Chapter 14 - The Broken Brother
The cleanup crew arrived at dawn, bagging the bodies and sweeping the compound for explosives.
I was sitting on the tailgate of a tactical SUV, letting a medic stitch the deep cut on my cheek.
A black sedan pulled through the secure gates, and my stomach plummeted when I saw who stepped out.
It was Arthur.
My brother looked like a ghost, his clothes wrinkled, his face unshaven, and his eyes hollow with despair.
The federal marshals immediately drew their weapons, but I held up my hand to stand them down.
Arthur slowly walked toward me, raising his hands to show he was unarmed.
He fell to his knees in the gravel, sobbing uncontrollably.
I stared down at him, feeling nothing but a cold, empty void where my sibling affection used to be.
He confessed that Richard Sterling’s men had found him in a cheap motel the night before.
They had tortured him for information about my mother’s location, breaking three of his fingers in the process.
Arthur held up his right hand, heavily bandaged and trembling violently.
He swore he hadn't told them anything, but they had tracked his phone to get a general radius of our location.
Arthur begged for my forgiveness, pleading for protection because Richard was going to kill him next.
I looked at the pathetic man who had once stood by while his wife nearly beat our mother to death.
I told him he would get FBI protection, but only in exchange for wearing a wire.
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He was going to help me bait Richard Sterling out of hiding.
Arthur nodded frantically, willing to do anything to save his own miserable life.
