“After my sister, Philippa, died, I spent more time with Zave. But Thad was grown then and he didn’t need me, he was working hundreds of hours at the hospital. I was glad to have someone to take care of. But I always assumed that one day, you know, he would get married and have children, and settle down and…”
“You would be a grandmother,” Devon said and a warm smile flickered onto Bess’ face before her focus fell to the bed.
“I thought I knew him, Devon. I thought I knew who he was and I thought, even with him all grown up, that he respected me.”
Bess had lost so much, not only her son and her faith in reality, but the future she’d taken for granted. “He does,” Devon said. “He has to.”
But she couldn’t possibly know that, and she couldn’t fault Bess for thinking otherwise given everything that Thad had done recently.
“I don’t know what his future will be. And it’s ridiculous, but as a mother, that keeps me up at night. He went into dangerous situations with Zave and Brodie, and I worried for them all, but not like this. Since he was born, I’ve always known roughly where he is or what he’s up to, at least. There’s always been a person I trust watching his back. Through his life, I’ve known what city he was in. I’ve always been able to pick up a phone, I’ve always been able to get in touch with him… now I can’t.”
Devon’s heart broke when she saw the fat tears bleeding from Bess’s lashes. The woman had struggled to hold it together, there was concealer smudged beneath her eyes, and Devon had never seen her wearing makeup. The sparkle that had always beamed out of her expression, that eternal optimism, was gone. She was grieving her son as if he’d lost his life, and in many ways he had, and the relationship they had was broken. It wouldn’t be easily fixed.
“I don’t know why he’s doing this.”
Offering comfort wasn’t easy because Devon didn’t have any answers, but she couldn’t leave Bess hanging and had to give her something. “You know, he told me to tell you he was sorry. He does still love you.”
“But what can I do for him?” Bess asked, sounding more desperate than Devon had ever known her, and it made sadness well up in her own eyes. “I know he’s a grown man, but as a mother, I want to be able to help him. I want to be there for him. I want to know that my baby can always come home to me.”
Devon couldn’t say much more to comfort her, so she just lunged forward to pull her into her arms, and as Bess had said, their roles flipped because Devon hugged and soothed as Bess sobbed into her. It wasn’t right that Thad was doing this to a woman who’d dedicated her life to giving him everything he ever wanted or needed. It was selfish and unreasonable.
But she did believe what she’d said that Thad did still care for his mother, and this wasn’t about any resentment he had toward her. How could anyone resent Bess? It wasn’t possible. But that was little comfort to a woman who just wanted to reach out to her child.
“I just wish he would’ve talked to me,” Bess said when she began to calm down.
Devon stroked her hair from her face and kissed her cheek before hugging her again. “Caine could get a message to him.”
But if he did, that would mean betraying that he’d been here. So unless he was willing to admit to Syn that he’d been here, that wouldn’t work. They couldn’t rely on Thad to keep the secret.
“A message?”
Zave had said something after her return to the island that might not have occurred to Bess. She didn’t want to put ideas in her friend’s head but had to be honest. “There’s one other thing,” Devon said, taking a deep breath because she was hesitant to make the suggestion.
Bess moved out of her embrace. “What?”
“Caine is going back there. He won’t tell us where the base is. So if you were to go there, they wouldn’t let you leave again. I wouldn’t even suggest that you go, but Mitchell did promise nothing would happen to you. Thad did too. I don’t think any of them resent you and Caine seems intent on supporting Zara, so he may be able to protect you.”
“You think I should go to Syn?” Bess asked, exuding nothing but shock. “I don’t want to join them. I don’t want to be any part of—”
“I’m not suggesting you join them or spill Kindred secrets. If it was up to me, I’d tell you to stay here and let us look after you. But if you want to talk to your child, it may be the only way to do it. We don’t know where they are or how long they’ll be in the city. It’s up to you. I won’t tell the others I made the suggestion, yet. Think about it. Caine said he didn’t have to leave for another couple of hours.”
It was a massive decision for Bess to make. Devon hoped Bess would stay here. But she understood what it was to yearn for the chance to talk to someone, communicate, to reach out to them one last time.
Once Thad left the city to start on this mission of eliminating those who’d upset Syn members, they could go to any place in the world. If Zave was right that Thad was expendable, he may be the first man sacrificed if a situation called for it.
Though there were probably people in this country Syn wanted to get through first, but it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack trying to find men who had to be covert or risk exposing the truth about their faked deaths.
Devon sat straighter as Bess was contemplating what she’d said. “I’ll come back in a while,” she said and scooted off the bed.
“Is everything all right?” Bess asked.
Devon nodded. “I just thought of something I need to tell Zave, but don’t feel like a prisoner in here. If you want to come out and join the others, you can. I’m so glad you’re here.”
Smiling before she left the room, she tried to subdue her adrenaline rush, but once the door was closed, she darted up the hallway. Everyone was talking when she got there, but she didn’t hesitate in marching over to stand between Brodie and Swift and Tuck who were seated opposite Caine.
“My brother will be on that list,” Devon said. Caine’s chewing slowed. “Won’t he?”
