Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
VOODOO
Braxton Harbor smelled like rust, salt, and old lies.
Felt like home, in the worst ways. The kind of place that didn’t ask questions, just kept swallowing what people dumped in it—bodies, deals, regrets.
Each day spent here pulled memories I’d buried deep, ones I’d stopped trying to scrub out.
Not nostalgia. Just familiarity. Like the ache of a healed break when the weather shifts.
The warehouse was quiet—too quiet, if you asked me. Grief hung like low lying fog over everything. Doc, his girl, and his people—kind of funny that one of the most standup guys I knew not only hung out with an actual gang, but seemed very much at home with them.
I trusted Doc. For the most part, I trusted Doc’s judgment.
If it came down to trusting him with my life?
I would. But I didn’t—and wouldn’t—extend that trust to everyone else around him.
I wasn’t alone in that decision. When Bones made the call to distance Grace from the Vandals and their trouble? None of us argued.
With that in mind, I took care of setting up an apartment where she could be comfortable.
Neutral ground, no links to the people here, good sight lines, and private enough to keep her shielded from anyone looking for her too.
We were taking turns watching over her, playing musical chairs with paranoia.
She didn’t like it. Not even a bit, but so far, she focused her irritation on Bones.
Probably because he’d been the one to drop the bomb on her about sitting out the next week or two.
Hopefully, the job here wouldn’t go longer.
If it did, it did, but I suspected Grace’s cooperation would be stretching it to go even one week without a solid reason beyond—we would prefer she kept her distance.
Funny thing was, most people probably assumed she’d be high-maintenance, fragile.
A model wrapped in designer threads and glass expectations.
But she’d adapted. Fast. Slotted in like she’d been around this world longer than I had.
Joked with us. Looked after us when we needed it.
Knew when to keep quiet. Knew when not to.
Firecracker was fierce, and more, she was tough as hell.
Still, none of that meant I wanted her near the Vandals.
They weren’t just criminals—they were chaos barely held together by blood and code.
They had a long and bloodied history, and, based on recent patterns, dangerous enemies.
You didn’t throw someone like Grace into that fire, no matter how well she walked through smoke, without a damn good reason.
It was nearing midnight when my phone buzzed. Unknown number. I sent it to voicemail. Three more calls. Three more declines. After the fourth call, the unknown number sent a text message.
Answer the phone, Asshole.
I almost smirked, but no, I didn’t answer it. I didn’t know the number and I really didn’t give a fuck if they wanted to call me an asshole. Definitely didn’t encourage me to answer the call sooner.
Five minutes elapsed before another text came through.
We need to talk. One more call, then I don’t bother. DOR
DOR.
I knew why he was reaching out to me and no one else. I was the one person who might answer the call. Then again, I wouldn’t have a problem slitting his throat after what happened in France, either. So maybe not the win he was going for.
This time when the phone rang, I answered it. “Yeah?”
“I want to talk,” Declan O’Rourke said. No hello, no buildup. Just that voice, like concrete grinding under a boot.
“Course you do,” I muttered, stepping away from the warehouse gate.
“Just you and me.”
I paused. Looked out over the water. Tankers floated out there like sleeping giants, waiting for orders. Just like the men in this business. Just like me.
“Not real fond of private meetings with people who leave bodies behind.”
“You think I’d waste a bullet on you?”
“No,” I said. “But I think you’d let me bleed if it made your point.”
He didn’t argue.
I exhaled through my nose, rolled my shoulders. “Fine. We’ll discuss a spot. Somewhere I can see every damn exit and don’t have to check my six.”
“You don’t trust me.”
“Like you’re surprised.”
He chuckled, low and humorless. “You always this charming?”
“Only on special occasions.”
Call ended.
I stared at the phone for a second too long before sliding it back into my pocket. Thought about Grace—how she’d asked earlier if she could come with me next time. Said it like it was nothing. Said it like she didn’t see the weight in the spaces between the words we didn’t say.
Not this time. Not with O’Rourke circling like a shark who smelled something familiar in the water. Not when the danger stalking the Vandals promised bloody retribution. Not when we still had to find her sister and deal with the rest of the sick system trafficking in people.
Bones arrived after midnight with coffee and a grim expression. At my raised eyebrows, he just shook his head. “SITREP?”
I sipped the black coffee without complaint.
It was fresh and he’d brought it from our apartment so at least it was good quality.
“No external movement. If anyone is watching them, they are doing it from a distance. Did two internal sweeps. No activity and no bugs. The cars are clean. We did have a couple parked a little close out here, had them moved after I swept them for explosives.”
Overkill? Maybe. But our job was to anticipate what could go wrong in order to make sure it didn’t.
“O’Rourke called.”
Bones frowned. “What does he want?”
“To talk.” I downed more of the coffee. I could go back to the apartment with the boys and Grace or I could crash here as backup for Bones. Part of me just wanted to see Grace, but O’Rourke’s call made me leery.
Was he watching us? Not out of the realm of possibility. If anything, it was likely. O’Rourke dealt in intelligence. A lot like we did. Making a move with too many unknowns on the board was just not good for business. Either he knew exactly where I was or the location didn’t matter.
Both made me antsy.
“I don’t want to lead him back to Grace.” It should go without saying, but she’d already been in close proximity to the son of a bitch. I’d prefer to keep her out of his crosshairs.
