“That’s…”
“We can do it,” she promised. “It’s why I have you keeping any local IMPO agents on standby, to clean up our messes so we can move quickly to the next. Our only objective right now is fast strikes and clean captures. The rest, you can sort through.”
“Was this part Vincent’s plan or yours?”
“His. I just agree with it. If we move fast enough, we’ll knock Axel off balance. We’ll ruin his side of the board and he’ll be left scrambling. It’s our best bet.” She knew Thompson was concerned about the pace. If someone was injured, they were out until it was over and then teams would be working a man or more down. If one escaped, the others would be alerted too quickly for the IMPO to continue the raids.
Which is why she didn’t mention anything about knowing where the safehouses were. Missy had given those up too, but unless they were needed, she wasn’t going to send people to them. They were the perfect corner to back her enemies into. If that leaked, then it was over. She was back to square one without anyone to give up anything. Only her team knew those addresses and hideaways, and it was going to stay that way.
“They’re all ready to come in,” Vincent called. She looked over her shoulder and nodded. He pulled the door open. Zander pulled his feet off the center table. Jasper took his leg off the table and began to put it back on, Elijah helping, since they had been checking the enchantments on it, to make sure they were strong. Quinn left his wolves with a bone in the corner, which made Sawyer look down at Sombra.
Through the bond, Sawyer pushed the idea of partnership and family. Together, she and Sombra were going to go hunting. It was time for her to let the jaguar off her leash. They had to trust each other, work together. Sombra, the massive jaguar, wasn’t Midnight, the vulnerable housecat. This time, Sawyer wasn’t the target, which meant Sombra wasn’t one.
No, this time, they were the predators and they had the first play.
The only thing Sawyer got back was the solid acceptance and eagerness for the hunt. It was exactly what she needed to feel from her feline.
The two supplementary teams entered the room, taking places in the back. They were all professional. No comments were made. The COs positioned themselves at the front, much like she knew Vincent would have done if it was their team.
“You all know why you’re here?” she asked loudly, letting it carry over the room. She knew they hadn’t been told, but they might have heard a whisper. She had to make sure they hadn’t heard too much or there was a bigger leak she would need to worry about.
“Special Agent Castello and Director Thompson only said we were needed. So we came. What’s the case?” One of the COs decided to take a seat as he spoke. The other followed suit. Sawyer continued to eye the other teams. She was the only woman in the room. These teams were all just a bit older than her guys, probably in their thirties. They were broad-shouldered men, intimidating and ready for action.
They would work.
“Vincent and I, along with our team, are running a case that isn’t public. Not officially.”
“My brother escaped from prison. We’ve been tasked to track him down.” Vincent met her gaze from across the room. They didn’t add that the team, specifically her, was supposed to execute him when they found him. That wasn’t the priority. Not yet.
A few of the IMPO agents covered up gasps with coughs. A couple others didn’t bother, just lighting up the room with a string of curse words that she was nearly impressed by.
“How?” one demanded.
“A member of his organization is a doppelganger. She switched places with him when he made an extended trip to the medical wing after he got jumped by other inmates. That’s what we know. The problem is, we learned that nearly a month after the incident.” She shoved her hands in her coat pockets. New York was so cold that even the meeting room inside the IMPO headquarters was freezing. “We all got brought into the Triad and Councilman Suarez’s mess, which meant Axel went unnoticed for a long time. We’re behind.”
“What changed? Do you need manpower?” One of the other agents was practically tilting his head like a curious dog.
“We’ve gotten the doppelganger to flip, when she realized Axel wasn’t going to break her out, no matter how close she was to the top of his organization, or him. She’s been giving us information about how and where to find his inner circle.” Vincent walked up next to Sawyer. “These are the people we’re after. We needed more hands to help grab them. Director Thompson recommended your teams.”
“Yeah, we can help with this. I didn’t know Steel was a Ghost. Would explain how fast he climbed up and took over South America’s drug world. We’ve been hunting him for a year.”
“We know where he lives, where he sleeps. His other properties. You’re going to get him.” Sawyer smiled as the other agent did as well. She liked these guys a lot more than other agents she had met.
“And when we get him?” the other CO asked, leaning back in his seat.
“We’re going to get all of them. Night one, we’re going to execute three different raids on them, taking who we can. From there, we’re going to hit another two.”
“They’ll figure it out and dig in deeper,” one complained.
“Yeah, they might.” Sawyer looked back up to the faces in the projection. “The problem with Axel’s men and women is that they don’t back each other up. They’re all self-serving. If one of their colleagues was caught, they have no reason to believe they will be. That person failed. That area of Axel’s organization will need to be rearranged and new management will need to be found. That’s why he runs this the way he does. They don’t all sit around him, all the time. They are off handling business, with nothing on them that could lead back to their boss…or each other.”
“Which means they have no reason to think they’ll be at risk if we take out two or three.” The CO was nodding now, accepting the logic.
“I figure, we’ll get round one off cleanly. Round two might be a little more difficult. We’re planning on hitting all of these in a week. By the third, there’s a chance they’ve finally ducked for cover. A chance. And this isn’t everyone. These are just the main members. Axel has others.”
