13. Dan
DAN
“I heard you clashed with Bellingham the other night.”
I looked over at Ryker, slanted back in his seat with one hand casually wrapped around the steering wheel of the hired SUV and the other resting on his thigh. His gaze was fixed on the road, but his mouth was curved into a smirk.
I sighed, glancing at the back seat, where Jay and Nova were too wrapped up in each other to pay any attention to us. “Yeah… It was forever ago, so I don’t know why you’re bringing it up now. Where were you and Jay, anyway? You were there for Nova’s fight, but then you both disappeared.”
His fingers flexed on the wheel as he scanned our surroundings, his free hand flicking the indicator to take us off the main road. “We decided to go back to your house to go through Jay’s family’s accounts. We got caught up in all the other shit, and I forgot about it until now.”
“You forgot about it…when we’ve had multiple hockey practices, shared countless lectures, and, oh, let’s not forget our little break-in.”
This Operation Foxglove shit had taken over my life, I swear.
We weren’t certain if Jay’s family clinic were having issues because of Operation Foxglove or because of some other reason, but either way, that was where our investigations had begun.
Jay had discovered a number of discrepancies in the clinic accounts that he’d managed to trace back to the accountant who dealt with them.
Long story short, we’d broken into the offices belonging to the accountancy firm, and if we were correct in our assumptions, Jay’s family’s accountant was meeting someone… or someones today.
So now we were heading for their riverside rendezvous point which, based on my research and the current state of the weather, was going to be a muddy, depressing location, with rusting ships purposely wrecked on the riverbank in an effort to stop it eroding.
Dangerous, too, at least right now, with the tidal river so high and fast-flowing after several days of heavy rain.
But it was remote and quiet, and the perfect place for a shady deal to go down.
“I wanted to forget about it,” Ryker admitted in a low voice, his gaze sliding to the rear-view mirror before returning to the road as he carefully navigated the twists and turns.
The pitted tarmac was flanked by tangled hedges and trees, and the SUV took up far too much space on the country lane for my liking.
My fists flexed involuntarily as branches scraped against my window.
I thought I’d managed to keep my concerns to myself, but apparently, Ryker noticed.
He eased up on the accelerator, exhaling as he navigated us through a tiny village, quiet despite the time of day.
His voice dropped even lower. “I wish Nova had a choice. I wish I could do something about her arranged marriage to Volkov. That’s why I wanted to forget. I feel fucking helpless.”
“Yeah. Me too.” I was in complete agreement with him.
And as for the whole “forgetting about it” thing—if I could forget about my fight with Lincoln Bellingham and the subsequent shit that I definitely wasn’t going to ever think about again, that would be brilliant.
I’d managed to avoid looking at anything Lincoln-related on my phone since that night, and I’d ducked out of any conversations where he might come up, but my head wasn’t so good at forgetting.
Please.
I shuddered as the word echoed through my mind. I couldn’t believe I’d actually said it to Lincoln bellend Bellingham, of all people. And I couldn’t believe what had come after. It had to have been a hallucination. There was no fucking way we’d—
Grimacing, I scrubbed my hand over my mouth, trying to rub away the phantom touch of his lips.
“Arson?”
Banging my skull against the headrest, I huffed out a breath. “Let’s just get there and get some answers.”
Ryker jerked his head in assent. He didn’t bother digging deeper, and that was one of the things I liked best about him.
Not that I ever had shit to hide from him…
except for this one tiny thing that was taking up ninety percent of my brain…
but he knew me well enough to know when I didn’t want to talk.
The SUV came to a stop, and I exhaled slowly, forcing myself into a semblance of calm. We needed to stay focused for this mission. I couldn’t afford any distractions, and that meant I needed to shut everything else down.
“Are you sure she’ll be safe?” Jay’s voice came from the back seat.
Ryker glanced around us. “As sure as I can be. There are no guarantees, but—”
“But I’ll be fine. You’ve given me the phone, the car will be locked, and no one knows we’re here.” Nova shot her brother a pointed look before sweeping her gaze over Jay and me. “I’ll be the one worrying about you. Please be safe, all of you.”
“We will. Let’s go. Nova, if you see anyone arrive, text us on the burner.” Ryker picked up his Purge-style mask and gloves and, with Nova’s nod of assent, pulled them on.
I guessed that was my cue.
Hooded and masked, the three of us left Nova on lookout duty and headed down the towpath to the meeting point, sticking to the grass verges to avoid our footprints showing on the muddy path.
It was cold, damp, and drizzling, which was my least favourite combination of weather.
But I ignored it, focusing on the hulls of the wrecked ships as they came into view, pulled up on the riverbank and all overgrown with grass.
I poked the closest vessel with my toe, bits of rust flaking off and drifting down to the mud. “This is creepy in a fun way. It looks like they’re growing out of the ground. Look, King. There’s a sign that tells you—”
“No time for sightseeing.” Ryker’s hand slashed down, instantly cutting me off.
“I came down here yesterday to check out the place in the daylight so I could find us the best places to hide. There’s a boat farther up that’s more intact, and it’s on a solid part of the bank.
It’s farther from the path, but it’ll provide some coverage. ”
Shit. Why did my brain want to focus on the unimportant things when we were here for a serious reason?
I cleared my throat. “We should triangulate. I think I can climb down here, close to the water, get below the sight line of the riverbank. Jay can hide in the hedge.”
