34. Riley
“What’sthe status of that shit Isaac’s handling for us?” Maddoc asks Logan a few days later, his back to both of us as he sets up the new coffee maker one of the lower level gang members delivered to the house today.
Logan’s lips tighten. He’s plating the food he just cooked for all of us while I sit at the counter cleaning a gun they’ve started insisting I have on me at all times now. “Isaac has run into a few setbacks.”
When he doesn’t elaborate, Maddoc gives the new coffee maker a frustrated thump, then turns to face him. “What does that mean?”
I need my caffeine, so I set the weapon down and go nudge Maddoc out of the way to figure out how the damn thing works as the two men continue talking about all the ways McKenna is fucking with us.
“He’s doing more than just hiring mercenaries to go after us,” Logan says. “He’s clearly fucking with our suppliers behind the scenes too. Maybe we should ask Dante if he can find out—”
He’s interrupted by Maddoc’s phone.
We all tense up, recognizing the custom notification Maddoc set up. It’s Dante. He hasn’t been able to communicate with us very regularly, but whenever he can sneak a private moment where he’s certain he won’t be watched, he takes the chance to reach out and get us up to speed.
“Report,” Maddoc says as soon as he answers the call, not wasting any time with niceties. “We’re all here.”
He puts it on speaker so Logan and I can hear as Dante starts talking. We never know how long we’ll have. More than once, Dante has had to abruptly drop a call mid-sentence to preserve his cover.
“Shit’s going well over here,” he starts off, his voice strained and a little muffled as it comes through the speaker. “I’m working my way into McKenna’s inner circle pretty quickly.” He snorts. “Not like back when I first came to the Reapers.”
Maddoc’s lips twitch for just a second. “You know I don’t trust easily, but you got in faster than most.”
“I guess it’s a good thing McKenna ain’t as cautious. I’ve been acting like a fucking sycophant over here. Praising everything the fucker does. You wouldn’t have fallen for that bullshit, Madd, but he’s eating it up.”
I nod. I can hear the disdain in Dante’s voice, and it definitely checks out with everything I saw while Austin had me captive too. Then Dante’s tone switches to a more serious one, with a hint of exhaustion coming through.
“He pulled me in as part of another attack on Reaper territory yesterday. I’m pretty sure it was a test to see if I’d really turned.”
“The packaging plant?” Maddoc asks grimly.
I blink. I hadn’t realized there was an attack yesterday, but it doesn’t sound like it’s news to Maddoc.
“That’s the one.” Dante sighs. “I know what that’s gonna do to our finances, but I had no choice. It won me McKenna’s trust, though.”
“You did good,” Maddoc says, exchanging a look with Logan. “We didn’t lose any people. That’s what matters. I thought it was luck, but it was you?”
“Yeah, I managed to convince McKenna to time it so it was off shift for our crew, but the bastard went in a little early, so we still had a few trapped in there. Jay, Kieran, Greg… a few others I think. Luckily, McKenna doesn’t know the layout like I do. I was able to get in and get word to them so they could escape before shit actually went down.”
“Are you sure that didn’t compromise your cover?” Maddoc asks tightly.
I lean my head on his shoulder, rubbing his back to try to ease some of the tension that locks up his muscles as he waits for Dante’s answer.
It’s got to be a painful question for him to ask, because it means he has to weigh the big-picture value of Dante’s mission against the potential lives of other Reapers, and for Maddoc, there’s no acceptable way to justify losses on either side of that equation.
It’s one of the reasons I love him… and luckily, this time, Dante made sure we didn’t have to.
“I covered it all up,” he says. “McKenna thinks the place was empty the whole time. Trust me, Madd, I made sure there’s no way anyone from West Point will realize there were Reapers there when we took it down.”
Maddoc nods, his shoulders relaxing a little. “You did good,” he repeats.
“I always do,” Dante quips with a hint of his usual cocky humor.
It’s not quite enough to make me smile though, because while it’s great news that he’s finally getting in with Austin, the longer he’s with West Point, the more risk he takes… and the more Austin manages to pick away at everything the Reapers have built.
“Have you found out anything we can use?” Maddoc asks, switching focus to the mission. “Do you know what he’s planning to do, or have any evidence that he has plans to go against The Six yet?”
“How will he try to take them down?” I blurt.
It’s hard to imagine, even with all the money Austin has access to now. The Six seem formidable, and there’s no way they got to the position they hold in Halston’s underground without having the ability to protect themselves.
“Fuck,” Dante mutters, his frustration coming through clearly. “I don’t know yet, princess. I haven’t been able to get anything solid at all so far. I walked in on McKenna and a couple of his inner circle talking the other day, but they changed the subject the minute I showed up.”
“I thought you said McKenna trusts you now?” Logan asks sharply, his concern for his brother tightly masked behind the abrupt question.
“Yeah, but that happened before we hit the packaging plant. I’m hoping the trust I built with that shit will get me some more access around him, but I’m not going to just sit around twiddling my fucking thumbs here.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, my heart suddenly in my throat. “Don’t…” I swallow hard. I can’t tell Dante not to put himself at risk. That’s literally his job right now. “Don’t do anything that will make me hate you,” I finish in a choked whisper.
