39. Shattered

As the party wore down, Jet found himself glancing more than once at Kai. Once he’d told both his Truth and refused his Dare, Jet’s little brother had become quiet, smiling when anyone else tries to talk to him, but not speaking much.
Kai leans over to Pepper, whispering something in her ear. She nods, kissing him lightly, and Kai gets up and slips out the door. Jet glances at Kit, who nods in understanding and salutes him with his glass. Jet finds Kai leaning against the wall behind Nightshade, watching the multicolored lights from the street dance against the opposite wall.
“You ok?” Jet tries to make out his younger brother’s expression, but Kai’s face is in shadow.
Kai turns, surprised but not displeased. “Yeah. Just needed to be outside for a minute.”
“You’re sure that’s all it is?” Jet presses.
Kai nods, but he doesn’t show any intention of going back inside. There’s a tension in his shoulders, even if his voice is relaxed. Jet leans on the wall next to him. They’re quiet for a minute, listening to the sounds of other people celebrating the holiday.
“When did you get the tat?” Jet asks the question just to have something to say.
“The other day.” Kai extends his arm, apparently relieved to be talking about something other than his feelings. “It wasn’t a secret. I was going to tell you.”
“I’m not mad.” Jet turns Kai’s arm carefully, making sure not to pull the newly healed skin. “Iris did a pretty good job.”
Kai rolls his eyes. “You don’t have to sound that surprised. Iris knows what she’s doing. She did Zone’s. Even made it blue, so that it matches yours.”
“I know.” Jet lets go of Kai’s arm. “It really looks good.”
“Thanks.” Kai hesitates. “I saw Luca tending bar tonight. Why didn’t he come to the party with you?”
"We're done." Jet’s jaw sets. “He used to be OmniVentures’ COO.”
Kai flinches “He...what?”
“Worked with Chalam.” Jet repeats. “Didn’t even bother to tell me about it.”
“Why did he leave?” Kai asks the question just to have something to say.
“Don’t know.” Jet shrugs, his voice tight. “Don’t care. Maybe if he told me in the first place things would be different, but—I don’t like liars, Kai. I never have.”
“I know.” Kai’s gaze drops. “Nobody does. I think—I think I’m going to go home. Back to my dorm, I mean. Pepper’s going to stay behind and help clean up. I’m just—really tired. Want to get some extra sleep, you know?”
“I’ll take you.” Jet offers.
“It’s not far from here, I can walk.” Kai reassures him. “You don’t have to drive me.”
”I didn’t drive over here. I came with Kit.” Jet starts walking before Kai has another chance to protest. “I can walk back here after I take you to your dorm.”
Kai bites his lip, but follows. They don’t take the Main Street because there’s too many people. Instead, they cut through alleys and more suburban streets.
Jet follows Kai’s lead, knowing his little brother is more familiar with the route than he is. Kai walks just a little too quickly, as though eager to just get the rest of the night over with.
“Kai,” Jet puts a hand on his arm in an attempt to slow him down. “Are you really ok?”
Kai halts, but doesn’t look at Jet. “I’ve been…thinking a lot lately.”
“About?” Jet prompts.
“Everything.” Kai isn’t looking at him. “Chalam, and OmniVentures, and…us. What if..what if there’s something that could change your investigation and our deal, and…all that?”
Jet frowns. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Kai shakes his head. “I can’t really explain it.”
“Kai,” Jet places a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder. “Whatever it is, we can handle it. You know that, right?”
Kai looks up at him, and Jet can see the fear in his eyes. “I really want to believe you.”
“Then trust me.” Jet gives Kai’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “We can work it out.”
Kai nods and resumes walking, but he looks less than reassured. He’s chewing on his lip, a sure sign that he’s hiding something.
“You’re acting like you have something to tell me.” Jet finally breaks the silence.
Kai gives him a sideways glance. “That shirt’s new. Did Luca give it to you?”
“Yes.” Jet is not in the mood to talk about Luca right now. “Don’t change the subject.”
“Jet.” Kai hesitates. “You can go now.”
Jet stares at him. “I’m sorry?”
“You got adopted when we were kids; you missed me; you felt guilty; we made a deal; you spent time with me; you don’t feel guilty anymore.” The words come out of Kai’s mouth in a rush. “So you can go now.”
