The Death Council
Max
Focus on the baby, not on the urge to smash Canyon in the face the next time you’re near him. Seeing the two of them talking together before work…he probably walked her here. Did she make him breakfast this morning?
I hate this.
I hate everything about it.
What they did is none of my business. They are a happy couple, and you are their friend. That doesn’t matter one bit right this moment.
Dash smacks the table.
It seems that the segment on coding is over. “You need to learn patience. Coding is all about getting the details in order.”
Dash blows a bubble at me.
“I knew you’d understand. Now, watch this section very carefully. There are some important things you need to know.”
He bangs his head against my arm.
“On it.” I turn on the next video.
That baby watches intently. Others would say it’s the scrolling text and bright colors, which I know is probably true, but something tells me he’s absorbing some of this, even if it’s just to get a feel of coding. The kid is too smart for some home that won’t appreciate and develop his gifts.
“Hey.” Fiona slides into the spot across from me with a cookie and two coffees in her hands. “I thought you might like to try one of my new flavors for the fall. It’s a double-chocolate cranberry shortbread cookie with a cream cheese frosting and candied nut sprinkles.”
This is torture. “You had me at cookie.”
Dash slams the table and reaches for the cookie.
“Oh no. I forgot to take him to the doctor.”
What? “Is he sick?”
Fiona shakes her head. “Nothing like that. I just want to see if he’s old enough to start on some real food.”
Grasping fingers get close to the cookie.
Dash doesn’t know I’ve raised sneakier hands already. “He certainly wants to try.” Now’s the time to apologize to her.
Get it over and done with. Then maybe ask her some questions to find out how serious they are.
Really? Are you going to try to break them up so you can steal Fiona away?
Mom might kill me for it.
Fiona smiles at me, and I don’t even care.
How could she have chosen Canyon?
First step, fix whatever that mess is from the other day. “Fiona.”
“Yeah?”
“Although I appreciated your apology yesterday, there was no need for it. You did nothing more than offer comfort to a friend.” I don’t want to be your friend. “I’m sorry that I reacted poorly and made you worry.”
“You had a lot on your mind.”
That’s true. “But it was no excuse.” I reach out and set my hand on hers. The warmth of her coffee seeps through to my fingers. But it could be lava, and I still would keep my hand there. Touching her feels so right.
She doesn’t pull away or even move her fingers like she wants me to let go. Instead, Fiona lifts her gaze to mine.
No. There’s no way she’s in love with Canyon. A woman doesn’t look at a man like that when she’s in love with someone else.
Especially not a woman like Fiona.
Something’s up.
“Hey, Baby!” Canyon plops down in the seat next to Fiona.
Those two words grate on my nerves worse than a squeaky cooling fan. All it would take is one shot to break his face.
Fiona scooches away.
I slide my hand slowly back away from hers. But a man would have had to be blind to have missed us touching.
Canyon is by no means blind or dumb.
He’s also still smiling.
Gloating that Fiona is his.
Not that I blame him. I’d shout it everywhere if Fiona were mine.
“Hey…um…Dear. How has your day been?”
“Good. I missed seeing you. I thought I’d come by and get a sweet treat.”
If he kisses her, I won’t be able to stop myself from killing him. Skip being a gentleman. The feral animal in me will win.
“One cupcake coming right up.” She smiles at him, but they don’t touch. “Would you like a refresh?” Fiona nods to my cup of coffee, which Dash is eyeing like he knows what it is.
“I’m good, thanks.” Which isn’t true right at this moment, but will be soon if I have anything to say about it.
Canyon leans forward when Fiona walks away. “She’s amazing, isn’t she? When she asked me to date her, I was completely shocked.”
She asked you? Fiona…the woman who blushes from a finger brush, asked you to date her?
“But I think I’m beginning to understand why she did it. I know that woman is worth fighting for. Wouldn’t you fight for a woman like her?”
“To the death.” Yours. That’s a promise.
“I’m glad I don’t have to.” He leans back, smirking. “Isn’t life grand?”
***
“Maximus is out today. You have a secret lair, and you’re in here punching a bag until your knuckles are bloody.” Taylor leans against the doorway.
“It isn’t a secret lair.” It really is, and Max Rage is out.
“Just like your knuckles aren’t bloody. Have fun explaining that to your mother when you get home.”
Dad will take care of Mom. But if I weren’t doing this, I’d be out there hunting Canyon down like the pig he is. “Who even invited you to my secret lair?”
“You did.”
“Not for another half hour.” That should give me enough time to work off this frustration and shower before everyone comes.
“What can I say? I like to be prompt when invited to fun meetings. And I have a feeling this one is going to be interesting. Why don’t you take pity on that bag and stop before you break it?”
“You volunteering to take its place?” Sparring with Taylor would be way more cathartic.
“Nope. I like the bones in my face exactly where they are.”
I snort and slam my fist into the bag. “What if I promise to not break all of them?”
He laughs. “Yeah, you couldn’t promise that right now. Who are you currently trying not to kill?”
“You know the woman I was talking about before?”
“The one you’re going to marry?”
“She’s dating someone.”
Taylor laughs. “Your control is impressive. I would think he’d be buried in the ground by now.”
