Chapter 15
We stared at the man tied to a chair. The red marks underneath the rope around his neck were his own fault.
He struggled like a fish on a line when Connall dragged him in earlier.
His wild eyes bounced between us, and his muffled sobs irritated.
I was too paranoid to give him the benefit of the doubt.
If both Beck and Ellington vouched for his guilt he was fucked.
“What’d you say his name was again?” I asked.
“Does it matter?” Connall crossed his arms like a sullen teenager.
He leaned against the back wall, apart from the rest of us. Like he didn’t want to be one of us.
“Considering The Unseen replaced Cole Lacott with this guy, I’d say it’s in our interest. I assume there is a reason you dragged him here.” Lyra chewed her bottom lip.
Okay. So maybe I wasn’t in the best frame of mind for espionage because all I could think about was the sexy-as-fuck moment she jerked Jonah off into my mouth.
The stars reflected in her dark gaze, and the hungry want that dripped over her.
The combination of her and Jonah, silk and iron, was perfection.
Jonah jabbed his elbow in my side, and I swiped a hand down my face. Concentrate. Murder. Spies. Corruption. Not delicious orgasms. My dick twitched.
“The shipping company didn’t even wait a week before they supplanted Cole with this guy.”
My thoughts went to that night at The Den when I’d been so consumed by jealousy I lost control. I didn’t feel guilty that Cole was in pieces, not after he objectified Lyra.
“Hold on. I’m still hung up on the fact that night at The Den was a mission.” I turned to Beck. “The Unseen ordered you to kill that shit stain? I hope you made him piss himself first, for what he said to Lyra.”
“Of course I did.” Beck stared meaningfully at Lyra.
I don’t know what had changed about the imposing man, but lately, he’d lost weight and color. Like he was whittling himself down, waiting for Lyra to forgive him.
Ellington dropped his arm over Lyra’s shoulder and nuzzled her neck. “Darling, your exes are acting up again.”
I clenched my jaw. “So what does this guy have to do with The Unseen?”
“It means, shit for brains, that we have evidence that the corrupt members of The Unseen are using their resources for their own gain.” Adelaide’s husky voice filtered through the phone.
Somehow, I knew she was rolling her eyes. Our perfumed steamroller had come down with a cold and was home with her guys and her germs, much to her displeasure.
“They expected the city to devolve into chaos when we continued following orders and eventually took Adelaide out. But, unfortunately for them, we’re onto their plans.” Lyra fell into a couch.
I wanted to take the space next to her and soak up her electric warmth, but I worried it might electrocute me instead.
She ignored Jonah and me after our sexy little tryst at the airport strip a few days ago.
It consumed my thoughts. The harried sounds of their breathing, the way Jonah jerked in our combined grasp.
I needed a second round. My hand couldn’t compare.
I spiraled when Jonah pulled away. The rejection felt tenfold, and I didn’t know how to process it.
Lyra saw through both of us, writhing in our own triggers.
I was thinking of myself while he was drowning in dark memories.
The capacity for logic didn’t exist. I couldn’t be more grateful to Lyra for stepping in and making sure they didn’t linger.
She’d shown us compassion, and what had we done in her place? Buried her in the ground and let our rage consume us. My stomach twisted as Lyra avoided our gaze.
“Pay attention.” Jonah elbowed my ribs again, and I made a show of wincing.
His gray eyes warmed with affection, something that hadn’t existed not too long ago.
The guarded wall he kept up crumbled, and if I couldn’t have Lyra by my side, I was glad Jonah was with me.
Together, we would win her back. Beck watched us with his signature dark intensity. What was going through his head?
He wasn’t the same arrogant man who claimed to own Lyra’s heart. Now he was just like us, drowning in the past and longing for a different future. But I would take him at his word and work with him to win Lyra back.
“When I was searching through the data we got from Larson, there was one I traced back to a shell company which is also connected to Topher Freight,” Connall said.
“Our friend works for The Unseen. I took Cole’s thumbprint that night, and luckily, the company didn’t erase his access. They were too busy ushering in their windfall, shady as it is.” Lyra’s laptop screen illuminated her face.
“I don’t get it.” I tilted my head.
I understood. But I also wanted Lyra to explain it to me.
In detail. Where I could press against her, innocently, of course.
Lyra let out a whistling sigh and trotted her laptop over to me.
