They were just padding. Extra numbers. Men for Grant McCormack and Frank Mitchell to manipulate and direct. They wouldn’t lose any sleep or spend any time trying to rescue them, they’d be written off as collateral damage. Standard breakage, factored into the cost of doing business.
The two main men were pivotal. If the Kindred could control one of them, they might be able to break out of this terrifying predicament.
Devon wasn’t finished stressing when Rig burst into the room. “Get the hell out of here!” she demanded.
“No way! What the fuck do you think you’re doing, speaking to me like that in front of those guys down there?”
So he was embarrassed? She’d hurt his pride? His dignity was bruised? She punched his shoulder. “I don’t give a fuck what those guys think of you, and I don’t care if you’re pissed at me. Don’t you get that you and me are the only family we have? If you go out there, they can’t guarantee you’ll live. I can’t guarantee that this Caine guy won’t shoot you. Maybe this is all a game to him, and he wants to draw you out. How the hell do I know?”
Rig threw up his hands. “What do you want me to do? Sit here like a pussy hiding? How does that help anyone?”
“It doesn’t,” Zave said from the doorway behind Rig. “Shy, we need a way out of this. The alternative is Swift and me giving them exactly what they want.”
Somewhat deflated, she couldn’t accept that their options were so bleak. “That’s not the only alternative,” she said, although she had to admit that she was no strategist and didn’t have a better plan. “He’s my brother. He’s the only family I have.”
Disregarding Rig even though he stood a foot to her left, Zave came to her. “I know what it is to lose family,” he said. “If you tell me not to do this.” He curled his hands around each side of her neck. “We won’t.”
“Fuck that,” Rig said.
Zave ignored her brother and as usual, made her his focus. Putting her at the center of his universe gave him clarity, but she was still confused. “If we have to knock him out and send him to the suite on the island to protect him, we will,” her husband said.
Their sniper wouldn’t be quick to agree with tossing their plan out the window. “Brodie won’t accept that.”
Zave was enamored by her gaze. “Sure he will because his wife calls the shots he makes. He’ll understand that mine does the same.”
Finding his bluster, Rig injected his opinion. “I’m not going to no fucking island. I’m not going to no fucking cell.”
Another voice rose from the doorway, “You’ll go where we tell you to go.” Everyone turned to see Zara observing them. “Give me a minute with Devon.”
Zave kissed her head before grabbing Rig to give him a shove toward the door. Her brother wasn’t getting a choice about leaving her with Zara. Once the men were gone, Zara closed the door.
Self-conscious, Devon squirmed. “I’m not trying to be difficult.”
But Zara didn’t care about why Devon was acting the way she was, at least, she didn’t ask for explanations. Clear and calm, she smiled and shrugged. “Zave’s right,” Zara said. “I mean, we need this. More than maybe we’ve needed anything else. Because right now we have nothing to barter.”
Glad that someone was at last acknowledging the Kindred were perhaps acting out of desperation, it wasn’t enough to make her back down but was enough to soften her mood. “You’re trading on my brother’s life.”
Zara didn’t sugar coat the truth, and Devon wondered if she’d always been like that or if Brodie had influenced the way she was with people. “Yeah. But taking risks is what we do, Devon. I’ve seen the people your brother spends his time with, he’s in danger more than you probably think.”
More than she’d faced before her ordeal. Devon wasn’t as naïve now as she had once been. Retreating to the bed, she sat down. Hooking her hands under her thighs, she sighed. “I thought he was brought here to keep him safe, and I was the one who made a big deal about bringing him here.”
Although Devon knew that Zara was trying to assuage her guilt, she appreciated the effort. “We’d have come round to the same strategy either way. Rig is the only non-Kindred member who we know for sure they want,” Zara said as she sauntered over to sit next to her on the bed. “So right now we have three choices.”
Could Zara hold the salvation she needed and be able to save Rig from being in danger? “Three?” Devon said, experiencing a flare of hope that made her twist.
But Zara didn’t smile and get excited, she remained composed. “Option one is this, we put Rig out there. We start the fight after we know for sure Caine’s positioned Grant where we want him. Then when Syn come to take Rig down, we sneak up behind them.”
That option was the one she’d been arguing to avoid, and so she was happy to pass on it without giving it much consideration. “Option two?” she asked.
“Option two, we do exactly what they want. Our guys build the tech, we hand it over, we walk away and wait to hear about tragedy on the news.”
A tragedy that would be on all of their heads. Zave’s guilt would go into overdrive, he’d implode. Because he had been the one who would’ve built the device that might have caused, or at least facilitated, the destruction of others. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t been the one to flip any switch or that handing over the tech had been a Kindred decision. That was the way his mind worked. And Devon wasn’t sure how committed she could be to guiding him away from his path of self-destruction because she would have to live with her own culpability.
They would only follow option two if she vetoed option one. If there had been an obvious, or preferable, option, someone would have suggested it when she voiced opposition downstairs. But she had to ask, “And option three?”