He laughs. “Never, princess.” Then his voice gets serious again. “I’ve finally figured out where McKenna keeps most of his important shit now. He’s got a house that serves as his home base, just like we do.”
“Will you be able to get inside?” Maddoc asks.
“Yeah. Gonna have a chance real soon.”
Maddoc smiles grimly, exchanging a look with Logan. “Good. Anything else to report?”
“Yeah.” His tone takes on a playful, husky timbre that makes my chest ache with missing him. “I’m going through some serious withdrawals over here. Got an addiction I need a fix for, but these fucking weasels don’t have what I’m craving. Think you can help me with that when I get back, princess?”
I laugh, but the knot of worry in my stomach twists a little tighter. I want him back more than anything, but it almost feels like talking about it might jinx it.
I know that’s bullshit, though. He’s coming back, or else we’ll burn the world down to get him.
“When you get back, I’ll help you with anything you want,” I promise, brushing my fingers over my new ink; my only ink.
Dante’s ink.
He laughs, low and dirty. “Gonna hold you to that, princess. And I think we’ll start back down on that new pole of yours.” He pauses. “If I can wait that fucking long once I walk in the door.”
I bite my tongue to keep from asking him to promise that he will walk back in the door, and soon, and he goes on to tell Maddoc and Logan which targets in Reaper territory McKenna is planning to go after next.
“Just don’t make too many obvious moves to protect that shit,” he finishes, sounding tired again. “I’m tight enough with the planning now that it could blow my cover if everything’s suddenly fortified when they hit it.”
“We—” Maddoc starts.
“Someone’s coming,” Dante cuts in abruptly before the line goes dead.
The weight in my chest settles like a lead balloon, but when I look up at Logan, then Maddoc, it grounds me.
“He’s fine,” I say, willing it to be so.
Logan gives me that small, private smile. “He’s good at this.”
“And I know shit’s not moving as fast as we’d like, but his report is good news, butterfly,” Maddoc adds. “He’s on the right path and getting closer to finding what we need to finally take that fucker down. In the meantime, we still need to keep up the fight.”
“And protect our people,” I say, squaring my shoulders and taking a deep breath to center myself.
My worries aren’t going to help Dante, and they’re not going to help the Reapers. So they need to wait.
Maddoc smiles at me. “And protect our people,” he agrees. “The question is, how do we prepare for those attacks Dante mentioned without giving away that we already know they’re coming?”
Maddoc and Logan throw around a few ideas while we finally eat the breakfast Logan made for us, then they head into Maddoc’s office to do some more focused planning.
I follow, staring hard at the map Maddoc keeps on the wall there as they start discussing logistics.
“What is it, wildcat?” Logan asks quietly, startling me out of my thoughts.
I blink, then walk over and trace a few lines on the map, then tap a shaded area just inside Reaper territory. “This is where he said Austin will send the mercenaries next, right?”
“That’s right,” Maddoc says, coming up behind me while Logan’s gaze sharpens, following the path I just traced.
“I don’t know that part of the city well,” I say slowly, scanning the map again, “but if this is accurate, then they’ve got to take Jefferson Boulevard if they’re coming in force. Otherwise, they won’t have access.” I tap another part of the map. “It looks like there are no through-streets here, so Jefferson is their only option. What if we put some kind of construction equipment in the way here, or even damage the road so that the city has to send a crew to fix it, cutting off the whole route?”
“That would either force them to advance on foot—”
“If they’re trained the way we think they are, they’re not going to do that,” Logan cuts in. “It puts them at too much risk of retreat if they run into more resistance than they expect.”
Maddoc nods as Logan’s comment sparks another idea in my mind.
“True, it could definitely help protect the first target. The question is, will McKenna waste time regrouping, or just attack the secondary target?”
He taps another area of the map.
“If he does, we should do what Logan just said,” I blurt.
Logan blinks. “What did I just say?”
“That we should make sure they run into more resistance than they expect. Look, we already know everywhere they’re going to hit, right? So why don’t we smuggle extra weapons into those areas beforehand? That way, we can make sure that wherever Austin diverts his mercenaries to when he runs into the roadblock on Jefferson, our people have the firepower to withstand it.”
Maddoc nods slowly. “It wouldn’t implicate Dante. It will just look like we’re taking extra precautions as a response to all the recent attacks.”
“We don’t have the resources to fortify everywhere he might hit. It would spread us too thin,” Logan says, his eyes out of focus, as if he’s calculating things in his head. Then he centers his gaze on Maddoc again. “But he doesn’t know that.”
Maddoc smiles, a slow, sinister one that promises trouble for anyone who threatens the Reapers… and kindles a delicious heat, low in my belly.
“No, he doesn’t.” He tips my chin up, stroking my jaw. “You’re good at this, butterfly. You’ve got a mind for strategy. Do you know how fucking sexy that is?”
I flush with pleasure at the compliment.
It’s one thing to know he loves me, that he desires me, but knowing he respects me too, hits me somewhere even deeper. Still, as we keep discussing the details of how we’ll use the information Dante gave us—both of my men including me as an equal, valued partner in every step of the planning—I can’t help the feeling that it’s not enough.
We’re good together, but it feels like something is missing. Like we’re incomplete.
Because we are.
And this has to fucking work, because we won’t be whole until Dante finally comes home.