Code of Silence: Living a Lie Comes With a Price (31 page)

Cooper looked past Gordy to the girl half hidden behind him.

“Hiro?” Cooper practically whispered her name.

He backed up and sat down on the bench while the two shuffled inside. Cooper relit the candle and searched Hiro’s face to try to read what state of mind she was in. Maybe she’d thought about things and wanted to set things right too. Whatever was on her mind, she didn’t let it show on her face.

Gordy sat on the bench opposite him. Hiro stood.

“I filled her in on the stuff with Lunk.” Gordy shrugged. “She wanted to come.”

Cooper attempted a smile. He hoped it didn’t look as stiff and awkward as it felt. “Glad you’re here.”

“I won’t be staying,” she said. “I just have something to say, and then I’ll leave the two of you to do whatever it is you plan to do.”

“Okay,” Cooper said, uneasiness growing. “Sure you don’t want to sit?” He motioned toward the bench next to Gordy.

“Positive.” She looked at Gordy, then back at Cooper. “I went to see Frank again today. My mom took me after school.”

Cooper nodded. For a moment he wished he could have gone with her. Talked to Frank—even though he couldn’t answer back.

“And Frank is coming out of it—the coma.”

“What?” Cooper stood. Finally, a little light at the end of the tunnel. “That’s great!” He looked at Gordy, but his cousin didn’t look one bit excited.

“Yeah, I’m really relieved about that,” Hiro said. She didn’t look very relieved though.

“So he’s going to be alright—I mean he’ll make a full recovery. Right?” Cooper looked at Gordy and back to her again. Both of them looked glum.

“What am I missing here? You both act like he’s going to die or something.”

“Coop,” Hiro’s voice dropped to a whisper, “he
is
going to die.”

C
ooper took a step back. “What?”

She folded her arms across her chest and hugged herself. “He figured out who was behind the robbery, remember?”

How could he forget? Frank had puzzled the thing together just before they put him in the coma.

“They realized he knew. That’s why they meant to kill him.
Kill
him.” She let the words sink in. “They obviously thought they did. And when he ended up in a coma, the scumbags were still okay. I mean it’s not like he could possibly identify anybody. Right?”

Cooper nodded and pieces fell in place. “But if he climbs out of the coma, he’s a lot bigger threat to the robbers than we ever were.”

“Exactly,” Hiro said. “If my brother is right, and organized crime is involved, they won’t tolerate any loose ends.”

Cooper slumped down on the bench. “They’ll kill him.”

“Dead men tell no tales. Right?” Gordy raised his eyebrows and drew one finger across his throat like a knife.

Hiro shot Gordy a sideways glance. “They tried once. They just messed up on their first attempt.” She pulled the braid from over her shoulder and picked at it. “But they won’t make that mistake again. Unless we do something, an innocent man will die.”

In his heart he knew that was true. Why is it whenever he
thought he was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel it turned out to be an oncoming train? “But what about the police? Don’t they have a guard at his hospital—”

“Police?” Hiro cut him off. “Thanks to us they don’t know he
needs
protecting. Because they think it was a random robbery. They don’t know the danger he’ll be in. And if Detective Hammer
is
part of this, he’ll have total access to Frank. Nobody will stop him.”

Cooper pictured Elvis creeping into Frank’s hospital room as he slept.

“Unless we tell.” She stood with her hands on her hips watching him.

Cooper propped his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands. He should have told his dad. He should have never set up the lousy Code in the first place. Yeah, Frank needed protection—and that meant going to the police. Hiro was right. But what about trusting the police? It would be risky to just walk into the police department and announce they’d seen the whole thing. Two cops were involved. That meant Hammer had a partner somewhere—a partner who would do anything to protect their dirty little secret.

“Well?”

Hiro had an “all business” look about her. Like she’d deliberately steeled herself so she wouldn’t back down.

“Let me think.”

“Think? What’s there to
think
about? An innocent man is going to die because of you!”

“
Me
? I never hurt Frank—and I never would!” Cooper’s leg started jumping under the table.
Not now.
He pressed his hand down on his knee. Hard.

“You’re leaving him unprotected—and that’s just as bad,” she said.

