should be discussing this.”
“You’re obviously upset.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t think you’d be back so soon, or I would have hid it better.”
Wyatt was quiet for a minute. “I’m not a little kid anymore, mom. You don’t need to cry in the shower.”
She turned to him. “You knew about that? Why didn’t you say something?”
He shrugged. “You needed someplace to cry.”
Her eyes burned. She crossed to him and pulled him in for a hug. “You have such a good heart, Wyatt. I’m sorry if sometimes I’m an emotional wreck.”
“That’s okay. I still love you.”
She kissed the top of his head. “I still love you, too. You want a cup of coffee?”
“Does it have to be decaf?”
She let him go. “I think you’re old enough to try the real thing now.” She moved back to the coffeemaker and made him a cup. When she brought it to the table, she asked, “So, what do you think of your dad?”
“I think he’s not used to having a kid.”
She laughed. “Fair enough.”
He shrugged. “I liked when he showed me how to do stuff on the computer. I think Justin and I figured out something that might help him.”
“Yeah? That’s great. I’m not sure what time he’ll be back, though.”
“I need to look at it some more before I show him.” He sipped his coffee, looking far older to her than his ten years, then stood up. “Can I bring the computer over to Justin’s?”
“Sure.”
He walked out of the room and returned with the laptop he and Zach had been working on, and she cringed. “I thought you meant your computer.”
“No, I need this one.”
She wasn’t sure that was such a good idea but remembered Zach had said Ben had everything saved on the cloud. The hopeful look on his face persuaded her. “Be careful with it. Don’t mess anything up.”
“Thanks. Bye, Mom.”
She finished her coffee, then looked down at her tattered old bathrobe. “God, I’ve got to get out of this thing.” A shower would do her good. She stood just as the doorbell rang, and she rolled her eyes. “Fabulous.”
Making her way to the door, she tightened the belt on her robe and redid her ponytail, hoping it would hide the worst of her bed head. She opened it to find an older man she didn’t recognize, with blond hair and kind blue eyes. “Can I help you?”
“Ms. Murphy?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Agent Spaulding with the DEA. I’m afraid there’s been an accident.”
“Oh, my God!”
“Ben Sato’s been injured. I’ll need you to come with me.”
22
The first thing Moto did when he caught up with HERO Force was explain everything that transpired with his brother to Razorback. “And do you believe him?” Razorback asked.
“I do.”
“You weren’t so sure at the hospital.”
“I made a mistake. I believe him now.”
“Are you willing to stake my men’s lives on that?”
He knew exactly what he was taking on, knew the importance of judging his brother’s truthfulness correctly. “Absolutely.”
Razorback nodded. “Good enough for me. Let’s hope he hears something about the shipment.” He walked back to the rest of the team, assembled around the hotel suite’s conference table. “In the meantime, I want Champion and Sloan at the docks. We need eyes and ears on the ground.”
The men nodded. Razorback checked his watch. “Logan O’Malley should be calling in any second with an update on DeRegina’s downfall in the Port of Savannah.” The phone in the center of the table started to ring. “Right on time.” He pressed a button. “Logan, you’re on speaker.”
“I interviewed several DEA agents involved with the operation—“
Moto interrupted, “Anyone named Spaulding?”
“No.”
“Good, ’cause he’s a mole.”
“Anyway, you were right, Razorback. There was definitely a methamphetamine operation in addition to the opium being shipped in. But the Savannah warehouse wasn’t where they cooked it, it was just a storage facility for the components. So even though the feds raided it twice, there was nothing they could do. They had two guys undercover for over a year before they could nail down an opium shipment from the Middle East. Even then, they weren’t able to get DeRegina himself. A handful of underlings went down for the crime, but it was enough to cut off access to his distribution network and force him to find a new port to import his drugs.”
Moto shook his head. “If his name wasn’t on shit in Savannah, how much you want to bet it’s not on the operation here in Houston, either? How are we going to pin this motherfucker down and actually put him