Page 98 of Last Mile

Just as we rose out of our chairs, the front door blew open, and agents poured into the room. I didn’t have to see the back of their jackets to know they were ATF. “All right, everyone freeze, and put your hands in the air!”

“What the fuck is this about?” Deacon demanded.

The agent trained his gun on Deacon. “I said put your hands in the air!”

“Okay, okay.” He reluctantly threw his arms over his head.

The crowd parted, and an older agent with salt- and- pepper hair

stepped forward. He flashed his badge at us. “I’m Agent Peterson

with the ATF. We have a warrant to search the premises on suspicion of harboring illegal guns.”

Rev shook his head. “I’m sorry to waste your time, but you won’t find any guns here,” he said politely.

Agent Peterson stepped forward to stand toe-to-toe with Rev.

“Really? Then can you explain why we received a tip this morning that the Raiders were in possession of a large stockpile of illegal weapons?”

Deacon and I exchanged a look. Who in the hell would call the ATF with a bogus tip on us? Then it hit me. “Eddy,” I grunted at the same time Deacon did.

“I’m sure it’s just a mistake. Someone playing a joke on you,” Rev argued.

Agent Peterson sneered at Rev. “You boys must think we’re a bunch of dumb fuckers. You and I both know you’ve been running guns out of here for at least thirty years. You’ve always been one step ahead of us until now. And this time, you’re going down.”

Two agents ran in from the back. “Sir, we’ve located the weapons down in the warehouse.”

A murmur of disbelief went up among all the Raiders in the room. Rev whirled around and stared at me and Deacon. His face had paled. In a strangled voice, he uttered the words we were all thinking. “Eddy fucking set us up.”

Agent Peterson reached out to take Rev by the arm. He brought his hands behind his back and cuffed him. “Nathaniel Malloy, you’re under arrest for being in possession of illegal firearms with intent to sell.”

Other agents stepped forward to start handcuffing the rest of us. At that moment, the back door flew open again. But this time an agent was ushering in Mama Liz and Samantha. I grimaced at the sight of them, especially Samantha. I never, ever wanted her to see me like this.

“What’s going on?” Mama Liz demanded.

Before anyone could answer her, Agent Peterson abandoned

Rev and went charging toward them. “Agent Vargas, what the hell are you doing here?”

I glanced from him to Samantha. “Agent Vargas? What is he talking about?”

Samantha’s eyes pinched shut as if she were in pain.

“Vargas, I asked you a question,” Agent Peterson demanded.

“Sam?” I questioned.

When she opened her eyes, she didn’t look at him. Instead, she looked at me with an agonized expression. “I’m so sorry, Bishop. I never meant for anything like this to happen.”

“All this time you’ve been a fucking fed?”

“Yes.”

“Un- fucking- believable.”

“But I swear I’ve been trying to prove you’re not involved in anything illegal— I’ve been trying to find a way to exonerate you all of any future charges.”

My head shook furiously from side to side and I found I couldn’t speak. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. In that moment, my chest constricted so tightly that I had to fight to breathe. I bent over at the waist, sucking in air and wheezing it out. If there truly was a hell on earth, I found myself consumed by the flames.