t steady her heart as she stepped inside Ashton’s room.
“Sutty, I’m so sorry,” Ashton cried. Her eyes were barely open and the first thing she did was apologize. It only made Sutton feel worse. “I didn’t know I was pregnant. I didn’t know…”
“Shhh.” Sutton didn’t even have it in her to be the disciplinarian. She was just happy her sister was alive, grateful to hear her voice.
“It’s okay, baby. I’m just glad you’re okay. You scared the shit out of me. Don’t do that to me, Ash. Who’s going to get on my nerves if something happens to you? Huh?” Sutton flicked a tear off her nose and then caressed her sister’s forehead. They shared a laugh only for Ashton to grimace in pain.
“Don’t worry about anything. I’m going to take care of it. I’m going to make everything better.”
“You sound like Mommy, Sutty,” Ashton whispered. She was groggy and Sutton’s back straightened in discomfort. They didn’t mention their mother. She had died so long ago, it barely hurt anymore. They almost forgot she’d existed, but moments like these reminded them that she had.
“Get some rest. You’re tired,” Sutton said, smoothing Ashton’s messy hair before turning to walk out of the room.
“Sutty, you okay?” Luna asked.
“I’m fine. Stay with her, Gadget,” Sutton answered, voice trembling as she walked out of the room.
Sutton bumped right into the police as she exited. She tensed when she saw them, a byproduct of growing up in Little Haiti where Miami PD were more foe than friend.
“We’re sorry to intrude, but we really need to speak with Ashton LaCroix.”
Sutton turned on her heels, deciding to stay and support her sister through their questioning process instead.
“We need to perform a rape kit, Ashton. Is that okay?” a female detective asked.
“Yeah, let’s get it over with,” Ashton said. “I don’t need anyone else in the room.”
“Ash, we just want to support you,” Honor said.
“I just need a minute,” Ashton said, lip trembling as she snapped her eyes shut.
The girls turned to leave but Ashton’s voice stopped them. “Sutty, can you stay?” Ashton asked.
Sutton nodded and the others waited in the hall. She held Ashton’s hand as the detective and doctor swabbed every inch of Ashton’s body. Ashton shook violently; even her teeth chattered.
“Are you cold?” Sutton asked.
“I’m scared,” Ashton admitted.
Sutton was devastated. She hated that her sister had to experience this. “Just look at me, okay?” Sutton instructed. “So you want to tell me about the guy?” Sutton was reaching for a distraction. A conversation to take Ashton’s mind off the intrusive exam taking place.
“There’s no guy,” Ashton whispered.
“Of course, there’s a guy,” Sutton responded. “There was a baby so there has to be a guy. A really special guy because we don’t do babies. So if you slept with a nigga without protection, you must love him.”
Ashton’s eyes filled with tears and one slid down her face. Sutton wiped it away, sniffing away her own as Ashton grimaced from the swab the doctor was using between her thighs.
“Is he fine? I know he’s fine, Ash,” Sutton said, snickering as she kissed her sister’s fingers. Ashton was holding her hand so tightly. Her baby sister was afraid, and Sutton’s heart ached because Ashton was one of the toughest women she knew; she didn’t fear anything. Ashton smiled but didn’t open her eyes. More tears. A tighter grip. Sutton squeezed back.
Ashton nodded. “He was perfect, Sutty.”
“Well, where is this man?” Sutton asked. She wanted to keep Ashton talking, keep distracting her.
“He’s in Miami,” Ashton said. Her face broke and her tears worsened. “I lied to him, Sutty. I took everything from him. Ruined his career, took his money, and I came home.”
“Why would you do that, Ash?” Sutton asked.
“He’s Carter Jones’s son,” Ashton revealed.
Sutton didn’t even realize she had released her sister’s hand until Ashton opened her eyes.
She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from reacting. She felt fury fill her body, turning her rigid. Of all the men in the world, why Ashton would choose to fall in love with one who was a direct relation to the Diamonds was beyond Sutton.
“I messed up, Sutty. So bad,” Ashton admitted.
