23:40 / 11:40 P.M. CST
Yaron still held his gun in firing position as he moved toward the prone man.
“One, continue clearing,” Nir said. Then pointing to Imri, “Go.” The operative broke off to secure the dead man’s shotgun and clear outside the door.
So much for nobody dying, Nir thought, angry.
“What did you do? What did you do?” Arturo was crying. The other two men were shaking, pushed as far back into the couch cushions as they could go.
Grabbing Arturo around the neck, Nir lifted him, then flung him against the wall. With his hands zip-tied behind his back, the man had nothing to slow his momentum. He hit hard, and then crumpled to the floor. The broken television separated from its mount and crashed on top of him.
Taking hold of the man again, this time by the collar, Nir pulled him up. “You want to know who killed your buddy? That was you.” He began dragging him over to where his friend lay dead. “That was you with your drugs. That was you with your stolen cars. And most of all, that was you with beating on little girls.”
“Come on, man. I’m sorry. I’ll leave her alone, I promise. I swear on my mother’s grave.” Arturo was sobbing now.
“Right side clear,” Yaron announced in the coms.
Nir reached the body, then took hold of the back of Arturo’s sweaty head. “Look at him. Look at him! You did this. This was all you!”
Tucking his boot under the dead man’s body, he rolled him over so he was faceup.
“Half his face is missing because you’re a pathetic punk. And unless you want to end up like your idiot friend”—Nir looked at the blood-soaked coveralls—“Wesley…unless you want to end up like Wesley here, you will never go near that girl again. Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Outside clear,” said Imri.
“Do you believe I will kill you without blinking an eye?”
“Yes.”
Nir let go, and the man collapsed to the ground.
“Team, let’s go.”
Dima said to the two still on the couch, “I want you to count slowly to five hundred. If I see movement in here before I think you’ve reached that number, I will come back in, and I will kill you. Do you understand my words?”
They both nodded.
“After that, take your dead buddy there and go throw him in a lake or something. Got it?”
Both men nodded again.
Doron was already outside when they left the building. Lily looked tiny in his arms, like a child. Even with the discolorations and swellings on her face, Nir could see she was a very pretty girl. Imri was the last one out, and they all moved toward the SUV.
Once inside, Nir broke the communications link. As they drove off, he removed an encrypted cell phone from the glove compartment and called Efraim.
“What happened?” asked the deputy director when he answered.
Nir gave him a full run-down. Efraim was furious about the shooting, but after some back and forth, he seemed to realize there’d been no choice.
“And you’re sure you’re untraceable?”
“We’re ghosts.”
“I’ll have to tell the ramsad.”
“Figured you would.”
“How’s the girl?”
“She’s pretty beaten up, but she’ll be okay. We’re taking her to her father now.”
Efraim was silent, then said, “You did a good thing tonight, achi.”
“Yeah, I just don’t know if the ramsad will see it that way.”
Yaron had taken it upon himself to tend to Lily. Once they were at the SUV, he’d put his hand on Doron’s shoulder, who’d stepped back. Yaron had a daughter her age who was battling her own demons. For the next 45 minutes as they drove across Houston, the older man’s voice could be heard in a soft whisper. Every now and then Lily would say something, but it was mostly him.
When they arrived at Tommy Cohen’s apartment, Nir stepped out of the SUV. They’d all removed their balaclavas early on in the trip in order to lower the fear factor for the girl. Nir waited as Yaron said a few more things to her, and she nodded after each sentence he spoke. Then he kissed her forehead, and she stepped out of the car. Nir put his arm around her shoulders and walked her to the door.
It flung open after the first knock. Tears streamed down Cohen’s face as he wrapped his daughter in his arms. He was apologizing to her, and she was apologizing to him. In the midst of it, Cohen looked at Nir and said, “Thank you.”
“Are you going to do what you said?”
“I’ll take care of it tomorrow night.”
Nir gave him a hard stare. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“I swear, man. I’m getting treatment. My boss is happy about it. Even says he’ll save my job for me. So as soon as Lily is really settled back with her mom, I’m going in.”
“You better.”
Nir turned and walked back to the SUV. No one left behind.