She sat up straighter. “Who?”
“His name is Kick. He’ll be taking over as your custodian while I’m gone.”
I waited while she processed what I’d just told her.
“Is that really necessary?”
“I’m afraid it is.”
“Can’t Tee-Tee do it?”
I scrubbed my face with my hand. “I’d prefer that equally, but there is the matter of your safety. While Decker has tightened security on the ranch, the fact that someone got to you once…” I shook my head. “I cannot risk it.” My mobile buzzed, and I took it out of my pocket. There was a text from Rile saying Smoke had established our cover with the ABT.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“We’ve received confirmation from Smoke,” I answered without thinking.
“Who is Smoke again?”
“He’s with the CIA, but more and more, I think he operates independently. Right now he’s in Idaho, undercover with the Aryan Nation.”
She shuddered. “Scary.”
“Smoke or the job?”
“I was talking about the job, but is he scary?”
“You remember Hammer? Your attorney?”
“Yeah, he’s scary. I never would’ve guessed he was a lawyer.”
“Well, Smoke makes Hammer look like a primary school teacher.”
She laughed.
“I like seeing you smile.”
“I wish you didn’t have to leave.”
I felt the same way, but I had no choice. It was imperative we find not only Possum’s killer, but who the group was that backed him. I couldn’t trust anyone else; Rebel’s life was dependent on the success of this mission.
Once I’d introduced Rebel to Kick and he’d dropped his bags in the guest bedroom, I excused myself to the office. There were three things I needed to take care of before Casper and I went undercover.
First, I rang Hammer, and when he answered, I took the piss out of him for being uncommunicative.
“Rebel isn’t my only client, asshole,” he fired back. “If I had anything to report, you would’ve heard from me.” He went on to inform me that he and the sheriff were working together behind the scenes. “Mac hasn’t been able to trace the gun back to anyone, which isn’t surprising. He’s also not done trying.”
“Has he brought in a gunsmith?” I asked, not wanting to admit I’d completely forgotten about the planted gun.
“Of course he has, Edge.”
I ended the call feeling like a wanker for questioning him the way I had. I definitely wasn’t feeling myself, and given I was about to leave for one of the most important missions of my life, I had to get myself together.
I rolled my shoulders and rang Decker, who reported that the cowboy who had approached Rebel in the dining hall had seemingly vanished into thin air. He and Boon had questioned the other ranch hands extensively, but it seemed the guy was more of a drifter than someone who had ties to this area. His background check came up squeaky clean, both before he was hired and when Decker ran it again. Something that bothered both of us equally.
Finally, I sent a text to my brother. I hadn’t heard from Lennox and had no idea how things had gone between him and Emerson. Are you engaged to be married?
Not officially, but Emerson has agreed to spend her life with me, he answered within a few seconds.
Rather than send another text, I rang him.
“It’s good to hear from you, Keon.”
“Congratulations. I mean that sincerely.”
“I love her so much. I never thought feeling this way was possible.”
Neither did I, and yet inside me, I felt a stirring. “How long was it before you knew? Really knew?”
“The night we met.”
During my recovery from arm surgery, Lennox had admitted he first met Emerson years prior, in a bar in London. They’d spent one night together. She left the next morning before dawn without either of them knowing the other’s last name. “Truly?”
“I spent a long time trying to convince myself otherwise, but when I woke that morning and she was gone, I felt a pain like none I’d known. My heart knew then that she was the woman for me, even if it took my brain far longer to catch up.”
“I’m happy for you, brother.”
“I hope this for you, Keon. Nothing beyond the life Emerson and I are about to make with each other would make me happier than seeing you find the love of your life.”
What would Lennox say if I told him I believed I had? Would he scoff? He’d just said he knew Emerson was the woman for him after only one night.
“I hear you’re headed into the ABT.”
“How in the bloody hell do you know that?” Although as soon as I asked, I realized the answer.
“I haven’t yet officially resigned from MI6.”
“What are you waiting for?”
“Nothing, I suppose.”
“Then, do it. Come join the Invincibles.”
“I’ll need to be based on the East Coast.”
“As if anyone would care where you were based.”
“Then, I guess it’s done.”
“When will you give Z your resignation?”
“I just hit send on the email I’d already drafted.”
“Bravo, brother.”
“Thanks.”
“Godspeed, Lennox.”
“Godspeed, Keon.”
I ended the call no less worried about what I was about to undertake, but buoyed by my brother’s news, both personal and professional.
When I came out of the office, I found Kick and Rebel seated at the breakfast bar, chatting. Was it really necessary that the two be so amiable?
“Rile was looking for you,” he said when he saw me studying them.
“Was he here?” I asked, annoyed with his lack of detail.
“He called.”
I inwardly growled and stalked back into the office. Rather than calling Rile, I rang Grinder.
“Isn’t there anyone else we could put on Rebel’s detail?” I asked before he could say as much as hello.
