Page 109 of Scars Run Deep

It took another few minutes before he texted again.

Private Number: Take what you can. Carson will be gone. You’ll be free of him.

Asher: Only to be subjugated by the next to take the seat of power.

Private Number: Not if you get out. Come to me. I’ll show you how to live a life in the shadows. It’s not too bad actually.

Asher: Appreciate it, but you know me better than that.

Private Number: I do. I just hoped, is all.

Asher: Who’s at the head of this new monster?

Private Number: Unknown. At least to me. Carson knows. Lan, too.

I stilled at that last part.

Asher: Lance is aware? You’re certain?

Private Number: Yeah, but it won’t do you any good. He’ll never give it up. He didn’t tell Carson shit under severe torture and degradation, he’s not gonna offer intel up freely to you unless it serves his purposes.

Asher: All right. Thanks for the intel.

Private Number: Please tread carefully, son.

Asher: Will do.

I growled low in my throat as I stowed my phone away.

Adrenaline was thrumming through my veins, and not just the residual effects of the takedown, but because this situation with the Heretics was worse than I’d imagined.

All this work, all this planning, and now when I finally managed to decimate the Infidels, these fuckers were waiting in the wings to simply take their place?

Lance had said that he was dealing with it, but now the trust between us was fractured, I couldn’t take that as a given.

Plus, what if he failed?

He was skilled and accomplished, no doubt, but he was still only human. Things didn’t always go to plan.

I wanted to reach out to him, make him fucking well give me more, make him tell me exactly where things stood with his mission to take care of them.

But I fucking well couldn’t.

He’d disabled that former burner.

I’d reached out through his former protocol, but he’d ignored all my attempts.

He’d cut contact, basically disappearing into the shadows again.

There was another way, but it was too risky while we were still in the process of taking down the dollhouse network.

Drawing them out.

They’d wanted me and Aurora weeks ago.

I could get word out and offer myself and obtain intel from within the belly of the beast.

We had the big dollhouse takedown coming up and then I’d see to it if Lance didn’t contact me by then. I couldn’t stomach the notion of the Infidels falling after all this time only to be replaced.

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