He drew his eyes to Caine, who nodded. “Yep, Samara was my kill… If what I heard is right, Raven took down Sikorski later.”
All these deaths and no one was bothered. “I got a call to meet these guys,” Leatt said. “And I’ve been a part of the team ever since.”
“You stole Game Time today?” Devon asked.
Leatt nodded. “Didn’t do it alone.”
He cast his eyes toward the door and even Caine lifted his head. Thad turned, Mitchell did, too. Devon held her breath, expecting the devil himself to walk through the door. It took too long. She was sure either nobody was coming at all or this was a man who liked to make an entrance.
Whatever the case, someone did saunter in. Wearing jeans and a tee shirt, his hair was finger combed, but his eyes were keen. He took two strides in, examined everyone, fixated on her, and smiled a deliberate, conniving kind of smile that absorbed her features and seemed to read her thoughts.
“Who…?” she asked in a small voice. “Who are you?”
“Devon,” the stranger said. “Your pictures don’t do you justice.” He came closer. She retreated until her back hit the wall, but he appeared to enjoy startling her. “I’m Grant McCormack. Welcome to the family.”
“He’s my cousin,” Thad said. “Zave’s cousin too.”
Caine had to speak as well. “Raven’s brother.”
“The man I killed,” Leatt said after.
Mitchell laughed. “Something to everybody. He’s my boy.”
“You don’t have to be afraid,” Grant said without responding to anyone’s stated connection to him. “You’re valuable to us as you are now.”
“Apparently, I was supposed to die as some sort of sick message to my brother.”
“And now you’re some sort of sick message to your husband. By the way,” he asked. “How’s Zara?”
Caine laughed. “That bitch must have some ego,” he said. “Next time, snatch her, quack.”
“Zara wouldn’t come easy,” Thad said. “And Brodie wouldn’t have let her go.”
With admiration in his voice, Caine agreed, “That’s the truth. Zara would’ve bit you in the balls, clawed out your eyes, grabbed the wheel and flipped the car, and she’d still have walked away with attitude.”
Devon wasn’t quite at Zara’s standard yet. But Zara had been doing this for almost two years. “So this is Synonymous?” Devon asked, backed into a corner in a bedroom filled with formidable men.
“Not completely and we’ll be going by Syn. It’s easier on the tongue,” Grant said. “Soon, we’ll be going to pick up our last member.”
This was quite a troupe already, and the Kindred couldn’t afford to be outnumbered. “Who’s that?” she asked.
If the others planned to keep the secret, they hadn’t told Caine to do the same. “They don’t have a Swift,” he said. “And plan to pick up his bitch’s cousin.”
“They?” Leatt said and leaned over the end of the bed to smack Caine’s foot. “You’re coming with us, you prick.”
Caine relaxed with a muttering sigh. “What do you need me for? I’m not going to shoot him. Do you want me to shoot him? I can shoot him. I haven’t shot anyone for a while… Yeah, ok, I’ll come. If he doesn’t play nice, I’ll shoot him.”
Caine closed his eyes after having that conversation with himself, and she was flabbergasted. No one else was affected by how glib Caine was about taking life.
“You’ll spend the night here, Devon,” Mitchell said. “In the morning, you leave.”
Maybe Thad hadn’t been full of shit after all. “You’re going to let me go?” she asked.
“No sense in keeping you,” Grant said. “You’ll get in our way… I’ve learned my lesson about keeping pretty women around who I can’t trust.”
“We might have killed you,” Mitchell said. “If you hadn’t married him. Now you’re exactly the distraction we need.”
She didn’t like the implication of that statement. “We don’t need him and his resources tearing this country apart looking for you,” Grant said.
“Or more importantly, looking for us,” Leatt said.
“You’re going back to the Kindred to tell them Game Time belongs to us now. They should concentrate on marrying their women, playing house, and running those big-ass businesses they left hanging around our necks,” Grant said. “You tell them we’ll take over saving the world… and we’re going to do a better job than they ever did.”
