Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
Santiago
“Son of a bitch…” I pull the screw driver away to check the screwhead.
Good, I didn’t strip it.
“Need a hand?” Ledger asks as he crouches down beside me.
“No, I got this handled.”
I need to do something or I’m going to go crazy. This is making me feel useful.
After coming back empty-handed this afternoon—there’s been this current of unease and dread running through the four of us. It’s like a weighted blanket has draped itself over Gnarly Pines and it’s starting to suffocate me.
If I could just kill someone, I think I’d feel better. No, you know what? I’d definitely feel better. Killing assholes has never not improved my mood.
Like fucking robots, we’d come back and gone about our day as if Blair’s enemies hadn’t just come snooping around here looking for her.
It felt surreal. I understand why we had to, though.
Nothing can look amiss around here or it’ll raise questions.
The heads of Gnarly Pines running out of their respective zones to disappear for a few hours was already weird enough for our employees.
We didn’t need to make it any stranger for them by not returning to our shifts.
The only person who seems completely unfazed by the whole situation is Blair.
I glance in her direction, watching as she grills up dinner.
She’s humming softly as she flips a steak over.
I don’t know the tune, but maybe because she’s humming way off key?
In any case, it’s strangely upbeat. I know she is affected—how can you not be?
But it’s like she’s determined to keep from being crushed by this helplessness that’s descended upon the rest of us.
I turn my attention back to unscrewing the plaque attached to the drone that’s preventing me from getting into the interface and to the information we’re looking for.
“I wish I’d done better about where to aim,” Ledger admits, grimly, bringing my attention back to him. “But my first instinct was to destroy these things, not save them.”
Out of the three drones Ledger dragged back to the cabin, only one wasn’t a complete loss. But one is better than none and I’m determined to salvage what we can from this hunk of metal.
My shoulders lift and then drop heavily as I sigh. “There’s no guarantee that this will give us a suitable lead, anyway.”
“It better give us something,” Ledger growls.
I can’t agree more. How much longer can we live like this? Always on edge and bracing for trouble.
“If it doesn’t?”
The first screw comes off, and I resist heaving a sigh of relief.
I don’t want to jinx the other three screws.
Ledger hums thoughtfully as he reaches up to tug at his facial hair.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Anchor has so many enemies that my knee jerk reaction was to go back through all the jobs he took, that Blair can recall, to see if there were any loose ends that he may have missed.
From there, we could follow each lead to see who has the means to go after Anchor with this much force.
” Ledger shakes his head. “But this feels too personal. It would have to be someone closer to him. Someone we may have enlisted together with, perhaps? Or someone he did a tour with? I hate to think one of our own brothers would turn on us but…”
Ledger’s voice trails off as he turns and stares at the crackling fire.
I wait for him to continue but he doesn’t.
“But what?” I urge.
“What Ledger is implying is that Dad isn’t all that easy to be around,” Blair answers without looking away from the grill. “He could have easily said the wrong thing around the wrong person and pissed them off.”
Ledger sighs. “Anchor’s always been kind of a loner. Smart, skilled, and has patience unmatched by anyone else I’ve ever met—the man is a perfect killing machine. But he never did really learn how to be around others in situations outside of warfare.”
“But you guys are friends, right?” I counter. “How come you two get along so well?”
“Because Ledger has no moral compass—just like the infamous Anchor,” Wes offers as he walks over to Blair to hand her something he’d grabbed from inside. “As we’ve all bared witness to.”
Rhett, who’s sitting and stewing in a chair by the fire, grunts his agreement.
Blair shoots Wes a glare. “Excuse me? My dad has a moral compass.”
“Not what I heard, baby girl,” Wes objects.
“You don’t know him.”
“I don’t have to—his infamy says a whole fucking lot about him. He’s someone who doesn’t give two shits about life,” Wes counters.
Blair opens her mouth but Rhett scoffs loudly. Pushing himself up and out of his seat, he turns to glare at her. “The things I heard directly from you about him let me know that he’s a fucking psychopath.”
Wes nods his agreement. Ledger presses his mouth into a tight, disapproving line but he doesn’t object.
I look at Blair curiously. “Carino, your dad’s a psycho?”
“No!” she objects, affronted. “He was just determined to make sure I learned life lessons and—"
“Your dad drowned you for fun,” Rhett interrupts. “I’d say that’s pretty fucking spot on for psychopath behavior.”
A terrible chill sweeps through me as I gasp in horror.
