CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Az
"How the fuck did this happen?" Rich snarled as he paced the floor behind his desk. "Where were our men?"
One of our smaller warehouses had been attacked, but the real issue was that the attack seemed to be a distraction for a raid on one of our safe houses. Keeping a Jackal prisoner meant we were at risk of retaliation, but I wisely kept that thought to myself.
"Did Leighton or Joey find anything?" I asked.
"Aside from missing crates and a truckload of red spider lilies? Not a damned thing. If it weren't for the one mother fucker doing his job, we may not have realized we'd been hit for days."
"This is good, though, right? It means that Colin knows something the Jackals don't want us to know. We've taken out plenty of their low ranking guys in the past and they've never retaliated at this level. A few gun fights, sure, but not this."
Rich raked a hand through his hair before collapsing into his chair. "I hope to hell you're right about that. Nothing has gone to plan since the fucking Gala."
I hadn't seen Rich this stressed since we were kids. Baby-faced, barely adults, trying to carve out our place in this world. I worried he would stress himself into an early grave if something didn't give soon.
"I'm sure if we give them time, Joey and Leighton will find something." I said, hoping that would allow him to relax a little before he had a stroke.
"Boss, I got the inventory logs for you. Looks like we're not missing anything that was supposed to be packaged for sale." Phil's voice cut through our conversation, and I looked over my shoulder toward the door. Rich motioned for him to enter the room and held out a hand for the clipboard he was carrying.
"What are we missing?" Rich asked, briefly scanning the document before looking at the other man.
"Just a couple crates of The Little Brother's prototypes. Everything we have for shipment is still secure," Phil said grimly.
"That's gonna piss Joey off," I said, groaning.
"Yeah. He worked on those designs for some time to get them matched to his specs," Rich spoke contemplatively.
"I also had the estimated times sent to Craig so he can look through the security feed as well."
"It's likely it will be the same as the center. It'll be corrupted, but maybe they left something other than fucking lilies behind." I interjected. "Any news on the safe house yet, or is everyone still securing the warehouse?"
"When I left to come here, Leighton was on his way to the safe house. Joey was still dealing with cleanup at the warehouse. There were four bodies to move and the rest of the guys seemed alright, just groggy from whatever the Jackals knocked them out with." Phil replied.
"How's the perimeter around the manor?" Rich asked.
"We're still secure, Boss. Leighton called in Jace's crew to reinforce the men already here. If anyone is stupid enough to try to breach our perimeter, they'll end up sold for parts."
"Leighton and his fucking psychopathic cronies." I shivered in disgust. "Jace and that lot seem like overkill. No pun intended."
"Yeah, well. We might not like their methods, but at least they're our weapons to use. Better than if they were being used against us," Rich said with a shrug. "Is anyone in this line of work really stable?"
"Not for nothing, Boss, but I see a shrink on the regular. Keep my head on straight and all that." Phil chuckled. "Just cause I'm fucking her, don't mean it ain't working."
"All I'm saying is if Jace comes in this house, I'll put him down myself. I can deal with L's brand of crazy, but no way in hell are his little pocket crazies getting anywhere near the Princess." I shrugged.
Phil looked at me momentarily, a smirk playing on his face. I raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking if he had something to say. He quickly covered his mouth with a fist and let out a few unconvincing coughs to cover himself. Rich didn't even conceal the smirk that crossed his face. Should have kept my mouth shut.
"Yeah, we can have them operate out of the security building at the front gate. If they need to contact us directly, they can call, or Leighton can meet them down there. She's got enough dangerous men around her. I really don't want to add to the number." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair. "Besides that, we obviously have a leak somewhere that needs plugging, so I don't want to track a bunch of people through the house until we find it."
"You need anything else from me, Boss?" Phil asked, checking his watch discreetly. "I got a therapy appointment in a bit." I chuckled a bit, given the information he'd provided earlier.
"Just… Get with the boys tomorrow after they finish running their combs through the scene, and then get started on finding that leak. Let us know if you need anything for the job. Now go on, wouldn't want your appointment to be canceled." Rich said with a smirk. Phil gave him a nod and made a hasty retreat to the exit.
I stood, made my way toward a small table with a decanter of whiskey, and poured two glasses.