“And when he gets worried, he’ll call all of them to him, to protect himself,” Vincent continued. She’d never felt more in sync with him than in that moment.
“It’s like fox hunting,” one of the new agents snorted. “We’re flushing them out of their tunnels, making them go to ground, and we’re the hounds.”
“Exactly.”
She wanted Axel to be alone. She needed it. If he still had places to hide, people to duck behind and distract her, she would never get him. This was too perfect to pass up, and it made sure none of his current most loyal people would come back to break him out or take his place.
The anger she had felt since his escape was now side by side with a violent happiness.
“We’ll readjourn in an hour. I think my team is hungry and you all need time to think about whether you want in on this.” Vincent waved a hand, dismissing everyone casually. Sawyer tapped Zander’s shoulder to get him to follow the team when he didn’t move like the rest of them.
They walked out the back of the IMPO building on the ground floor, Vincent lighting a cigarette the moment he had the chance.
“They’ll say yes,” he said, before anyone else could even consider starting up a conversation. “Sawyer?”
“They look like they can handle it. I didn’t feel like any were out to get me either. Not a single one of them threw me a side-eye or snide comment. That could change, but it would be nice for it not to happen ever again. We have enough to worry about without drama concerning me.”
“Agreed.” Elijah nodded her way. “They don’t seem all that bad. When do we want to start strikes? You and Sawyer hadn’t decided yet by breakfast, and I would like to know before you two go in there and tell them.”
“Tomorrow night.” Vincent answered. “Everyone okay w
ith that?” Nods all around. “Perfect. Missy is secured, and we increased protection on Talyn as well. It shames me to say, but Missy has given us everything she can. Now we need to not fail in protecting her.”
“Yup.” Sawyer hated the woman, that hadn’t changed, but they’d made her a promise. They would keep her alive, let her live a decent life away from crime for the information. Not a free life, but better than just being in a prison cell. Now they just needed to succeed in the task, which meant it couldn’t get back to Axel until it was too late for him to do anything about it. “We can do this, Vincent.”
“What do you want to do if one of the other teams captures Axel, on the off chance it happens, or he happens to be there?” Vincent was watching her carefully now.
She didn’t have an answer, not a good one.
“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it,” Elijah instead spoke up. “If they can secure Axel, perfect. We win. If they have to kill him, even better. It was still our case, our break, that led to it. She goes free.”
“We can’t give him back to the WMC alive. They’ve proven they can’t be trusted to keep him,” she whispered. “I’ll execute him if any of the teams capture him. I promised the WMC I would deliver that blow. They’ll see his body in the end, no matter how it comes.”
Vincent was watching her carefully and she looked away, unable to handle the stare. She wanted it. She wanted to kill Axel, bleed him out. She wanted to watch the life fade from his eyes and drop to the ground. For everyone. It was better she did it. She could kill and her guys would never have to. She could take out this evil in their lives so they didn’t get hurt. She wanted to take it from them, so they didn’t have to worry about it.
“Okay.” Jasper stepped next to her, kissing her cheek. “We’ll be there with you for it.”
She nodded, closing her eyes. They weren’t going to turn away from her when she did it. That was important. She had worried. She still did. She knew if she had to cross another line, betray a trust to do this, to make them all safe, she would.
She hoped they wouldn’t turn away from her when she did that. She had run from Axel before, thinking she would always fail. Been a coward. Not this time.
She reminded herself she wasn’t going to lose another one. Not like she had lost Henry or Midnight. She and Sombra were going to avenge them and protect their new family.
“We can do this. Just another case. If you have to kill, then that’s how it goes,” Quinn said patiently. “Sometimes, it’s the only way to stop evil. And it’s the best way to protect the world around us. Kill the thing ruining the ecosystem.”
“Always with the nature metaphors,” Zander teased. “Is there a nature metaphor for threesomes?”
Elijah snorted. Sawyer rolled her eyes. Jasper began to chuckle. And suddenly, the world felt less heavy. She playfully glared at Zander, trying to ignore the small amount of embarrassment she felt. She wasn’t going to hide anything she did with the guys, but she couldn’t stop the small, very small, blush threatening to expose her.
He just grinned in response and she knew he’d said something to make everyone laugh a little. He’d grown up so much.
“Is there a nature metaphor for jealous?” Elijah asked, wiggling his eyebrows. “If you ask nicely, maybe Quinn and I will play with you too.”
Quinn growled, and it was one of those growls she only ever heard in the bedroom. There was even a teasing touch to it.
That made everyone laugh as Zander sputtered and turned red.
“Save me.” Zander’s voice entered her head. She just shook her own in response. He was on his own.
“I’m not into other guys!” he exclaimed. “Sorry, Elijah, but this redhead only gets on his knees for his lady.”
“All right,” Vincent cut in, smiling. She was glad that no matter how far he went, the team could still pull him back to happiness. “Everyone focus. We need to find something to eat before this meeting continues.”