“We won’t be playing by Art’s rules. We’ll make up our own,” Mitchell said.
Leatt was the first to walk out. “I’m gonna get a drink,” he said before he disappeared.
Grant looked her up and down again before sauntering out. He and Mitchell were already talking before they crossed the threshold into the other room. Thad was holding back, but Caine wasn’t going anywhere, he was happy lying on the bed.
“You’ll sleep in here tonight,” Thad said.
“Just what I was thinking,” Caine grumbled and patted the vacant side of the bed. “Plenty of room. I’ll even share you with the quack if he wants a piece, long as he keeps his hands off my junk.”
“Caine, you’re out front,” Thad said. “You’re supposed to be the guy with the gun, protecting us all. Look at you lying there drunk.”
“My aim drunk is better than your aim sober,” Caine said and forced himself to sit up with a groan. “Have you ever shot a gun, quack? Ever thrown a punch? Ever fucked a pussy? Just what is it we need you for anyway, quack?”
Drunk or not, Caine wasn’t coming off as honorable, but she appreciated hearing him put Thad in his place because she wasn’t much of a fan of the doctor herself. Thad had no witty answer. “Fuck you, Caine.”
But Caine didn’t care about the pathetic insult. He lifted his head to blink smoldering, drunk eyes at her. “You change your mind, don’t ask permission,” Caine said, rising to unfasten his belt before he began to make for the door. “You just come right on out and suck me dry. I always repay the favor… unless I’m paying for it.”
He winked again and disappeared, leaving her alone with Thad. “I’ll take you to the airport in the morning,” he said. “I swiped your passport with mine at the motel. I’ll put you on a plane to Seattle and give you enough money to get a cab to KC.”
“Don’t pretend you’re a good guy,” she hissed. “I trusted you. We all trusted you, now you’ve thrown in with them. Mitchell is deluded, and he has access to God knows what, money and machines that could change the world.”
“That’s the point,” Thad snapped. “He thinks big. The Kindred are so caught up in being subtle and mysterious that they don’t make enough of a difference.”
Leaving her corner, she stretched her arm toward the living area. “Mitchell and McCormack faked their own deaths so no one would be looking for them. Isn’t that mysterious or do you think it’s cowardice? Who do you think will be left holding the bag if Syn do get caught?” she asked, saying the moniker in a mocking voice. “It will be you, Caine, Leatt, the three who are still alive.”
“No,” he said. “My father wouldn’t do that to me and I work in the background, I—”
“Didn’t you screw over the Kindred because you were tired of being insignificant and living in your cousins’ shadows? McCormack is your cousin. Mitchell is your father, and now you’re telling me that you’re going to exist in their shadows? So what was the point? They want me to go back and tell the Kindred to back off, to shut up and let them be, and what happens if the Kindred don’t? What are Syn going to do? Set Brodie up for murder? Have Jennifer accuse Zave of rape and torture? Where does that leave your mother or don’t you care?”
“I asked you not to talk about her.”
“You told me not to talk about Bronwyn, either,” she said, walking up to him. “But I can tell you, I might not have known her, but as a woman, I’d be disgusted with the man you are.”
He pushed hard and she stumbled but managed to balance herself before she fell. “
Do not. Say. Her. Name,” he snarled.
Devon wasn’t afraid of him. “Why? Because you know I’m right. If I say her name again, what will you do? Hit me? Yeah. Your mother would be real proud.”
Walking away from the lost cause, she sat on the end of the bed. At least if Caine wasn’t coming back here, she didn’t have to worry about being violated. Once Thad had gone, she had every intention of using the chair to block the door to stop anyone from getting in.
“You’ll have enough money to get to KC,” he mumbled without bothering to look at her. “Call your brother from there, he knows how to contact Raven.”
“Do you think I couldn’t figure that out by myself? Don’t use me to make yourself feel better. I won’t forgive you for what you did today. I won’t. And if that’s how I feel, I don’t blame Falcon and Raven for bringing war to your doorstep. I don’t want to see them ruined. But they’ll find a way to bring you and your people down. I guarantee it.”