“What if we talk to the
wrong
cop,” Cooper said. “We could all be taking a risk.”

Hiro took a step closer. “Yeah, and one we have to take. We were
wrong
, Cooper. All of us. We should have told our parents and gone with them to the police. The dumb Code and all the lies just made it worse on all of us.”

The words sliced through him. He could feel his cheeks grow warm. He wanted to throw something. Anything. Just go out on the deck and chuck something as far as he could. Maybe even Hiro.

Get a grip, Cooper. Don’t blow this. God, please help me. Help me process this right. I don’t want to make this mess even worse.

“This isn’t going to go away,” Hiro said. “The longer we wait, the worse this is going to get.”

Listen to her.
Hiro was right. About a lot of things. The Code
had
made things worse on all of them—and it was all his idea. So many things happened that he hadn’t seen coming. Like Frank’s life being in danger.
Again.
“He’s actually out of the coma now?”

Hiro shook her head. “In and out. He recognized me. Talked to me.”

“What did he say?”

Her eyes pooled immediately. “Said he was glad to see me. To know I was okay.” She swiped back tears. “Asked if you and Gordy were alright, and when I told him you were, he said ‘Thank God.’”

Cooper felt like someone had just wrung him out. “Did he tell you who was behind the robbery?”

“Didn’t get a chance. When he started talking, nurses ran in and Frank slipped back into the coma. The head nurse explained this happens as they’re coming out. They may go back and forth a bit, but she seemed very excited. He’ll probably be awake sometime tomorrow.”

Gordy cleared his throat. “Which means we have to move fast if we’re going to keep him safe.”

Hiro folded her arms across her chest again. “We need to break the Code. We need to go to the police.”

The instant she said it something inside him grabbed at it. This was truth. Cooper nodded. “You’re right.”

He could see her shoulders relax.

“You mean it?” Her voice sounded softer—like the old Hiro.

“Definitely.” More than anything, now. “I just want to figure out the best way to do it.”

Her shoulders tensed again. Her chin went up and her eyes narrowed. She stared at him like she was reading his thoughts. “Don’t play games with me, Cooper MacKinnon. I’m not going to let you stall this. We go tomorrow morning together, or Gordy and I will do it ourselves.”

She didn’t trust him. Didn’t trust
him.
He saw it in her eyes. Cooper glanced at Gordy. His face looked apologetic. Obviously they had this whole thing decided before they ever climbed onto
The Getaway.
Break the Code with us tomorrow morning or we’ll do it without you.

He’d done it to himself. Why hadn’t he seen it before? All the lies, the deception, the half-truths were their own type of poison. It had a toxic effect on their friendship. Hiro already distanced herself from him. Now even Gordy seemed to be pulling away.

If I had a chance to do this all over again, I’d do it so different.
The truth of that thought swept over him.
God forgive me. Please forgive me.

“Did you hear me, Cooper?” Hiro’s voice sounded hard again. “I’m not letting you stall me.”

Cooper looked down at the candle. “I’m not stalling.” The flame flickered and danced. Squirming like his own gut. He felt like he’d fallen into a sewer. Only the sewage was his own dishonesty. He reeked with it. “I’m so done with the lies,” he whispered. “I’m sick of it.”

Gordy and Hiro stayed quiet. Maybe they didn’t know what to say or had the good sense to let him think. But their silence allowed the truth to fully surface in his mind. And he didn’t like what he saw. The Code
was
his idea. All his. He pushed it. Enforced it. And with every day they followed the Code, he got them deeper into a mess. And now Frank’s life was in danger. Because of him.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Cooper said. “It was all about our protection.” The flame settled into a glowing taper. “Mostly my own, I guess.” But if saving his hide meant losing the things he valued most—like best friends, and self-respect—then he’d made a very big mistake. Huge.

“I thought this would be like, you know,
silence is golden.
I mean, even the word
golden
sounds so
right.
But it wasn’t golden at all. It was fool’s gold. It was dark and wrong. Evil. I never thought it would turn out like this. Never.”

The candle flickered and bounced. It looked harmless enough, but fire was fire, and thanks to him all of them were going to have to walk through it.