If Syn had been pissed off at Rig enough that they ordered she be kidnapped to teach him a lesson, they’d be pissed off enough that the original plan hadn’t worked and may take another swing.
“Probably,” Caine said, not bothering to swallow.
She looked to her husband. “We have to do something. They said that they set things up to happen automatically. What if they’ve sent somebody after him?”
Zave turned to Brodie, who got up to head for the phone. “I’ll call Rig, he’ll be fine,” Brodie said.
He dialed and waited, and she didn’t want anyone to speak until she heard him acknowledging her brother. She waited. And waited. And nothing happened.
Brodie hung up. “He didn’t answer,” he said and put the phone on the kitchen island to come back to the table as if it was no big deal.
Caine didn’t have enough compassion to be upfront with them, and she felt guilty that she hadn’t queried her brother’s safety already. “Have they hurt him?” she asked Caine but moved toward Zave because she didn’t have the time to play games. “I have to go to him.”
She turned to head for the bedroom, where she intended to pick up her passport and her overnight bag. But Zave got in front of her before she reached the stairs. “You can’t fly commercial, they’ll find you.”
She didn’t need him throwing up more obstacles, she just had to get to her brother. “How? They don’t care about me. They don’t have a computer pro—”
“Searching a flight manifest isn’t difficult,” Tuck said. “And they have Howie. If they’ve got a weapon to his head, God knows what he’s doing for them. He didn’t hold up too well against Sikorski, and I’ll admit Saint isn’t quite on that level, but the kid is just a kid.”
What did they expect her to do? Sit on her ass? “I don’t care,” Devon said. “I can’t just sit here.”
She tried to get past Zave, but he snatched her arm. “They threatened your life, Devon, you don’t leave my side.”
Assertive a
s he was, she wasn’t going to give up, although she was open to being reasonable and finding solutions. “I’ll take security,” she said. “I’ll have Petri fly with me.”
But her husband wasn’t interested in breaking barriers, only placating her. “You need to calm down,” he said. “So your brother didn’t answer the phone one time, so what? He could be busy.”
“He could be taking a shit,” Caine offered, but the suggestion wasn’t helpful.
“It could be anything,” Zave said. “Maybe he’s just not in the room. Maybe he’s on the other line. Maybe he’s in a meeting with his gang. Let’s just finish our food. Get some more answers. And we’ll try him again in a while, ok?”
They might think this was no big deal and she should just chill out. But Devon was fraught now that she’d realized her blood was on Syn’s hit list. “We can’t just leave him out there.”
“We won’t. We’ll think of something.”
Rig would have to be part of whatever plan the Kindred was going to come up with. But that strategy meeting wouldn’t happen until after Caine left. Her strong reaction may have been ill-advised because if Caine was working both sides, she’d just exposed a weakness. But it wasn’t a leap that she cared about her brother or that he cared about her. Syn already knew that.
She let Zave take her back to the table and sit her down. Suddenly, her food didn’t seem that appetizing.
“This is good chow,” Caine said.
Devon couldn’t believe how he could happily scoff so much when she felt so sick. Zave took her hand, curling his fingers around hers as he speared more of his own lunch into his mouth. Sustenance was important, but it was impossible to eat when the food felt like sand in her throat. Her brother was out there, and she didn’t need to see Syn’s list to know that he was on it. Until she heard his voice or had him with her, Devon wasn’t going to settle. She’d give it five more minutes, and then she was phoning again.
SIXTEEN
She’d been told that he was safe. Initial relief became impatience as all she could do was wait the day it took them to get him here. Brodie had told Rigor to come to them, and at her request, Zave had sent security to escort him. Rigor would hate to have a bunch of guys surrounding him like he was in some way vulnerable, but Devon wasn’t willing to take the risk with his safety and would be happy to let him argue with her about it.
It didn’t help her impatience that everyone else seemed to have things to do. Bess had taken to the kitchen, as on the island, household chores helped to distract her from what was going on. Kadie and Zara had gone out to gather supplies, Brodie was in one of the bedrooms with Tuck and Zave, either helping with the build or whispering. Devon didn’t know which was more infuriating.
“He’ll be here any minute,” Bess called from the kitchen where she was cooking, though there hadn’t been much for her to cook with. Grocery shopping was low on the to-do list.
Leaving the couch, Devon went over to the kitchen island, keeping out of Bess’ way, but appreciating the chance to vent. “Until I’m looking at him, I won’t be sure about that… We should never have let him leave. What were we thinking?”
Bess kept stirring the pot on the stove. “It’s difficult to predict which turn Kindred missions will take,” she said. “He wanted to go back to his own life, and everyone thought it was safe.”
“Well, it wasn’t,” Devon muttered.
She’d assumed that Rigor was still with the Kindred when Zave called them back here, though it hadn’t occurred to her to single him out and request that he join them. With Dempsey safe and Howie not being Rigor’s problem, he’d have gone back to his own affairs, probably acting like his empire would collapse if he wasn’t around to hold it up.
