The Black Coats(70)
Thea’s eyes kept lingering on the closed doorway, her stomach churning. Dead. That man with the razor butterfly in his head was dead. She felt like she was teetering on a precipice with sanity on one side and a whirling black abyss on the other.
Nixon reached out and put her hand on Thea’s cheek, and it brought her back from the brink. “Don’t be sorry for him. McKinley made a mistake by climbing in bed with monsters. I know the names of those men; they have killed and raped and planned to do it again. I won’t lose a minute’s sleep over them, so let me carry it.” She sighed. “Don’t worry. The live ones I’ll leave at the police station. They aren’t going to talk about what happened here.” Their president took a moment to look at each of their faces. “I’m so proud of you right now.”
“Proud?” Casey sputtered. “You just had to save our lives!”
“True,” said Nixon. “But that is no fault of your own. It’s mine. I should have protected you. I should have been honest with you. I should have known the Black Coats would set a trap to teach Thea a lesson.” She turned to Thea. “It was meant to scare you. McKinley wouldn’t have really killed you—she just wanted to scare you—but those men might have.”
Thea stood up, her head flush with Nixon’s. She hadn’t realized until now that she was almost taller than her president. “You owe us answers.”
Nixon arched a perfect eyebrow. “That’s fair.” She took a deep breath. “Everything I’ve taught you about the Black Coats still stands. We are an old organization that cares about justice for women. At first, it was just what you do now—normal Balancings.” She paused. “However, over the years, Julie grew restless. She saw that there were some men—murderers—who deserved more than a slap on the wrist or a punch in the face. Julie believed that we were called to bring justice to men who had killed women by giving them the same punishment: death. A Code Midnight.”
Thea’s blood chilled. Code Midnight. The words that she had seen on Adam Porter’s sheet.
“Robin and Julie disagreed on this point,” Nixon continued, “and eventually a truce was made, though the decision wrenched the Black Coats in two. The Black Coats continued running under Robin as they always had, and Julie—well, Julie broke off to run the Monarchs, which then seeped out into other branches of the Black Coats. Both organizations have grown to work under the Black Coat umbrella.”
“So they are real.” Mirabelle stared hard at Nixon with bloodshot eyes, her fear morphing into anger. “The Monarchs.”
“Yes.”
Thea took a threatening step toward Nixon. “You were there that night to kill Drew’s dad. A police officer. A man who hasn’t killed anyone.”
“He was a threat to the organization, and so Julie ordered us to act.”
“And so you were going to kill him?” Thea was furious now. “So now punishment is not just for men who hurt women, it’s for anyone who gets in the way of the Black Coats.”
“So it would seem.” For the first time ever, Nixon seemed unsure. “I didn’t know who your boyfriend’s dad was when I went to the Porters’ house; I thought he was another dangerous abuser. I had just been told my assignment by a fellow Monarch when we were en route. It was all very odd. I realize now that they didn’t want me to know. When I saw you there, Thea, I knew immediately that something was very wrong.”
“Yeah. It’s wrong to kill innocent people,” snapped Thea.
Nixon sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Please understand; though I agree with the need for the Monarchs, I have long dreaded the day when Julie Westing would take over the Black Coats. Robin had a clear head for the distinction between justice and vengeance.” Nixon shook her head. “Julie, on the other hand, sees only the Monarchs. She doesn’t really care about the Black Coats. She sees Banner, Emperor, and Swallowtail only as a means to supply the Monarchs down the road, whereas Robin loved nurturing these teams of girls who would go on to do great things in the real world. Which I believe you will. Each of you.” She smiled.
“Go on,” Thea intoned, unmoved by her confession.
“Julie has proposed an amendment to the Black Coats constitution that will change everything. It makes participation in the Monarchs mandatory.” Nixon fumed.
The girls were silent. Louise quietly sat up before leaning forward. “I’m not killing anyone. Ever. That’s the opposite of what I’ve spent my life working toward in martial arts. Not you, though. You kill people, right?”
Nixon squared her shoulders. “Yes, I do. And I had no regrets, at least not until I was sent to kill Adam Porter.” There was a thud in the back as one of their prisoners shifted. Nixon’s eyes darted to the door. “We can’t stay here long. It’s not safe.” She turned to Thea, their eyes meeting. “Thea, you are the problem, which is why Julie sent McKinley to threaten you. In Julie’s eyes, you almost led Adam Porter right to us. You have been unintentionally feeding information about the Black Coats to Drew Porter for months, and Julie felt a price must be paid. Not only that, but Julie wanted me to suffer for defecting from the Monarchs after Adam Porter’s failed Balancing. The best way to do that was to attack my team. She and McKinley set up this botched mission, with the intention of teaching you all a painful lesson. I found out about the trap through a friend on the inside.” Nixon took a deep breath. “That’s all I can tell you now.”