30. Chapter Thirty
Chapter thirty
Peter
I kept an eye on Hummingbird’s property for the next two days, reporting my findings to Lynette and Ryan. Nothing had happened, but that worried me the most. This wasn’t the first time we’d received a tip and then had to wait. The enemy thought we could be lulled into a false sense of security.
Not this time.
Not if I had anything to say about it.
I’d also been checking in with Hummingbird, who was understandably concerned, but they were fine, all things considered.
A few more days had passed when Lynette messaged me on the secure app.
Momma A:
Shield:
I waited for her response and was slightly surprised when my phone rang a minute later with Lynette's name on the screen.
“Where is Lukas?”
My eyebrows shot up, a little taken aback at her brusque tone. “I believe he’s in his office. Why?”
She nearly growled her response. “I need to speak with him. There’s a situation.”
I rushed to Lukas’s office door, knocked, and tried to open it. It was locked. “Lukas?”
“I’m busy.”
With Quinn. I know. I let out a tense breath. “Your mom is on the phone. There’s an urgent situation. What would you like me to tell her you’re doing?”
I heard a muffled, “Shit.” Followed by the sound of frantic footsteps. Seconds later, the lock was disengaged, and the door opened, revealing Lukas standing there, slightly flushed, with his hair tousled. “Yes?”
“Lynette, I have Lukas for you.”
“Thank you, Peter.” She sighed. “Do you need a minute to get your head in the game, or shall I tell your sister and Don that you are too busy for her and the threats that just came in against us?”
My eyes went wide. Lynette wasn’t typically the type to get snarky. This must be really big.
Lukas cleared his throat. “I’m here and ready to go, Momma.”
“Get on an encrypted video call to the war room. Peter, too. You have two minutes.” The call ended.
Lukas let out a tense breath and ran his hand through his hair. “Can you get a bottle of water for me?”
“Sure thing.” I walked to the kitchen and smirked when I heard whispering. After grabbing the water, I turned around and walked back into the hall, noticing his bedroom door shutting as I did. I couldn’t help but assume Quinn had just made a hasty exit.
“Fuck!”
My eyebrows went up at the sudden shout. It wasn’t that Lukas never swore, but there was something about the volume and tense tone that immediately had me on edge and rushing into his office. “What happened?”
He glared at his phone screen. “Liam.”
I let out a tense breath. It wasn’t the first time the oldest Agosti sibling had started shit, and I had a feeling it wasn't going to be the last, either. “What did he do this time?”
Lukas sat up, rubbing his hands over his face. “He found out about Nash being alive and still connected to us and just got a lot bolder with his threats.”
“What? How?” Lynette and Lukas had kept Nash under lockdown since the Barlowe incident blew his cover. He had risked his life being a mole and reporting Liam’s activities to Lukas. The fact anyone knew where that man was defied logic.
Lukas handed his phone to me.
Unknown:
Attached was a picture of Nash Tyler and Poppy St. James walking out of a diner, hand in hand, smiling at each other, along a sidewalk in Chicago.
I let out a low whistle as the information sank in. “Well, fuck.” I tapped on the number, not recognizing it. “You’re sure it’s your brother?”
Lukas nodded, rage in his eyes. “Yep.”
Good enough for me. “Now what?”
“Now we call my sister.”
I sat at the corner of his desk, close enough that I could see the screen, but far enough that I wasn't on camera. When the call connected and the camera in the war room was activated, we saw Lianne, Ryan, and Lynette at the table.
“Glad you could join us.” Lynette glared up at the camera before walking back out of the room.
Lukas cleared his throat. “Sorry I was late. Aside from Liam texting a threat to me, what’s going on?”
Three stunned faces looked up, but Lianne recovered first. “I’m sorry, what?”
After reading the text and sending a screenshot of it to Ryan and Lianne, everyone in the room was enraged. Lukas glanced at me and then back at the camera. “If you didn’t know about the text, why did Mom call me?”
Lianne glanced toward the door her mother had walked out of. “I don’t know. She said you needed to be here before explaining it.”
As if on cue, Lynette returned. “I just got off the phone with Nash. He and Poppy are on their way back as we speak.”
“Ryan?”
Ryan chuckled as he did something on his laptop. “Already on it, Li.”
Lukas furrowed his brow as he stared at the screen. “What are you having him do?”
Lianne let out a deep sigh. “Track the truck.”
