Chapter 10 Kings Don’t Sleep Easy #5
“Most of them are stable. We've got them in secure housing, therapy sessions twice a week, job training programs starting next month.” He smiled slightly.
“One of the women asked if she could work for the Sentinels after she gets her shit together. Said she wants to help pull other people out the way we pulled her out.”
“What'd you tell her?”
“That we'd talk about it when she was ready.” Ash's expression softened. “She's got potential. They all do, if we can just keep them alive long enough to see it.”
The conversation shifted. Ash caught me up on some of the operational details I'd missed since the flight. A trafficking ring they'd disrupted in Prague. Intel about a new smuggling route through the Balkans. Updates on cases I'd worked before heading to Chicago.
It felt normal. Comfortable. The easy shopwalk that came from being part of a larger operation, being connected to people who understood the work because they lived it too.
“So how's Chicago treating you so far?” Ash asked. “Staying out of trouble?”
“Define trouble.”
“That's not reassuring.” But there was warmth in his voice. “You settling in okay? Finding things to do besides brood?”
“I don't brood.”
“You absolutely brood.” Ash grinned. “It's like your default state.”
“Fuck off.”
Ash laughed. Then his expression shifted. Got more serious. “Luka, you tell him yet?”
The easy atmosphere in the room disappeared.
I looked at Luka. He was watching me with an expression I couldn't quite read.
“Tell me what?” I asked.
Luka was quiet for a long moment. “I know about the attack.”
I went still.
“How the fuck do you know about that?”
“I was notified the moment it happened.” He set his glass down, leaned forward slightly. “I have people watching you. Tracking your movements.”
“You had me followed.”
“I had you protected.”
“Bullshit. You were spying on me.” I stood up, needing to move, needing space between us because the alternative was getting in his face and that wouldn't end well for either of us. “You had people on me before I even fucking landed?”
“Yes.”
On the screen, Ash was watching us both. His expression had gone carefully neutral, the practiced version that meant he'd known about this and hadn't said a word.
“You knew,” I said, looking at Ash.
“Yeah. I knew.” No apology there either. “Luka briefed me before we got on the plane to Chicago.”
“And neither of you thought to mention it?”
“Would you have listened if we had?” Luka asked.
“That's not the fucking point.”
“Actually, it is.” Luka stood too, moved closer. “You came to figure out your shit. I wasn't about to derail that by telling you someone was asking questions about you and I had surveillance in place.”
“Someone was asking questions?” The words felt distant. Like someone else was saying them. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I got word three weeks ago that someone was digging into your background.” Luka's voice stayed level. “Your movements. Your connections. Your operations. Professional inquiries from someone with resources and motivation.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the intel was vague. Could have been nothing. Could have been someone doing due diligence before hiring you for a job.” Luka's jaw tightened. “I put surveillance on you as a precaution. Then you got jumped and the precaution became a necessity.”
“Fucking hell,” I muttered. Ran a hand through my hair. “So the whole time I've been in Chicago, you've had eyes on me?”
“Not the whole time. Just when you leave Declan's building. When you go to the gym. When you're out in public where you're vulnerable.” Luka gestured to the phone where Ash was still watching. “We're not monitoring your private life, Troy. We're making sure you don't get killed.”
“That's a real comforting distinction.”
“It's the truth.” Ash's voice cut through. “Look, I get why you're pissed. But Luka was right to put protection in place. Someone came after you. Professional-grade. That's not a coincidence.”
I wanted to argue. Wanted to push back against the surveillance and the secrecy and the fact that they'd made decisions about my safety without consulting me.
But the truth was sitting there like a rock in my chest. Someone had come after me. Someone who knew what they were doing. Someone who'd left me alive on purpose.
“Tell me about the guy,” I said finally.
Luka pulled out his phone again. Pulled up a file, then turned the screen so both Ash and I could see it. “The man who attacked you is a ghost. He's been linked to at least six high-profile hits in the past three years. All of them clean. All of them untraceable.”
The screen showed photos. Surveillance footage. Notes typed in Luka's precise handwriting. The guy from the alley was in half of them, always at a distance, always partially obscured.