When he laughed, I wanted to reach through the mobile and throttle him.
“I’m not joking.”
“Listen to yourself. It’s gotten personal, Edge,” he said, his voice turning serious. “Too personal.”
“Sod off.”
“You’re falling in love with her.”
“What’s your point?”
“Maybe instead of questioning whether Kick should be on Rebel’s detail, you should be questioning whether you’re the right man for this op.”
If anyone else had dared utter those words to me, I wouldn’t have accepted it. Grinder was different. He was my best mate, and if anyone could shake some sense into me, he could.
“You still there?” he asked.
“Yes, and you’re right.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Get my bloody head back on straight.”
“You best. By the way, Decker needs to talk to you.”
I heard a rustling sound and then Decker’s voice on the line.
“Listen, I’ve got eyes and ears in place, but I need you to activate them.”
“Since when do they need to be activated?”
“Since I fucked up.”
It was unusual for Decker to make a mistake, and even rarer for him to admit it. I had no idea what to say.
“Look, Edge, this isn’t an excuse, but…Mila’s pregnant.”
Unsure what to say, I congratulated him.
“Thanks. She’s been sick almost around the clock.”
I supposed that in the next few years, more and more of the men and women I worked with would be starting families. However, that likelihood didn’t make me feel any better about the state of this op.
25
Rebel
I tried to pay attention to what this guy—Kick—was saying, but as I watched the minutes on the clock tick by, I knew that, at any moment, Edge would
tell me it was time for him to leave.
If only I could rewind the clock and take the night off when my mom overdosed. She and I would’ve been out for dinner or watching a movie or any other seemingly mundane thing, and Possum wouldn’t have been able to get to her. She’d still be alive, I wouldn’t be out on bail after being charged with murder, and Edge wouldn’t be about to risk his life for me. In fact, he’d probably still be unaware of my existence.
I hadn’t been able to sleep last night, knowing the danger he was putting himself in because of me. I even considered telling him I didn’t care who murdered Possum. I’d wanted to, wasn’t that enough? What if I told him I’d rather spend my life in jail than have anything happen to him?
I knew the answer. Nothing I said would change what Edge was about to do. He’d still do everything in his power, not only to exonerate me, but to save me from a life spent looking over my shoulder, knowing that, one day, whoever the Lynch guy was whose message was delivered by the ranch hand, would kill me.
When the office door opened and my eyes met his, I knew it was time.
“Would you excuse us?” he said to Kick, who immediately left us alone.
“I don’t want you to do this,” I blurted before Edge could say another word.
He rested his forehead against mine. “We both know I have to.”
“I could…”
He shook his head without me finishing my sentence. “This is what we do, Rebel. We go in, and we get the bad guys.”
“Please be careful.”
“Always.”
He kissed me—long and hard and deep. I wished we had more time, but even if we did, it would never be enough.
He cupped my cheek and looked into my eyes. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
I watched him walk out the door, praying he would be.
26
Edge
“Ready?” I asked Casper, who was standing by the window in Grinder’s house. Her demeanor was as I expected it to be. She was calm and focused—ready to step into her role.
We had one more meeting with the team, and then we’d head out.
“Ready?” Grinder asked me like I’d just asked Casper.
I nodded, also like she had.
“How’s the hand?”
I hated that he asked, but he was the only one from whom I’d accept the question. “Strong.”
While Rile didn’t ask about the strength of my hand, he grasped it in a firm handshake.
“Let’s get on with it,” I said to him, anxious to get through the briefing so we could be on our way.
Decker handed us ID cards. “Your cover is Colonel Jeremy Swift, an emissary sent by the AN. Casper, your cover is Cynthia Brand, former captain in the WAU—Women for Aryan Unity—and Swift’s common-law wife.”
“Rile, can we run through the objectives in order of priority one more time?” Casper asked.
“Primary: identifying or getting the ABT to give up Possum’s killer. Secondary: identifying the splinter group.”
“There’s one more,” I said. “My guess is the Lynch guy is part of the splinter group. If not, we also need to either identify him or get the ABT to.”
“Any other questions?” Rile asked.
“Negative,” answered Casper.
“Jagger and Rage are on their way here now with your ride,” Grinder announced.
“What’s their twenty?”
“Just came in the gate,” answered Decker, monitoring something on his laptop. “By the way, I was able to activate the audio and video feeds.”
I didn’t bother asking how. One, I didn’t care as long as they were hot. Two, even if he had explained, I wouldn’t have understood. Decker was a technological mastermind, probably the best in the world, not that he’d accept that title.
I saw the big black SUV pull up. The windows were the same dark color as the vehicle. “Armored?” I asked.
“A colonel in the Aryan Nation wouldn’t travel any other way,” murmured Rile. My eyes met Grinder’s. We were used to the eldest partner in the Invincibles commenting unnecessarily, as though he was teaching us something. The wanker.