Now he did look over his shoulder at her, but he didn’t say anything else, just stormed from the room and slammed the door. Devon would take their message back to the Kindred and hope that her guarantee to Thad stood up because Syn didn’t deserve to get away with this.
The Kindred were proud and had made sacrifices before, but would Zave and Brodie have to go to jail for the rest of their lives to stop Syn from taking over the world?
As she lay down, it scared her that she considered they might. She and Zara were going to be the only thing that might be able to temper their mens’ reactions to this. Devon wasn’t confident about her ability, but she stroked her naked ring finger and thought of her husband somewhere out there, worrying about her, and resolved to do anything she could to support him, even if that meant standing by him while he served twenty-five to life.
FOUR
If Cedric Moore hadn’t been walking through the KC lobby while she was arguing with the receptionist, Devon might have been tossed out on her ass. He came over and saved the day by asking her what was going on and where Zave was.
The older man had been friends with Owen Knight, and to this day made all the decisions for KC that Zave didn’t. He left the suits he was escorting out of the building and took her to the express elevator that went directly to the top floor.
“I’m surprised to see you here without Zave,” he said.
Devon had felt him side-eyeing her throughout the ascent but was too busy trying to figure out what to say to her brother, Rig, about what had happened. She couldn’t think about being social or explaining herself to this man whom she’d only met once.
“Would it be possible for me to use a phone?” she asked.
That was all she’d wanted at reception too. She’d only been in this building with Zave and although he’d told her she had security clearance, she didn’t feel right about traipsing around the building, picking up random phones, as if she belonged here.
Zave would argue that she did, and she might get used to this building in time. For now, the only thing she needed was a phone, and she’d used every cent Thad had given her to pay for the cab from the airport. It hadn’t even brought her all the way here; she’d had to stop him a few blocks down and hurry the rest of the way on foot because her money had run out.
Upon entering into reception, she’d asked to use a phone and stressed that her need was urgent. Devon had expected hospitality not hostility. The blonde at the main desk argued that this wasn’t a library or a coffee shop. KC phones were used for KC business and weren’t available to people who walked in off the street.
This was a valid policy and one that Devon couldn’t argue against. It would’ve been petulant of her to stamp her foot and demand respect simply because she’d said, “I do” to the man who owned the building.
“You can use a phone,” Cedric said. “Zave’s office had been shut up for years. But after your visit here the other day, we cleaned it up and aired it out. It’s ready for him. He said that you were a permanent feature, so his office is yours.”
As long as the phone worked, she didn’t need to know anything else. “Thank you for this,” she said. The elevator door whooshed open, and she rushed out only to realize that she didn’t know where she was going.
The only floor she’d spent any time on was the one beneath this where the conference suites were located. “Straight ahead,” he said. “The double doors.”
The curved space had other doors around it, but she rushed straight forward to the grand double doors and came up short when she saw the illuminated security pad awaiting a fingerprint. She might embarrass herself by trying, but she didn’t want to ask permission, she needed to get onto the phone. So, just as she did on the island, she pushed her fingerprint into the circle. It flashed once and she opened the door.
Yes, this was all she needed. Access.
Devon didn’t even take the time to look around. She hurried across the room, bounded up the two stairs to the elevated desk, and darted around it to drop into the massive, black leather chair to grab up the phone.
“Dial nine.”
Her gaze shot up to land on Cedric, who was in the doorway, wearing a smile. “There’s a television behind the panel on the far wall. Use your fingerprint to reveal it, and the bar is secreted there too. It will slide out if you use your fingerprint twice.” He pointed to one corner. “And if you go through that door, you’ll find the washroom.”
“Thank you,” she said.
Cedric backed out and closed the door.