Wes visibly flinches before giving Blair a pained look. “He did what?”
“He didn’t—” Blair starts but Ledger stands swiftly, tensing.
“He did,” Ledger interrupts coldly. “Don’t forget, I was there. Rhett’s not wrong to be worried about Anchor’s sanity.”
Blair scowls at him. “I know you were there, which means you can vouch that I was still alive when you pulled me out—”
“Stop it!”
The dark, barking command that slips past Ledger’s lips gives all of us a pause. Ledger never raises his voice. Ever. Hell, he didn’t even start shouting when we had him locked up. I stare at him in surprise. Ledger tenses as he glares at Blair.
“Don’t defend his parenting—you know it was shit,” he growls through clenched teeth.
“Oh, yeah?” Rhett sneers. “If that’s the case, then why didn’t you stop him?”
Ledger whirls around to glare at him and I stiffen without thought, ready to step between Ledger and Rhett if I have to.
“You have no idea what I—”
“Enough!” Blair snaps loudly. “I’m tired of hearing you all shit on my dad.”
I snicker before slipping into Spanish just for Blair’s ears, “I would never talk bad about your dad—does that make me your favorite, carino?”
Blair’s glare disappears as she looks back at me.
“It moves you to the top of the list, that’s for sure,” she replies in flawless Spanish.
Rhett glares at me. “Aren’t you supposed to be working on the drone and not talking about us like we’re not right here?”
“Who says we were talking about you?” I bat my eyes at him and Rhett cracks a begrudged smile.
Turning back to the job at hand, I work on getting these stupid screws out. It takes forever but finally, just as Blair announces dinner is ready, I manage to get the plate off the undercarriage of the drone.
“Yes!” I whoop as I find the VIN and model number inside.
I scramble to my feet and dart for the back door of the cabin. Inside, I grab my laptop and hurry back out to join the others.
“Santi, eat. Work on that later,” Blair urges as the others make their way over to the picnic table.
Quickly, I hurry over to the table. I plop down beside Blair, stealing the spot from Ledger who’d been just about to sit there. Rhett shoots him a sneer from Blair’s other side. Opening my laptop, I let it boot up while I dish myself some garlic whipped mashed potatoes.
“Santi…” Blair complains as she glares at my screen.
“I’ll work while I eat.”
“But—”
“Carino,” I cut her off lightly. “I need to do this. The faster I can figure out who sent this drone, the quicker we can eliminate them so they can’t come back.
” In Spanish, I add, “I can’t lose you but it’s starting to feel inevitable.
I’m scared, Blair. What if next time, we’re not fast enough to react and you’re hurt?
What if they send a small army here in search of you?
Please, let me do this. I think I’m starting to go crazy here with worry. ”
Blair’s annoyance melts off her face. Her hand comes to rest on my thigh and then she gives me a gentle squeeze.
“Alright, fine,” she mutters.
“Santi, go to bed. You look beat.”
I look up to find Ledger standing just inside the living room. He’s a little blurry after staring at my screen for hours, but after blinking a few times, he comes into focus.
“Shit, what time is it?” I mutter, my voice raspy from lack of use.
“It’s just after one.”
He moves closer to me, his eyes drifting down to study the woman on the couch with me. With her legs in my lap, and my computer on her legs, Blair’s fallen asleep beside me. I didn’t even notice when she dozed off.
Or, now come to think of it, when the others slipped off to bed.
“I just want to work on this for a few more minutes,” I mutter as I reach up to rub my eyes.
After a yawn, I add, “I’m running background checks on the names you gave me—which weren’t many by the way.
You were right about Anchor not having many friends.
Once I break through this security firewall for Red Dynamic—the company that created these drones—I’ll be able to see who all has purchased one of these models.
I’ll cross reference the names in the database to the names on the list you gave me. ”
Ledger’s mouth presses in a tight line and he grunts.
“What?” I demand. “You don’t think this will work?”
Ledger shrugs. “I’m not sure about anything at this point.
It’s always worth checking, though. I don’t want to leave any rock unturned.
I’m just worried it may not be as simple as just referencing names.
They could've purchased the drone through a shell company or a friend or whatever, which wouldn’t lead back to any of the names I gave you. ”
“Whatever roadblocks I stumble upon, I’ll find a work around. I won’t let anyone get their hands on Blair.”
The promise sits heavy between us because it includes him.
He must hear the threat because his eyes flicker back to me. To my surprise, his face softens just a bit.