56. Hendricks
HENDRICKS
I've worked with mercenaries, intelligence officers, cartel informants, and men whose names don't exist on government databases. None of that has prepared me for walking into Blackthorn Ranch with Mandy carrying two boxes of donuts.
Luke opens the front door as we get out of my truck. I texted to give them a heads-up that we were on our way, and not for a social call. In typical fashion, his gaze immediately drops to the boxes. "Tell me those are for us."
I shake my head. "No."
He looks personally wounded. "I thought we were friends."
"We're not," I say.
Mandy shoulders past him, going inside. "I'm willing to negotiate."
Luke gestures me in. "Hendricks, I may like her better than you."
I snort. "You like everyone better."
"Not true.” He closes the door behind us. “Mason's still questionable."
"Fuck you, Riot," Mason calls from somewhere inside.
Mandy grins.
I reconsider every decision that brought us here.
Emma, Jake’s wife, appears from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. Her face lights up when she sees Mandy, and she crosses the room without hesitation. She’s pregnant but she’s not far along enough to show yet.
I’d never have pegged Jake Callahan to settle down and have a family. All it took was the right woman to turn a hardened bastard into a husband and soon-to-be father. From the looks of things, Mason and Luke aren’t far behind.
These men are building lives now. Wives. Kids. Futures. Things men like us aren’t supposed to get.
I refuse to consider what that might say about me.
Emma wraps Mandy in a hug.
Mandy stiffens, just for a second. I see it because I see every fucking thing she does. Then her arms come up and she hugs Emma back.
Something tightens in my chest. Maybe I’m starting to understand why they risk so much to keep what they have.
"I’m so happy to see you, Mandy.” Emma pulls away. "Lily's at the clinic. I can call her."
"No." Mandy shakes her head. "Let her work. I’ll see her later."
Something passes over Emma's face. Understanding, possibly. "She'll be upset she missed you."
Mandy shrugs. "She'll survive."
"That's debatable."
Mandy smiles.
There it is again—that strange fucking sensation in my chest every time she does something ordinary. Walks into a kitchen. Eats a donut. Laughs. Gets hugged by someone who gives a shit whether she lives or dies. Things she should have had all along.
If Luke knew, he’d call this personal growth. But then Luke thinks an erection is personal growth.
"So, are we planning something illegal?" Luke asks as we all walk into the kitchen.
Harper, Luke’s woman, looks over her shoulder from where she’s washing dishes at the sink. "Why is that always your first question?"
"Because when Hendricks shows up, the answer is usually yes."
Jake enters the room with Mason behind him.
"Office," Jake says, heading straight to the back door.
Nobody argues. When Blackthorn Ranch was rebuilt, a room specifically designed for conversations nobody wants overheard was added out underneath the stables. I approve.
“I can take those.” Emma reaches for one of Mandy's donut boxes.
Mandy jerks it away. Catching Emma’s startled look, she winces, but she still hugs the box to her chest. "Sorry. Trauma response."
Emma stares at her for a beat, and then she laughs.
Sighing, Mandy opens the box. "Fine. Pick one."
"I'm good."
She shakes her head. "You already committed. Pick a fucking donut."
Emma takes a glazed.
“Are there any old fashioned?” Luke asks, reaching into the box.
Mandy slaps his hand.
He jerks back, holding his hand. "What the hell?"
"She's pregnant."
"So?"
"She gets preferential treatment," she says as she closes the box.
“Unborn and already outranking me.” Luke shakes his head.
I put my hand on Mandy's back and steer her toward the office before Luke tries to convince her to give away the entire box. Not that I’m worried about Mandy. It’s Luke I’m worried about. We’ll need his skills for this mission.
Emma stays in the kitchen. Luke and Harper follow us.
"Chocolate glazed," Mandy says when we’re in the yard. She lifts the old fashioned out and holds it over her shoulder.
Luke takes it.
"That seals it," he says around a bite. "Now I'd help you hide a body."
"You'd help someone hide a body for free," Harper says.
"Also true."
Luke leads us through the stable, to the hidden door that leads to their comms room. Jake shuts the door behind us.
The humor dies.
Everyone takes a seat at the large table in the center of the room. I remain standing.
Jake notices. Of course he does. "What do we have?"
I put a tablet on the table and bring up Clara Whitlock's photograph. Mason plugs it into their system, so the screen is projected on the wall.
Harper leans forward.
Mason goes still.
Luke eats slowly, but his attention is on the screen.
"Clara Whitlock," I say. "Twenty-four. Niece of James Whitlock."
Jake's expression hardens. "Those Whitlocks?"
I nod. "Yes."
"Fuck," Harper murmurs.
Mandy looks around. "Everybody keeps having that reaction."
"The Whitlocks own half of Paradise Valley," Harper says. "And have enough political influence to make the other half nervous."
"Which is why my contact couldn't identify her," I say. "Her digital footprint has been systematically stripped. DMV, public records, social media. Somebody went to considerable effort to make Clara Whitlock difficult to find."
"Protection?" Mason asks.
"Possibly."
"Or containment," Mandy says.
Everyone looks at her.
She leans forward, forearms on the table. "We have a notebook Turner kept that has Clara's photograph and measurements in it, along with another couple dozen young women."
Harper's jaw tightens. "He was tracking her."
"Yes."
I pull up another file. "The memory card my contact found inside Turner's notebook contained photographs, financial records, communications logs, and encrypted files.
The accessible material gives us fragments.
Turner. Thomas Ashford. Payments routed through shell companies.
Dates that correspond with activity we already know was connected to Turner's operation. "
“Wait.” Harper raises her hand. “Thomas Ashford, as in the tycoon?”
“You’ve heard of him?” Mandy replies with her usual sarcasm.
"Is there enough to tie them together?" Mason asks as he studies the screen.
"Enough to tell me they were working together,” I answer. “Not enough to prove exactly what Ashford was doing."
"Yet," Mandy interjects.
I glance at her. "My guy is still working on the encrypted files."
Luke leans back in his chair. "So Turner kept insurance."
"That's my read."
Jake nods slowly. "Makes sense."
"Turner didn't trust Ashford," I say. "Men like Turner don't trust anyone. If Ashford was above him in the operation, Turner would have wanted leverage in case Ashford decided he'd become expendable."
Harper looks at the screen. "Which means whatever's encrypted could be bad enough to hurt Ashford."
"Or bury him," Luke adds.
Mandy smiles. “Unless I get to him first.”
Nobody speaks for a moment.
Then Mason points at Clara's photograph. "How does she fit?"
I shake my head. "We don't know yet."
"We know enough," Mandy says.
I face her. If she thinks I’m going to hand deliver her to that sick fuck, she needs to have her head examined.
She ignores me, focusing on the Blackthorn team. "Turner was keeping tabs on Clara. Turner was connected to Ashford. Ashford hired Hendricks to bring me to him."
Luke's gaze shifts to me, and Jake's follows. Mason goes still. I can practically hear Lily’s name in his head.
Harper leans forward, her palms on the table. "Ashford hired you to deliver Mandy?"
"Yes."
Nobody moves. I know exactly what they're thinking—whether I ever intended to collect.
Mandy tugs me down to sit in the chair next to hers. "Before everyone gets all murdery on my behalf, Hendricks was never going to turn me over to Ashford."
Luke looks at me. "Obviously."
“Which is why I need you guys to help me convince him to do it,” she says.
“No.” I cross my arms and stare at her levelly.
She sighs. “See? He’s being difficult.”