Chapter 31
Damien
Five Days Later
I rub the towel over my head, feeling the shaved stubble graze the fabric.
Surprisingly, I don’t mind the new cut anymore.
I mean, come on, my wife did that. Of course it grew on me.
She was a little surprised when I had asked her to cut it for me this morning before I headed out to work, but she seemed happy that I asked.
I think the undercut is easier for her to cut, too, since she doesn’t really have to worry about the top, and she can do it quickly.
Plus, it helps keep the heat off my neck while we’re training or out patrolling. Our melee session went well, but the shower after felt even better. Now, I’m making my way to the conference room for my meeting with Zeke and Carter, and this place has never felt so familiar.
For a long time, the Basement was home. Sure, this place was an upgrade, but the start of its operations was a little rushed because of Ashia getting hurt.
Now, it feels like we could never work anywhere else.
How the hell did we maneuver through that small space?
The Basement was awesome, but it should’ve always stayed a comic shop.
“Hey, D.” Carter greets me as I walk into the conference room. Zeke dips his head in silent greeting, and then anger washes over me when I see Alex sitting in his usual chair.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I point at him. “You should be recovering.”
“Don’t flip, D. I’m just here for moral support.”
“Bullshit,” Zeke hollers in a sing-song voice, then jerks his thumb in Alex’s direction. “He’s having FOMO.”
“Fuck you. It’s been over a week!” Alex shouts. “Walking prevents blood clots. It’s good to get out and about.”
“But last I checked, you aren’t allowed to walk excessively or do any strenuous activity for a month?” I argue back. He just rolls his eyes.
“Walking from the car to the office isn’t excessive.”
Zeke leans over and puts his hand up to his mouth, pretending to be secretive while continuing to speak at a normal volume.
“You forgot to mention the stairs you took to get up here.”
“Fuck you!” Alex yells back.
“Alright! Enough, fuck.” I roll my eyes and throw my towel over my chair, then point at Alex once again. “We’ll talk after the meeting.” I sit down and face the screen, not waiting for my laptop to boot up before starting. “Okay, what do we have?”
“Well, for standard operations, the system still looks good. There’s no evidence of any of Kade’s code remaining.
The map is updating like it should, and we’re waiting for the new order of guns and medical supplies to come in.
Everyone’s doing well with the patrol routes, and anyone that sided with us from Sahara has been extremely cooperative with our probationary conditions.
They’ve all been searched, even their homes.
Their devices came back with nothing suspicious, and so did their bank accounts. They’re all clear.”
“Did you ever make a decision about Daisy?” Zeke butts in and asks.
“We’re not a hundred percent sure yet, but we’re leaning more towards starting her retirement.
Since we’re taking her for Ashia and the baby, she’ll be with them majority of the time, anyway.
” I smile softly at him and turn my attention back to Carter.
Daisy does love to work, but she seems to enjoy being at our house, too.
The more she stays with Ashia, the more comfortable she gets with not being on duty.
So, we’re trying to determine what’s best for her.
“Anything environmental? Especially in downtown?”
“There’s been a few drug dens to pop up, and there have been a few criminals we’ve caught that have gang affiliations, but nothing concerning at this point.”
I cross my arms and lean back against the chair.
“Does it have something to do with them?”
“No, I don’t think so. They were Atlanta affiliates, and a couple actually used to live here. So, we don’t believe they were hired.”
“Okay. Onto the unorthodox operations.” I pull my laptop closer and pull up the files to follow along.
“We haven’t found any traces of Satori, but I’m assuming the account we’ve been using for his direct deposits isn’t legit, because there’s been no activity on it—same for Kade’s accounts.
Only a couple of his men escaped with him, and we’re tracking them as well.
If he’s getting around, he must’ve bought a cheap car with cash and never registered it, or he’s hitchhiking.
His face hasn’t popped up at the local bus stations or on any street cams.”
“The analysis I ran on his laptop didn’t come up with anything linking Avery or where Saconne could’ve gone. Did you find anything on his phone?” I ask.
“No, same thing. It’s pretty clear he stopped working with them a while ago.
Ash’s statement of what Kade told her pretty much tells us they only contacted him to do their dirty work, and the few calls logged onto the phone that were unfamiliar were from burner phones.
” He taps his fingers on the table, like he’s thinking something through.
“I don’t think he has a back-up plan, D.
Everything on those devices was set up for him to actually get away with this.
There was no preparation for a ‘what-if.’ He’s scrambling right now—probably trying to get as far away from us and them as possible. ”
I take a deep breath and glance at the background of my computer.
A picture of Ashia and I stares back at me, reminding me that I have to think differently now.
I’m not letting this go. I could never do that, but that doesn’t mean I have to put the people I love through anymore wild goose chases.
Until we have something concrete, and we can come up with a solid plan, I’m not chasing after a ghost.
“Okay. What about Saconne and Avery?”
“Well, Avery’s officially back in D.C. from his trip to Seattle, and shockingly, he’s been a little harder to keep track of since.”
