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Even amongst the rolling of thunder and waves, the sound of distant gunfire and sirens was distinguishable to Sully's trained ears. Rafe had called for the getaway pretty last minute; the boys needed the boat ready by the lighthouse and they needed it now, and so he had gunned it here as fast as he could. All there was left to do was wait. Had the weather been nicer and the circumstances less pressing, he would have lit a cigar to pass the time. But with the conditions being what they were he thought better of it, favoring to be alert as possible instead.
He heard some faint shouting draw closer, and he looked up to the cliffside on his right. Two figures leaped off the rocks above, one after the other, arms flailing — had to be them. "Jesus Christ," Sully muttered under his breath as he raised the anchor. Things obviously must have gone off the rails. He just hoped they hadn’t gone completely. If they at least weren’t hurt and got what they were looking for, then a close call was almost always worth it.
He glanced out the windows again as he turned the key to start the engine. The figures were swimming towards the boat now, and Sully allowed himself a brief moment of relief. They weren’t in the clear yet, but at least they’d survived that fall. He made his way to the stern and offered Rafe a hand to climb aboard, as he was the first to arrive. The younger man swatted it away, ignoring it. "I’m fine, I got it," he snapped as he sputtered seawater.
Sully retracted his hand. "If you say so," he said, and looked to the water. He could only make out one other figure swimming towards them. Come to think of it, he only saw two people take a plunge down those cliffs, as well. A knot of dread began to form in his stomach. This wasn’t good. His jaw clenched, hoping his fears would soon be dismissed.
"Drake, come on!" Rafe shouted. Sully moved closer to the edge of the stern and craned his neck, but it was still too dark for him to tell if it was Sam or Nate. However when he reached for his arm and pulled him up, he could tell from the wiry frame and the flip of the hair that it was the younger of the two brothers.
"Alright, get us outta here, Sullivan," Rafe ordered.
"Where’s Sam?" he asked.
“Where do you think?”
“Where the hell is Sam?”
“He’s dead!” Rafe yelled back, confirming his worst suspicions. “Alright? He’s fucking dead. And so are we if we keep on wasting time around here.”
Sully snapped his head to Nate. A beam from the lighthouse swept across the sky, and it was then that he got his first good look at him. He'd seen the kid in pain before; knew how his face contorted whenever he scraped his hand, grazed a bullet, or broke a bone. This... this was different. This was downright heartbreak. Nate's brows were turned upward, lips parted as he drew in shaking breaths. His shoulders were hunched, his eyes wide and unblinking as they stared at nothing.
Even when he found him, Sully had never seen him look so lost.
“Today, fellas?” Rafe urged.
He glanced between the both of them. Moneybags over here was being blunt about it, but he did have a point. Sully frowned and opened the cabin. “Nate?” he asked, and gestured through the doorway. “Come on.”
Nathan flinched, the sound of his name snapping him out of it. His face cycled through a number of emotions as he blinked; from shock, to confusion, to sorrow, before settling on a resolute, hardened glare.
"Let’s get out of here," he said, voice thick with grief and head bowed low as he walked through the door.
“Thank you,” Rafe said in sotto with his arms raised.
Sully bristled in annoyance and waited till Nate was out of earshot. “You,” he jabbed a finger at his chest, “need to learn how to read the goddamn room.”
The shorter man sneered up at him. “And you’ve been in this game long enough to know when to stay focused. Now get us moving.”
“Fine. But you’re staying put out here,” Sully pointed at the floor. “Watch our backs for us.”
Rafe scoffed. “Somebody has to,” he muttered, and turned his back to him.
Sully resisted the urge to push him overboard and instead slammed the door behind him as he left. He took a moment to collect himself, letting out a deep breath before he looked up and saw Nate. He was bracing himself over the dashboard, his silhouette unnervingly still as another sweeping light passed over the water. Sully sighed and grabbed a towel as he approached the controls. “Here,” he offered it to him. “Dry yourself off.”
Nate was still looking at him like he was a stranger, and it cut right through him. He hadn’t seen distrust in the kid’s eyes in years, and the sight of it was sending him straight back to Cartagena. To that scared, scrawny teenager on the rooftops who raised a gun at him. And the worst part was, Sully was able to do at least something back then. There was almost nothing he could do for this.
