“They wanted to be sure,” Persephone said when she and Hill were alone.
“Understood,” he nodded, looked back at Shelanon.
Persephone cupped his cheek, preferring he looked at her. “Are you okay?” her voice was soft, encouraging.
“Seriously?” Hill seemed horrified. “Are you smellin’ this?” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m not okay by a longshot, Goddess.”
Persephone laughed.
“It’s not funny,” Hill was saying as Persephone took his arm and led them to the door. “It’ll take longer for the hair to grow back in my nose than on my head. I seriously believe the follicles have suffered irrevocable damage. That can happen, you know?”
“I see,” Persephone tried to curb some of her laughter. “And you know this from fact?”
“I believe I read it in a book somewhere.”
“Okay now you’re just
carrying this reading thing too far.”
~~~
The hours had passed in a blur. The sun was beginning its descent behind a distant peak when the ground shook for the second time that day.
The Black Island Organization had tentacles that stretched worldwide. That day, the head of the monster had been taken.
The built-in detonation sequence had been
activated once Shelanon’s execution squad had cleared. Sounds of
nature mingled with a dull rumbling as the multi leveled
construction imploded. Gradually, silence returned and held
comfortably while transports were filled. Then, there was the
soothing roar of engines as trucks carried away those who had
emerged victorious from despair that had been in effect for
decades.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FIVE
Hill had not been bluffing when he told the late Jacob Shelanon that they weren’t there for last minute confessions or information. Sondrio Tesano had fully cooperated. He had been an apt pupil in his studies-ready to take over what he considered his birthright once his elders had been eliminated.
Jake Shelanon’s victims had been transported almost eight hours away to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Meanwhile, Shelanon’s staff would be transported to Vestige’s detention camp in Mexico.
Hill had already contacted Gibson Kress to inform the man that he and his people were about to have company. Gibson’s instructions were to hold what remained of the staff until their presence was requested by the authorities- reputable authorities- for questioning and hopefully charging.
Sondrio’s cooperative efforts were then being documented by Vestige personnel. They had been dispatched to set processes in motion for extradition and warrants for certain members of the Tesano organization. That was only the first round.
Sondrio had given over access codes to his journals which would lead to several hard to answer questions for those at the top of many powerful networks in addition to the Ramseys and the Tesanos.
However exhaustive
Sondrio’s cooperative efforts, though, he was not the Tesano cousin who had
managed to shock those who would swear they were
unshockable.
***
Minneapolis, MN~
“Brogue man, what the fuck?”
Hill’s gruff question resounded in the hotel room the group converged on after securing the children in the second and third towers of the resort hotel they had taken over upon arrival that day.
The accommodations had been arranged only days prior in the hope that they would return from North Dakota with the rescued. A second transport team including child psychologists and pediatricians would be arriving the following afternoon. From there, the kids would begin the new and hopefully healing phases of their lives.
“Is it my imagination or did you know we were coming?”
“How the hell are you alive?”
“Wasn’t your throat cut?”
“Smoak found you, didn’t he?”
“Your dad had a funeral and everything-open casket.”
Brogue Tesano didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh or...laugh. God, how long had it been since he’d been in the same room with his own family? He had missed them. He had wronged them. He would make it right with them-all of them. He was grateful to be alive.
“I knew you were coming,” he answered Bill’s question first. “The Captain-uh-”
“Jasper,” Hill clarified.
“Right, I um…” Brogue offered a lopsided smile. “I didn’t know if that part had come out yet.”
“How are you alive, man?” Caiphus asked.
Brogue sobered. “I was never dead.”
A few moments passed with looks being traded. No one knew what to say next, so they waited.
“Jasper’s emails were all I had to go on,” Brogue said.
“The texting…” Hill recalled the man’s interest in his phone while they waited to get started in Medora. “He was texting you?”
“Hell,” Brogue grinned and leaned forward on the chair to drag ten fingers through a thick honey wheat colored crop of waves. “I’d have loved to have gotten a text, but I’ve only been able to read emails. Only been able to receive them- Shelanon had that place locked up tight, but he and his staff had access to top notch equipment that I never had clearance to use. I was only ever able to secure an old laptop-nothing that would allow me to get a fix on my location unfortunately-Shelanon knew how to stay off the grid when it came to that. The emailing was a lucky break. Only trouble was I couldn’t risk sending messages and drawing suspicion. I was supposed to be laying low, learning the ropes so I could be an asset.”
