36. Maddoc
There’sa reason my father is gone, and it’s not just that the piece of shit who took him out had good aim. It’s that first and foremost, Jonas Gray was out for himself. For his own gain, always. No matter what it cost.
And sure, he looked out for me, was proud of me, taught me what I needed to know to survive, but I never had rose-colored glasses about that shit. If it came down to it, he would have sacrificed even me, his own son, to get ahead. When he died, I vowed I’d never make the same mistake.
Loyalty matters.
People matter.
Not all people, but my people do… and helping Riley Sutton puts my people, my brothers, in harm’s way.
“Madd?” Dante asks, zipping up the equipment bag full of gear and standing up from a squat. “All good?”
“You tell me,” I say with a tight smile. “Everything accounted for?”
He snorts, slinging the gear bag onto his shoulder, and gives me an are-you-shitting-me look.
Fair. I loaded the bag, Logan double-checked it, and Dante is smart enough not to walk into a firefight unless he knows first-hand that he has what he needs to walk back out. The gear is all accounted for.
That wasn’t what he was asking.
I scrub a hand over my face.
“Yeah,” I say to his real question, tamping down the agitation brewing inside me. “It’s all good as long as the girl gets her ass down here on time.”
“She’s coming,” Dante says, squeezing my shoulder in a quick show of support, but otherwise letting it go.
Good, because I’m not even sure what the fuck I’m so worked up about. Tonight will be dangerous because we run in dangerous circles, but that’s nothing new. There’s always a risk of something going south. That’s just life. But I don’t actually have any concrete reason to worry that my brothers will be hurt tonight. Not more than during any other operation.
The plan is solid. McKenna will take a hit, fucking with Capside is an added bonus, and the payoff will be worth it. If there’s one person I trust to get the details right, it’s Logan.
So why the hell am I so on edge?
“Yukon?” Dante lifts a brow, tossing the keys up and catching them again.
I nod. We’ve already decided on that, since it’s new and the Escalade I prefer is a known Reapers vehicle. The Yukon is also already loaded with what we’re going to need to make sure Riley’s sister stays off McKenna’s radar after the fact, so I know Dante wasn’t really asking. He’s just trying to get me focused.
I check the time, then look up to find Logan watching me. He presses his lips together, looking irritated.
“She’s late,” he says, flicking a glance over my shoulder, toward the stairs, and then away again.
“No, I’m here,” Riley says, coming around the corner. “Are we ready?”
Logan freezes, and my head snaps around at the sound of her voice. Dante grins eyeing her up and down like he’s already forgotten I told him we’re not fucking her.
Not that I can blame him. It’s an easy thing to forget.
I frown, shaking that thought off because it’s got no business in my head right now. Neither does noticing that Riley looks both determined and grim tonight, her multi-colored hair tucked under a black knit cap. The black tactical gear and bullet proof vest don’t show off her curves the same way the dress she wore to Club Prestige the other night did, but honestly, she looks even better like this.
“We’re ready,” I answer her, still more agitated than I should be before an operation like this.“Let’s load up.”
Logan’s plan is as airtight as shit like this ever can be, but there are still variables. If it’s all going to come together the way we need it to, we’ve got to arrive and get into place before McKenna’s people and Capside show up, and that means leaving now.We all head out to the Yukon, and I slide in behind the wheel, cranking the key in the ignition as the others load up.
“Recap,” I tell Logan as I pull out of the garage and start navigating toward the warehouse district where it’s going to go down.
Logan starts going through the plan one more time, laying out each phase step by step, and I notice Riley listening closely from where she sits in the back seat with Dante.
“I still don’t understand why they have to use Chloe for this,” she mutters after Logan has run us through the plan, the back-up plan, and all the contingencies.
“Good faith,” Logan explains, surprising me by turning around in his seat to look at her as he answers. “It’s the first time McKenna has done business with Capside.”
“It is?”
There’s a subtle strain in Riley’s voice, as if she’s working to keep her voice even. I can tell she’s nervous about what we’re heading into, and I find myself inexplicably wanting to soothe her. Maybe Dante does too, because his voice is gentle as he answers.