Dialing nine, she punched in Rig’s number and listened to it ring. The office was beautiful. With a ceilings twenty feet above, the wall behind her was glazed to showcase the city streets below. This platform elevating the desk allowed her to inspect the room from a decent vantage point. To her right was a conference table with eight chairs around it. Opposite that, by the internal wall, were couches arranged around a narrow table. It was on the wall behind that where the television was, according to Cedric.
There weren’t any knickknacks in the room, but if it had been locked up for so long, there wouldn’t be. The carpets were pale gray, the furniture was black and the walls were white. She’d never paid much attention to the décor in the rest of the KC building, but none seemed quite as drab as this.
Had Zave selected these colors after his parents’ death, or had it been decorated for him without his input? It didn’t fit with the image of the fun-loving, frivolous Zave he was before the loss of his parents. But maybe this was where Owen spent his time. Had it actually been his father’s office?
“Who the fuck is this?”
Startled by the abrupt voice in her ear, she stopped scanning and slapped a hand onto the desk. “Rig! Oh, thank God you answered!”
“Von? What the fuck number is this? Where are you?”
“I can’t explain. Something happened. I need you to call Raven. I need you to tell him to call me here.”
“What? Am I your fucking answering service now?”
God, her brother knew how to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. “Rig! You don’t understand, this is serious. Stop fucking around. Something happened during the last Kindred op. I was taken and I have information—”
“You were taken? Where are you? Tell me where you are, what can you see?”
Under other circumstances, she might appreciate her brother’s concern. But it was too little, too late. She needed him to get his finger out of his ass and stop wasting time. “No, I’m safe now,” she said. “Can you please just get him to call me?”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on. You’re my sister, I’ve got a fucking right to know before he does.”
So he was worried that he would be kept out of the loop? “Listen,” she said. “I was taken. They gave me a message, and they released me. They put me on a plane, and I am right now sitting in the CEO’s office on the top floor of the Knight Corp building in Seattle. I am safe. Safer than I’ve ever been in my life.”
She understood that the Kindred liked
to keep their true identities secret, and she didn’t know what Rig did or didn’t know about who the members really were. But, she’d gone and married the KC CEO, so either way, her brother was going to learn about her association with this building. Though now wasn’t the time to share the happy news.
“You’re where?” he asked.
“I’m safe. But people I care about are not safe, and they’re worried about me. I have to tell them what I know. Lives could be at stake and as far as I know, they’re in Mexico scrambling to find me and I’m nowhere near where they are. So, please, get him to call me. I need to tell him what’s going on. Until I do, they’re in danger and they saved my life, Rig, please, we owe them this.”
Silence met her statement. She was quite proud of how concise and honest she’d been, and yet he had no response. Concerned that the line might have disconnected, she was about to say his name when he spoke. “I’m writing down the number,” he said. “I’ll get him to call you back.”
“The number doesn’t matter, just tell him I’m in the KC building. Please.”
He had no patience, but her brother had always been easily riled. “I’m doing it, and then I’m getting on a fucking plane and coming to get you.”
“To get me?” she said. “I don’t need you to get me. I just told you I was safe, didn’t you hear me?”
“Yeah, I thought you were safe before this phone call, now I find out you’ve been in fucking Mexico on Kindred operations, getting kidnapped! Ha!” He laughed. “I don’t fucking think so. You’re coming back with me.”
She exhaled in disgust at his attitude. “Whatever, Rig. I don’t care. Just get him to call me.”
Rig’s fight was one she would save for another day because every second she spent arguing with her brother was a second more that the Kindred didn’t know what was going on. “Just call them. Now.” She slammed down the handset before he could say anything else.
Crossing her legs, she then uncrossed them. She sat back, folded her arms, and then sat up straight. What was she going to do until that phone rang? All she could do was sit here. Did this phone even ring? Did Zave have an assistant who might intercept the call? If the number Rigor had written down went through some sort of switchboard, she was screwed. That little blonde sitting on reception in the lobby would never dream of putting a phone call through that was directed to her.
Finch (Kindred #6) Page 4