“So I can still run track?” Rafa asked.
“Yeah, Rafa, you can still run track. You’re lucky kids. In so many ways.”
There was a bit of chatter and dialogue while Jake showed everyone the paperwork prepared by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Later, Jake said, “I have to speak with Lance alone. Andy, I’ll drive you home after school, as usual.”
The kids stood. Andy locked eyes briefly with his father. There had been a number of difficult conversations at home, but Jake continued to make it clear that he forgave his son. The therapist they’d hired believed Andy was making good progress at forgiving himself. Nobody had imagined what would come of Andy’s secret club. Nobody could have foreseen the terrible events that followed. What mattered was moving forward. That was what Jake focused on. He couldn’t change yesterday, and the future would always have uncertainties, but Jake could live for today. He chose to live in the light-after all, he no longer had a tunnel hideaway to retreat into. All windows to his past were closed up tight.
Hilary paused at the doorway and looked to Ellie. “What about the money?” she asked.
“The drug money?” Ellie asked.
“Yeah. Two hundred million in missing bitcoins,” Hilary said. “We didn’t have it. We never did. What happened to the money?”
“I guess that’s for the FBI to figure out,” Jake said.
Jake and Pixie locked eyes for a moment.
“Go on to class now,” Lance said.
The kids all left.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Lance asked, once everyone was gone.
“No, I’m fine,” Jake said, taking a seat at the table.
“So, how did the meeting go?”
“It went fine,” Jake said. His voice had changed, more somber.
“What’s going on?” Lance asked. “You look strange, Jake.”
Jake hefted his cane, lowering it in front of Lance like a barricade going down.
“What gives?” Lance asked.
Without a word, Jake sprang to a standing position and pressed his cane under Lance’s chin. He used the shaft to coax Lance out of his seat; then he applied enough pressure to the throat to force Lance to move backward until he came to an abrupt stop against the wall.
“You son of a bitch,” Jake said, his face turning crimson. The cane stayed flush against Lance’s throat. “How could you do it, Lance? How? To Andy, to his friends, to Ellie? You could have gotten everyone killed!”
“What? What are you talking about?” The pressure on Lance’s throat made it difficult to talk, but not hard to breathe.
“Don’t,” Jake said through gritted teeth. “Don’t lie to me!”
“Jake, please… please…”
Ellie came forward and put a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Jake, don’t make it worse,” she said.
Adrenaline turned Jake’s breathing shallow. He hesitated before he lowered his cane. Lance sank to the floor with a grim expression.
“I’ve been thinking about this moment for so long,” Jake said, still breathing hard. “What was I going to say to you? How would I react? Just be grateful Ellie’s here, Lance. Just be grateful Andy wasn’t hurt.”
Lance looked as if he was about to get physically sick.
Jake went on. He used the cane for balance now, not as a weapon. “You can thank Pixie for figuring it out,” he continued. “Guess you tried to sell some of the bitcoins and he was watching for it. What? One Patek Philippe isn’t enough for you?”
“The Lion is already in jail and you’re next, Lance,” Ellie said. “The FBI knows you helped The Lion steal the money from Andy and his friends. For all his skill, Javier’s computer expert still needed a person on the inside to breach the network. You were that person.”
“Javier didn’t know The Lion’s identity, but once Pixie nailed you, it wasn’t hard to find him,” Jake added. “The FBI has been building a case against you for a while, keeping you under surveillance, so I had to keep quiet and keep my anger in check. Believe me, that was harder than the toughest game I ever pitched.”
Lance said, “Jake, I-I-don’t know what to say.”
Jake kept his calm, but inside he was seething.
“I can understand why you did it. You got tired of being the poorest guy at the party. But you should have come forward when Andy was in danger. You knew, but you didn’t do anything to help.”
“What did you want me to do, Jake?”
Jake let the cane fall from his grasp. Then he bent at the waist and seized Lance by his shirt. In a fluid motion, Jake hoisted Lance to his feet as though his brother were weightless. A second after that, Lance was back up against the wall, with Jake holding him in place.
Jake’s eyes were wide and wild. He’d been in plenty of bench-clearing brawls in his day. Throwing a punch was never something he shied from, but somehow he found the restraint to keep his hands from becoming fists. Even so, Jake got right in Lance’s face.
“What you should have done is told the FBI!”
“I d-didn’t know what-what was happening,” Lance stuttered out the words.
Jake was incredulous. “What? Did you think a hostage situation at The Pep and your two-hundred-million-dollar heist weren’t connected? When Andy and his friends couldn’t be found, the kids you stole from, did you not think to be concerned? They all could have died because of your greed. All of them, including me!”
Jake cocked a fist and Lance flinched. Twice Jake went to make the punch, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, Jake let go and Lance sank to the floor. Lance kept his head bowed, hands covering his face. Jake turned his back to his brother, stood there a second with his hands at his sides, shaking, and then he, too, sank to the floor, resting against the same wall Lance used to stay upright. The brothers’ shoulders were touching.
“You don’t have long before the FBI gets here, Jake,” Ellie said.
“Long for what?” Lance asked.
In a soft voice, Jake said, “I wanted to get you alone beforehand so I could tell you something.”
“Please, Jake,” Lance said, his bottom lip trembling.
Jake returned a sympathetic look. “I’ve got a lot of conflicted emotions here, brother, so hear me out,” Jake said. “When I was at my lowest, you were there for me. I’ll never forget that. I love you, Lance. You’re my brother. And I won’t turn my back on you. Not ever. But you did the crime. Stealing from anybody, even if the money originally came from a drug cartel, is still illegal. There’s a whole host of charges coming your way. Javier is going to jail for a long time for money laundering, tax evasion, and probably wire fraud. They might try to get you on similar charges. Either way, you’re going to be criminally punished for what you’ve done-that’s for certain. I don’t know how many years you’ll get. First offense. Who knows? But I’ll help you make bail, no matter what.”
“Jake, I can’t go to jail,” Lance said. “This school is my life. How can I just leave it and the kids?”
“Yeah, well, that’s all in the past now. Trust me, you’re going to have to move on. And you’ll adjust eventually. What matters most is that you have a choice to make.”
“Choice?”
“In the closet of your bedroom, I’ve prepared a GOOD pack for you. It has everything you’ll need to survive on the run. If you don’t think you can do the time, then I’ve given you a way out. It’s the best I can come up with. My way of taking away some of the sting of your mistake, just like you helped take away some of the sting of mine. I’ve spent weeks writing a detailed handbook for you to follow. It’s everything I know about survival, about prepping. It’ll teach you to live off the grid. Follow the rules. Don’t break them. Don’t even bend them a little, and you’ll have a chance. There’s a map for you to use. It shows how you can get to New York by foot. Buy some disguises. It’s all in that handbook.”
Jake stood and Ellie came to his side. They held hands while Lance hid his face once more.