“He's good,” Ash said, leaning closer to his own screen. “Really good. We've tried running facial recognition, cross-referencing with known operators, checking contract databases. Nothing. He doesn't exist on paper.”
“So what does that mean?” I asked. “Someone hired him, or is he working alone?”
“That's what we're trying to figure out.” Luka set the phone down.
“A guy like this doesn't usually move without a contract, but we can't rule out the possibility that he's got his own reasons for coming after you.
I've got people digging into both angles.
Looking at enemies you've made through Sentinel work, people with grudges, anyone who might see you as a threat.
And we're also looking into whether this bastard has any personal connection to you.”
“That's a long list,” Ash said.
“I know.” Luka looked at me. “Which is why this is serious, Troy. This isn't some thug who got paid to rough you up. This is a professional. Patient. Skilled. And willing to kill to get what he wants.”
“But he didn't kill me,” I said. “He had the opportunity. He didn't take it.”
“Because it was a message.” Luka's eyes were hard now. Cold in a way that meant the strategist was fully in control. “Someone wanted you scared. Wanted you to know they could reach you anywhere, anytime. That's how these things start.”
On the screen, Ash's expression had gone grim. “We need to figure out who's behind this before they make another move.”
“Agreed.” Luka turned back to face me. “That's why I need you to be smart about this, Troy. If you feel like anything's off, you call it in.”
“You want me to check in like a fucking child?”
“I want you to stay alive long enough for us to find these people and put them down.” His voice went flat. “This isn't about control. This is about keeping you breathing.”
I looked at Ash. “You agree with this?”
“Yeah, I do.” Ash's eyes were steady. “Look, I know you don't like being watched. I get it. But someone tried to kill you, Troy. That's not what you brush off because it hurts your pride.”
“It's not about pride.”
“Then what is it about?” Ash leaned forward. “Because from where I'm sitting, this looks like you're more pissed about the surveillance than you are worried about the fact that someone wants you dead.”
Was I more pissed about the surveillance? Or was I scared about what it meant that Luka had felt the need to put it in place before I'd even known there was a threat?
Both, probably. Fear and anger all tangled up together until I couldn't tell which was which.
“Just be careful,” Ash said quietly. “Watch your back. Don't go anywhere alone if you can help it.”
“And hope they don't escalate,” Luka added. His voice was flat. “Hope they don't decide that hurting people around you is the best way to get to you.”
The implication sat heavy in the air between us.
“Yeah,” I said finally. “I'll be careful.”
Ash checked his watch off-screen. “I've got to go. Meeting with the attorney in fifteen minutes to prep for tomorrow.” He looked at me. “Don't do anything stupid, yeah?”
“Wouldn't dream of it.”
“Bullshit. But I appreciate the lie.” Ash's expression softened. “Stay alive, Troy. That's an order.”
“Since when do you give me orders?”
“Since right now.” But there was warmth in his voice. “Talk soon.”
The screen went dark.
Luka and I sat there in the silence Ash left behind. The tension hadn't disappeared completely. Still there under the surface. Still ready to flare up if either of us pushed too hard.
“The man who attacked you is a ghost,” Luka said finally. He pulled out his phone, showed me the screen again. “But ghosts leave traces. We'll find him. Find whoever hired him. And when we do, they're going to regret ever putting you in their crosshairs.”
The conviction in his voice should have been comforting.
Instead, it just reminded me how much I had to lose.
“Go home,” Luka said. He stood, moved to the door. “Get some rest. And for fuck's sake, be smart about this.”
I grabbed my jacket. Walked past him into the hallway.
“Troy.”
I stopped. Looked back.
“You're one of mine,” he said quietly. “That means I don't let you die alone in some Chicago alley because you were too stubborn to accept help.”
“I'm not planning on dying.”
“Good. Keep it that way.”
The door closed behind me.
I stood there alone in the hallway, still smelling like sex and whiskey, trying to process everything Luka had just laid on me.
Someone wanted me scared. Maybe dead. And they had the resources and the patience to keep trying until they got what they wanted.