Chapter 30
Kortez
It’s been a week of searching for Wade at the base of these godforsaken mountains and the only thing we have to go on is the word of our men and a single photo from a CCTV camera.
How did he know we were after him so fast?
Someone had to have warned him and as much as I don’t want to think about it, there’s only one answer.
Evie told him.
But why? What does he have on her that makes her give him a warning that we’re closing in?
Roman and I knew two weeks ago that Evie knew who Wade was – that she was in contact with him – but we’ve yet to figure out why. Atlas thinks Wade has something on her, but I know better, Roman is learning.
Whatever her relationship with Wade, it’s one she chose to have.
It’s one Wylder fucking James knows about but refuses to elaborate on.
I look over to the man in question to see him checking his scope again. I’ll admit, the man knows what he’s doing – but he’s nervous. He’s worried we may find Wade and Atlas will order him to shoot. I’ve not ruled out the possibility that Wylder somehow found him first and warned him away.
“You sure look nervous behind that scope for someone who claims he was a sniper for the government.”
He grunts, repositioning his arms to get comfortable on the edge of the roof that we’ve been sitting on for the last ten hours. “It’s no claim. I know you pulled my background. You know it’s true.”
I can practically hear Roman calling him ‘golden boy’ when those bright eyes of Wylder’s meet my own. “Were you able to get through to the sealed ones?”
Honesty. We need a relationship based on honesty. For Evie. “Yes.”
He nods, watching a van pull up to the warehouse across the street. Bingo.
Whoever is in the van doesn’t get out yet, but I can faintly see the pale hand of the driver motioning around as he speaks on the phone. Not Wade then, but who?
“And?”
I bring my eyes back to the man in front of me, taking in the tattoo he got during his time overseas. A globe with a single star on it, marking the place he was last stationed.
I shrug. “And nothing. You act like I wouldn’t understand killing a man who killed someone I loved.”
We sit in silence as the driver of the van throw a punch into the steering wheel, causing a loud honk to echo in the streets.
“I am curious to know how that didn’t result in a discharge. Your paperwork says you decided to come home willingly.” He doesn’t say anything, so I continue. “But I guess having friends in high places gives you that perk, along with being able to pull my records.”
I feel the darkness in me threaten to spill over as I think of what he could have found.
I had all traces of Kortez Smith wiped from existence by the time I was fifteen, but one of my programs alerted me to someone trying to slip through my firewall when we first arrived at Evie’s.
It didn’t take long to track down who it was, and who they were pulling it for.
One Paulo Santiago, a dark contact for hire that apparently works for Wylder’s friend and ex-pres, Markus Rivera. The same one that Roman used to get some gear and Evie’s placebo pills.
I let him in, for now, and used the link to look into Evie’s new friends.
Wylder has his own demons to fight but the real mystery is her friend Vivianne. As I thought, Vivianne Blue isn’t her real name. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out what her real last name is, but I have my computer software searching twenty-four seven until something comes up.
“Ever figure out what happened to your mother?”
His words are as cold as a steel blade pressing into my ribs, but I breathe through the pain and answer him anyway. “Yes.”
He nods, his eyes full of understanding. “Does he know? Do either of them?”
“No, and it’s going to fucking stay that way. Do you understand?” I can’t let Atlas know the truth before it’s time.
I hear the grinding of his teeth before he gives me a nod and repeats my earlier word back to me. “Yes.”
Silence fills the space between us until the sound of a door shutting has me looking over the edge of the roof. The man is off the phone now, his head swinging back and forth as he searches the street for anyone watching before he enters the building – but he forgets to look up.
We hear a shout come from the warehouse just moments before my phone rings, Atlas’s name lighting up the screen. He doesn’t make time for pleasantries before telling us to get down there.
The call ends and I look up to see Wylder staring at me, his eyes searching. Atlas has kept him from most of the business, using him as extra eyes and ears instead of treating him like a member of this family, but we have to test his loyalty at some point. He’s just as important to Evie as we are.