I snap my head up from my laptop.
“Really?”
“Really. He hasn’t attended a couple of rallies like he had previously announced, there aren’t as many sightings from the media, and any interviews he’s done have been conference style. His public presence has definitely gotten smaller since he returned.”
“I guess the Society isn’t too happy with Daddy Avery right about now,” Zeke adds, making a good point. If they were not only expecting Victoria, but Elizabeth as well, and lost both of them, they’d surely blame Avery.
My question is why? Why haven’t they come for them?
DeLuca and Saconne might have been training her, but she wasn’t anyone important to them quite yet.
She was nothing but payment, as their threatening text suggested.
If they were willing to take a four-year-old girl, they certainly weren’t planning on putting her in charge.
If anything, by losing out on both of his daughters, the Society gave Avery free work—and a group like that wouldn’t take that well.
“Anything on them? Since Avery is scared, maybe they’re lingering in D.C.?” I suggest, but Carter only shakes his head again.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have much to go off of.” He just shrugs. “Even with Victoria’s intel, we don’t know who runs it or who to look for. If your father’s files on Saconne and DeLuca are a testament to how they run, they’re extremely hard to find.”
“Yeah, it’s not like they roll in with ‘We’re the Society’ bumper stickers,” Alex drones, and Zeke’s jaw drops.
“Oh my God, pookie. That was actually funny!” he teases Alex, and I freeze.
I’m not sure any of their banter will ever affect me the same way again after what Alex told me in his drugged-up daze.
Alex just slaps him on the back of the head, thankfully breaking the imaginary tension, but then he groans in pain from the movement.
“Shut the hell up!” he seethes through gritted teeth. Zeke just laughs and rubs where he was hit.
“Do I really have to separate you two like children?” I stare at them, just completely baffled. We’re trying to end this shit once and for all, and attempting to figure out a way to do it without getting us all killed, and this is how they want to act?
“Nope. Nope, all good.” Zeke shakes his head, but he doesn’t bother to get rid of the smirk on his face. I have half a mind to lash out and punch him in the jaw, but I focus on my laptop instead.
Zeke being my wife’s brother really complicates shit sometimes.
I read over the notes again, trying to find something that probably isn’t there. Now that we know Satori was the missing link we’ve been looking for, I was hoping that solving this would be easier.
I guess I was wrong.
“Maybe we should take a trip up to D.C. and see what we can find for ourselves. If he’s keeping to himself, maybe they’re there looking for him. We could do a little recon at night and see what happens?” I suggest.
“Well, we haven’t gotten any new—” Carter stops and pinches his brows together. “Oh, shit!”
“What?” I ask him as he starts to type erratically. His eyes almost bug out of his head, and the shade of red that overcomes his face is concerning.
“We reset the system!” he screams, and it hits me then. Disappointment and ignorance flood my veins in an instant. I lean over and hold my head in my hand, feeling like a complete idiot.
“So, all of the database access we had needs to be reset?”
Carter groans so loudly that Zeke flinches.
“Yes, shit! I’m sorry. I didn’t even think of it after we got back into the city’s system. It was just so easy…”
“It’s fine. It’s my fault, too. Just get us in there and pull it back up so we can check for anything we missed.”
“It’s only been…what? Ten days? How much could we really have missed?
” Zeke throws his hands up, trying to shrug this oversight off.
I’m shocked, really, because when does he not take the chance to bust someone’s balls?
He’s right, though. It’s probably not a big deal.
Most of the searches we run come from the media, anyway, since Avery is in no legal trouble, and…
“Interpol clocked Saconne!” Carter screams, and I snap my head up.
“What?! When?!”
“Yesterday—right outside of Pisa.” He smacks the table like we’ve won something. I’m not so excited.
“Well, at least it was just yesterday,” Alex adds.
“Yeah, but that means we’ll be two days behind him by the time we get there,” I point out, and that’s when Zeke’s normal demeanor makes its way to the forefront. He leans over the table and cocks his head, preparing to argue.
“Wait a minute. You want to go to Italy?” He pokes his finger into the wood.
“Yeah, I think I do,” I answer plainly.
“I thought we were going to try and let this shit go, D?”
“It’s not just for me.” I stare back at him.
“Not only does he have information on the Society that could be useful, but he’s our last chance at linking anything to Avery.
If we’re going to stop him, this might be our only chance—especially now that he’s lying low.
This isn’t just about me, Zeke. These two will continue to hurt people if we do nothing.
” He holds my glare, and I don’t miss how his jaw tightens.
“Getting retribution is just the cherry on top,” I add, because let’s face it—I do want to end that mother fucker.
He takes a deep breath and flattens his palm, then sits back in the chair.
“Well, I guess we’re going to fucking Italy.” Zeke shrugs again.
Alex adjusts his position in the chair, getting ready to speak, but I cut him off.
“Not you, asshole. Go home before Trina catches you here and gives me an earful.”