“No. Stay the fuck away from the river. If you fall in, you’ll drown. The current’s too strong,” Ryker bit out.
“But—”
“I’m not fucking joking, Dan. It’s a tidal river. We haven’t even been able to bring the smaller boats into the port this week because of the rain. We have to wait for the water levels to drop.”
I swallowed. Why didn’t I know when to shut up? “Oh. Okay. Sorry.” I glanced around us wildly, jabbing my finger towards a tangled mess of branches and brambles. “Uh…what if one of us hides behind those shrub things?”
“That works. I’ll go to the boat. You go there. Jay, you’re behind the hedge. Keep your phones on you.” Ryker jogged away, and I breathed a sigh of relief, ducking down behind the shrubs as Jay disappeared behind the hedges that lined the open area we’d been standing in.
Now, we had to wait and hope Jay’s family accountant showed up along with some other shady characters who might have some answers about this whole fucked-up mess we were in.
We didn’t have to wait long. My phone buzzed with the group chat Ryker had set up just before we left the hire car.
Nova:
Grey Nissan Juke just parked on other side of bridge
Me:
Could be our man
King:
Can you get a visual?
Nova:
I’ll try
A picture came through of a balding man in a suit clutching a leather folder to his chest, almost immediately followed by an affirmative from Jay. It was him. Jay’s family accountant.
I shifted in my spot, waiting. Bloody hell, it was bleak here, with all this rain and the churning river, crouching in the mud while branches whipped at my face. Good thing I had a mask on, or my face would be looking a lot less pretty after this.
The same man from the picture came into view, hunched over against the rain and wind, sinking onto the bench in the centre of the clearing.
Ducking down, I held myself as still as I could, straining to hear anything above the rushing water and pattering of rain, when I caught a low whine in the distance.
I stiffened, holding my breath, but the rain was too loud for me to make out what it was, until three dirt bikes came into view.
They screeched to a halt in the clearing in front of me where the accountant was waiting, and my phone began vibrating against my thigh. I fished it out of my pocket, doing my best to shelter it from the rain as I read through the messages. Right. We were supposed to be filming and taking photos.
I quickly flipped to my front camera, hitting the button to record.
One of the bikers seemed to be in discussion with the accountant, and after a couple of minutes, they exchanged a small backpack for the folder the accountant had been holding.
The second the exchange had been made, the accountant legged it out of the clearing, leaving the three bikers in the centre and the three of us hiding around the edges. What now?
My phone buzzed in my hand, still recording, and I wiped at the rain on my screen so I could swipe open my group chat.
King:
Nova. Accountant heading your way. Don’t be seen. Everyone hold your positions
Nova:
Got it
Jay:
We need to find out who these people are. Can’t hear anything or see anything identifiable
Me:
Yeah. I can’t pick up anything
King:
As much as I hate to say it, you’re right. Be careful. They have bikes and they may be armed. Block the exit if you can but stay safe. I’ll cover you from the back. Nova, stay in the car no matter what. Everyone got it?
Hell yeah. If these guys were anything to do with Operation Foxglove—and even if not, they were our enemies purely based on the fact that they were actively working against Jay’s family—they needed to pay. And I was in the mood to teach someone a lesson.
A new message from Ryker came through. Thirty seconds, then I could kick someone’s ass.
Shoving my phone in my pocket, I tugged my gloves back on as I counted down in my head.
As soon as the thirty seconds were up, we sprang into action.
There were three of them and three of us, so I headed straight for the closest guy, who swung at me with his fists as soon as he noticed me barrelling into him.
As I pummelled him, he screamed obscenities in my face, words I’d heard many times around the Volkovs.
That was a whole new problem, because if these guys were connected with the Volkovs rather than Operation Foxglove, things were about to get very messy indeed.
“Fuck. Off!” I screamed at the helmeted guy, getting him in a chokehold and sending him crashing to the ground.
As soon as he was down, I scrambled to my feet, gasping for air behind the mask—seriously, these masks were so impractical for necessities like taking deep breaths—and took my chance.
I skidded across the soaked grass to the nearest bike and launched it into the churning waters.
It was swept away in milliseconds, swallowed up in the grey depths, and I swallowed hard, realising just how serious Ryker’s warnings had been about the currents.
But there was no time to reflect on that, because the same guy was back up on his feet, and this time, he was out for blood.
His body slammed into mine, and my foot slipped in the mud on impact, sending us both flying across the clearing.
We landed close to the tree and went at each other, punching and kicking and grappling in an effort to gain the upper hand.
Strings of Russian curses came from beneath his helmet, punctuated by heavy breaths and grunts, and I wanted nothing more than to rip his helmet from his head and punch his mouth until he stopped running it.
But I couldn’t seem to get a grip on him. He was a dead weight on top of me, crushing me into the mud as I rained down blows on his back and sides, my hands slipping on his leather jacket.
With a roar, I wrapped my legs around him and twisted, throwing myself to the side.
The second I was out from under him, I swung my body upright, running for the closest bike.
Pulling out my knife from my pocket, I flipped open the blade and began hacking at the exposed cables.
I had no clue about bikes, but I knew enough to know that cut cables meant bad news for anyone trying to ride this thing.
I was wrenched backwards, my knife flying from my grip as I skidded across the grass again. Fuck.
A dark shadow reared up over me, his arms outstretched and something clasped between his palms.
It all happened so quickly.
The huge rock, smashing into my head.
Then darkness descended.