“Just let them do their jobs, Ash,” Sutton said. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“I’m so sorry,” Ashton whispered.
Sutton didn’t respond.
This conversation wasn’t to be had with witnesses. Carter Jones and the Miami Cartel had a sordid history with their family. They had been to war with her uncle Matee. Her cousins and uncles had died on the streets of Little Haiti at the hands of the Diamond family. Ashton knew the history. How had she fallen in love with the enemy?
Once all the samples were taken, Ashton sat up and gripped the hospital gown.
“We know who did this to her. It was August Sinclair,” Sutton said.
“August Sinclair of Sinclair Enterprises?” one of the detectives asked.
“Does his title matter?” Sutton asked. “That son of a bitch did this to my sister. I want him arrested. I want the perp walk and the whole nine,” Sutton said passionately, stabbing her finger in the direction of the officers.
The pause that followed was filled with skepticism.
“Does that change anything? Look at my sister! He did this to her! Do your jobs and arrest him!”
The detective sucked in a deep breath and glanced at his partner before looking at Ashton. “Is that who did this to you? Would you be able to identify him in a lineup and point him out on a witness stand in a court of law?”
Ashton tried to jog her memory. She had sustained so much trauma, endured so much pain, that she couldn’t even recall. The last thing she remembered was being snatched out the back entrance of the nightclub. Everything after that moment was a blur. All she remembered was pain. She was so foggy.
“I don’t know. I can’t really remember. I don’t know,” Ashton said. “He was there, but…”
The doctor who had been standing aside silently interjected. “It isn’t uncommon for rape victims who experience this type of trauma to have memory lapses. She’s been sedated and given heavy medication. Now isn’t the best time to ask her this.”
The detective handed Sutton his card. “There are steps to an investigation. We’ll be in touch with what those next steps will be,” the man said.
Sutton took the card, but she knew when she was being brushed off. “Steps?” she said. “He committed a crime!”
“If that’s true, we’ll get him,” the detective responded.
“If it’s true!” Sutton shouted.
“Sutty,” Ashton interrupted. “Just let them leave. Black girl accusing a rich white boy of rape. They don’t see a victim in sight. They’re all on the same team.”
“Ma’am, that’s not—”
“Get out my room,” Ashton said.
The detective retreated with empty promises in tow and Sutton wrapped Ashton in her arms, letting her little sister cry on her shoulder.
“I’m going to take care of it, Ash. That’s my word.”
Sutton sat in the shadows of her office. She was grateful for the darkness. The migraine that plagued her retreated a little in the blackness of the room. She shouldn’t even be here this late, but her mind wouldn’t rest.
The knock at the door was followed by a low creak as Luna pushed into the room.
“Burning the midnight oil?” she asked.
“I couldn’t sleep so here I am. What are you doing here?” Sutton replied.
“Same.”
Luna took a seat and Sutton sighed. “Ashton could have died. All I can think about is ruining that smug, entitled son of a bitch.”
“He’s a trust-fund brat with generational money, Sutty. Getting back at a man like that…”
“Means we take it all. Strip him of everything. His last name, his money, his power. This one is personal.”
“You know we don’t move like that. It’s never personal. It’s always business. When you start letting emotion steer you, you make mistakes. This isn’t what we’re about,” Luna said.
“It is now,” Sutton insisted. “We just got her back. I wasn’t even sure that I was happy about her being back, but seeing her in that tub, all beat up…” Sutton shook her head and picked up her wineglass, tilting it to her lips. She scoffed. “I called the police to see if there had been any updates, any arrests, and they haven’t even questioned him. It’s personal, Gadget.”
“What’s our way in?” Luna asked.
Sutton pulled out her phone, typed onto the screen, and then slid it across the desk.
“An oil rig?” Luna frowned. “How does this factor in?”
“You remember the BP oil spill in 2010?” Sutton asked.
“Yeah, it was all over the news,” Luna responded. “I’m not following you though, Sutty. That was an accident.”