“We think it is, princess, yeah. Which makes your sister fucking perfect for the drop, since West Point is gonna see her as expendable if the deal goes south—”
Riley makes a distressed sound, like a wounded animal, and my knuckles turn white as I grip the steering wheel.
“—but like Logan said, it’s also a gesture of good faith from McKenna,” he finishes.
“How?” she asks.
“Sending someone non-threatening, like your sister, is a way McKenna can let Capside know he’s not planning on trying anything stupid. That it’s just a drop, nothing else. Drugs for cash. Establishing that goodwill so they can start to build a business relationship on it.”
“And because she’s expendable,” Riley whispers, her voice shaking slightly.
“Enough,” I snap, worried that she’s getting too lost in her own head and will end up being eaten alive by her nerves. I’ve seen younger Reaper recruits go through the same thing, and my job as a leader is to keep them from spiraling. “We need to stay focused. Warehouse in five.”
I can feel Logan’s and Dante’s eyes on me, but when Riley finds my gaze in the rearview mirror, I can see the resolve hardening like steel behind her eyes. She looks a bit pissed at being snapped at, but I don’t give a fuck. I’d rather have her be annoyed at me than get swept under by her worst fears.
I drive past the warehouse where the drop is scheduled to go down, looking for the lot Logan identified as the best place for us to stash the Yukon. It’s behind the warehouse but separated from it by an alley and some conveniently placed concrete pylons, and the layout means we should be able to park in it without risking detection once McKenna’s men and the Capside crew arrive.
“How many weasels did McKenna say he’s sending in with Chloe as backup, Logan?” Dante asks.
“Two that we know of,” Logan says without looking up.
I hear a distinctive click and know without looking that he’s just snapped a magazine into one of the Glocks he’ll be carrying, going through a final gear check.
Good. Because we’re here.
“And we don’t know how many Capside will bring,” Dante tells Riley as I pull into the lot. “Logan was able to make a guess, but bottom line is that Chloe’s gonna be surrounded by hot tempers, short fuses, and a metric fuck-ton of mistrust. Not to mention a lot of very large guns. So, Riley?”
I throw the Yukon into park and check the rearview mirror in time to see her turn to him, her face calm but her eyes wide.
“Yeah?” she asks.
His lip quirks up. “Don’t fuck it up.”
Riley laughs, then slaps a hand over her mouth like she can’t believe she just did that. But the stiffness in her shoulders bleeds away a little, and I’m glad to see it. My specialty is barking at people and riding their asses until they get their shit together, but Dante’s specialty is breaking all of that tension. Hopefully, it will keep her loose and focused as we head into the mission.
I catch Dante’s eye and give him a small nod as Logan zips up the gear bag at his feet and pops his door open. “Let’s go.”
Riley scrambles out of the back as Dante, Logan, and I move into action, every motion in sync and efficient as we do on-site prep, then silently but swiftly move toward the location.
For Riley’s sake, Logan drilled the fact that we’d have to be fast over and over. If either group decides to arrive earlier than we allowed for and catches us out here, flat-footed and out of position, we’ll have to roll into a contingency plan that’s guaranteed to be both bloodier and less beneficial to the goal of pitting McKenna’s organization against the ruthless motherfuckers in Capside.
But so far, we’re good. There’s no sign of either organization as we fan out. Logan and Dante take their sniper rifles and other gear up to the elevated positions Logan identified, and Riley stays with me at ground level.
She’s quiet as she follows me, and when I glance over my shoulder at her, I’m suddenly reminded of the hot fury and the cold stab of fear I felt when she lost her shit at McKenna’s club.
When she almost got killed.
I stop suddenly, turning around to face her. She comes up short less than a foot away from me, her eyes widening in surprise.
“What?” she whispers.
Reaching out, I grip her arm and haul her against me, dropping my head so that my lips touch her ear.
“Like Dante said,” I murmur gruffly, “don’t fuck this up. Don’t deviate from the plan. I don’t care what you see, what happens, what fucking goes wrong once the action starts. You’re here to do one thing, and only one thing.”
