Page 54 of Burn It Down

The fact that she was safe had managed to appease him for the time being, though.

It was just a matter of when she’d return to us, not if.

The truth that her death had been a smokescreen was one of the first things Jonah had told me on the way back to the safehouse after we’d left that hellhole, before I’d fallen asleep. The relief that had filled me had been incomparable with anything I’d ever felt before. All that grief I’d held at bay in that cell had dissipated in an instant.

But it had then been replaced by indignation as all the rest had fallen into place where Lance was concerned.

He’d set me up.

He’d betrayed me.

He’d basically handed me over to Carson and Sam, condemned me to be tortured.

I swallowed that down—for now.

I had to focus on the immediate.

And right now that was my team at Hexwood House.

I’d called Bryce shortly after I’d woken up again.

Fortunately, the boys had possessed the good sense to reach out to him on their way to the safehouse the night of the gala and fill him in on what had happened. Bryce had snapped into action, securing and reinforcing Hexwood House. He'd also dealt with the human fallout of the attack. We had four security staff in the ICU. He’d covered up the real circumstances surrounding their injuries the way I’d schooled him to. He’d thought it had been a lucky break that there’d been no fatalities. In truth, I knew the Infidels better than to believe that. They’d merely gone that route for convenience sake. They were floundering because of the blow I’d dealt them, they were losing power and influence left and right. The last thing they needed were dropped bodies, murder was a lot harder to cover up than bodily harm and they were weak with their means to do that currently.

The gala and the car explosion had been bad enough, but Caleb had assisted on our end with that, pointing the law away from us and at the Heretics instead.

“Say that again, Sir,” Bryce spoke down the line as I sat on the foot of the bed holding my phone to my ear.

“Pull Security from Hexwood House, lock up, and secure yourselves at the lakehouse.”

“You want us to run and hide? No disrespect, Sir, but that’s not exactly in our job description. The direct opposite, in fact. It’s our job to defend, no matter what. It’s why you hired us—hired me—to surround yourself with the best.”

“You’re not safe now that I’m free. The Head Infidels will overturn every rock searching for me, in order to bring me back in. They’ll come after my associates, my friends, my employees, anyone I care about.” I shifted my weight on the bed. “And in case you were wondering, I consider you all four.”

“Thank you, Sir. That means a lot. It’s all the more reason why I’d rather stay and fight—if it does come to that—and protect your territory, your home. You’re not merely an employer to me. I believe in what you’re fighting for. The team and I are behind you one hundred percent, none of us will be turned, none of us wish to back down.”

“It’s not backing down. It’s not you failing me. This is a strategic retreat. And temporary.”

“If we take the backup safehouse out at the lakehouse, it will leave you and the boys without a fallback.”

“There’s another.”

“There is?”

“Yes,” was all I said. It was one that no one knew about, but me.

One located deep in the mountains that was so far from civilization that there was no internet or cell reception, communication only really possible via the use of a satellite phone.

Before he could get another protesting word out, something I normally wouldn’t stand for, but something I was willing to overlook considering the loyal place it was coming from, I told him, “I’ll call on you when the time is right. Evacuate Hexwood effective immediately.”

With obvious reluctance, he complied, telling me, “Roger that, boss.”

“Contact me the moment it’s done.”

“Will do. Watch your six.”

We hung up and I locked my phone and pushed off the bed, making my way toward the nightstand to put it down, so I could take the shower I’d been craving for too long.

A wave of lightheadedness inundated me with my every step.

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