Jet’s brow furrows. “Are you saying you don’t want me around?”
“No! I mean, I do want you around I just—” Kai hesitates, keeping his eyes on the ground. “I’ve been lying to you. And I thought—”
Jet’s eyes narrow. “Lying about what?”
“It’s complicated.” Kai still doesn’t look at him. “And when you find out, you’re going to leave anyway, so—”
“Kai.” Jet moves a little closer. “Look at me.”
Kai lifts his head, eyes wary and dark with apprehension.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Jet is careful to emphasize each word. “I need you to understand that. But that’s not really what you wanted to tell me. So what is it?”
“Jet,” Kai takes a breath, but his voice still shakes. “I remember the car accident.”
Jet blinks. “You were only five years old. You were asleep--”
“I remember anyway.” Kai cuts him off. “I remember the car being hit. I remember it being rammed over and over until we crashed. I remember you shouting my name. I remember all the broken glass, and the cuts on my face. I remember seeing the other driver.”
“You--” Jet’s breath catches hard in his throat. “You…what?”
“I saw his face in the side view mirror.” Kai’s eyes lock on Jet’s face, pain etched across his features. “I dream about it all the time, but I didn’t recognize it until the other night. Jet, the other driver…it was Chalam.”
Jet’s world tilts on its axis. The night feels suddenly oppressive, the heat pressing down like a dead weight on his chest. All other sounds fade as he focuses on Kai’s white face, trying to understand what his little brother has said.
“Kai,” Jet’s mouth dries out, and he swallows against the odd constriction in his throat. “What are you talking about?”
“Chalam…” Kai hesitates, chewing on his lower lip again. “Chalam killed our parents because he knew they were reporting to the CIA. He found their surveillance report.”
Of course Kai would know about the surveillance report, especially if it was in Chalam’s personal archives. But that isn’t what’s making Jet feel like there’s a vice clamped around his ribs.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I couldn’t remember!” Kai insists. “I’ve been dreaming about the accident every night for weeks, but I didn’t want to tell you, because I didn’t want to worry you. I couldn’t remember the face I was seeing, and even before I did, everything else got so complicated—”
“Complicated?” The word comes out from between Jet’s clenched teeth. It’s all he can do not to strangle his little brother on the spot. He thought Kai had been so open before, so trusting. Now it feels like Kai’s stuck a knife in Jet’s gut. “How much more ‘complicated’ can this get?”
“You can’t keep investigating OmniVentures.” Kai’s gaze drops. “Even with everything we’ve got so far, it won’t do you any good.”
“Really?” Jet’s tone is clipped, just a little too polite. “And why is that?”
Kai still isn’t looking at him. “Because you won’t be able to testify against him. No matter what you do, or what you find, you can’t bring Chalam to court, or in front of Interpol or anyone else. He won’t let you.”
There is a buzzing in Jet’s head. All of those documents, and the searching, and the calculating—was that really all useless? Had all Jet’s effort really been for nothing? Had Chalam known this all along? Had all this been a game for that damn shark to play for his own amusement?
“I didn’t believe Rome and Mali when they told me, either.” Kai’s words fill the heavy silence. “But I looked it up. Chalam can make it impossible for you to testify against him, if he knows the right people and the right words to say.”
“Why might that be?” Jet can almost taste the rage rising inside him, and he keeps his voice steady with an effort.
“When I was digging around Chalam’s private archive, I found something. Mali and Rome still have the original, I think, unless Chalam took that back too; but I took a screenshot in case you wouldn’t believe me.” Kai pulls his phone from his pocket, holding it out to Jet. “It’s your birth certificate—your new one. The one the government gives you after you’re adopted.”
Jet takes the phone with shaking hands. His fingers swipe along the screen, enhancing the photo of the document. He can see the emblem of the Thai government at the top, and the registration number—a guarantee that the document is genuine. He can see his sullen sixteen-year-old face staring back and him from the top corner. And at the bottom, above the line designated for the new parents, Jet sees the name.
“Chalam.” Jet’s vision begins to swim. Even saying the name out loud doesn’t make it real. The suffocating heat outside and the torrent of emotions inside him squeeze the remaining air from his lungs.
