2
GAbrIEL
I threw myself out of the SUV and stormed into the safe house. I barely made it through the front door before I slammed my fist into the drywall.
“Griffin!” Kyllion barked a warning, hot on my heels.
I rounded on him. The violence vibrated through my veins and lit a fire in them—a hunger for blood.
“She was there,” I roared. “She was fucking there!”
I threw down the manifest I’d been holding in a death grip the entire ride back. Papers showered into the air and fluttered to the ground between us. I whirled around, afraid I’d do something I’d regret, and disappeared into the war room. He knew better than to follow me.
Something was wrong. Or, I missed something—
Quarry had been spooked—again.
Seething, I glared at the evidence boards. They mocked me with all the information we’d amassed over the years. All for what? To always be one step behind? Three years. Three years and I didn’t feel like we were getting anywhere.
Emersyn’s picture was front and center, like always.
I shoved it off the screen. I couldn’t look at her anymore.
I couldn’t spend another second staring at her face—that beautiful face I’d studied every inch of until I knew every freckle, every curve and definition.
I knew those eyes because every day they glared at me, daring me to save her.
And I was failing.
There was only one other time this had happened to me and those memories loudly screamed from the shadows as they clamored to come forward. They mocked me too.
I watched Seven come into the room. He didn’t say anything, just put the bunch of papers he’d collected from my tantrum on the table in a neat stack.
“The bed—” I could barely speak between the adrenaline and the anger.
“It was still—” I couldn’t finish the sentence, my throat closed.
I couldn’t breathe. I tore my face covering off and threw it on the table.
My gloves came next, then my vest until I felt like I could take a breath again.
My hands shook. I dug my palms into the table and leaned heavily over the worn wood.
The bed had still been warm.
Just like before—
“Get your head out of the past,” Seven demanded. “This is not the same. You hear me, G?”
“I know that,” I snarled. “I know.”
“We’re going to find her,” Seven stated firmly. “We’re not done yet.”
When I didn’t respond, Seven shoved my shoulder and my head jerked up.
“Right?” He demanded.
“You know I’m not,” I growled, eyes narrowed.
“I’ll never be done,” I said in a quieter voice as my eyes moved back to the evidence boards.
Seven didn’t answer. He knew what I meant.
Even before Emersyn we’d hunted trafficking rings, all to atone for the one I hadn’t been able to save.
I’d hoped at some point I would feel like it was enough, but it never was.
It would never be enough to silence the guilt that still flooded me.
Seven’s hand landed on my shoulder in a firm grip. “Emersyn is not your sister.”
The words landed one by one like blows to my gut, and rendered me breathless.
All I could do was nod. Obviously, this wasn’t the same, but the situation was similar in a way that continued to wreck my sanity.
Seven’s eyes glowed darkly with the lights from the monitors.
There was pain there too; I could see it reflected back at me, and I immediately felt more guilt.
I wasn’t the only one hurting. I put my hand on the back of Seven’s neck and gripped it tightly.
“We’re going to find her,” I said firmly.
Seven latched onto the hope in my eyes like it was a lifeline. “Alive.”
I nodded. “We’re not going to fail this time,” I growled.
“We can’t,” Seven said, his voice strained.
“Griff.” Rune stood in the doorway with a strange expression on his face. “You need to see this.”
He handed me his tablet and on it was an open inbox.
The top email was unread with the title: For Deathwing’s eyes only.
I looked up at him, brow furrowed. “Did you read it?”
Rune looked offended. “Of course not, it says for your eyes only.”
“Why would they send it to you?” Seven asked.
Rune shrugged. “Griff never checks his emails,” he said dryly.
“Yeah, but how would they know that?” Seven pressed.
Rune responded, but I didn’t hear what he said as I stared at the contents of the email.
“What the fuck?” I muttered.
I quickly scrolled through it, bombarded by conflicting emotions. I clicked on one of the images the email had included—adrenaline surged.
“What does it say?” Rune asked.
I threw the image up on the monitor. “It’s her.”
Silence blanketed the room as we all stared at Emersyn. We only had one photo of her because that was all that we’d found, but now—I greedily took in every detail this new one offered. It wasn’t a very good picture. It was grainy and she was half-turned away, but those eyes—they were the same.
“This is great,” Rune said excitedly. “I’ll start analyzing—”
“Wait,” I interrupted.
A heavy sense of foreboding settled over me.
“What? This could lead us to her, Griff. This could be the missing leg up we need to get ahead—”
I slid the tablet across the table to Rune and his words died as he read the message already embedded in my mind.
You have a mole.
Give Rune the coordinates, otherwise be careful who you share this with.
My veins heated at the thought of someone betraying me. But, at the same time, it was extremely validating. I knew something was wrong—I fucking knew it wasn’t all just bad timing.
Rune looked up, his eyes wide with worry and about a million questions I didn’t have the answers for.
I rubbed my jaw and stared over at Seven.
There was no way he’d betray me. We’d been through some shit together.
We’d been deployed together on teams, kidnapped, tortured—shit that made turning on your brother so far-fetched of an idea, it was laughable.
People had tried to pit us against each other once, using far, far worse tactics.
“Give him the tablet,” I said, my eyes never leaving Seven’s.
“Griff—”
“I won’t ask you again, Rune,” I growled.
Rune carefully slid the tablet across the table. Seven broke eye contact only long enough to read what it said.
“There were people who tried that once,” Seven said dryly as he echoed my thoughts in that eerie way he often did. “Do you need to see the reminder?” There was a cold set to his eyes and I saw the challenge there when he tugged at the edge of his t-shirt.
I scoffed. I didn’t need to see his scars.
“I didn’t doubt you then. I don’t doubt you now,” I said firmly. “Not even for a minute, brother.”
“Good. So, if it’s not either of us, who do we need to fuck up?”
I shook my head—I wasn’t sure. I hated to think it was anyone on my team, especially Kyllion.
He was my second. That trust ran deep, but an insidious thought nudged the back of my mind—did it run deep enough?
If he was the mole—if he’d been fucking this entire thing up for us—the thought of such a huge betrayal from him, I couldn’t fathom it.
I could tell Seven wasn’t happy about it either.
But, it could still be a whole host of other people—including Lincoln or the five other guys currently somewhere in the house decompressing from the job.
“What do you want to do?” Rune asked.
Before I had a chance to answer, Kyllion appeared in the doorway. He took one look at the three of us and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” He asked warily.
I couldn’t tell him the truth. As much as it hurt me to lie, there was too much at stake.
I wasn’t going to lose Emersyn, and I was going to do whatever it took—even if it meant I had to hide information from my team.
My mind raced ahead and quickly formulated a plan.
I’d redirect and tell the team one thing, then plan the real op on the side with Seven and Rune.
I gestured to the photo of Emersyn on the screen behind me and Kyllion’s eyes grew hard. While my anger and frustration at a possible betrayal hurt, and despite the unease I had about lying to my team, I couldn’t deny the truth of what that email unveiled.
“Call the team in,” I ordered. “We found her.”