Give Me War

by Kate McCarthy

  Then Mitch’s phone rings. He looks at it, muttering, “Rossiter,” then steps away to take it.

  Coby stands with hands on his hips while I pace, impatient.

  Kelly hangs up first, done, and tucks his phone away as he returns to the huddle. “The Sentinels don’t know where they stashed her but I got ‘em workin’ on it.”

  Then Mitch hangs up and my eyes shoot to his.

  “Rossiter says she’s safe. Out of the line of fire. But that’s all he knows.”

  “Safe? Gee my mind is now at fucking ease,” I bite out, thick on the sarcasm. Evie is with the Vipers. There’s no safe in that scenario. “We need to get a hold of Rossi’s contact.”

  “Working on it,” my brother replies.

  “So what’s the plan?” Coby prompts, his attention turning to Kelly.

  Kelly lays it out for us and I have to admit, it’s beyond insane. It’s the kind of plan that could compromise our relationship with the AFP, compromise our reputation, and compromise our lives. But it’s also a plan that could see the Vipers back down. Permanently.

  Coby shakes his head. “That kinda shit would take weeks to put together. We don’t have that kind of time.” He jerks his arm out, pointing to God knows where. “My sister is out there and she needs us now.”

  Kelly ignores him and looks at me, his eyes willing me to trust him. “Give me just a few hours. I can get this done.”

  We don’t have a few hours, but his plan is the best we’ve got. I give him a nod. “Get it done.”

  His response is a chin lift before pulling out his phone and turning away.

  While he does that, I deal with another problem. Taking my brother by the shoulder, I pull him out of the huddle until we’re a good enough distance away. Mitch hasn’t hesitated wading into this and God knows I can’t risk Evie’s life by going it alone, but I can’t ask him to do this. “You gotta stand down. This game we’re always playing is a dangerous one. Skirting the law on just about everything we do. I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to cover our tracks this time. There’s going to be consequences. It’s not just your job at stake here.”

  Mitch looks at me. His eyes are hard and I can’t remember seeing them any other way since Gabriella died. “Try stopping me, Jared. I know the risks better than anyone.”

  We arrive at our offices to find them almost deserted. Casey and Seth remain, both of them bent over the large square table in the meeting room. Between them is a map of Sydney dotted with pins and a pile of empty takeout cups.

  Casey runs fingers through his hair, straightening as we walk in. He answers the question before we can voice it. “We’ve marked out every Viper location we know of and we’ve assigned everyone we have to check each one.”

  “Any luck yet?” Coby asks.

  A growl of frustration escapes him, and he crumples a takeout cup before hurling it against the wall. “None. It’s like they’ve all crawled up inside their own assholes and disappeared.”

  We outline the plan to Casey and Seth while Tim steps inside with another tray full of coffees. He calmly sets it on the table before picking up the one Casey tossed and leaving the room. It’s not like him. Not usually. There’s always a smart retort to anything Casey says or does, but today his expression is sober, and terror seems to run beneath the layers of his skin.

  I squeeze his shoulder as he walks past, halting him. It’s Christmas Eve and he doesn’t have to be here. “Thanks Tim.”

  He huffs. “It’s just coffee.”

  “Right,” I mutter. “Just coffee.”

  His eyes well up and turns his head away, blinking rapidly. “Get her back, Jared,” he tells me before leaving the room.

  Seth hands me a coffee but I shake my head. I can’t stomach it. “Where are the girls?”

  “At your house,” he tells me. “Apparently.”

  Kelly hangs up from a phone call and comes to me. “Bingo wants a meet.”

  I nod. We knew this was coming. The President of the Sentinels wants to make demands. What we’re asking isn’t huge. It’s fucking huge. “Will he take it here?”

  “Yes. But there’s a slight problem.”

  “What?”

  “Says he wants the meet with Grace.”

  “What?” Casey barks from across the table. Grace and Bingo have a history. Quite a big one. He says she saved his life when he was drunk and set his own beard on fire. The biker President returned the favour by helping save her from a dangerous situation involving his own sister no less. Bingo apparently trusts her, and only her—we’re too much on the right side of the law for his liking—but going by the hard look on Casey’s face, he’s having none of it. “No.”