I motion for him to follow and watch as he makes quick work of dismantling the gun and putting it into the heavy plastic case in pieces. He’s so efficient with it that it catches me by surprise, not for the first time since we’ve been on this weeklong mission.
If I’m the computer wizard of the group, he’s the gun expert. We could use him.
The door leading from the roof down into the warehouse is unlocked, letting us in easily and shrouding us in darkness as it closes. Neither one of us speaks as we make our way to the ground floor, an open concept warehouse only filled with empty metal containers like you’d see in a shipping yard.
Who knows what the warehouse was used for before Wade took it over. Who knows why Wade is using it in the first place.
I watch as Atlas finishes raising the chains hooked to the man we saw before, blood shining bright against his pale skin as his head dangles down. “You didn’t have to hit him so hard. It’ll be hours before he wakes up.”
Atlas shrugs, “Then we wait hours.”
One hour and forty-seven minutes later, the man’s hands clench into fists and I hear a faint murmuring coming from his lips.
The chair Atlas was sitting on groans against the concrete as he stands, wiping his hands on his jeans as if he had been doing something more than texting Evie for the last hour and a half. “Called it, less than two hours.”
Wylder and I stand, walking over to the man and forming a semi-circle around his hanging body. “You did, I thought for sure it would be longer than that.”
The man looks up, the soft light from the yellow bulbs of the warehouse glinting off his bald head. He looks between the three of us before his eyes fall on Wylder standing beside me. “No bet for you?”
Wylder shrugs, “Not much of a gambler.”
Unless he’s betting he’ll be the one to get Evie pregnant next.
Atlas steps forward, showing the man that he’s the one in charge and responsible for his current predicament. “Hello, Oscar, was it? I’m Atlas.”
A search of the pants pockets had gotten us one wallet, two pieces of candy, a rubber band, and some extra bullets for the nine-millimeter he had stashed in his waistband. A gun that, according to Atlas, he didn’t even try to pull.
Oscar is covered in tattoos, even having one on his head, and has the scars and muscles to show people all around him that he is as dangerous as he looks.
So why not pull the gun as soon as he entered?
Oscar laughs, a pitiful sound that causes a bit of blood to drip out of his mouth and to the floor. Atlas must have knocked a tooth loose.
“I know who you are, Atlas Valente.” Oscar’s eyes find mine and he tries to jerk his head towards me. “That’s Kortez Valente.” His eyes continue their pursual until they land on Wylder. “And the non-gambler is Wylder James.”
Atlas’s eyes find mine, wide and confused, before he covers the emotion and lets them go back to the man we have hanging between us. “Glad we have introductions out of the way, they’re always so annoying. Almost worse than small talk.”
Wylder laughs, the sound shallower than it usually is when it falls from his lips. “Nothing is worse than small talk. I would croak if Oscar here tried to talk to us about the weather.”
I see the approval written on Atlas’s face, and I know I made the right choice letting Wylder come down here. He may not be my favorite person but he’s one of Evie’s. It’s important he finds his place here.
Oscar spits down on the ground, his saliva tinted pink. “No need. I got the call you were here before I pulled up.” He lifts his head to stare directly at Atlas. “I have a message for you. From Wade.”
Wylder glances over at me, his eyes widening, and I realize that at some point in the last two minutes, I pulled out my blade.
It’s not my fault my soul sings for blood. My father made sure it was the only tune it could ever know.
Wylder must sense my bloodlust and Atlas’s rising anger because he asks, “What’s the message?”
Oscar grins, the move more sinister and threatening than I expected someone hanging from the ceiling to be able to deliver, but it’s his words that strike fear into my heart.
“He said he knows what’s important to you,” His eyes flick to Atlas, “and he sends his congratulations to you on your newfound fatherhood.”
My heart drops and from the faces reflected back to me from Wylder and Atlas, mine isn’t the only one.
I don’t know who says it, but it doesn’t matter. Blood soaks my hand as I shove the blade into Oscar’s neck, pulling it out and watching as the floor turns into a puddle of crimson. “Let’s go get our woman.”