Sutton sat back in her chair and gripped the armrests. “This one won’t be. We’re going to blow their rig. The stock market will plummet, their stock will suffer, and then I’m going to make them pay us to fix it. Only I won’t fix it. Once they hire our firm, we’ll have enough access to destroy their entire company from the inside out.”
“How the hell are we supposed to pull off an explosion on an oil rig that sits in the middle of the ocean?” Luna hissed, voice low because they were crossing lines of morality, lines of legality. Even the conversation could land them under the jail.
“Let me handle that part,” Sutton responded.
Luna stood and headed toward the door. “You need to get some sleep, Sutty. We all do. This is not us. This is criminal. Felonies. Maybe after you rest, you’ll be thinking straight. I’ll call you in the morning.”
Sutton waited until her office door closed before clicking the keys to her open laptop. She pulled up the article she had been reading.
Navy SEAL Dishonorably Discharged
Sutton sipped her wine as she stared at the man on her screen. Her mental wheels turned and she considered stopping herself before she took things too far. Sutton was a bull, however, and once she settled on an idea, she had to follow through. She was like a dog with a bone.
She ran his name through the state database. She wasn’t a computer whiz like Gadget, but she knew how to look a nigga up. Black women became more inquisitive than the FBI when they needed to be. Sutton looked up the address of the naval officer, writing it down on a piece of paper before closing her laptop in haste. She snatched her jacket off the back of her chair and rushed out of the office.
Ashton grimaced as she rolled out of bed. Her entire body ached. Her soul hurt more. She hadn’t even known she was pregnant. By him. Carter Jones II, world-famous boxer, son of the Cartel. The love of her life. Running from him seemed impossible. Just when she had thought she could evade his memory, the discovery of a baby they had made reminded her of how much she loved him. She couldn’t even call him to tell him what they had created because he would undoubtedly have her killed. Even if he could somehow get over her treachery, his mother, Miamor, surely would not.
She stood to her feet and slowly made her way to the closet. The box in the bottom contained a burner phone, a hundred thousand dollars cash, and a gun. Her emergency stash. She powered on the phone and dialed CJ’s number. She had erased his contact from her normal iPhone, but the numbers were etched on her heart. Her finger lingered over the call button, and before she lost her nerve, she pressed it.
“Hello?”
The baritone of his voice snatched the bottom out of her stomach, and she closed her eyes.
“Yo, who is this?” CJ asked. There was commotion around him, but Ashton blocked it all out, concentrating on his breathing. This call was already too long. There was an awkward silence, then recognition as she heard him move away from the crowd. “Yo, you got a lot of fucking balls to call me right now,” he said. “You know how much money I got on your head? And you dial my line like it’s nothing, like you ain’t a snake out here?”
The overwhelming urge to defend herself brewed inside her, but she didn’t say one word. She would neither confirm nor deny she was on the phone. It would be stupid to speak; it was already reckless to call in the first place, but she had just lost his baby. She just wanted to hear his voice.
“I fucked with you. I don’t trust nobody, but I trusted you and you drug a nigga soul through the mud. For what? Some paper? I had that for you all day. You would have been better off asking. Instead, you was on some foul shit. A nigga treated you good and you were out here like a bird, moving wrong for some fucking money?”
Ashton’s lip trembled. She couldn’t even defend herself. She was too afraid to let him know it was her. Although, she knew that he knew exactly who he was speaking to. “I ain’t got to tell you to stay out of Miami. You’re a smart girl. You know what’s waiting for you here. I can’t save you, Ash. It’s beyond me now. The order already been called in. You should have stayed down. It could have been a hell of a life, baby. You take care of yourself,” he said. He paused and her breath caught in her throat. Her heart thundered and she felt sick. She had messed up a lot of things in her life, but this had to be the worst. A part of her wished his baby still grew inside her because then he would have to forgive. He would have to let her explain. Without that connection, she was nothing to him. She could hear the contempt through the phone.
She had known the moment she decided to burn that bridge that no one would send a lifeboat. A failed pregnancy didn’t change that. She would have to nurse these wounds alone.