  “Says he won’t deal with anyone else.”

  I turn to Mitch. “Call Travis. Get him to bring her in.” Then I turn to Casey. His arms are folded, fury vibrating from every cell in his body. “She’s not doing this alone. We’ll be right there with her.”

  He glares at me before his head turns to Mitch. “I’ll make the call.”

  The meeting doesn’t take place until late afternoon, and we bring Grace in at the last moment. She steps through the open door, followed by Travis. My brother takes up a position around the table, but Grace comes straight to me, pulling me into a hug.

  “Wolf is fine.” Grace is tall, but I still have to duck my head to hear her softly murmured words. “He’s missing you both, but he’s fine. We’ve let him unwrap a bunch of presents. We’re leaving the rest for when you get Evie home.” She pulls back and looks at me, both hands gripping my biceps. “Okay?”

  I nod, muttering a gruff, “Thanks.”

  “Whatever you need.”

  Grace moves in beside Casey, standing between the both of us. I don’t miss the way he tucks his hand in hers and gives it a squeeze.

  “Right.” Mitch unfolds his arms and leans them down on the table, resting on his knuckles as he scans the room, his eyes landing on Bingo. “We all know why we’re here.”

  The president of the Sentinels speaks up, his voice gravel. “I’m here because Grace asked me to be here.”

  We all let that slide.

  “Thanks for coming, Bingo,” she tells him. “I appreciate it.”

  He nods, happy with her response. “Seems the Vipers have stolen your best friend.”

  I restrain the urge to reach across the table and punch the biker. But I don’t. We need the Sentinels, and that means we have to play by whatever rules he wants.

  Grace glances up at me, hesitating for the briefest second. I give her a nod of encouragement and she speaks up. “That’s right,” she repeats, her gaze shifting to the big, burly president. “They snatched up my best friend right out from under my nose.”

  “How can I help you, Grace?” he asks.

  Casey whispers in her ear, telling her what to say while I stand with arms folded, impatient.

  His wife spells out the plan and Bingo rubs his beard as if contemplating her request despite him knowing full-well what we wanted before he even agreed to come here. His gaze cuts to mine with speculative interest, finally deigning to speak to me. “Say we do you this … favour, what would we get in return?”

  Tension rises in the room.

  We discussed this before Bingo’s arrival. An answer could not be agreed upon.

  My muscles draw tight. “We would owe you one.”

  Owing the Sentinels is no small thing.

  It’s huge.

  But it’s Evie.

  Bingo rubs his beard some more, and the painfully slow deliberation makes me want to rip it from his face.

  “You get something from this too.”

  His gravelly voice addresses me. “And what’s that?”

  “Territory.”

  “And what if I tell you we got enough territory? Don’t need no more.”

  Straightening to my full height means looking down at the biker from across the table. “If you told me that, I’d call you a liar.”

  Tension rises to greate
r heights.

  After a moment, Bingo chuckles and Mitch exhales, his head tipping down. “You’d be right, Valentine.” His eyes harden, the biker’s unpredictability leaving me on edge. “Lucky I’m not a fuckin’ liar then eh?” His eyes shoot back to Grace. “What about the cops?”

  I lean down, whispering in Grace’s ear.

  “It’s our call,” she tells him. “We’ll deal with the fallout.”

  His eyes harden. “You best deal with it, darlin’, or else.”

  Casey is a single breath away from vaulting across the table and knocking Bingo to the ground, but Grace is squeezing his hand so tight his fingers turn purple.

  The meeting adjourns after the details are ironed out. Bingo and his entourage leave, roaring out into the dusky night. The rumbling engines fade as I walk out of the building, finding myself in the driveway that leads to the undercover parking.

  We’re going to get her back, I tell myself, over and over, but it does nothing to ease the fear.