Zara squeezed her lips around her teeth and lowered her chin to focus on the floor, sending any remaining hope Devon might have had swirling down the drain. Goosebumps cascaded over her forearms. Whatever Zara was about to say, it wasn’t anything Devon was going to enjoy hearing. “Option three involves building the devices too. While that was happening we’d have to set up a meet.”
“What kind of meet?”
“In Mexico.” Tilting her head, Zara made eye contact and must have seen Devon’s dread. “Caine isn’t the only one who’s good at manipulation. Although Syn and the Kindred have a common enemy in the cartels that took you, that can be turned to our advantage. If we can persuade them to our side, we can increase our ranks and try a full-on assault to take Syn down. It’s complicated. We would never be able to mobilize and build the trust we need before Syn’s deadline. So, we’d have to give them what they want and hope that they don’t use it. The second issue, of course, is that we don’t know where they are. After the exchange, they could go anywhere in the world. The cartels will only travel so far, depending on how much they want it.”
Hardly able to believe it, she felt sick at the prospect. “You want to ally yourselves with the men who took me, the men who took Bronwyn, the men who—”
“No,” Zara said, “that’s why the option was completely discounted. We know Syn want Rig, and we know they promised Thad they would take down the cartels.”
So those were the only two places that the Kindred knew Syn were going to be aiming for. Except Devon couldn’t go back to Mexico and face those people. It would mean putting Zave into terrible danger because he was the only face they knew. He would have to be present. So would Brodie, so would Tuck. She would want as much manpower down there as possible, and if they chose that option, Rigor would want to be involved too.
Now she had to decide which she preferred. Her brother in a familiar city with the Kindred controlling the op? Or another mission south of the border in a place that had only ever been hell for her, dealing with volatile characters in the cartel, hoping that they didn’t kidnap or torture the Kindred men.
Drawing in a long breath through her nose, she exhaled. “I have to be there. The argument’s a good idea because if the
y believe Rig and I are fighting, they might think no one will notice he’s gone.”
“Exactly,” Zara said, and Devon appreciated that the woman didn’t smile because Devon was still terrified and didn’t want anyone to think she was happy about doing this.
Resigned, there was nothing left to argue, as Zara had made her point. “Call Caine and get him to start working Grant from his side. I’ll get Rig to send his men home, I don’t trust any of them.” Zara was nodding. “I’ll let you do this,” Devon said. “But you have to promise me that we will get Grant McCormack. That we will get Game Time back and that Zave won’t have to hand over any of his creations to Syn.”
Zara took her hand. “If this works,” she said, “Syn won’t even exist anymore. We’re going to neutralize this threat. The Kindred are tenacious, and we’ll keep fighting as long as one of us still breathes.”
And that was what worried her. For now, they all had air in their lungs. But if there was one hitch, one miscalculation, one delay, someone she cared about could lose their life, and the first person they were talking about putting in the line of fire was her only blood relative.
Devon was apprehensive, but being in the Kindred was no cakewalk, and she’d said she was willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. It was just taking her longer to adjust to this way of life than she’d realized it would.
SEVENTEEN
“Ok, I’m going,” Devon muttered to herself.
She’d just pushed out of the glass-fronted coffee shop and was storming down the street, wearing an expression of ire. Anyone who was watching would’ve seen, or overheard, her and her brother shouting at each other in the quiet corner shop that was chosen specifically because it was small and out of the way. Their argument hadn’t been missed by anyone in, or around, the establishment. Selecting this place made sure it wasn’t lost in throngs of people.
It was a whole day after they concluded that this was the course of action they had to take. Zara said that Caine was confident a day would be enough time for him to manipulate Grant into grabbing Rig. He’d already convinced Syn to watch the Kindred building. The man was lazy, but efficient.
Thad would’ve spoken of the value of surveillance, so he had probably backed Caine up without realizing he was playing into their plan. The Kindred had cameras everywhere. Deliberately placing them not only in US buildings and cities but around the world, watching people and places that they didn’t have the man power to observe at all times.
“Keep going,” she whispered, forcing herself to keep her strides long. “That’s fine. Walk away from the only family I have. Leave my brother alone to be attacked.”
“Stop talking,” Brodie said in her ear.
As this was part of a Kindred op, she was wearing an earpiece. So were Rig, and Zave, and Zara, and Tuck. Everyone was focused on her now because her role was coming to an end; she was about to leave the stage. After she was in the wings, all eyes would fall on Rigor as they waited with bated breath to see when he would be descended upon.
“She’s doing great,” Zara said to her husband, her voice coming through the same earpiece to Devon. “You can work with voices in your head, beau. It’s not easy to walk away from someone you care about.”
“Let’s not turn this into a domestic,” Tuck said.
They’d gone over and over and over the plan. Devon knew she was supposed to turn right, to carry on down the street to the car where her husband was waiting for her. She wished she could hear his voice now, but he wouldn’t speak on a public airway, much less reveal anything of his inner thoughts to such a large group. The point was that this had to look realistic.
She and her brother wanted time alone. But Zave, as the new husband, would still be worried about her. So he would insist on taking them to this neutral location, and he would wait for his wife out of concern for her safety.
