Chapter 21
It isn’t until we’re in the air that Gray reveals the identity of our mysterious guest.
“Jasper Reed?” I echo, my brows shooting up. “Are you serious?”
Reed is the most notorious smuggler on the Continent, and the last person I’d expect to be welcome at the Dagger.
At my first Silver Elite briefing, Reed and his criminal enterprise were the main topic of discussion.
The Command has been trying to dismantle his operation for years.
I remember Cross saying the bulk of Reed’s business involves bringing contraband into the Continent from Tierra Fe, but he also works closely with the Faithful, smuggling supplies out of the Point and trading with them.
After reading his entire dossier, all I remember is determining that Jasper Reed is the most dangerous kind of person: one whose loyalty belongs to whoever’s offering him the most credits in the moment.
I eye Gray in disbelief. “You just let the city’s most wanted criminal fly into the Dagger?”
“Not on his own. Evlynne went to collect him.” Gray sounds annoyed. “He wants to renegotiate his deal.”
“Since when do you have a deal with him? I was told the Uprising wanted to recruit him, but he wasn’t interested.”
“He’s not. Jas will never work for somebody else. But he’s also a greedy prick, which means he’s not averse to working with us, so long as he believes it’s to his advantage. Especially now that the opiate vein has dried out and he’s only running tobacco and alcohol.”
When we return to the Dagger, I’m a bit disappointed that Reed isn’t in the hangar waiting for us, but I suppose there’s no reason for him to be.
Gray touches his ear, receiving a message over a channel I’m not privy to. “I have to go,” he says.
When I walk into my room five minutes later, I find Xavier sulking on his bed.
“What happened to the range? You were gone all day! I’m so fucking bored here, Darlington. I’m built for excitement, not boredom.” He lets out a loud, frustrated groan. “I regret my friendship with Cross.”
“No, you don’t.” I can’t help but grin. “But if excitement is what you crave…Guess who’s on the base.”
He narrows his eyes. “Who?”
“Jasper Reed.”
“You fucking kidding me?”
“Nope. He and the Uprising have some kind of trading deal in place.” I flop down on my bed. “Silver Elite was hunting him for a long time, right?”
“Oh yeah. He’s a slippery fucker.”
“Have you ever met him?”
“No. He stays well hidden in the city. And we always suspected he has another hideout somewhere in the wards, maybe with the Faithful, because he has the maddening habit of dropping off the face of the earth whenever he’s under too much heat.”
It’s too late to visit the range now, so I take pity on Xavier and steal a pack of playing cards from one of the common rooms, then spend the next hour letting him beat me in clash poker despite holding winning hands nearly the entire game. His ego deserves the boost more than mine.
At dinner, we’re once again relegated to the corner and ignored by everyone around us. When I get up to refill my water, I spot Evlynne in the line and try to strike up a conversation.
“Gray took me to the valley today,” I tell her. “I met your son. He seems sweet.”
My attempt at civility backfires. “Stay away from my kid.”
“He ran up to us—”
“I said stay the fuck away from my kid.”
She stalks off without another word.
I return to the table and retake my seat next to a grinning Xavier. “Not winning any popularity contests here, are you?” he says.
“Hey, I was much more popular before you fucked it up for me. Now I have to try to convince everyone that you’re not evil so they’ll like me again.”
A murmur travels through the room, drawing my gaze to the doorway, where Adrienne just walked in with a dark-haired man in his late twenties.
Jasper Reed. I instantly recognize him from his dossier photograph. Bronzed skin, devilish brown eyes, an endearing dimple in his chin. It’s hard to forget such an attractive face.
I watch him greet a few people, his cocky attitude evident in the way he carries himself.
The lazy stride, the confident set of his shoulders.
He’s tall but not bulky, more the lean, sinewy cheetah than the hulking lion, and he’s very sure of himself as he touches Adrienne’s arm and leans closer to whisper something to her.
She rolls her eyes, but I can tell she’s amused.
“Reed is mighty cozy with these people,” Xavier remarks. “That’s…interesting.”
“You deserted the Command,” I remind him, or maybe it’s more of a warning. “You’re not gathering intel for them.”
“I’m gathering intel for me. Haven’t you figured that out by now, Darlington? The only team I’m on is my own.”
Xavier is driving me crazy.
We’re floating in this nebulous no-man’s-land between dinner and bedtime, forced to entertain each other.
I don’t know how I got tasked with entertaining Cross’s best friend, but I sort of wish he’d been eaten by a red cougar in the Blacklands.