“And tomorrow, we’re hunting. We should be focused for that too.” Quinn leaned down and scratched the head of Shade as Scout turned in circles, obviously excited for a hunt.
“Yes, and tomorrow we’re hunting,” she agreed. They began to file back into the building, but Sawyer was stopped by a hand on her elbow. She turned to see Jasper and Zander hadn’t moved yet. “You guys need something?”
“Vincent, y’all go on. We’ll catch up,” Zander said, waving the rest of the team inside.
“Okay. Come in soon, though. I don’t want us separated for too long.” Vincent’s eyes fell on her when he said it. The door closed and she looked at her two oldest friends.
“What’s going on?” She leaned against the wall, looking at both of them.
“I wanted to talk to you about something…” Jasper was shifting around, nervous. She waited patiently. “I’m going to leave the team after this is all said and done. I can’t…keep being an agent after everything.”
“And I’m leaving with him,” Zander added softly.
She let that sink in. Leave the team? They couldn’t…do that to her. This was their family. She had thought it was. She was doing everything so they could all stay together.
“Leave?” The word escaped her, falling out of her mouth with a vulnerability she couldn’t contain.
“Not you, just the job!” Jasper corrected. “Not the guys. We just…I can’t do this anymore, Sawyer. These people have blurred the line between everything I was taught about right and wrong, and you haven’t helped. My government. Our government, our bosses, are asking you to be the assassin Axel made you, to kill him. What if they decide not to give you the pardon after this? What if they tell you to go out again? I can’t support them. I can’t be their dog that sits on command and kills too. I joined because I thought I was upholding the law, but…”
She looked away from him and his blasted stormy blue eyes. Zander just filled her vision instead, all flaming red hair and green eyes, with those freckles she could count and remember from their youth.
“And I’m not going to stay without him. The IMPO was never the career we wanted. After this, I think it’s time for me to really find what I should be doing with my life. Like Jasper, I don’t think this is a good place for me because of what they’ve shown me. How they’ve treated me and the team. I can’t do it.”
“And what about the rest of us?” she asked softly.
“We’re not leaving you or them,” Zander said stubbornly. He grabbed her shoulders. “We’ll keep living with you all, and…being with you. I would never let you go. This isn’t like when we were teens. This isn’t like when Jasper and I aged out and had to find work fast so we enlisted. This is just a career change. That’s all.”
“Me neither. Just the IMPO.” Jasper reached out and touched her cheek. “We wanted to tell you before the rest of the team. This seemed like a good time to do it, before we jump deeper into this case and things get dangerous. We’re not going to tell them for a little while, though. We really wanted you to understand first.”
“Okay…” She nodded, accepting that for a moment. “Okay. We’ll come back to this conversation later.” She couldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t let the team fall apart. She had to do something about it, she just didn’t know what.
“Sawyer…” Jasper murmured. He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m happy right here with you and Zander. I’m just not happy with the job anymore. That’s all.”
They were breaking the family. She held onto him with one arm and reached out to grab Zander’s shirt with the other. Sombra pressed against her legs, trying to keep them all together since she sensed Sawyer felt lost. Like she was losing her males forever.
“We’ll come back to this later,” she promised. She couldn’t focus on it yet, but she was going to find a way to keep her team together. She needed them, all of them. “Don’t do anything rash yet.”
“Of course,” Jasper agreed. “Zander?”
“It’s not like we were going to quit to
morrow.” Zander shrugged. “Like we said. We’re going to see this case through, then figure it all out. Just wanted you to know now. Didn’t want to drop it on your head when it was over.”
She hadn’t even begun thinking about after and here they were, planning on leaving when it was done. She shook her head, pulling away. She walked back inside, unable to find anything else to say. She marched back to the meeting room, Sombra, Zander, and Jasper trying to keep up.
She sat down silently at the large table and grabbed the salad she knew someone put there for her. The other teams were gone, off to think and talk about their own deal in this large case. They weren’t being let out of the building, and she knew Thompson was also having them monitored so no leaks happened.
For a moment, she just ate lunch and ignored the world. Looking around, she saw Zander still teasing Elijah and being teased back. Jasper sat quietly reading, shoulder to shoulder with Vincent.
She now had more work than she figured. Leave the team? No, she couldn’t allow that to happen.
She finished her lunch and threw out the trash. Then she went back to the files. She knew these names and faces. While she had been in, they had been seconds to other inner circle members. They were replacements, like their seconds would be their replacements and so on.
She refocused from her man trouble to the case as she stared and memorized every detail she could. She had an idea. Axel knew she was coming. He knew Sawyer Cambrie Matthews was coming for him, but he’d never been scared of her. He wasn’t scared of some Magi girl.
But he was scared of Shadow. That’s why he always wore a shield when he was in the same room with her when things had turned ugly.
14
Sawyer
Sawyer settled into the small room with two beds. They had to do this fast, so they were able to secure a portal to make it to California without losing time. That meant they only had two rooms at the shabby hotel no one would think to look for them in. The hotel hadn’t had space to give them the three minimum the team normally needed.
A Night of Redemption (The Redemption Saga Book 5) Page 14