Bingo, baby. She tilted the screen, and I shifted until my arm melted against her.
Lyra pointed at a string of highlighted shipments and arched her eyebrow.
I was playing dumb, but bless her disgruntled heart, did she think I understood any of this?
“These companies with temperature control measures sound generic except for two things. The prices being charged are astronomical, and the companies don’t exist. They’re a paper front with a head office two states over in a rural county. Shipments began only after Cole Lacott’s death.”
I leaned close to Lyra and frowned. “Explain like I’m five.”
“I’m trying.” Lyra rolled her eyes. “The Unseen gave Beck and me the mission to kill Cole Lacott. Why would they do that? Connall and I found a link with these financial records from Topher Freight, which prove—”
“What I’ve been saying all along.” Ellington interrupted. “That’s where our new friend, Glenn Woodrick, comes in.”
The hostage’s eyes widened, and his fingers dug into the arms of the chair. Was it hearing his name on Ellington’s lips or the manic look in his eye that ratcheted his fear?
Lyra waved Ellington off and continued. “They wanted Cole out so they could plant someone in his place. Lacott was an ass, but he also had morals. Glenn, however, has no compunctions because these temperature-controlled shipments only mean one thing. Flesh trade. Also, everything for these companies is fast tracked, with no secondary inspections needed or hold times. Because they’re perishable products. ”
Flesh trade? My stomach turned.
Sweat trickled down Glenn’s forehead. I narrowed my gaze, and his head hit his chin.
The chances of him getting out of this room alive were pretty slim.
If he were a plant for The Unseen, I knew this whimpering was likely a show.
Connall looked up from the corner, the first time the redhead had shown any interest in the discussion.
“Shady people doing shady things. What’s new?” He rolled his eyes.
Lyra let out a soft noise, and for a moment, her weight shifted onto me. I reached up to steady her, but she pulled away.
“Because this goes higher than paying off a security guard not to inspect. It’s higher than forging manifests to sneak in cargo,” Ellington snapped at him.
Connall’s eyes flashed, and his jaw ticked.
He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it.
I recognized repressed anger when I saw it and wondered what had the agent all riled up.
Connall was the type of man to let his rage eat away at him until he snapped.
I knew he and Ellington had a rocky past, but he was friends with Lyra.
He needed to get on board. None of us were angels.
“We need someone of our own in there.” Adelaide brought the conversation back to the crux of the issue. She smothered a cough and grumbled about missing out on all the fun.
I swallowed a sigh. This kind of maneuvering made my bones ache. Give me a gun and bullets any day. But we couldn’t expose another board member without it being obvious. Still, the safety of Greenich Bay and the Orazios was a priority.
“I wouldn’t put it past them to expose the shipment to frame you, Adelaide. These people are ruthless, and the safest option is to put one of our own there.”
“I’ll do it,” Connall offered.
The room smelled of leftover Chinese takeout, and I dug around in one of the white containers for the last remaining pork dumpling.
“Why?” Lyra tilted her head.
I wanted to ask him the same thing, but the dumpling hoarded my tongue. Connall wasn’t like Ellington, with his glib humor that covered brutality inside. Ellington stalked behind Glenn and gripped his shoulders. Glenn whimpered, and the acrid stench of piss filled the room.
“You’re all being watched, but as far as The Unseen know, I’m uninvolved. The only reason I’m here is because of my connection to you.” Connall glared at Lyra. “I can defend myself. I know how The Unseen work, and I can hack into their system further.”
“There is a shipment coming in a week. Glenn could work from home during that time, couldn’t he?” Adelaide chipped in.
Ellington wrapped his fingers around Glenn’s neck and squeezed a broken, muffled squeal from the man.
“Go easy on him,” Jonah said.
“Shut up.”
“Don’t use that tone with him.” I pointed at Ellington with a frown.
“None of you get it, do you? You think he’s truly scared?”
Glenn moved his mouth around the dirty rag, eyes popping out in his urgency to speak.
“This isn’t a game. This is The Unseen. We’re trained to withstand torture and still make it out alive. He’s playing on your heartstrings, and it’s working. Given the chance, he’d kill everyone in this room.”
This pitiful, piss-stained, whimpering mess was from The Unseen. Jonah and I focused on him again and noticed what we’d missed. His hands clenched in anger, not frustration. We hadn’t been paying attention.
This was Lyra’s world.