Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 86450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
I shake my head quickly. It’s an offer I knew he would make, just as I knew I’d decline it. Not about to put anyone else I care about at risk, and next to Josie, Marcus is the person I’m closest to in this world. “No. I need you to keep things going, especially on this Tuesday run.”
Speaking of which.
“Let’s go through the plan,” I say, redirecting. “Coast Guard rotation hasn’t shifted—my guy at the station ran the latest cutter pattern last week. We’re good on the window.”
“Two-fifteen to four-forty.”
“Pickup at midnight on the Canadian side in Steveston. Run dark. Hand off at Walt’s by oh-five hundred. Same plan as we ran with the de Hooch.”
“And the transfer to the buyer?”
“He wants the figurine in Burlingame by Thursday end of day. Private jet handles the leg after Walt’s.”
“And we’re a woman down if Connie doesn’t show.”
“She won’t show. I plan on making the run with you. I’ll have Josie stay with someone at Jameson while I’m gone.”
“Nah… I can do it solo. You stick with her.”
The relief I feel at his offer is staggering, and for the first time in my professional criminal career, I realize I’d rather the entire job blow up than leave Josie at risk.
“You sure?”
“I’m good. The figurine’s fourteen inches and twelve pounds. I can stash it, run it, hand it off without Connie. It’s the lightest cargo we’ve moved in eighteen months. If I can’t do that without a deckhand, I should have stayed in the navy.”
“You should have stayed in the navy. It’s far more honest work than this.”
“I was bored in the navy.” He flashes me a wide grin. “Plus the pay can’t compare.”
“It’s not always about the money, my friend. You’d have made chief by now.”
“I’d have made chief and divorced twice and I’d be drinking myself stupid in some bar in Bremerton instead of doing this with you. Pass.”
I let myself smile.
It’s the first time it’s happened since I sat down at this table but it’s short-lived as business creeps back in.
“All right. You run it solo. I cover Josie. If anything moves on you up there, you abort. I don’t care what the broker says, I don’t care what the contract says. You abort and you come home.”
“Understood.”
“And I want you packing at all times.”
If Connie went to Mikhail and gave him Josie, it means she’s inadvertently giving us all up. He’s going to be furious because bottom line is that I’m now standing between him and the woman who can put him in a federal cell, and there is no version of Mikhail that lets that stand. He’ll come for Josie and he’ll want me dead as well. Marcus is a soft target, so he’s in equal danger.
He reaches inside his jacket and pulls his SIG P226 from the shoulder holster. He sets it on the chart table next to the coffee thermos.
“I’m covered. No need to worry about me.”
I turn my coffee mug a quarter rotation, a habit I developed when I’m thinking through something that weighs on my mind.
“I told Josie,” I say.
Marcus blinks at me in surprise, because he knows what I’m talking about.
“Everything. After the gallery. I told her about Jim and what I really do for a living. All of it.”
He’s quiet for a long beat. “That’s a hell of a thing. It means you trust her.”
“Yeah. I trust her the way I trust you.”
Marcus nods in understanding. “How did she take it?”
For the second time, I smile. “She didn’t even flinch. Just put her head on my shoulder and told me she was falling for me. Smuggler and all.”
“Dude,” he drawls, thumping his fist once against his chest. “That got me in the feels.”
“Fuck off,” I mutter. But then my eyes lift to his, locking hard. “She asked me if I’d ever walk away from this.”
Marcus goes still. “What did you tell her?”
“I told her I don’t know yet. But I need you to know, I think I’ve found something I want more than I want this.”
He nods slow. “You should follow your heart, boss.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“I expected more.”
“You expected me to tell you what to do.”
I roll my eyes. “Well… yeah.”
He shakes his head with a grin. “Not my job.”
“You’re my best friend, Marcus.”
His eyes go soft. “I’m your best friend and that’s why it’s not my job. You want a guy to tell you what to do, you call your accountant. You want a guy to ride this out with you whatever you decide, you call me.”
Never have I ever wanted to hug the man more, but I refrain. “She works for law enforcement, Marcus. I’m a felon and I’m a criminal. We’re not Romeo and Juliet, we’re a federal indictment waiting to happen. Even if I quit tomorrow, there’s nine years of cargo that has my prints on it. I don’t get to walk away clean. And she doesn’t get to be with me without that hanging over her for the rest of her life. It’s not fair to her.”