“He’s a friend. Sort of.”
“Oh. Oh, that’s bad.”
Don’t I know it.
“What are you going to do? The right thing would be to walk away.”
My hand smashes so hard it reverberates back up my body.
“That’s obviously not an answer. She’s the one, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.” She’s the one.
“I can help with the body if you like.”
“And make Maddox mad at the both of us?”
Taylor shrugs.
There’s something off. Something in the back of my mind, but I haven’t figured out what it is yet. “I might take you up on that offer.”
“Preferably before you break both your fists, and it’s me explaining to your parents why I had to drive you to the hospital.”
That point edges closer and closer.
***
“What do you mean someone is killing twins, and you just decided to inform me of this?” The vein throbbing on Aleksei Kamenev’s neck doesn’t bode well for our survival.
I turn to Vex. The two of them can duke it out.
“Your children were never in danger. They’re only killing people who submit their DNA on these websites. We all know you’d never let your kids do that.” Vex leans back without a care in the world, like he didn’t just flirt with death talking to Aleksei like that.
Is Aleksei going to come across the table and kill him or pull out a gun and shoot him between the eyes? It could go either way.
“So, this is all the information you have?” Aleksei does neither.
For the time we’ve had, it is. “Yes.”
“I want all the crime scene photos and images of the bullets.”
Why? “The caliber is listed in the file along with the pictures you asked for.” I nod to the files in front of each of the people in this room.
Well, it’s more of a Faraday cage mixed with a fancy meeting room that added in all the toys people can imagine electronically.
We couldn’t take the risk of sending any of this to them electronically.
“I need images of the bullet casings. All of them.” Aleksei pushes the folder forward.
“Why?” The forensic report should be enough.
“Every assassin has a signature. And for the ones that don’t, that is their signature. At one point or another, I’ve hired half of them in the world.”
It doesn’t surprise me at all that Aleksei Kamenev has worked with most of the trained killers in the world.
“I’ll take it too. If Aleksei hasn’t hired them, I probably trained them,” Ethan chimes in.
What? Ethan trained assassins? It’s probably a good thing I don’t ask that many questions about what my grandfather does.
“Can we get back to talking about Marlie?” Vex glances down at his watch. “I need to pick up my wife from work.”
“We should have picked up Adonis and introduced him to my snakes before they killed him.” Maddox is just mad he didn’t get to kill him.
Which is totally fair. If someone hit my woman, they’d be in a cage so I could take them out and beat them within an inch of their life every time her battered face popped back up in my memory. Then they’d slowly become pig food.
Ethan lifts up a folder. “You were right to leave it alone. This looks way too organized for a simple human trafficking ring.”
“There aren’t many rings left in Urbium. I put a warning out when my wife moved back here years ago.” Aleksei flips through the folder. He seemingly lost interest when we changed the topic to Marlie.
“Obviously, they didn’t. They just went deeper. We need more information from the women’s shelters to see if we can identify someone other than Plant who’s working for them.” Vex leans forward. “We should send in a spy.”
“No.” This is the first time my father has spoken a word. “We aren’t risking the life of another woman. That isn’t an option.”
“Have you thought of checking men’s shelters?” Aleksei doesn’t look up from where he’s reading.
What?
“Why? We know they’re selling women.” Vex says irritably.
Aleksei sets down the file and looks at Vex.
“Your contact who found the ‘aliens’ that took Marlie in the helicopter said he escaped from them. Now, his sanity is questionable. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility that his lack of mental clarity came from a failed medical experiment.
And both men and women are being taken for that purpose.
Didn’t you say the women in the shelters are being medically profiled? They could fit testing parameters.”
Men’s shelters…interesting. “I can start hacking their files, but sending someone inside might help us see how they’re working.”
“When you get the list, I’ll start infiltrating them,” Vex offers.
Maddox snorts. “You can’t go undercover. Everyone in the underworld knows your face.”
We need someone not known in Urbium. “How about the bikers that you used for security at Dahlia’s pre-bachelorette?”
Vex groans.
Taylor laughs. He doesn’t value his life very much.
“That’s a great idea. The Children of Chaos hate human trafficking. They’d probably volunteer to do it for free.” Maddox jots a note down.
“I’ll pay them twice their normal fee,” Vex offers.
He really doesn’t like being beholden to anyone. “Oh, and not related, I need to get with you to hire them to protect Dahlia while I fly out to check on this Eva person who got paid by the same company as Plant.”
“That’s another bad idea. No one is going to tell you their secrets unless you torture them. This is supposed to be under the radar.” Everyone is looking for a fight today, even Maddox.
Though he isn’t wrong.
“One of my guys can go. They know how to be friendly yet inconspicuous.”
“Send Canyon,” the words blurt out of my mouth unbidden.
Taylor and Maddox both laugh.
I get Taylor finding this funny—he probably already figured out the connection—but why is Maddox laughing?
“Canyon is currently occupied at the moment. He’s fallen in love with our resident baker, Fiona. But I’ll find someone to send out there immediately.”
My dad raises an eyebrow at me, but doesn’t say a word.
The meeting goes on, but my brain zones out, focused only on one thing…her.