The kid accepted the towel after a brief moment though, nodding slightly before burying his face in it. Sully meanwhile turned his attention to the task at hand. He pushed the throttle forward and the boat followed, speeding off while the cliffside sunk below the horizon.
Nate remained quiet as he dried himself, eventually draping the towel around his neck. He stilled again for some time before a strangled noise escaped him. Sully watched him double over from the corner of his eye, placing his elbows on the dashboard and holding his head. His fingers raked through his hair and he shuddered in a way that was from more than just the cold.
His throat tightened, and he put a hand on Nate’s back. “We’ll be back in Colón within the hour,” he said. “It’s not too far.”
He only nodded, and Sully rubbed his back. There wasn’t much else to say. All he could do was steer with one hand and comfort Nate with the other while Rafe goddamn Adler turned a blind eye to the whole thing.
What a mess.
The rain had cleared by the time they arrived at Colón. Nathan had since sunk lower over the dashboard, hunched facedown over his folded arms. Sully clapped him gently on the back as he slowed the boat into the marina. “We’re here,” he said.
Nate sighed a long, shaky exhale and slowly straightened up, rubbing a hand over his face as he did so. He looked like he’d aged about ten years in less than an hour, his eyes hollow and glazed. Sully decided he wasn’t in any state to help with docking. Rafe had already gotten to work anyway, going around and securing the fenders just ten minutes prior. He reached up for the radio and clicked it on as he brought it to his face. “Rafe, can I get ya to rope in?”
A knocking noise came from the starboard side, and he looked over his shoulder. Rafe was already standing by, his hand raised to show the stern line coiled in it. Sully nodded, and turned the boat towards the slip. He heard the thud of Rafe jumping onto the dock as they eased closer, and Sully held the vessel in position while he secured the line. He waited till he saw Rafe with the bow line in his hands before setting the throttle back to neutral and keying the engine off.
He looked back at Nate, and sighed as the pair glanced over each other. “Come on,” he said, clapping Nate on the shoulder as he circled around him. “We should see him off.”
He slid the cabin’s side door open and emerged from it as Rafe strolled back to the center of the boat. “Gotta hand it to you,” he said, “that was some pretty smooth boating.”
“Well, you’re looking at former Navy,” Sully said, and tilted his head. “I take it you’ve got somewhere you can go?”
Rafe looked towards the city and shrugged his hiking bag higher up his shoulder before nodding. “I’ll figure something out. See you ‘round, Sullivan.” He paused for a moment before regarding Nate with a terse nod. “Nate.”
Nathan barely regarded him with a hand raised to wave, but the other man had already turned his back to leave. Sully frowned and let his own demeanor deflate, albeit slightly. That was at least one headache out of the way. Now he just had to get themselves back to the safehouse and... spend the rest of the night taking care of this.
“Right. Let’s wrap things up around here,” he grumbled. He wore half a smile as he looked back at Nathan. “Could use a hand hosing off. If you’re up for it.”
Nate blinked at him a few times before the words even seemed to register. “Okay,” he rasped, and went to the stern.
They carried on with their work in a silence that otherwise would have been companionable had it not been so heavy. By the time they were done, the sky had turned into the rosey orange and violet hues of dusk. Sully locked the boat, and looked up. Nate was standing rooted in place on the edge of the slip, looking out over the marina. Sully looked to his feet and swallowed. He and Sam had never always seen eye to eye, but he’d watched him grow into a man just as much as he had Nate. He’d spent years caring and worrying about them both in near equal measure. It was truly one of his worst nightmares, back in the early days, getting either one of the boys killed.
He shook his head and tried to absolve himself of the guilt. No. They were grown now, they’d stopped being his responsibility a long time ago. And this was their job, the one the two of them had been chasing since before he even met them. He let them call the shots on this one. But this was still a hard reality that Sully had naively hoped either of them would never have to face: accidents in their line of work were costly. Very costly.
He stepped off the boat and quietly walked up to Nathan, placing a hand on his shoulder as he came up from behind him. “Hey.”
The kid startled, and Sully withdrew his hand. “Sorry,” he winced.
“No no,” Nate said. “I’m… it’s fine.”
They both gazed at the water for a moment. “You… wanna get something to eat?” Sully asked lamely.
Nate shook his head. “Nah. I’m… I’m not hungry.”