“He paid someone else to pick you up from the orphanage.” Kai is talking again, but Jet can barely hear the words. “He paid for the house they lived in and everything. All Chalam has to do is show the judge this birth certificate. If he says the right things, you won’t be able to do anything—because you wouldn’t be allowed to testify against your legal father.”
Jet’s fingers go slack, and he hands the phone back to Kai before he can drop it. That hollowed out feeling is back in his gut. His mind races back to the meeting he and Kit had all those weeks ago. The expression on Chalam’s face—his words—make so much more sense. Chalam had known Jet was playing a losing game. He had known there was nothing Jet could do against him. That birth certificate had Jet backed into a corner—an impasse.
And Kai had known about it.
“Jet.” Kai’s voice is barely audible, laced with apprehension. “Will you please say something?”
Jet looks up at him, eyes cold, face expressionless. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because,” Kai swallows hard, and there are tears in his eyes. “Because I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to hurt you anymore.”
“Or,” Puzzle pieces are clicking into place inside Jet’s head. He remembers Kai’s initial reluctance to spend time with him, those two days Kai had deliberately avoided him, the wariness that kept appearing in Kai’s expression. “You kept these secrets long enough to call off our deal. All you had to do was wait until today and you’d be able to get rid of me.”
Kai reels back as though slapped. “It wasn’t like that at all. I thought—I thought if I told you, then you’d hate me.”
“You’re right.” Jet snaps. “Get away from me.”
All the energy seems to drain out of Kai’s body. “Jet—”
“I said go, Kai.” Jet’s hands curl into fists at his sides, the nails digging into his palms. “Before I do something I can’t apologize for.”
Kai’s jaw trembles, but he clenches it, closing his eyes for just a second. Then he nods, before turning and walking silently back up the alley, into the chaos of the street. Jet watches his brother go, the ache inside him growing until his temples throb—and not from the heat. He makes his feet move, not to follow Kai, but to the other end of the alley.
Jet walks without direction, deaf to the snatches of conversation and curse words spat at him when he collides with a passerby. Smells from street food vendors turn his stomach. Erratic lights from passing cars and tuk-tuks flash past, disorienting him.
His thoughts spiral out of control. What if Kai was right?
Were all of Jet’s efforts really for nothing? Even if he did get Luca to testify, or Kai, was that enough to overturn Chalam’s plans? Or had he just wasted time playing a game he was set to lose in the first place?
How the hell could I have been so damn blind? Jet’s feet continue to move, but he closes his eyes for just a second, forcing himself to breathe.
Sounds of traffic fade. The crowd thins out, as does the cloying smell of street food. Jet opens his eyes. He’s no longer on a main street. The sidewalks are slightly wider, the noise less intrusive, and the light from the street lamps seems clearer after the consistent flashes of neon. A university dorm stands at the far end of the sidewalk, its windows glowing softly. Small groups of students carrying backpacks and textbooks move in and out of the front door, swiping their keycards to gain entry.
Kai’s dorm.
Jet’s jaw clenches. This is the last place he wants to be right now, if ever again. He turns to go back down the alley, his mind still a reeling, chaotic mess.
A sharp, searing pain erupts in Jet’s right side. He gasps, fingers reaching for the source, only to be driven backward, slammed into the wall of the alley he’d just emerged from. His vision tunnels in on the metallic handle of a box cutter protruding just above his hip. The blade is cold, contrasting with the blood already soaking the silk hem of his shirt. His attacker’s face is lit up by the light of the street lamps.
“Nail.” Jet’s voice is little more than a rasp.
Nail’s face is conflicted, a mix of hesitation and determination. He twists the blade, pushing it even deeper. Jet’s skin feels stretched and tight around the steel inside him.
“Kai had a choice between his life or Mali’s, or yours.” Nail leans in close, his breath hot in Jet’s ear. His eyes flicker with--something. Regret? Fear? His voice lacks its usual menace. “Sent me to deliver the message. Merry Christmas, Jet.”
There is a faint snick. Nail steps back, the now empty handle of the box cutter dangling from one hand. The alley tilts sideways. Gritty pavement scrapes against Jet’s skin. The blade tears at his insides, buried too deep for his probing fingers to reach. Blood pools around and beneath him--it’s metallic tang a stark contrast to the clammy sweat over the rest of his body. Jet’s vision goes hazy, and he’s drowning…
Drowning in a sea of agony…