Page 57 of Cosmo

As he shrugged, Murphy asked, “And you need us how?”

Cosmo stopped either of them with, “You want us to help you get up the snake by the tail so you can get the head.”

“No,” Taran said, then backtracked. “Not completely. In a way, that’s it, but there’s a lot more than that. Let us hang with you, like we’re part of you. When I said I was undercover, I meant it. I have no close ties like a spouse or kids and my parents live farfrom here and have different names. Bring me in, with Camp as my handler, and let me break off from you and into these other organizations. Maybe they don’t like you, but they know you’re like them to an extent. Keep up my relationship with you, vouch for me. Then, if there are other things, we can negotiate from there.”

“You’re telling us you just want our okay on your forehead? That’s it?”

“Yes. I need an in and you all are that in.”

Cosmo barked a laugh and pulled Taran away from the other two men, and as they walked along the parked cars in the big lot, he whispered harshly, “You are not up to this!”

“I’m getting there,” he said as a timid defense.

Cosmo stopped him and pulled him between a tall SUV and Suburban. After pushing him to the Suburban, he held him there with a flat hand on his chest. “You are going to get yourself killed.”

“Would that bother you?”

The guy was smiling, and it tore at Cosmo’s heart. “Yeah, okay. I…”

“I like you, too, Cosmo. Maybe you’ll help me get ready for this then. Teach me what the bureau couldn’t.”

Cosmo stepped to him and pressed his lips to Taran’s, and for a second, they felt cold, like he was already dead from the stupid in which he encased himself.

When his lips were warm, however, Cosmo felt the man more than he ever had. He, like Cosmo, didn’t like the harder parts of the world. He was idealistic at best and foolhardy at worst. But he had a heart, he had a soul, and that was damn hard to find in the world.

Whispering on Taran’s lips, Cosmo said, “I won’t always be able to protect you.”

“Maybe one day, I’ll protect you.”

Chapter Seventeen

Working out the detailswas fast work. Murphy was a seasoned negotiator and Liam admired him for his highest priorities. His family at that, whether or not he liked it, included the men living and working with him.

“These guys are good men. Every one of them. They’ve done crimes, so what? They hurt no one that didn’t rightly deserve it, and even then, they try not to.”

“Stealing hurts people,” Rymes reminded him.

“We only steal from people that can afford the losses, and you should know yourself, most of the very rich in this country have a lot more blood on their hands than the poor.”

“Are you seriously counting yourself among the poor? You own half a block near downtown Denver. I’ve seen how much a storefront rents for there.”

“And? My dad owned that place when those high rents weren’t around. We made meals of rice and gravy more times than we had meat, and I remembered. I remembered those fat cats driving by in their Lincolns and Corvettes, looking down on the ragtag bunch of kids walking along those streets. I was therewhen Colfax wasn’t quaint and edgy but had real hookers on the street corners and drug deals in every alley. I swore my kids would have better, that I’d have better, even if, like them, I had to do dirty shit to get there. Now, look at you. You’re throwing in with the likes of me to get what you want, too.”

Liam was prouder of Murphy in that moment than he’d been of anyone in his entire life. Rymes let his head drop in defeat as he mumbled, “I get it.”

“Do you? Crime, good guys and bad guys have never changed, not really. We just have more media to convince you that the rich guys are the ones that will save the world.”

Rymes brought his head right as he fought back some. “Okay! I said I get it. I make enough for me to save for a decent retirement and, depending on the administration and my bosses, that job is always on the chopping block. I never know if I’m going to retire or keep working until I die. Plus, criminals are getting better and better, like you all. How soon before I am killed in the line of duty and my family grows up without me?”

Murphy nodded and commiserated with him. “The world’s never been as hard as it is now. If us working together can change that a little, well, then let’s work together.”

Taran’s fingers curled around Liam’s hand and Liam turned his head to catch the relieved smile that spread on his pretty lips.

Back at the pub, with Daiq on his lap in the living room of Murphy’s place, Liam recounted the entire thing for the others. They were all proud of Murphy, even though Murphy kept telling Liam to hush his face.

“It was great. He made sure that they write it up that we’re all CIs and to be protected at all costs.”

“Confidential informants. Snitches,” Hippy said. “Never thought I’d be one of them.”

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