“Hmph,” Sully hummed. “Alright. Let’s go hail a cab,” he said, and he turned to make his way to leave.
“Actually, Sully,” he heard the kid say from behind him, and he stopped to look back. “Was thinking we could, you know. Walk back? I… I could really use some air."
On foot, it was about a thirty minute trip back to the hotel, but Sully nodded. He didn't doubt him. "Whatever you say, kid.”
The hike back to the safehouse remained tensely silent while Nate moved in a daze. Sully tried his best not to not outpace him while he dragged his feet. He was still in shock, his eyes haunted and wide while staring into an emptied point ahead of himself. Sully began to dread what the next few hours, days, and months would look like for them.
He’d gathered enough bits and pieces of Nate’s history by now; he knew he came from a rough start. Knew that he once had nothing but the clothes on his back and his brother (sometimes) by his side. He’d seen him lost and alone, and the way he shrugged off long-buried grief with a sneer or a jipe. This wasn’t what this was. This was mourning, recent, gaping, and raw. He’d never seen the kid shaken up like this before, and he had no clue how he was going to handle it.
Sully shook his head as he unlocked the door to their room. It didn’t matter. He didn’t know what he was doing with Nate for almost ten years now. He’d figure something out. They’ll take a break from jobs, maybe stick together for a bit so that the kid wasn’t alone, and just… damn it, just be there for him. What else could he do?
He heard a heavy thump fall from behind him as Nate followed through the door, and Sully turned to see that he let his duffle bag slide off his slackened shoulders. His jaw was set and his frown was tight as he stared at something from where he stood. Sully followed his line of sight, and his eyes landed on a piece of luggage sitting at the foot of one of their beds. Sam’s things…
Sully strode ahead of it. “Nate — ”
Something in the kid’s expression cracked, and Nate moved to meet him, crashing into Sully’s arms with a wordless, choking sound. He caught him, and let out a heavy breath as he wrapped his hands around Nate’s back. “It’s — ” he started, but decided against it. No, things were definitely not okay, not right now. “I’m sorry, kid,” he murmured after a second thought.
“Sully,” Nate whimpered underneath him, and his eyes began to sting. It took a lot to get Nate to open up like this, let alone break down. He’d rarely seen it from him before, and never quite like this. It was warranted though, of course. Nate’s older brother meant the world to him, and whatever show of emotion the kid needed to have to get through this, Sully could never blame him. But that didn’t make seeing him like this any easier. It didn’t mean he had to like it.
Unsure of what else to do, he raised a hand to hold the back of Nathan’s head. It was something he’d never done before, and he supposed could’ve been crossing a boundary, but the kid didn’t flinch or try to pull away. He was still too much of a damn wreck to either notice or care. So Sully stayed his hand. Held Nate tight as he wept. And would for as long as he needed.
After what could’ve been either five minutes or five hours, he quieted down and started moving back from where he stood. Sully let him go, letting the hand that was holding his head fall to his shoulder. Nate’s face was splotched with red, his eyes still full and seeping as they avoided Sully’s own. “Sorry,” he sniffed.
“Stop,” Sully said immediately. “You got nothing to apologize for.” He sighed as he looked the kid over. “You want some privacy?”
Nate blinked at him. “No,” he answered, his voice scraped thin. “No, I… don’t really wanna be alone right now.”
Sully nodded and steered him to one of the beds. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?” he asked as Nate took a seat on the side of the mattress. He continued past him to fetch the flask from his bag. Whiskey wasn’t going to fix this, but it sure would help.
The kid dragged his hands over his face. “If it hadn’t been for freakin’ Rafe… ”
Sully froze, the weight in his chest blooming into fury. “Now hold on, did he —?!”
“No, no,” Nate said. “But he may as well have,” he sighed.
He frowned as he looked back at his luggage. The flask glinted back at him in the dingy halogen light, and he unscrewed the cap as he raised it. “Just start from the beginning,” he said as he offered the drink.
Nate peered at it warily for a moment before taking it, and downed a healthy swig as Sully sat down beside him. He hissed back the sting as he turned the canteen over in his hands. “He killed our plant,” he said. “Vargas. He found out what we were up to, and Rafe just… ” he mimed a stabbing motion with his fist, “shivved the guy.”
“Jesus,” Sully breathed.