Xavier has just spent the last hour describing his favorite sexual encounters to me. In great detail.
I know way too much about this man.
“But if you really want to talk about voyeurism—”
“I don’t.”
“—there was this girl in upper school who always wanted me to go down on her in the tech lab even though she knew the school cameras were—”
“No,” I interrupt with a groan, jabbing my finger in the air. “If you tell me one more sex story, I will actually kill you in your sleep.”
“Fine, then you tell me one,” Xavier pleads. He’s stretched out on his bed, bare-chested and barefoot, his boredom etched into every line on his face.
“Absolutely not,” I retort.
He scowls at me. “This place sucks. I don’t get to fuck. I don’t get to drink. I don’t get to talk about fucking and drinking—”
He’s interrupted by my comm going off. I eagerly snatch it off the night table to find a message from Gray.
Get dressed. Party in the cave.
I use my index finger to scribble a response on the screen.
What’s the cave?
You’ll see. I’ll come grab you in 30.
Oh, thank fuck. Maybe this will finally shut Xavier up.
Can Ford come?
Sure, but I’m not breaking up any fights tonight. If he says or does something to get his ass kicked, I’m letting it happen.
Deal.
I slide off the bed, arching a brow at my roommate. “You’re about to love me.”
“I don’t think that’s ever going to happen, sweetling.”
“There’s a party tonight. And I’ll have you know this place is crawling with glenshade…”
His mouth falls open. “You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. I drank some when you were in the cells.”
Xavier shoots to his feet faster than I can blink. “Do you think they have any seraphis?”
I burst out laughing. “Seriously?”
“What? I’m not gonna use it with you.”
“I’m sorry to inform you, sweetling, but I doubt there’s a single person on this entire mountain who’s going to have sex with you, with or without an aphrodisiac.”
“Nah, I’ll win ’em over. All it takes is one, right?”
The cave is not outdoors like I expect. Rather, we go down to the Operations floor and then into an elevator at the farthest corner of the Dagger.
Like the one that offers access to the Temple, this elevator also features a button for a lower level.
Karra, who showed up with Gray to collect us, shoots dark looks at Xavier the entire journey to the cave.
“You should cut this one loose,” she advises me. “He’s bad for your image.”
“You realize I’m standing right here?” Xavier says politely.
Karra flicks up an eyebrow. “So?”
Despite the fact that she just insulted my friend, I can’t contain a laugh, which gets me a grin from Karra.
I wouldn’t consider us close friends, but there’s been no animosity whatsoever since she warned me off Gray.
I like her, in fact. Especially her confidence.
Karra knows exactly who she is and doesn’t care if anyone has a problem with it.
The elevator doors open onto another cavern.
This one lacks the daggerstone, religious imagery, and marble floor of the Temple, but not the otherworldly atmosphere.
Metal sconces provide weak lighting that cuts in and out of the shadows, and the walls create an acoustic chamber as waves of electronic music bounce and reverberate through the cave, fusing with the loud voices and eruptions of laughter.
It’s so loud, I can barely hear my own thoughts.
All around us, people are pressed together in the low-ceilinged space, some chatting, some dancing, some doing a lot more than dancing. The air is thick with sweat and body heat, and although I’m wearing a tank top, I’m sweating by the time we reach the bar.
The sight amazes me. They’ve managed to build a bar into the jagged stone walls, using one thick ledge as a natural counter and carving shelves directly into the rock behind it. The shelves hold a remarkable selection of glass bottles. Glenshade as far as the eye can see.
Gray swipes a couple of bottles and hands one to Xavier, who takes a sip and moans like he’s in the throes of orgasm.
“Damn, that’s good,” he says to Gray. Then, as if remembering who he’s talking to, he glares at him. “But I still think you’re a prick.”
“Yeah, I don’t care,” Gray says, chuckling.
He grabs another bottle for his girlfriend, who I can’t deny looks gorgeous tonight. Karra’s body is on full display in a pair of tight dark jeans and a leather bustier with her cleavage spilling out. Black hair cascades down her back in loose waves.
“Is this party in honor of Reed?” I raise my voice so Gray can hear me over the music.
“Not in honor of, but definitely because of. Every time he’s here, it somehow leads to some crazy drunk debauchery. He brings the Faithful mentality wherever he goes.”
“Well, shit,” Xavier remarks. “I’ve been trying to befriend the wrong people.”
“You haven’t been trying to befriend anyone,” I point out.
“Speaking of debauchery,” Karra says, then drags Gray into the throng of dancers.