Chapter 2 - THE MAN NATE POINTED AT
By the time the black sedans stopped outside Nate’s apartment building, the rain had weakened to a cold mist.
Rafael stepped out first.
He did not usually escort people anywhere.
Men came to him.
They waited outside locked rooms, private clubs, courthouse corridors, and hospital elevators until he decided whether they deserved his attention.
But that night, Rafael walked beside a seven-year-old boy through a building with broken hallway lights and water stains spreading across the ceiling like old bruises.
Diego followed several steps behind them.
Two additional men remained near the entrance, their coats open just enough to reveal the weapons at their hips.
Nate noticed everything.
He noticed how Diego checked the stairwell before entering.
He noticed the small mirror Rafael’s driver used to examine the underside of a parked car.
He noticed that none of the men spoke loudly.
“Are people always trying to hurt you?” Nate asked.
Rafael looked down at him.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they believe hurting me will improve their lives.”
“Does it?”
“No.”
They reached the third floor.
Nate stopped outside apartment 3B and raised one finger to his lips.
“My mom sleeps during the day before her night shift,” he whispered.
“It’s night,” Diego said.
“She sometimes forgets what time it is.”
Nate knocked three times, paused, then knocked twice.
A lock turned.
The door opened less than four inches.
A woman’s tired brown eyes appeared in the gap.
“Nate?”
The door flew open.
Mara Hayes wore pale blue hospital scrubs beneath an old gray sweater.
Her hair had been tied up carelessly, and exhaustion had hollowed the skin beneath her eyes.
For one second, relief flooded her face.
Then she saw Rafael.
Then Diego.
Then the men standing in the hallway.
She pulled Nate behind her.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Rafael De Santos.”
Her expression changed.
It was not recognition in the ordinary sense.
It was the quiet terror of hearing a name she had only encountered in lowered voices.
“Nate,” she said without looking away from Rafael, “what did you do?”
“I found the man in charge.”
Mara closed her eyes.
“Oh, God.”
“Your son told me what happened,” Rafael said.
“I didn’t send him.”
“I know.”
“I didn’t ask him to find you.”
“I know that too.”
Mara looked down at Nate.
“You climbed out the fire escape?”
Nate’s silence answered for him.
She grabbed him by both shoulders, checking his face, hands, and clothes as though injuries might appear only after she searched for them.
“You could have fallen.”
“But I didn’t.”
“You could have disappeared.”
“But I found him.”
Her anger collapsed under the weight of relief.
She pulled Nate into her arms.
Rafael looked away.
Not because the sight moved him.
At least, that was what he told himself.
“Those men will not return,” he said.
Mara kept one arm around her son.
“What does that mean?”
“It means exactly what I said.”
“And what will you want from us?”
“Nothing.”
Men like Rafael did not use that word often.
Mara did not believe it.
Neither did Diego.
Rafael reached inside his coat.
Mara stiffened.
He removed a business card without a name on it, only a telephone number embossed in black.
“If anyone comes to this door, call that number.”
“I don’t want to owe you.”
“You don’t.”
“People always owe men like you.”
Rafael’s gaze shifted toward Nate.
“Your son walked seventeen blocks in the rain because men using my name frightened you inside your own home.”
His voice remained calm.
“That is my debt.”
Before Mara could respond, footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Four men climbed toward the landing.
Diego’s hand moved under his coat.
Mara pulled Nate farther inside the apartment.
The first man to appear was broad-shouldered, with pale blond hair cut close to his scalp.
Kell Mercer.
Behind him came three Falcon Shield employees.
One of them had a black pistol visible above his belt.
Nate’s breathing stopped.
His fingers tightened around his mother’s sweater.
Rafael saw it.
So did Kell.
Kell’s confident expression faltered.
Rafael turned toward Nate.
“Are these the men?”
Nate looked at each face carefully.
The first employee avoided his eyes.
The second gave a nervous half-smile.
The third stared with open hostility.
Then Nate raised his hand.
His finger pointed directly at Kell.
“Him.”
The hallway seemed to narrow.
Kell looked at Rafael.
“Boss, the kid is confused.”
Nate shook his head.
“He sat on our couch.”
“I’ve never seen this boy before.”
“You called my mom a charity case.”
Kell’s jaw tightened.
“You said nurses think they’re better than everybody because they touch dying people.”
One of the Falcon Shield men slowly stepped away from Kell.
Rafael approached.
There was no warning.
His right fist traveled less than eighteen inches and struck Kell directly across the left cheekbone.
The impact snapped Kell’s head sideways.
Blood appeared immediately at the corner of his mouth.
He stumbled into the wall but remained standing.
Rafael seized the front of Kell’s coat.
“Did I ever teach you,” Rafael asked quietly, “to frighten women while their children watched?”
Kell lowered his head.
“No.”
Rafael hit him again.
This time the punch landed across Kell’s mouth.
His lower lip split against his teeth.
Mara covered Nate’s eyes.
Nate moved her hand aside.
He wanted to see.
“Did I ever teach you to collect money from nurses?” Rafael asked.
“No.”
“Did I give you permission to turn warehouse security into an extortion crew?”
“No.”
Rafael released him.
Kell remained against the wall, breathing heavily.
His face showed obedience.
His eyes did not.
Deep behind the pain and lowered posture, something burned.
Resentment.
Perhaps hatred.
Rafael saw that too.
“Diego,” Rafael said.
“Take their weapons.”
The three Falcon Shield men surrendered immediately.
Kell did not move.
Diego approached him.
For several seconds, the two men stared at one another.
Then Kell pulled his pistol from beneath his jacket and handed it over.
Rafael looked at Mara.
“I apologize for what was done in my name.”
She said nothing.
He turned toward Nate.
“You remembered correctly.”
“My teacher says I usually do.”
Rafael almost smiled.
Then Diego’s phone vibrated.
He examined the screen.
The blood left his face.
“What is it?” Rafael asked.
Diego turned the phone around.
A photograph filled the screen.
It showed Rafael’s younger sister, Sofia, leaving an art gallery twenty minutes earlier.
A red circle had been drawn around her head.
Beneath the image were six words.
CONTROL YOUR DOGS OR LOSE YOUR FAMILY.
Rafael looked slowly toward Kell.
May you like
Kell wiped the blood from his mouth.
And for the first time that night, he smiled.