“Yeah, I get it,” she whispers, frowning. “It’s my sister. Remember?”
“It was your sister at Club Prestige too.”
She jerks slightly in reaction to my words. Anger flares in her eyes, followed by a flash of guilt. She swallows, her hand moving up to press against my chest in a way that makes me unsure if she’s trying to push me away or ground herself through the contact.
“I won’t fuck it up,” she breathes. “I promise, Maddoc.”
I can hear the sincerity in her voice, and I know she understands how dangerous the shit she pulled at the club was. I doubt she’d let herself get carried away like that again, especially knowing the stakes. But still, somehow, her words aren’t enough to soothe the agitation churning under my skin.
“Don’t go trying to be a hero,” I insist, tightening my grip on her arm a little. “If the plan gets fucked, run.”
She sucks in a sharp breath. “But my sister—”
“We’ll get Chloe out, I promise you. But you can’t help her if you’re dead. So don’t fucking die. You get me?”
Riley hesitates, her gaze bouncing between my eyes before she finally nods. “Okay.”
“Good. Then go.”
Releasing her and stepping back, I jerk my head toward the darkened corner of the warehouse Logan thinks will give her the best direct line to Chloe once our targets arrive.
She heads to the spot without a backward glance, and I get into the position that should give me line of sight for the drop, hidden behind a dusty stack of pallets across the warehouse from Riley.
If Logan’s prediction about where it will all go down proves true—and his predictions, based on such a stupid amount of research that he’s like a damn machine, usually do—then they won’t be able to see either of us until we move on them.
Ican still see Riley, though… and she looks like a fucking queen.
She’s got a mask of determination on, her lips pressed together tightly and her body poised. Still, but ready. Every molecule in her body focused on the task at hand.
She’s not going to fuck this up.
She’s not going to die.
That thought settles something inside me, and I’m finally able to push away the irritating feeling of unease that I’ve been fighting all night.
Maybe it shouldn’t matter to me so much that she gets through this in one piece. After all, Riley isn’t actually one of my people. But if she hadn’t come into our lives the way she did, if the circumstances had been different… she could have been. She would’ve been a perfect fit.
A Reaper.
One of us.
We all underestimated her at first, but the steel she’s shown under that gorgeous face and all her soft curves proves that my first impression was wrong. When she turned her back on us at Clancy’s that first night, I saw her as prey.
She’s not.
She’s more than any of us bargained for.
“Fuck,” I mutter, scrubbing a hand over my face and yanking my gaze away from her. What-if’s and could-have-beens are all fucking irrelevant, and I need to keep my own mind focused on the mission.
I fall into a practiced stillness, waiting. Breathing in, breathing out, my senses open and muscles relaxed.
Capside arrives first. There are three of them, the man in the middle holding a bulging duffel bag that must contain the drugs.
I watch them closely, knowing that Dante and Logan are tracking their movements from above and subtly repositioning themselves as needed—even, though, just like my brother predicted, Capside is taking up position in the defensible area toward the loading dock doors at the west of the building.
The three men are far enough away that only the low murmur of their voices come as we wait for McKenna’s people to show.
And finally, they do.
Chloe enters first, followed by two West Point thugs. She looks terrified, but it’s clear she’s got some of Riley’s backbone in her. Her footsteps are a little shaky, but she crosses the floor toward the Capside crew, leaving McKenna’s two men hanging back by the loading doors.
Logan predicted two, so our original plan stands. He really is good. I clock their location and subtly reposition myself to cover the one on the left, easing my gun into position and steadying it with a firm grip.
Then I wait. Focus. Breathe in, breathe out.
I let every one of my senses narrow and sharpen as a second ticks by, then another.
Wait… wait…
The Capside fucker holding the bag crumples to the ground, the back of his head gone in a silent spray of Dante’s favorite shade of red, and I move.
Racing toward the action at a flat run, I fire at West Point. Two of my shots hit McKenna’s man on the left, taking him down, and I duck and roll behind a stack of crates to avoid a kill shot from Capside.
“Riley!” I bellow. “Now!”