"We've always had small squabbles with the Jackals. What is it about the Princess that has got them so feral that they want to court more trouble? Not just with us, but with everyone based on how they're acting now…"
"Who knows? For some reason, she seems to have more than a couple people in a twist." He said, cocking a brow as I handed him his glass.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You tell me. Feeling a little protective?"
"Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing? I mean, shit. Everyone was up my ass about 'being mean to her,'" I said, punctuating the phrase with air quotes. "So I'm trying to make peace with Her Highness, and now ya'll got jokes."
He laughed softly and shook his head at some thought I wasn't privy to. I felt the muscles in my jaw tick.
"And I don't know if you think you're fooling anyone here, Rich. But every time she hits you with her new pet phrase, you look like she just leveled you with a haymaker." I watched his face change. The slight eyebrow raise and tightening of his jaw told me I'd hit the nerve I was aiming for.
"I don't… have time to entertain her games. She can play them by herself," he said curtly.
"Sure, big guy. Whatever you gotta tell yourself." It was my turn to laugh.
A knock on the office door interrupted whatever retort Rich was ready to fire back with. Craig strolled into the office with an excited grin as he balanced his laptop in one hand.
"You guys aren't gonna fucking believe this," He said as he moved to Rich's desk and placed his open laptop down.
"Found something?" Rich asked, leaning forward in his chair for a better look.
"Yeah. Lenny fucking Moretti in our safe house, completely unaware that his ass is on camera. I told you guys putting a camera in the fireplace bricks was a good idea. It's the only one those chuckle fucks didn't find."
"Yeah, yeah," I groaned, tilting my head back in my chair. "Just show us already. You can tell us all how awesome you are after we sort this shit out."
Craig rolled his eyes and leaned over the desk. His fingers flew across the keys as he pulled up the video from the safe house and adjusted the volume.
"The intel was bad. That fucking horseman lied to me." Lenny paced in the sitting room of the small house.
"What do you wanna do, Boss?" someone off-screen asked.
"Find that little shit that gave up this location and beat another out of him. In the mean time we keep hitting their warehouses. Keep them off-kilter and busy so they can't interrogate McDoyle. Clean this shit up, leave our calling card behind, and then we'll regroup at home and plan to hit their place on Senna in a few days."
Lenny leaned against the fireplace, his mottled face in full view of Craig's hidden camera. Men moved around behind him, but nobody familiar stuck out. It looked like he had a crew of their street guys helping him in his hunt for Colin. I was about to ask Craig why he hadn't cut the recording off since there was nothing left to glean from it when Lenny huffed.
"Fucking Colin is gonna get me killed." He spoke so low that he clearly hadn't intended to be overheard. "Little shit had to turn himself into a fucking loose end. Need to bury him before he spills what he shouldn't even know."
Craig cut the feed after that and closed his laptop, looking pleased with himself. I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to ask him if he wanted a cookie for being good at his job, but I didn't get the chance.
"Well, at least it's not a total bust. We know our guest has something to tell us, and it's high time we find out what," Rich said grimly. "Craig, I want you checking the cameras in places they haven't hit, and organize with Leighton to get their guys what they need on Senna so they're not caught off guard. Az, tell the rest of the guys to finish their shit up before tomorrow night."
I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket to shoot off a text to Joey and Leighton. "What about the Princess?" I asked as I tapped out the message. "Who's staying back with her while Joey does his thing?"
Rich propped his elbows on the desk, steepling his fingers below his chin. "That depends on if she's interested in coming with us or not."
"Why the hell would she come with us?" I demanded, my brows pulling down in confusion.
"I'm with Az on this one, Rich. I don't think she can stomach what we do." Craig added.
"I promised her she'd have a voice in the decisions we make about her safety from now on. I intend to keep that promise." Rich sighed. "Whatever Colin knows, it has to do with her, so she's the one that gets to make the call about whether she's can handle it. I don't seriously think she'll want to come watch her new bestie get bloody, but she should have a choice."
"Fine," I replied, standing from my seat. "But when she runs away again because she can't handle who we really are, that's on you, Rich."
"If she runs again, I'll find her again." He replied, his tone clearly dismissing me for the night.
I couldn't help but pray Rich was right, that even with the offer on the table, the Princess would decline. I wasn't ready to admit how twisted up I'd been when she ran. And I damned sure wasn't prepared to admit that I wasn't sure I'd survive if she decided to run again.