Page 78 of The Company We Keep

But in that moment, the specter of Carrow — the larger-than-life portrait of a cruel and cunning man — came back to him. And as much as Dust knew that Carrow must feel like he himself was a stranger in light of the new information, Dust couldn't bring himself to wonder whether or not he'd been right — whether or not, when provoked like this, Carrow could be cruel to him.

Under the eyes of the entire crew, Wayles returned, binding Dust’s hands behind him. Dust didn’t protest. Hecouldn’t if he wanted to. Every muscle in his body felt enormously heavy, as if he were already dead as he waited to hear his fate. Wayles was gentle with him.

“Emerson too,” Carrow said before Wayles could get far.

Emerson smiled and put his wrists together, turning to make it easy.

“Can’t be too careful,” Emerson said. “I understand.”

Wayles bound him and then joined the rest of The Company. With the two men bound, they lowered their weapons. Dust worked to control his breathing.

“I’m going to be perfectly honest,” Emerson said. “I started out with Abe while Charlie here was probably still cheating on math tests in middle school. But I’m tired of being out in the field getting shit on while Charlie shares champagne and caviar.”

“What do youwant?” Carrow demanded.

“I want to make you an offer,” Emerson said. “AIIB sent Charlie to take you down. Now obviously, something happened. I guess it was a little too tempting to leech off a billionaire. The bureau chalked him up as a lost cause after he stopped feeding them information this year.”

“It’s true,” Dust shot in, unable to stop himself. “I haven’t been in contact with them since December.”

“That was an idiot move,” Emerson said. “They’re already planning your replacement back at the bureau. They were going to take you out just like they took out Nick Short.”

“Nick?” Wayles asked. Dust could see the horror wash over him. The reality of those words seemed to sink into the lines in the faces of The Company.

“Oh, yeah — they executed Nick to make a neat little opening for Charlie. And as usual, I had to do the rest of the work,” Emerson said.

“You fucking bastard —” Wayles started, his hand shooting to the gun at his hip. Carrow held up a hand.

“Russell,” he cautioned. Wayles stood down, biting his lip and visibly fighting tears.

“Instead of sendingmein after all I’ve done for them, they’ve got anotherkidcoming your way. I’m getting zero out of this deal — of course. And I’m tired of it. I didn’t see it at first, but Charlie was smart: you work for the people with the money. So I’m coming here to tell you about the spy in your midst, to warn you about the threat coming your way, and to propose a deal that would be lucrative to all of us.”

“Which would be?” Carrow asked.

“Put me on the payroll and I’ll work foryouinstead of Abe,” Emerson said. “I realize I don’t have much bargaining power here — I didn’t come armed with anything but information. This is a show of good faith. You can execute me today if you’d like, but AIIB is going to keep coming for you. They’re going to keep throwing everything they’ve got at you and trying to wreck the family you’ve built for yourself. The Kettle Syndicate — part two.”

Carrow frowned deeply at his words.

“Although,” Emerson continued, his tone going sickly sweet. “I guess Charlie has wrecked it pretty well for the time being. I’m only sorry that I couldn’t warn you sooner — before he seduced you all.”

Carrow clenched his jaw and shook his head just a little, as if he had an awful taste in his mouth.

“You don’t have anything to say, Dust?” Carrow asked.

His tone was softer than Dust expected — as if he were pleading with Dust to tell him that Emerson was lying, that it was all a trick. He soundedbroken.

“He’s right,” Dust said. He stared at the floor — couldn’t bear to see Carrow’s face. “I came in as an agent. I was supposed to deliver intel and figure out how to take The Company down.”

In his peripheral vision, he could see his friends’ postures change, sagging under the weight of his admission.

“But I turned. You know I turned. I saw what I really wanted — and that was to be a part of this. Iama part of this — you allknowI am. I would die for this family. I love you —”

For the first time, Carrow turned away, holding up a hand for Dust to stop, as if he didn’t want to hear any more. Dustcouldn’tstop. All he could do was pardon the man he loved for the thing he knew that had to be done.

“I understand. I can’t fix this. Emerson is right. I understand what you have to do. They’re going to keep coming for you. It’s my fault and I —”

The world exploded around them in a chaos of broken glass and gunfire.

Dust had only barely registered the sound of a helicopter approaching as they spoke. Everything had felt so surreal that he wasn’t processing background noise.

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