Bones’ grim expression tightened further. “Agreed. We may need to reorganize her security.”
No may about it. “We should. Take her off the board entirely, send her back to base with one of us.” Alphabet would be our best choice. Most of what he did he could do remotely and we had the setup for it at base.
“We might need him on site and base is too far in an emergency.” Bones grimaced, likely tracking possible outcomes from multiple scenarios.
None of them were the best. How could they be?
Of course, this was why he made captain first, not that I cared.
If they promoted me, I’d have been off the team to lead my own.
I liked where I was.
“Can’t be me or you,” I reminded him. Bones would no sooner walk away from Doc than I would, but we needed Bones’ tactical prowess and they needed me for sourcing supplies and more.
“He’ll never go,” Bones said in direct response to the remaining one of us that could take her. “I won’t ask him.”
I sighed. No, Lunchbox wouldn’t go and asking him, especially using Grace as a lever, would be a shitty thing to do. “Then we need some fail-safes for her. The longer we’re in place, the more risks this job takes, the greater the likelihood we pull her into the line of fire.”
That was not a spot any of us were willing to put her in. Bones stared into the darkness and when he started to walk, I fell into step with him easily. The sweep took us from one end of the block that was home to the warehouse to the other.
“We need to do a full threat assessment.” That didn’t take long. “We also need to offer them options.”
Not a bad plan. If they could just eliminate the source of the problem, that would ratchet down the threat.
I finished the coffee. “I’ll talk to Alphabet and to Doc.
Get a list behind the who and the what. Maybe we take his girl out of this equation too.
That would free them up to deal with the problem. ”
“Maybe.” Oddly, Bones didn’t disguise his distaste for the idea. “She should have a say in whether we take her into protective custody. We also need a new safe house for that and it could split our focus.”
Could? No, it would. But I got it. “Then we talk to Doc, go over the potential outcomes and what they need to have happen to take the target off their backs.” I wouldn’t mind a few minutes with the assholes who killed Doc’s sister. Yes, one man had ordered it.
We had that information.
I wanted the ones who carried out the orders.
The ones who actually, physically killed her.
People died in wars. Casualties happened.
Civilian casualties, however, should be avoided at all costs.
Everything I knew about his sister said she was definitely a civilian.
Taking out the trash would be satisfying.
“Whatever you’re considering over there, make sure you brief me before you do it.” Bones’ cool tone amused me.
“Where’s the fun in that?” I didn’t wait for an answer and jerked my head toward the warehouse. “I’m going to crash here. Do a four-hour rotation, then wake me up. That will keep us both fresher for tomorrow.”
He shot me a look that had me raising my eyebrows. “We need to get Grace into training.”
“For?” I had an idea, but it was always better to check.
“Self-defense. Basic combat. Handling a gun.” He scratched at his jaw. “The taser is good, but she needs more options if she’s going to stay.”
If.
“You still trying to drive her away?” Despite the dour look he gave me, I didn’t retreat from the question. Instead, I met him stare for stare, and waited.
“No.”
Good enough. “Do you want me to talk to her about it?” She might take it better from me. But the crackle of conflict that had electrified the air between her and Bones seemed to have abated.
“No.”
“Well, don’t spit it out all at once. You get chatty like this and I don’t know what to do with it.”
“Get some sleep, Voodoo. We’ll work out a plan tomorrow.”
I gave it a beat. “It’s my turn to ask—you good?”
While he hadn’t asked me about my mental state specifically, SITREP did cover it.
“Yes.” As succinct and terse as his earlier “nos” had been.
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you’re a pain in the ass.” The deadpan, dry delivery made me grin.
“Sometimes. Particularly when you need me to be one.” It came from years of working together.
We all had our own rhythms. We could adjust and adapt for each other.
And had. Grace’s arrival had shifted the balance entirely, something we all needed to remember and make room for, particularly if we planned to keep her.
“She may not want to stay once it’s all resolved.” The simple sentence was utterly devoid of all emotion. “She has a life. Had one. If she goes back to it…”
It would require that we shift what we did if we kept her. “I’m aware. Not a contingency we can begin to plan without talking to her. Something you’ve carefully avoided.”
“Have you three made long-term plans that I’m unaware of?” The steely focus in his eyes put me on the spot. When I didn’t answer, he nodded. “I didn’t think you had. Planning ahead is necessary, but her future is not where her focus is.”
No. It was on her sister. Or had been before this came up with Doc. “One good way to make sure we keep ourselves in the loop is to bring her in on part of this.”
“You don’t want her here anymore than I do.”
“Then we talk to her about the whys. Instead of just making the arbitrary decision.” Otherwise known as orders. We were used to it, she was still on the fence. Who the fuck was I kidding? She didn’t like orders at all.
“She hasn’t thrown anything today.” The hint of humor in the faint curve to his mouth made me grin.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Cap,” I said before bumping him on the shoulder. “But you just might need a better love language.”
I headed for the doors, almost certain he wouldn’t respond. He didn’t until I was at them.
“She doesn’t seem to mind it.” The quiet words held an odd kind of hope to them that made me bite back my immediate response of yet.
We could blast that bridge when we got to it. With my firecracker? I was pretty damn sure that would be sooner rather than later.