He’d even gone so far as to put Petri on her tail, and she knew that the man who was becoming her personal bodyguard would be hurrying to keep up with her. Devon was to be protected at all costs, and Syn wouldn’t see anything suspicious in her husband waiting for her or putting security on her.
The argument had been so real that for a minute, she’d forgotten it was fake. Rig had bought the drinks and they’d chattered for a few minutes, making the scenario as realistic as possible. In time with her own emotion, as her anxiety rose, she requested that they return to Zave and that was when Rig got angry and he told her to stop looking to her husband to protect her. As her brother, he believed that when he was around, he could do it. He would look after her. Rig didn’t want to be second to the man who owned KC and now owned his little sister.
Anyone who knew anything about Rig would know he had an ego. They’d know how much he needed to be in charge. Syn would be blinded by those flaws because the men in their ranks were just the same. They wouldn’t appreciate anyone belittling them by deferring to another. And so that was how the argument had started.
“He’s my husband and he loves me. He wants to protect us both.”
Rig had flown to his feet and waved an arm in a much more exaggerated gesture than he would usually adopt. But it helped to emphasize what was going on in case Syn were only looking from the outside. No one inside was a Syn member. But it had been frightening to hear Tuck and Zave talk about technologies that could pick up voices from the width of the street away. So Devon gave it her best shot and wondered how many of Rig’s words were for purpose and how many were true.
After he’d tossed a couple of insults Zave’s way and she’d got deliberately offended, she told him to go to hell and stormed away. Now she found herself regretting her final words to him. Zave’s car was just where it was supposed to be and Phil, the driver, jumped out to open the back door for her.
Security had their own vehicle behind Zave’s, and Petri would travel in that car. So when Phil closed the door behind her, she was left alone with her husband. “You did good,” he said.
The warmth of the arm he put around her calmed her a little. There were so many things that she wanted to say but had to be sure that they were truly alone, in every sense. “Can we talk?” she asked.
He nodded. “There’s tech built into the frame of the car that repels other listening devices. Kindred electronics have a specific signature that allows us to keep listening while others can’t.” He grazed a fingertip around the shell of her ear. “You can take that out if you want to.”
Why would she want to? Her pounding heart was a testament to how terrified she was. The adrenaline of the argument had helped her to fulfil her role, but she wasn’t angry about what had been said, she was afraid of what would come next.
“No, no,” she said. “I have to keep listening. I want to know what happens.”
The privacy screen was up, so Zave had to press a button in order to speak to Phil. “Take us home,” Zave said, releasing the button.
The car pulled out of the space and into traffic.” “Wait,” she said, clutching his wrists with both hands. “I don’t want to leave him there.”
Her adrenaline was still going, but Zave was cool as ice. Although, he had no real reason to be upset as it wasn’t his brother out there. “That was the whole idea,” Zave said. “I know you’re worried. I know you are. But if Syn are watching, they need to see us leave. They need to believe that you’re so angry that you are abandoning him there. Right now, Grant McCormack is rubbing his hands in glee and they’re putting together a plan.”
Sitting and waiting wasn’t part of the plan, he was right about that, but that didn’t mean she had to be out of the loop. “Well, where is Rig?” she asked, touching her ear, wishing she could hear his voice.
“Still in the coffee shop,” Zara answered, and it was disconcerting to know that those in her ear could still hear her. “We’re gonna be out of range soon. You did good, Devon. We’ve got it from here.”
She didn’t want to go out of range and be cut off. But this had been the plan she’d agreed to. They wan
ted Syn to see this, to see her return to her husband and demand for him to take her home. If anyone was watching the car, they would think Rig was all alone now. They certainly couldn’t stay parked only a street away because that would be suspicious and would give Rig an out.
The positioning of the car had been picked specifically because Rig would take his time in the coffee shop, fuming to himself, and when he was ready, when they figured enough time had passed, he would leave and follow the path to where the car had been parked only to find it gone. At that point, his anger would be renewed.
Just a few steps away from that parking spot was a long alleyway that would take him out almost a full block away into a deserted parking lot. If Syn were quick, and they would have to be, that would be where they would take him down.
She didn’t notice that she was wringing her hands in her lap until Zave picked one up and uncurled her fingers to kiss her palm. “We’ll be ready. Trust the Kindred,” he said. “We’re watching Rig. Raven and Swift and Swallow, they have nothing else to do but this. Syn will only go for your brother somewhere isolated, and that’s all we need. We’ll sneak up right behind them. No one will lay their hands on him. If Caine is there, he’ll back us up. If it’s Leatt, we’ll take him down.”
And if it was Thad, he would know too well what the Kindred were capable of and wouldn’t put up a fight.
Gazing out the window at the city she now called home, Devon understood that her fear was instinctive in the way anyone worries for those they love. But she did trust these people, and she didn’t think that they would fail, not really.
There were variables like Caine, who she was still figuring out. He wanted to be Kindred or he wanted to be Syn or maybe he didn’t want to be either. If he’d warned Syn of the Kindred plan, it would never work, and they could be led into their own ambush. If Caine switched sides at the last minute, everyone could end up dead.
Finch (Kindred #6) Page 20