“Yeah. What I said.” Nate took another sip. “That’s when everything went to shit. We made a run for it while the whole place sounded the alarm. And then… then they started shooting at us.”
Sully noticed his throat bobbing as he stared ahead. “We were almost out,” he whispered hoarsely, and he scrubbed his free hand across his eyes. “We were so close. It was one last jump, I was pulling him up, and there was just… h-he got hit,” his voice cracked, and a fresh tear spilled from his eye. “He just went slack, and I… I couldn’t… ” his face contorted and he covered his face.
Sully's lips went taut and he laid a hand on his back. “There’s nothing more you coulda done, kid,” he said low.
Nathan dropped his hand. “If we had just moved a little faster, or if I hadn’t let him go, or if… or if we’d just stick to the stupid plan, I… I don’t know,” he conceded, and took another gulp of whiskey. “But… I think… I think he might still be alive.”
Sully’s heart shattered into even more pieces. “Nate… ”
“I know he is, okay?” he snapped. “Look, I-I know how it sounds, and I know there’s only a chance, but I’m not about to let him fucking rot down there. Not until I know for sure.” He swallowed hard and leveled his red-rimmed eyes. “If it were me, you and him would do the same.”
Sully sighed. There was no arguing with that. “Alright,” he said. “But one thing at a time. Let’s get back to the States, cover our tracks, and then we’ll start looking.” He shook Nate’s shoulder and tilted his head. “Sound good?”
Nathan nodded wearily, and Sully returned his hand to himself to rub his neck. It was going to be a long night. Maybe a distraction was in order. Distractions helped, usually. “You wanna watch TV?” he asked. “Or play cards or something?”
“No,” Nate shook his head. “No, I… I don’t really feel like doing anything,” he admitted, and tilted his head back for more whiskey. There couldn’t be that much more of it, Sully guessed as he watched him drink.
He knew the kid was inconsolable, but letting him just sit there and sulk wouldn’t be doing him any favors, either. “Why don’t you get some sleep, then?” he suggested as he stood up, and circled back to his side of the room. “I’ll book us the first flight outta here tomorrow morning. Bright an’ early.”
Nate winced. “I don’t know if — ”
“Come on,” Sully insisted. “When was the last time you slept in a real bed? Huh? Those prison cots sure as hell ain’t glamourous.” Not that these cheap hotel beds were that much of an upgrade, but it was something. He shook his head as he turned his back and took off his watch. “You’ve had a long day. No need to make it any longer.”
Nate was quiet while he unbuttoned his shirt. He wasn’t about to force him to do anything — never had — but unconsciousness was probably the best thing for him right now. And if he started turning in for the night himself, maybe the kid would follow suit. As he finished toeing off his shoes, he heard a sigh, a shuffle, and some footsteps coming from behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw Nate putting the flask down on the dresser. “Thanks, Sully,” he rasped.
“Of course, kid,” he made to stand and closed the distance between them. He stretched out his arms, a silent offer, and Nathan all but fell into them again, embracing him with a fierceness he rarely did. Sully rocked him as he shifted his weight. “I’m here for you,” he murmured. “You know that.”
He felt Nate nod underneath him. He heard him sniffle again, and a surge of protectiveness rushed over him. He wished like hell he could take this away from him, do more than be an open ear and a crying shoulder. But he couldn’t. All he could do was share the load and take his own advice: one thing at a time.
Eventually Nate stepped back, and Sully squeezed his arm as they pulled apart. “You’re gonna get through this,” he said. “I promise.”
The kid shrugged, seemingly unconvinced. “ ‘M gonna go take a shower,” he hooked a thumb over his shoulder.
“Good idea.”
Sully watched him leave, and waited till the bathroom door clicked shut before letting himself slouch. “Christ,” he hissed as he ran a hand down his face. He didn’t know how long things were going to be like this, but he was guessing it would be a while. He was going to have to hold it together. Keep an eye on the kid till he was certain he’d be okay. And then… figure out how to go about their lives with one less Drake in it.
He turned his gaze to the flask, and brought it to his mouth. There were but a scant few drops left, though he drained them anyway. He heard a sputter of water turn into a drumming pattern as it filtered through the shower head, and he reached into his pocket for his cell phone. Sully dialed their travel agent’s number and hoped that with any luck, they’d never have to come back to Panama again.