Chapter 27 #2
Anthony: and?
Damon: they said it’s now or never
Anthony: where are we meeting?
Damon: the crypt
Damon: 20 minutes
Anthony: we’ll be there
Damon: I’ll let them know
“What’s the verdict?” Connor asks when I look up from my phone.
“They want to meet at The Crypt in twenty.”
“I don’t know if them agreeing so quickly and wanting the meeting to happen now is a good thing or a bad thing,” Hazen says.
“Probably a bit of both.” Rath stands. “Might as well head over and try to get there first.”
Unsurprisingly, the Hawthornes, and Shane, who is Jace’s boyfriend and the fourth member of the next Rebel leadership team, are already waiting for us when we get to The Crypt.
“There’s no one using it right now,” Xave says as we approach where they’re all standing together in the front yard. “Inside?” he asks.
“Inside,” I agree with a nod.
The nine of us troop inside the familiar house and end up in the living room with them on one side of it and us on the other.
“You called the meeting,” Killian says, glaring at each of us. “You start things.”
“We have a copy of the flash drive Damon gave you,” I say, getting right to the point.
“How did you get it?” Jace asks, his expression shrewd. “Who gave it to you?”
“The same person who gave it to Damon,” I say.
“And who was that?” Jax presses.
“West. Any more questions, or can I continue?”
“Continue,” Jace says coldly.
“Like I was saying,” I start. “We have a copy of the drive, and we’d like to know what you know about it.”
“And why would we tell you?” Xave asks.
“Because you’ve been a naughty boy,” I tell him.
His eyes widen slightly, and I laugh. “I’m not talking about whatever you’re thinking,” I assure him. “But we do have evidence of you breaking some pretty big rules, so you can tell us what you know, or you can deal with the consequences of your own actions. It’s your choice.”
“What kind of evidence?” Xave asks.
“Video evidence,” I tell him.
“You’re bluffing,” he scoffs.
“Maybe, but maybe not,” I say. “The real question is, are you so sure that you’re willing to risk it?”
“What evidence?” Jace asks. “You can’t just say you have a video of something and expect us to believe it with no proof.”
I pull my phone out of my pocket and open the video of Xave breaking into the new server room at Baxter House. Then I flip the phone around so everyone can see it and press play.
They watch it in silence, and I tuck my phone back in my pocket when it’s done. “I also have footage of you after you broke into our house. Do you believe us now?”
The five of them exchange a look. They know they’re cooked; we just need to wait for them to get over themselves and admit it.
“What do you want to know?” Xave asks, his voice tight.
“We want to know everything you do about the drive, and anything else relevant to us and our house.”
Xave’s jaw works as he grinds his teeth, but he gives a curt nod, agreeing to our deal.
We listen as they tell us about a blackmail scheme they’ve been tracking for the better part of a year.
Most of their evidence points to the Kings being behind it, but they’ve also discovered that others are involved, and the whole thing is actually a multi-house issue that’s been going on for almost ten years.
None of us utter a word when they finish filling us in, and I know my friends are just as shocked as I am, even if we’re all doing our damnedest to hide it.
“One-time offer,” Jace says, breaking the silence that’s fallen over us. “We form an alliance and work together to take these fuckers down. If you betray us, we kill you. Take it or leave it.”
“We’ll take it.” I say without bothering to look at my friends. This was the entire point of the meeting, so I already know they agree with me.
“No hesitation,” Jace says, giving me an assessing look. “And no fear.” He grins. “I like you. But I will kill you if I have to, so don’t fuck us over.”
“Same goes for you,” I say.
“It’s cute you think you could kill us,” Killian says with a smirk.
“We don’t need to kill you,” I tell them calmly. “In fact, it’s more fun if we just make you wish we did.”
“You’re all right, kid,” Jace says with another grin.
I want to point out that we’re the same age, but that’s not really what’s important here.
“So we have a deal?” Rath asks.
“We do,” Jax says.
“Tell Liam to get in touch with Carter, and he’ll pass on our intel,” Killian says.
“All of it?” Connor asks knowingly.
“Of course not,” Jace says, still grinning. “We’re crazy, not stupid.”
“And the footage you have of me?” Xave asks.
“No one will ever see it as long as your cousins hold up their end of the deal,” I assure him. “And don’t even think about trying to erase it off my devices,” I tell Jace. “I know what you can do, and I’ve made sure that there are multiple copies in places you can’t get to.”
“That sounds like a challenge,” Jace says.
“Take it however you want,” I tell him. “But our deal is off if I find out you’re fucking with our systems or messing around where you shouldn’t be. Understood.”
“You’re no fun.” Jace flicks a lock of hair back from his forehead with a toss of his head.
“Understood?” I repeat.
“Understood.” He glances at Shane. “I’m bored.”
Shane immediately slips his hand into Jace’s. “Behave,” he warns.
“I didn’t even tell you what I was planning,” Jace protests as he dutifully holds Shane’s hand.
“Is it going to be helpful to the situation?”
“Definitely not.”
Shane shoots him a flat look. “Then no to whatever you’re thinking.”
“Fine.” Jace presses a quick kiss against Shane’s lips. “But we need to get out of here before I forget why I need to behave.”
“Remember our deal,” Killian says. “You fuck us over, and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”
“Understood,” Rath says. “But that goes both ways.”
Killian gives us a quick upnod, and the five of them leave without another word.
“Is this something we need to worry about?” Hazen asks. “Because it sounds like this is mostly a Rebel/King issue and we’re not really involved.”
“Not as far as we know,” Connor points out. “But who knows how much they kept from us.”
“We should wait until Liam talks to Carter,” Rath says. “Then we’ll have enough information to decide if this is a priority, or something we just need to monitor.”
“Sounds good to me,” Hazen says and pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time. “We should bounce.” He tucks his phone away. “We’ve got that house meeting in an hour, and I want to talk to Liam about all of this before it starts.”
“I’ll go with you,” Connor says as the four of us leave The Crypt. “I want to check something in the security archives, and the office should be empty right now.”
“What are you going to check?” Rath asks.
The three of them launch into an animated conversation about security logs and some theory Connor’s been cooking, but I only half listen as we make our way back to our house.
Like Rath said, we don’t have enough information to know if this is going to be a problem for us, but my gut is telling me it’s not something I need to worry about right now.
It could end up being a giant pain in our asses later, but that’s later me’s problem.