Rigor’s “empire” was insignificant and hadn’t been built on doing work like the Kindred did. Devon wished she’d been more vocal about his choices. If she had been, maybe they wouldn’t be here now. She’d left her brother to his own destiny and allowed him to keep her out of it. She’d failed to see her role in his life as that of his conscience. If she had spoken out, pushed her way into his life, maybe he wouldn’t be a target for groups like Syn. Maybe he wouldn’t have gotten involved with the Kindred either, and then neither of them would be here.
Turning to rest on her elbows, she observed the sumptuous, modern apartment that she now called home. “Men like your brother take risks every day,” Bess said. “He lives a dangerous life.”
The people he did business with, and those he hired to do business for him, were often selfish and fickle. Devon knew there was always a possibility that Rig would be hurt by those who were in and out of his life. Naively, she’d always believed him capable and skilled. That was until she met the Kindred and she saw what real skills were.
Rigor was vulnerable, he would never admit it, but he was low-level. There was no finesse to what he did. She’d been able to tell in the KC office that he admired Brodie, although again, his ego would never allow him to admit it. What she should do was talk to Zave about Rigor becoming more involved, because if he was going to be a criminal, she’d rather he had the closer protection of the Kindred than be out there with people she wouldn’t trust to look out for him.
Zave would resist, as the Kindred were particular about who they accepted into their ranks. But technically, now that they were married, Rigor was family. Pondering the merit of this argument and the likelihood that it would work, she almost missed the knock at the door. When it sounded again, louder this time, she pounced upright and gasped.
“Rig!”
Pulling open the door, she expected to be greeted by an angry brother or at least a frustrated one. But Rig was great at throwing curveballs. “Where’s Rave?” he asked, swanning past her into the apartment.
Closing the door, Devon guessed there had been more conversation between the men than she’d been privy too because he wasn’t asking her questions, and it wasn’t like him to be so accepting without explanation. Rig seemed to be hyper, but in a “I’m ready to get the job done” type way, rather than a “I’m ready to start kicking ass” way.
Offended that he would rather see the sniper than his sister, she said, “It’s nice to see you too.” Folding her arms, she watched him pace around the open-plan space, taking note of Bess and what she was doing before heading into the living room. “I’ve been worried about you, Rig.”
Distracted though he was, it wasn’t her safety that was in the forefront of his mind. “You’re with the Kindred. What do you have to worry about?”
That was a change in tune from the last time she’d seen him in Zave’s KC office, and she wouldn’t be fulfilling her sisterly duties if she didn’t remind him of that. “I thought I was in danger here. I thought you were pissed at me.” Her thoughts about questioning his moods and choices seemed to have translated into action.
Taking his place in front of the TV, his frown said he wasn’t in the mood to be held to account. “Yeah. I’m pissed that you haven’t answered my question.”
But he hadn’t answered hers either, and that he could skip over his previous feelings about who she was spending her time with made her feel out of the loop. Something had to have been said to him, to have been explained, for him to just be ok with it now, and she wanted him to tell her what it was.
“You were ready to pull me away from here,” she said. “At KC, you demanded that I leave my husband.”
As soon as she used the word, she kicked herself for reminding him of her nuptials. He was happy that she was safe with the Kindred but probably not happy she’d gotten herself hitched without word. “Before I knew he was your husband,” he said and scowled. “How the fuck could you get married and not tell me? Don’t you think that's weird? That he cut me out like that? You can’t blame me for being suspicious when it was kept secret.”
From his point of view, maybe. From hers, he’d never been that involved in her life. Although, it could be argued that there was no precedent for this situation, as neither of
them had made such a lasting life decision before.
Maybe a confession would make him feel better. “Zave wanted you to be there. He was happy to wait and do it right. I told him that you wouldn’t care. I picked the date.”
From his blinking surprise, she worried that she might have upset him. “You think I wouldn’t care that my only family, my baby sister, got married?”
The front door opened, and Zara came in with Kadie. Devon was grateful that the new entrants made him forget what they were talking about, so she didn’t have to apologize or soothe his ego, whichever was the cause for his consternation.
“Rig, you’re here,” Zara said as she and Kadie dumped their bags on the table. Bess came over to help Kadie begin to unpack. “I’ll get the guys. We have a lot to talk about.”
Devon went into the kitchen to help Bess put the food stuffs away with Kadie, while Zara retrieved the men. No one wasted time on drawn out greetings.
Brodie gestured to the dining table, and then they were sitting down. “You saw the video?” Brodie asked.
Devon didn’t know that the Kindred had shared Grant’s home movie with her brother. But it was an encouraging sign of trust that they did. Although, the Kindred didn’t care about keeping Grant’s secret. He was the one who wanted to remain dead.
It wouldn’t shatter their world if the video was leaked, if it was shared around, if it was sent to the media. Grant was the one who’d risked exposure by putting himself on film. It was obviously believed to be a risk worth taking, and he had shrouded his identity in the darkness. Although Devon imagined that either voice analysis or image enhancement could probably verify both who was on the tape and when it was made. But she was no expert.
Finch (Kindred #6) Page 18