“Somehow I lost my compass. I got us into this mess. It’s my fault. I’m so sorry.” He glanced up at Hiro. “I won’t let you down.”

Her eyes glistened in the candlelight. A single tear escaped and raced down her cheek. She didn’t seem to notice. Instead she gave a slight nod and smiled. Just a half smile. But it was something.

Gordy stood and slapped him on the back. “I knew you’d come around. I told Hiro you would. Talked her into giving you one more chance.”

Hiro didn’t say anything. Maybe she was still playing it safe.

Cooper studied her face. “Got a plan?”

“Tomorrow morning,” Hiro said. “Each of us talks to our parents. Tell them what happened. Then we all meet here at nine o’clock. We take the hard drive and go to the police. Together. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Gordy said.

Something bothered Cooper. Not the plan so much as the timing of it.

“Coop?” Hiro’s voice had the slightest shake in it.

It felt like déjà vu or something—the three of them making a pact. Only last time he’d been the one pressing for a commitment.

Her eyes weren’t hard and cold—the way she’d looked when she came in. He saw desperation. Pleading. Like she wasn’t just fighting for Frank. She was fighting for their friendship. She was
trying to save
him.
Hiro was determined to do the right thing and that meant leaving their friendship behind if she had to. Somehow he knew that. She was moving on to a new place but she was throwing him a lifeline.

But there was a flaw in her plan. He was sure of it. “What if tomorrow is too late?”

Hiro stared at him. Her lips parted slightly like she wanted to say something. Or maybe it was realization hitting her.

“If the hospital notified the police that Frank is coming out of the coma, and Hammer
is
a dirty cop …” Cooper left the thought hanging for them to process.

Gordy’s eyes widened. “They’ll try to get him tonight.”

“Oh, no.” Hiro shook her head, fresh tears forming. “What if you’re right?”

What if Frank was
already
dead? Cooper couldn’t go there. “All I’m saying is that if we’re going to do this, we have to do it tonight.”

Gordy slumped down in his seat. “My parents are at a Halloween party. They won’t be back until late.”

Hiro nodded. “My mom is with them.”

“We could go to the police ourselves,” Cooper said.

“Without even talking to our parents first?” Gordy looked at him. “And if Hammer is in on it …” He looked at Cooper, then at Hiro. “I mean—that’s a lot more risky.”

Of course Gordy was right. Cooper knew that. And the sense that this was all his fault flooded back over Cooper again. How could he have ever thought any good could come from being dishonest?

“If we go together,” Hiro said, “it would be a
little
safer.”

Gordy eyed Cooper. “You don’t think they’d try something with all three of us, do you?”

How could he answer that? If the men were desperate enough to keep their sorry tails out of jail they’d do anything. And there may be a lot more they were hiding. Things that would come out if they were being investigated. Things they would want to keep
hidden—at all costs. And if this involved organized crime in any way, they’d have the muscle and the means to do it.

“Coop?”

Cooper shook his head. “Maybe not.” But his mind kept saying something different. They needed their parents. The risk was too great even if all three of them went. How could he let his friends put their lives at risk for a mistake he’d made? If something happened to one of them because of him—he might as well be dead. He could never live with that.

In that instant he knew what he had to do. Goosebumps rose on his arms. He might not be able to protect himself anymore, but he could still protect
them.
His mouth went dry. If going to the police turned out to be a trap, he wasn’t about to let his friends walk into it.
God help me. God, please help me.
A plan began to take shape in his mind. He just needed time.

“Okay.” Cooper checked his watch, calculating how much time he’d need to work out his strategy. “It’s almost 8:00. We can hold off a little bit. Not much. Let’s meet back here at say, 11:00. Maybe our parents will be home by then.”

Gordy shrugged. “Maybe we should just wait here until they come home.”

“No—not here,” Cooper said. He said it way too fast. Almost blurted it out. He took a deep breath. Tried to look calm—however that’s supposed to look. “I just need some time,” Cooper said. “Alone.”

Hiro studied his face. He didn’t dare look away for fear she’d know he was hiding something. He definitely felt she was trying to read his mind. And with that women’s intuition stuff, sometimes it seemed she could.