  Travis appears beside me, silent as a cat, and I speak my thoughts aloud. “All I’ve thought about is getting her back. It’s been my only focus. I haven’t stopped to think until now, what happens after that. What if she…” Fuck. My knees feel loose. “What if she doesn’t want to come back? To me? This entire shitfest is my fault. Just like Jimmy was my fault. I’ve been terrified of this happening ever since the last time. This business, it’s too dangerous. It makes Evie a target. And Wolf.” My vision blurs and I drop my head.

  “It’s not your fault. It was Jimmy’s, and now it’s the Vipers.”

  “But what I do puts them both in the line of fire. I tried to walk away once, after she got shot, but I couldn’t stay away, and now she might die because of it.”

  “Don’t, Jared.”

  I let out a shaky breath. “It’s the only way I know how to keep my family safe.”

  Travis grabs my shoulder, forcing me to look at him. “Don’t you dare walk away. And don’t you ever doubt her love for you. She knows this business is a part of who you are. She would never ask you to give it up. Just like you wouldn’t ask it of her.”

  “Don’t you get it, Trav? I don’t doubt her love for me, or mine for her. But love alone isn’t enough to keep her safe.”

  “No, you don’t get it, brother. Love is everything. It’s bigger than life. And worrying about the bad stuff happening just keeps you from enjoying the good.”

  I breathe out slowly and walk away from my brother, making my way up the drive. I stare out blindly, wishing I could go back to this morning. The way we were touching, knowing our son was safe in the next room. My hands on her warm skin, her eyes dark and sleepy and filled with hunger. Only this time I’d tell her I got so caught up on my own sense of failure it eclipsed all else. This time I’d tell her I’m sorry. That I love her with everything I have. But now there’s a chance I might not get to tell her anything at all. And that’s on me.

  I glare at the map of Sydney. Once spread out on the meeting table, we shifted it to our control room before Bingo’s arrival, pinning it to the oversized corkboard on the wall. Everyone returned from scouting each pinned location with nothing. We sent them back out to keep watching. Night has turned to dawn and Evie is smoke. Nothing but a wisp on the wind.

  With a growl of rage, I fist the map and rip it from the wall.

  The room goes quiet.

  “Lorenzo Rossi,” I snarl into the tense silence.

  Everyone looks at me.

  “He’s the only one we know who’s with her.”

  “Okay?” Mitch says, in a tone urging me to go on.

  “He’s undercover with the AFP. I know you mentioned hacking the system to find his location wasn’t possible.”

  My brother shakes his head. “That kind of information won’t be recorded.”

  “Okay, what about his contact? Can’t we go put the hurt on him?”

  “That information won’t be recorded either. I have no idea who it is. Rossiter doesn’t know either. He couldn’t tell me even if he knew, Jared.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “I’m sure. They don’t compromise deep undercovers for anything.”

  “Evie isn’t just anything!” I yell, reaching breaking point. “Someone in the AFP knows where Evie is and they’re not telling. They think this operation is more important than my wife?”

  My phone rings, vibrating in the back pocket of my jeans. I yank it free, checking the screen. It’s Mac. I send it to voicemail with the press of a button, my fingers shaking with fury.

  It rings again.

  Goddammit, Mac. I don’t have time.

  I send it to voicemail and set my phone down.

  It rings again, vibrating angrily across the table in the only way a phone can when it’s Mac calling you. I pick it up with a huff, hitting the green button and putting it to my ear.

  “What?” I bark.

  “Any news?”

  “None.”

  There’s a pause. “We need the security footage from the gallery.”

  “What? Who the hell is we?” I hear the ding of an elevator and my temper skyrockets because they are clearly not at my house. Mac is apparently on the loose again and I can’t handle her rogue bullshit on top of everything else. “Where the hell are you?”

  “Jake said you emailed the footage to yourself before leaving the gallery,” she replies, dodging the question. “We need to see it.”

  My hand tightens on the phone. “Where are you, Mackenzie Valentine?”

  “Don’t full name me,” she snaps. “We’re at Echo’s.”

  “Who is? All of you? What the hell? Who’s looking after Wolf?”

  The room snaps to attention.

  “Mum and Dad are there. He was sleeping when we left, okay? He’s fine.”

