“So do I. And we will.”
“When? In two years? I can’t wait that long. I don’t want to wait that long.”
“It won’t take that long,” Jacobs said.
“I think this is the best way. I trust you. And I trust Nate. And I trust Eddie. And I trust that if we decide to do this, that you’ll help keep me safe. I believe that. And I know you won’t let anything happen to me.”
Jacobs briefly looked away and wiped his eyes, making sure he didn’t drop a tear. As he did, Tiffany looked at the others.
“Don’t you think I’m right?”
“Uh, well, you know,” Franks said, looking at Thrower to see if he thought it was safe to interject.
“I think it’s something you guys gotta figure out if you’re OK with,” Thrower said. “If both of you are, then we can talk about making it happen, and making sure you’re as safe as possible.”
Tiffany grabbed both of Jacobs’ hands. “Brett, I love you, and I want to be with you. But this has to end. And it has to end soon.”
Jacobs looked up at her. “I know that. And I’m doing everything I can to make that happen.”
Tiffany shook her head. “Not everything. Everything would include me.”
“I can’t afford to lose you.”
“You won’t. If we can do it like we did the last time, we’ll be fine.”
“But we can’t count on it going as smoothly as it did the last time,” Jacobs said. “He’ll be more aware. He’ll be more on guard. He’ll be on the lookout for traps, just like we are with him now.”
“Believe me, I can’t even believe I’m talking like this myself. I don’t consider myself an especially brave person. And I don’t really want to do this. But I think we need to do this. I mean, you’ve taken bullets for me, Nate’s been stabbed for me… how much longer can we go on like this?”
Jacobs put his head in his hands. “I just… I’ve already lost one woman I love. I’ve somewhat recovered from that, thanks to you… but I don’t know if I could recover if I lost you too.”
“Then we’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen, won’t we? Believe me, I’m not some superhero who wants to make myself a target. God knows, when this is all over, I don’t ever want to see another gun again for the rest of my life. I want unicorns, and rainbows, and tranquil walks in the park, candlelit dinners, quiet nights watching movies, and just plain old boring days. I can’t wait to get back to that. But if this is what it takes to get there… then that’s what we’re going to have to do.”
“I’m just not ready to put you in danger again. Not if I can help it.”
Tiffany sighed, then thought of how they could reach a compromise. “OK. How about this? I’ll give you one more week to do it your way. Then after that, we try mine. Deal?”
Jacobs took a deep breath, not wanting to agree to those conditions. He looked back at Franks and Thrower. He could tell by their faces that they were in agreement with Tiffany.
Jacobs rubbed his face for a second. “OK. One more week. If I can’t get him by then… we’ll do it your way.”
16
With Jacobs and Thrower out of the house, it left Franks and Tiffany some time alone to discuss things. Things that Tiffany had on her mind. And they were things she couldn’t talk about with Jacobs around.
“Hey, Eddie?”
“Yeah?”
“What do you know about Brett’s brother?”
“Not a lot, really. He and Brett had a falling out a while back.”
“Why?” Tiffany asked.
“Well, it was a combination of things, really. When Brett’s father got killed, Terry had some resentment toward Brett, thinking it was everything he was mixed up in that was the cause of it.”
“Was it?”
“Oh yeah. No doubt. But that wasn’t Brett’s fault. Mallette ordered the hit from prison as a way to get at Brett even more. There wasn’t anything that Brett could’ve done.”
“Brett hasn’t really talked much about any of that. I mean, he’s told me what happened, but not really the details.”
“It’s a hard thing for him to look back on. His wife and kids were murdered, then his father was killed, then Terry’s kids were kidnapped… it was bad times, man. A lot of bad times.”
“So Terry just blamed Brett and pulled away?”
“Well, there’s more to it than that,” Franks answered. “It really was a combination of things. There wasn’t that one thing that did it. At least as far as I remember it. There was their father getting killed, then Brett continued down the road that he’s on, and Terry wanted him to just give that up and… I guess turn the other cheek. Or at least forget about all this and do something else. He figured Brett was putting everyone in the family in danger by proceeding.”
“And Brett couldn’t stop.”
Franks shook his head. “Nope. You know how he is now. This is… personal. After everything that’s happened, he can’t just walk away. And to be honest, even if he wanted to, I don’t think he could. He’s right that as long as Mallette’s out there, he’ll be a target. Nothing he can do to change that. Except to get rid of the problem, of course.”
“So they haven’t talked since then?”
“Not to my knowledge. Terry wanted to get his family as far away from this life as possible, and Brett didn’t think that was a bad idea either. He figured if he didn’t have contact with them, and Mallette knew they were on the outs, they wouldn’t be a target anymore. Mallette is only interested in hurting people that were close with Brett… people that would cause him pain if they were gone.”
“I guess I can understand that.”
“And Brett didn’t want
