A Chip and a Chair (Seven of Spades, #5)(49)

“I know the location of several Utopia meeting places. Identities of a few of their other donors. I’ll give you everything I can think of if it’ll keep me out of prison-my ex would never let me see my kids again.”

“Hmm.” Leila tapped her pen against her lips, affecting doubt. “I’m not sure that’s enough. After all, Mr. Bishop, you funded a terrorist organization.”

Sawyer opened his mouth, but his objection was preempted by Bishop’s nauseated moan.

“I-I know who founded Utopia. The man who’s in charge, the one who makes all the decisions. He’s the person who must have organized the attack.”

Leila dropped her pen on the table, and she and Levi frowned at each other.

“Utopia doesn’t have one central leader,” Levi said. Did Bishop think they were stupid? “It’s run by committee.”

“It’s not. But the man behind it can’t have his name tied to it.” Inexplicably, Bishop shot an anxious sideways glance at Sawyer, who looked as perplexed as Levi felt.

“All right,” said Leila. “Who is this boogeyman who’s been pulling Utopia’s strings behind the scenes?”

Sawyer held out his hand. “Don’t tell them anything until you have a deal in writing.”

“I won’t offer him a deal unless I know his information is worthwhile,” Leila snapped.

“Who do you think I am, some kind of public defender fresh out of-”

“It’s Oliver Hatfield,” Bishop said-whispered, really, but it shut Sawyer and Leila up as effectively as a shout. Sawyer paled, his face going slack; Leila’s mouth fell open.

“Oliver Hatfield?” Levi asked in a daze. “As in Hatfield, Park, and McKenzie?”

Bishop nodded miserably. This time, the grimace he gave Sawyer was more apologetic than nervous.

Levi was still processing the implications. “When Milo Radich helped Utopia sabotage Vegas’s other gangs, he did everything he could to pin it on the Parks. And the fallout from that case did devastate the family.”

Scooping her pen off the table, Leila clicked the end with a flourish. “I think we can work something out.”

In short order, they possessed a treasure trove of new intelligence. Law enforcement teams were dispatched to raid the safe houses and bring in everyone Bishop had named who hadn’t already been arrested, including Hatfield. Levi returned to work, a bit more optimistic than he’d been earlier.

It was early evening when Denise called him on the phone Martine had provided him this morning. “I’m at one of the addresses Bishop gave us,” she said. Her voice was strained, with none of its usual pep. “The one in North Las Vegas. I think you should come up here.”

“I’m not working in the field today.”

“Make an exception.”

He tensed, reversing direction toward the lobby. He’d need to scrounge up some form of transportation. “What’s going on? Did you find any Utopia members at the house?”

Denise cleared her throat. “We did-but the Seven of Spades found them first.”





“Because it’s dangerous, Ma,” Dominic said for the fiftieth time as he watched his mother whirl around her bedroom like determined tornado. “If you haven’t been told to evacuate, you should stay put.”

Rita tossed another armful of clothes into her overflowing, haphazardly packed suitcase. “I’m not sitting around waiting for those crazies to blow us to kingdom come.”

“Utopia’s not gonna target a majority white, suburban neighborhood in North Las Vegas.” Dominic scrubbed a hand over his face. His mother’s fierce stubbornness was a quality he usually adored, but at the moment, it was a huge pain in the ass.

“You a mind reader now?”

“Nonna.” Dominic appealed to his grandmother, who was standing in the doorway. He knew she was on his side.

“Listen to the boy, Rita.” Despite her age and small stature, Silvia was no less a force of nature than her daughter-in-law, and her voice rang with authority. “You saw the news. The roads are a mess.”

“So we’ll go around.” Rita kicked a pile of discarded clothes out of the way as she strode to her closet.

“This is a valley. There is no ‘around.’“

“What would you do if you ran out of gas on the highway in this heat, with no water and no air conditioning?” Dominic asked. When he saw the shot hit home, he dialed it up a notch. “Or if some idiot got all fired up and grabbed his shotgun out of his car to move traffic along the old-fashioned way?”

“So we’re just supposed to hunker down in the house and pretend there aren’t terrorists running rampant around the city?”

“Yes. This isn’t like a wildfire; in situations like this, spontaneous evacuation does more harm than good. And think about it: what could be more tempting to terrorists than a bunch of panicked civilians getting stuck while trying to escape?”

That was the clincher. Rita sighed and threw her arms up in a gesture of defeat. “Fine. But I don’t like it.”

“I know.” Dominic crossed the room to pull her into a hug. “Maybe you should have everyone come stay here, call it a big family slumber party. That might make it less scary for the kids.”