Code Name: Aries by Janie Crouch

9

Ian

Every single member of the Linear Tactical team plus all their loved ones were on the LT property for the meeting.

These were good people. If there was something they could do to take down Mosaic, they all wanted to help. But it had been in a generic way, as all good people would probably want to do.

That had been before Mosaic’s henchman, Silas Varela, had gone after some of their own—including one of their children.

Now the Linear team would do whatever it took to stop him. Varela hadn’t been involved with the Hemingway building, but he was the one who’d hurt Neo. Hurt her so badly that she was still barely able to move days later.

Worse, Varela had gotten her to work for him by threatening to kill the little girl Neo had placed for adoption ten years ago.

Neo might not have lived in Oak Creek for long, but no one in the Linear Tactical family was going to let her suffer any more now that they knew she needed help. I stood here watching as all of them committed to that fact, in word and action.

Including Wavy. Her small hands had clenched into fists when she’d heard what had happened. Wavy might have the least amount of military and tactical training in the room, but I had no doubt she’d take on Silas Varela if she had to.

So much passion in one tiny package, and I couldn’t wait to get closer to it. Closer to her. If it hadn’t been for the call to come here, I had no doubt we’d be in her studio right now, but not looking at her impressive paintings.

I would still take down Mosaic, but I was done trying to keep away from Wavy Bollinger in the process.

I lent the Linear guys one of the Zodiac jets so they could get Neo’s little girl to safety without Varela knowing. Neo would continue to pretend like she was working for Varela. But he thought she was in this alone and that he had her under his thumb.

He didn’t, and he was going to find that out today when we took him down. It was just a matter of waiting for him to make a mistake.

An hour later, Varela made that mistake.

He got greedy and tipped his hand in the wrong direction, forcing Neo to an abandoned warehouse, planning to take the drive and probably kill her as soon as he did. He thought she would be alone.

He hadn’t planned on her having a family to back her up.

He hadn’t planned on her having Kendrick willing to rush into the building like a lovesick fool to save her life.

And he definitely hadn’t expected me and the Linear guys to take him and his men out before they knew what hit them. Or the promise I made Varela as he lay on the warehouse floor trying to figure out how everything had gone to shit.

“You’re going to work for me to help take your bosses down, or I’m going to make sure you’re thrown into a dark cell that’ll eventually become your grave.”

The Linear guys around me went silent as I explained Varela’s new reality to him.

“You can’t do that,” he sputtered. “I have rights.”

I didn’t have an ounce of sympathy as I pulled him to his feet and marched him out the door. “I’m not the law. I’m just the guy who’s going to make sure Mosaic goes down and stays down this time.”

* * *

I’d done the right thing—or at least the legal thing—and taken Varela to an Omega Sector holding cell. I’d been telling the truth when I’d told him I wasn’t the law, but that didn’t mean I thought I was above it.

Callum Webb and I looked through a two-way mirror at Varela sitting handcuffed inside an interrogation room. I rubbed at my arm where I’d been shot. The ache was still there. It would be for a while.

“We can’t hold him indefinitely. You know that.”

“I know,” I told Callum without taking my eyes off Varela. He was getting to the point we needed him to be at—shifting, nervous, unsure what was going on or what his future held, but knowing it was all bad.

“Times have changed. Laws have changed,” Callum continued. “Even somebody tied to a terrorist organization can’t be held indefinitely without being charged.”

“You and I both know that, but I’m going to bet that Silas Varela isn’t up to date on the differences between the Patriot Act and the USA Freedom Act. Besides, I don’t want to hold him without charging him. Between the beating he gave Neo and threatening to kill her daughter, you could have him facing prison time for the rest of his life. That he probably does know.”

“I can give you twenty-four hours until I have to charge him. Forty-eight, maybe. But I’ll have to answer for it.”

“I won’t need nearly that long. Did you get clearance to use him as a criminal informant? He does much more for us out of jail than he does inside.”

Callum nodded. “Only because it’s you, Ian, and because we all know we owe you one when it comes to what happened with Mosaic last time.”

What had been done to me had been a personal vendetta, not the fault of any law enforcement agency.

“Whatever reason they’re willing to let me use Varela, I’ll take it. We need it.”

“So we go in there and play good cop, bad cop?”

“More like pick your poison. You might want to make sure there’s a momentary malfunction of the recording equipment.”

“I can’t let you hurt him,” Callum said. “Any case we have falls apart if you hurt him.”

I shook my head. “I’m not going to injure him. I’m merely going to explain his choices to him. Are you ready?”

Callum nodded, letting out a small sigh.

I gave him a tight smile. “Just follow my lead.”

We entered the interrogation room. A sullen look fell over Varela’s face as soon as he saw me.

“I want to talk to my lawyer,” he said.

I didn’t have to look back at Callum to know he was flinching. As an officer of the law, he was required to allow counsel if it was requested.

I wasn’t and that’s why I was doing the talking. But I didn’t have much time.

“We haven’t charged you with anything yet, Varela. As a matter of fact, nobody knows you’re here. Mosaic doesn’t ever have to know you were here.”

The man blanched at the word Mosaic.

“That’s right.” I sat down across from him so we were eye to eye. “We know who you work for. And you and I both know that every minute you sit in this cell, Mosaic gets more and more suspicious. So, you want to call your lawyer? Fine. We’ll make sure that Mosaic knows you were in here for hours before your lawyer arrived.”

Varela stared down at his hands.

“How long do you think you’re going to live once you get out?” I continued. “Or for that matter, how long do you think you’re going to last in prison if we charge you for what you did to Neo and attempted to do to her daughter, and then make it known that you were in here talking to us before you were charged?”

“That’s not fair, man!” Varela slammed his hands down on the table. “No matter what I do, you’re going to get me killed.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way.” I sat back with a little shrug. “You agree to work for us, report to us about your bosses, and we’ll make sure they never know that any conversation with law enforcement happened.”

Varela was smart enough to know that he didn’t have many options here. I crossed my arms over my chest, relaxing like I wouldn’t spend my last breath trying to take Mosaic down. “That’s right. You either deal with me and live, or I turn you over to the good officer behind me. He’ll read you your rights, charge you with assault and battery and attempted murder, and you’ll take a chance with Mosaic with whatever word I put out on the street. I’ll start with telling your men about how you betrayed them.”

Varela narrowed his eyes at us. “What do I get out of it if I help you?”

Now Callum spoke up. “You don’t go to jail for beating an innocent woman or threatening the life of an innocent ten-year-old. That’s what you get, you fucking bastard.”

Varela slumped in his chair. He knew he’d been beat. “Fine. What do I do?”

Callum handed me a key, and I unlocked Varela’s cuffs. “Let’s start by you telling me everything you know about Mosaic. And from there, we’ll come up with a plan that keeps you alive and gets us the information we need.”