  I pinch the furrow between my brows. “Just … go home. Please.”

  “I can’t.” Pain bleeds into her voice. “I tried. I promise you, I tried. But I can’t sit on my hands like this. None of us can. We need to do something. Just email me the footage okay? Maybe we might find something you missed.”

  My nostrils flare. “Fine.”

  “Jared.” My sister lowers her voice. “I’m not good with words, but Evie is strong. She won’t go down …” She breathes in a shuddery breath. “She won’t …” But she can’t seem to get the words out.

  She won’t go down without a fight.

  I close my eyes.

  My phone rings a scant ten minutes later with its usual urgent insistence and I know it’s Mac this time before I even check the screen. Putting the device to my ear, I’m halfway through answering when she yells in my ear. “We have Renny’s location!”

  My pulse leaps. “What? How?”

  Mitch, Coby, and Seth, are the only ones left in the room with everyone else scattered on stakeout assignment, and they all turn to me. Tucking the phone against my shoulder, I swirl my finger in the air with one hand, while grabbing my keys in the other. They leap into action as Mac speaks. “Echo zoomed in on Renny’s bike. Apparently it’s one of the newer ones. They’re fitted with a GPS tracker in case they’re stolen. Did you know that?” She keeps talking without waiting for an answer. “Well she used the licence plate to get the VIN and hacked into the GPS.”

  “Fuck.” My heart is pounding as we jog out the back exit and down the dingy stairs leading to the undercover parking lot. The keys rattle in my hand as I run for the Porsche. “Message the location.”

  “Ace just did.” And sure enough a message pings in my ear. “Ask Echo if she can get a phone number from that location.”

  If Echo is as good as she seems to be, she should be able to hack into the nearest tower and triangulate a signal.

  “She’s already working on it.”

  I’m sliding into the Porsche, Mitch slamming into the passenger seat, when another ping comes through. “Ace just sent it.”

  Jesus. Echo’s skills are insane. I owe her big. And Mac.

  The re
vving engine of my car reverberates through the cavernous underground garage as I plant my foot. Tyres screech as I spin the wheel, heading for the bright light of the exit.

  “Jared?”

  “Thanks Mac.”

  I hang up and toss the phone at Mitch. “Rossi’s number and location are in messages. Forward the address to Seth and make sure he passes it on to everyone else, then call Rossi. We need to make sure he still has Evie stashed in that safe house—" he catches the device, already scrolling while I speak, “—and we need to find out who and how many are inside it.” I check the time on the dash. Seven a.m. “We have two hours.”

  My brother doesn’t question a thing. He simply dials the number like the cool, calm professional motherfucker he is and puts the call on speaker.

  It’s answered after four rings. “Yeah?”

  “Mitchell Valentine. AFP. This Lorenzo Rossi?”

  There’s a pause, and then, “Yeah.”

  Holy shit. Echo got him. She actually got him. My hands tighten on the steering wheel. Traffic is almost non-existent, being Christmas Day. The tyres of my car lay a wild arc of rubber onto the bitumen behind me as I fly out onto the road.

  Evie’s voice bursts through a second later, her voice muffled but harsh. The relief is so intense my vision blurs through the windscreen of the car. “Put the phone down or I swear to God I’ll put a bullet in you.”

  “Christ,” Mitch mutters. “Is that Evie?”

  “Yeah it is. How did you get this number?”

  “She’s got a gun?” my brother asks.

  A sense of pride sweeps through me. That’s my fucking girl.

  “Yes she does.”

  “Your wife scares me almost as much as our sister,” Mitch mutters before speaking to Rossi. “You’re in a safe house?”

  “Yes?”

  “Where?” he barks, wanting confirmation that the address we have is the right one.

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “You sonofabitch!” I shout. “Tell me where my goddamn wife is or your life is over!”

  “No,” Rossi replies. “You need to back off.”

  “Are you kidding me right now?”

  “You just need to attend the meeting like planned and do what the fuck you’re told to do. Evie stays here. The safest place for her is nowhere near you right now.”