Chapter Seventeen
Neil
DEATH HAD taken hold of him, and it was refusing to let go. The evidence Cade had gotten from the Destroyers was a big piece of a puzzle he’d been trying to solve for years. He now had more insight into Hughes’ operations than he’d ever dared hope for. Unfortunately, not everything had gone according to plan. Mike’s death was a calculated risk. As much as he knew it would hurt Cade, it had been necessary.
Hughes somehow still managed to pull strings and considering that the warden of the black site prison Hughes was supposed to be in was giving Neil the runaround, he had a feeling Hughes was no longer there. Things were about to get a lot worse.
He was standing between two mature trees, watching the funeral from afar, unsurprised when someone stepped up next to him.
“Thank you for meeting me.”
Marco’s grunt had him turning his head to look at him. The man looked good. Hell, he looked sharp. His suit was pristine and fit him like a second skin. He also looked like he would rather have his entrails pulled out than be there.
“I need you to be careful,” Neil said. “The person who’s been trying to kill me? It’s been Hughes the whole time. If he finds out about you, he might come after you, too.”
“Finds out about me?” Marco repeated, a mocking tone to his voice.
Neil closed his eyes and took a breath before meeting Marco’s fiery gaze.
“If he learns what you mean to me, then, yes, he will try to kill you,” he said.
Something flashed through Marco’s dark eyes, and he dared not hold out hope that it was any kind of affection.
“For his sake, he’d better hope he never finds out,” Marco said and turned on his heels, walking away from Neil.
He followed Marco with his gaze as he walked to a black car that was waiting for him just a few feet away. Rome was standing by the door to the back seat and when Marco neared, he opened it for him. The second Marco was inside and the door was closed, Rome met Neil’s gaze and gave him a short nod.
He drew in a breath, relieved to know that Marco had Rome to look after him. He doubted Hughes would find out about his connection to Marco, but as it turned out, the man was resourceful.
He looked back toward the cemetery just in time to see Aidan walk up to Cade. The kid shouldn’t have been at the funeral but no matter how coldhearted he pretended to be, he couldn’t say no to him. He knew what those two meeting would lead to, and he wasn’t mad about it. He had no doubt Cade would run with the information Aidan had on his foster father, the State’s Attorney. It wasn’t how he’d planned on taking him down, but he’d let Cade have this one. He owed him as much for Mike.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
He’d gotten confirmation of Hughes’ escape shortly after Mike’s funeral and they’d only had a few months of quiet before Hughes had gone after Cade. He’d caught him, too. Twice. His Marines, the Black Raiders, including Cade’s boyfriend, had been there with him along with one of Neil’s operatives who’d been tasked with keeping Cade safe since Mike’s funeral.
One of his Raiders falling in love with Cade hadn’t been something he could’ve foreseen. If he believed in fate that’s what he would’ve called those two finding each other, but he didn’t believe in much of anything these days.
Back when he’d finally gotten the evidence he needed to shove Hughes into a black hole, there had been a flash drive involved. Cade had handed over that flash drive to Neil, but it turned out that he’d given him a copy that didn’t have everything on it and Hughes wanted the original flash drive back. That was why he’d gone after Cade. That, and revenge.
Hughes was back in the wind and Neil was working to uncover his mole at the Agency. He should’ve put a bullet in the man ten years ago. Though he had no doubt the Raiders would finish the job this time around. They had to. There wasn’t any other scenario he wanted to even consider. Losing another Raider was a blow he wasn’t sure he would recover from. One had been enough. More than enough.
He was closing in on the mole. He had a name. He just needed proof. He needed the truth. He knew that wouldn’t be easy, but he was willing to do whatever it took to bring Hughes down.