“Good plan.”
We sat in tense silence for several minutes before Ryan let out a relieved sigh. “They’re on the street.”
He and Lynette hopped up out of their chairs and hurried out of the room as Lianne watched them leave. “Well, at least we have that going for us.”
“You doing okay?”
She looked up at her brother. “No. Mom was pissed earlier, especially when you didn’t answer your phone.”
Lukas let out a deep sigh and rubbed his handover his face. “I was not in a position to be answering my phone, okay?”
Lianne chuckled and nodded. “Fair enough.” She suddenly sat up and then let out a sigh of relief when Nash walked into the war room. “Glad to see you back in one piece. Is Poppy okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah. She’s understandably confused and concerned, but fine.”
Her shoulders dropped a little as she acknowledged the information. “Good. Anything out of the ordinary on the way home?”
Nash shook his head. “No. I didn’t notice anything suspicious.”
“Good to hear.” Lukas let out a sigh of relief.
I knew this man had gotten and passed on so much information to Lukas and was genuinely glad he was back at the house unharmed. Poppy, too.
Nash jumped a little as his focus snapped to the screen Lukas’s face was likely on, and his eyes went wide. “Oh, is it that kind of problem?”
Lukas nodded. “If we weren’t sure Liam knew you were alive and out and about before, we have confirmation now.”
Letting out a resigned sounding sigh, Nash lowered myself into one of the chairs around the table. “I’m back under lock and key, aren’t I?”
Lianne gave Nash an apologetic glance. “That’s what we are working on now.
If I could guarantee Liam wasn’t going to lash out in retaliation for you being a mole for my brother and ruining his grand plans of domination, I wouldn’t even be considering hiding you away again.
But here we are. I’m glad you had a couple hours of relative freedom before all hell broke loose, though.
” She squared her shoulders and returned her attention to her brother.
“You want to fill him in on the current threat?”
I nodded. “Liam texted me. He wasn’t stupid enough to do it from his personal number, but there’s no doubt the message was from him.”
Lianne slid a piece of paper toward Nash, who nearly dropped the paper when he realized what was on it. Even through the camera feed, I saw the rage and frustration on his face.
That was when Lynette walked back into the room. “I know that expression.”
Nash’s head popped up. “Oh?”
She nodded. “It’s the same reaction we all had when it came in. It’s part of the reason Ryan came upstairs with me. He wanted eyes on both you and Poppy.”
Where is Ryan now?
“Does Gage know?”
Lynette settled into her chair and let out a deep breath before answering Nash’s question. “He knows about the text and picture. We couldn’t and wouldn’t keep information about a threat against his sister away from him.”
Nash asked, “Does he know we are speculating it’s from Liam?” Lianne nodded this time. “So why isn’t he down here?”
Lynette let out a sigh. “Not only did a message come in for you, but there was also a threat to Hummingbird.”
I tried not to react to the name. Why in the hell would Liam send a threat about Hummingbird?
“Hummingbird?” Nash asked the question that was all over Lukas’s face.
Lynette looked at her daughter for a long moment before she faced Nash again. “I’m about to fill you in on something only six other people know. Four of whom are in this house right now. That alone should tell you how imperative it is for you to keep your mouth shut on the matter.”
Everyone’s eyes went wide at her words, Lukas included.
Lynette leaned forward and rested her arms on the table as she looked at Nash.
“I won’t tell you everything, but know you aren’t the only one Liam has his sights on.
There’s another person, our Hummingbird, who has been hidden away for their safety, not for the same reason as you, but lives are on the line.
” She let out a sigh. “They are trying to attack us from two sides, maybe with the thought that we can't focus on more than one location.”
“They?”
Lukas glanced at me, his eyes wide and full of curiosity, and I shrugged before looking at the screen again.
Lynette narrowed her eyes at Nash. “You know as well as I do that Liam was never working alone, nor is he the only one calling the shots.”
He leaned back in his chair and nodded. “That I do.”
Lukas also nodded.
Suddenly, Nash looked up at the camera. “Am I cleared to know where this Hummingbird is hiding?”
Everyone in the room looked at Lynette, including Lianne. Lukas also leaned in closer to his laptop.
“Near Lukas at the moment.”
Yeah, they are. If he only had any idea just how close they were.
Lukas’s eyes went wide. “At the moment? Are there plans to move her?”
Good to know Lukas also thinks Hummingbird is female.