Miles turns to me with a look of panic. I want to tell him Hit Rhett with our car, but I know that’s not a real option. Well, not an option Miles would take.
“Park a few blocks away,” I tell him as I remove my bullet-hole-ridden jacket and shoulder holster.
Miles nods.
I throw my equipment onto the floor of the car and make sure my sleeves are down to my wrists. I don’t need any unnecessary questions.
We have a driveway, but Miles drives past and turns a corner, much to the confusion of his two siblings. Lacy stays quiet, but I don’t think Jayden has it in him to keep his mouth shut.
“What’re you doing?” Jayden asks. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I tell him. “Get out of the car.”
Everyone files out, and I walk around to the driver’s side. I go for the keys, but Miles stops me. “We should all go up together,” he says. “Rhett knows we’re here now. Let’s talk to him first.”
I don’t like this plan, but I’ll go with it. I guess it’s better than getting Rhett more suspicious than he already is by disappearing whenever he turns up.
We walk together around the corner and up the street. The uneven pavement threatens to trip me a few times, but I avoid stumbling thanks to the light of the descending sun. Lacy jumps over the cracks with grace but stops once we near Rhett. She gets odd and tense, like she doesn’t trust him, and for a brief moment I like her a little more than before.
Rhett straightens himself when we get close, his dark hair windswept yet still styled—does he groom himself for the criminals, or was it prep for visiting us? I’d ask, but I don’t think I could keep my condescension out of it.
“You parked pretty far away,” Rhett comments. “Why?”
“So this fatass can burn some calories,” I say as I motion to Jayden.
Jayden glares, his face a shade of red. “I’m not even that fat,” he chokes out under his breath. “Why do you keep saying that?”
“Because you react.”
“Jayden, Lacy,” Miles says. “Go into the house, please.”
His siblings walk away—Lacy more eager than Jayden—and I wait a few feet behind Miles, hoping this encounter will be over with quick. I doubt Rhett is here to arrest me, considering he hasn’t done anything yet, but he may be here to question us. Why today, of all days?
Once the front door closes, Rhett crosses his arms over his chest and sighs. “I got a call today in conjunction with the group of human traffickers.”
Miles and I remain silent.
Rhett continues, “Apparently there was a gunfight at a construction site in Noimore not but an hour ago. From all the reports we gathered, it looks like prep work was done on the place for our suspects to do their shipping, but everything was interrupted. An elderly gentleman in charge of the security says he saw two people in a jalopy of a car snooping around the area.”
Silence settles between us. Everyone knows what Rhett’s implied, but what does he think we’ll say? It’s not like we would out and out admit anything. Well, I wouldn’t. A small piece of me thinks Miles might.
“What’re you trying to say?” I ask, knowing full well what’s going on. “We just got back from picking up some kids from school. We didn’t have time to thwart some punks.”
Rhett steps up closer to us and lowers his voice. “I know Shelby somehow has insider information on this whole thing. I know he’s been using it too—like at the rail yard. Who else would be at the construction site when everything went down?”
“Well, it wasn’t us.”
“That’s it? That’s your only rebuttal?”
“It’s all I need. You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Rhett turns his attention to Miles. I also give him a sideways glance. Miles trusts Rhett for some reason, but I hope to God he doesn’t spill anything he shouldn’t. We have a man locked in our trunk, for fuck’s sake. It doesn’t look good for us, even if we explained the situation from beginning to end.
“You don’t know anything about this?” Rhett asks.
Miles shakes his head. “No. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I let out a short exhale, not even aware I had been holding my breath.
Again, quiet blankets the area. I get antsy thinking about Castor in the trunk, but I keep still. I don’t want to look uncomfortable in the middle of a questioning—it would only encourage Rhett to continue.
“Miles,” Rhett begins. He places his hands on his hips and stares at the cement sidewalk. “Listen. I still remember your first day in the academy. You introduced yourself and told your academy classmates a little about your past.”
Miles nods but offers no commentary.
“You said you had people who depended on you. That you had a rough start in life, but you were back on track and ready to do what you had to, to make it right. Do you remember that? What you said?”
“Yeah,” Miles says. “I remember.”
Rhett sighs. “I didn’t think much of it then, but after a few days as your instructor, I knew you were being sincere. Nobody works as hard as you. Nobody studies as much as you do. You’re constantly improving—not just your physical body, but your knowledge base too. You have a drive. A passion. I see that you meant what you said and… I don’t want to see you fail. I don’t want to see you throw all your hard work away because of one stupid mistake. Do you understand?”
Miles tightens his hands into fists. His expression is unreadable, but I get tense and agitated by the speech.
When Miles doesn’t say anything, Rhett continues, “I want to help you succeed, so I’m going to ask you—is there anything you