“I want you in and out in forty-eight hours or less,” he added.
“Roger that,” I muttered as Decker approached and handed me something flesh-colored and not much bigger than the head of a pin. “What is this?”
“Put it on the tip of your finger and then insert it as far as you can into your auditory canal.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I exclaimed when I heard Grinder’s voice slowly counting inside my head.
“Bloody brilliant, isn’t it?” I heard him respond.
“Where are you?”
“Look out the window.”
Grinder was standing in the driveway; there was no way he would’ve been able to hear me except through the thing I’d just inserted in my ear.
“The active charge life is seventy-two hours, give or take,” said Decker, handing Casper the same thing he’d given me. “After which, we’ll still be able to hear and see what is happening in the compound, at least in the main buildings. We won’t have any means to communicate directly with you, however.”
“Can you hear me?” Grinder asked through the device.
“Affirmative,” answered Casper. I heard both his question and her response directly in my ear.
“Seventy-two hours,” Decker repeated.
I planned to be out long before then. If we weren’t, it would mean our problems were bigger than the charge life.
It took us less than thirty minutes to reach the ABT compound. It was nestled deep in the hills of North Austin, not far from the Central Texas Correctional Compound, and much too close to the ranch—and Rebel—for my comfort.
“Identification,” the guard barked when I pulled up and lowered the driver’s side window partway. I handed him the credentials Decker had prepared.
The guard read them and looked up at me with wide eyes. “Welcome to the ABT compound, sir.” Then he looked beyond me at Casper. “Ma’am.”
I raised the window without responding and pulled through the now-open gate. As I’d anticipated, several of the rank-and-file members were emptying out of the main building and stood at mock attention, awaiting our exit from the vehicle.
One man approached as I walked around to open the passenger door.
“Welcome, sir. We’ve been expecting you.”
“Brecht?” He was the highest-ranking leader of the Texas group, and the great-grandson of the Nation’s founder. The brief I’d read said he was jockeying for a promotion to the main compound located in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. It was the main reason Smoke believed we’d be successful in getting him to give up Possum’s killer.
“That’s correct, sir.”
I shook his extended hand, and he turned toward the men assembled.
“This is Colonel Swift. He’s been sent here by the general. I expect each of you to treat him with due respect and cooperate with whatever he asks of you.”
Several of them murmured their agreement; most remained silent. I was confident Casper was assessing the group in the same way I was. Most important was to identify those who appeared uninformed in advance of the visit. They were the contingent Brecht didn’t trust.
“I’m here to observe as well as review your reports in advance of the World Congress,” I announced. The annual meeting was scheduled to take place in three months’ time in Idaho. Promotions, like the one Brecht was after, would be handed out at that meeting.
If the alleged splinter group was successful in either breaking off or in taking over the leadership of this chapter, Brecht would be held responsible. He would benefit from their being stopped more than anyone else, and I intended to exploit his ambition.
A few minutes later, Brecht escorted Casper and me to the compound’s guest house reserved for VIPs.
In anticipation of our quarters being bugged, Decker had supplied us with jamming equipment that would block every signal b
ut his. He would, of course, test it via the other technology he’d somehow put into place.
It wouldn’t come as a surprise to whomever the ABT had monitoring us. Given who they believed we were, they would anticipate we’d seek out listening devices and disable them. Not doing so would immediately raise suspicion.
There was a mandatory dinner to welcome us held that evening. Casper knew to interact only with the other women present in an organization as misogynistic as this while I continued to play the role of a displeased high-ranking guest.
Once dinner was over, I was scheduled to meet with Brecht alone. Before I could do so, I was intercepted.
“Care for a smoke?” a man said as I was exiting the main dining hall.
“Ask if he has more than one,” I heard Decker’s voice say in my ear, and I did.
The man nodded and held up three fingers before walking away.
“What are they doing here?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m about to find out,” Deck responded.
When I heard Casper ask one of the women where the bathroom was, I went around the side of the building and waited. Seconds later, she came out of the front door.
“Interesting development,” she whispered.
Yeah, interesting wouldn’t be the word I’d use. Why weren’t we informed in advance that the FBI already had three agents on premises?
27
Rebel
Edge had been gone for almost forty-eight hours, and according to Kick, there was “nothing to report.” I doubted he’d tell me if there was.
I spent most of my time the day before at the dining hall. At least there, I had something to keep me busy. I know Tee-Tee sensed something was up with me, and thankfully, she hadn’t asked what it was. I was a shitty liar, especially with her.
The other benefit of being at the dining hall was that Kick pretty much left me alone. As long as I let him drive me here in the morning and pick me up at the end of the day, he didn’t hover.
Seeing it was a nice day, I decided to go outside to take a break between lunch and dinner. Right before I rounded the corner to exit through the back door, I heard voices coming from the storeroom.
Edged (The Invincibles Book 2) Page 13