“You fucked me up,” he said, his tone relenting slightly as he allowed himself to feel something other than disgust for her. “If it’s you, just hit a button.”
Ashton felt the tear slide down her face as she pressed the number 1.
She heard him scoff. “You be good out there in the world, Ash.”
The disconnection tore her heart in half, but she knew she had to let go. She wouldn’t call him again. She couldn’t. He wouldn’t let many more attempts slide without finding her location. She removed the SIM card from the burner phone and went to the bathroom. She tossed it in the toilet along with her dreams of love and happiness. She had made her bed, now she had to lie in it.
Sutton sat in front of the one-story house, listening to the barking of the German Shepherd that guarded the perimeter of the fence. She had been there for some time. She hoped the longer she stayed inside her car, the more she would come to her senses, but she hadn’t. Trespassing against her was one thing, but doing harm to any of her sisters was out of bounds.
She exited her car and approached the house, ignoring the barking dog as she fearlessly opened the gate. It lunged and barked wildly, but Sutton simply bent and lowered her hand, summoning the dog to her. Dogs were pack animals. They always acknowledged a leader and Sutton exuded leadership in every way.
“Good girl,” she whispered, petting the intimidating beast as it sniffed her other hand. The dog eventually licked it as she rubbed its thick coat with her free hand. “You’re beautiful.”
She heard the creak of the front screen door as it was pushed open and she looked up to find a pair of coal eyes staring at her. In one hand he gripped a long-barrel shotgun; in the other he held a bottle of Budweiser beer.
“Guard dog, my ass,” he said. “Com’ere girl!” On command, the dog retreated to its owner’s side, settling on the porch next to the man’s feet. “Who are you?”
Sutton stood. “My name’s Sutton LaCroix,” she announced.
“Sutton LaCroix, you want to tell me why you’re on my property before I shoot you?” he asked.
“I have a job. It requires discretion and I believe it’s something only you can do. I’ve read about your struggles recently. The discharge from the Navy. I think you can see a good opportunity when it comes your way and you can put emotions to the side for business. I could be wrong, but you tell me,” Sutton said.
The man eyed her skeptically and took a swig of his beer. “I can’t help you,” he said.
“I know,” Sutton responded. “I’ll be helping you. Ex–war hero turned public enemy number one. You need to change the narrative. You need the people back on your side.”
“And you’re gonna help me?” he asked. “Little pretty lady like you is gonna fight the world just for me? Why would you do that?”
“Because you’re going to do something for me in return,” Sutton said. “You were the most decorated diver in the Navy’s history. I need that skill for something important, and I’m willing to pay for it.”
“How much?” he asked.
“A quarter million dollars,” Sutton said.
The man emptied the beer bottle into his mouth and tossed it into his yard. “Come in,” he said. He turned and entered his house, whistling for his dog to follow behind him. Sutton smirked as she followed behind him. Finding someone who was qualified to dive beneath the Sinclair’s oil rig was the biggest challenge. She was a master negotiator; she wasn’t concerned about him declining the offer, but finding someone with the know-how and skill to pull it off successfully was the biggest challenge.
She stepped into his home and her heart sank as she took in the conditions around her. The house was old, barely standing, and old furniture crowded the inside. A bucket of dirty water sat in the corner catching water from a leaky, exposed pipe that protruded from the ceiling. Empty beer bottles and filth were everywhere.
“Take a seat,” the man said. He cleared old newspapers from the tattered couch to make a space for her. Sutton reluctantly sat.
“What I got to do?” the man asked.
“I need you to blow an oil rig,” she said, voice low.
“I’ll need my money up front,” the man said. “And it’ll take a team. One diver can’t blow a whole rig. Those things are small cities. My men will have to be paid.”
“Money isn’t a problem. How many men?” she asked.
“Four.”
“I’ll need names and addresses. I need to know who I’m in business with,” she said. “I can pay you half now, half after the job is complete. A quarter for you and fifty thousand for each of your men.”
“Consider it done.”