Page 17 of Lethal

I didn’t realize how close everyone has become, but he’s right. We’re a family, no matter how unconventional, and I wasn’t the only one who Cole left. He ignored all of us. Thought he could do it without our help. And perhaps he could with time, but not if he didn’t want to get caught. Or at the very least, have to go underground for a spell.

“Shit.” Cole pushes his glasses farther up his nose, before wiping a hand over his mouth. “So, you’re what? My brothers now?”

“Only if you’re lucky and play things right from now on,” Grayson answers. His hand lands on my thigh, and he runs a thumb back and forth. His touch has become so natural, I miss it when I haven’t felt it in a while. In fact, it makes me relax. Who would’ve thought?

“Sorry, I lost my mind for a second there. It won’t happen again,” Cole says. “But I would be grateful if you would all help me find my sister. I failed her. I gave up on her and moved on with my life.” His words seem a little out of character for him, but being a psychopath, he lacks the emotions to truly mean it. I believe he wants our help and chose the perfect, pretty words to get the outcome he wants.

Vander leans into me, his lips brushing against my ear as he whispers, “So we’re clear, he’s still getting punished, but then he’s forgiven, right?”

I bite my thumb, hiding my smile behind it. I had to tell them my plan to get their help to pull it off. It wouldn’t be possible without them. “Absolutely.”

Vander nods at Jasper, giving his acceptance of the apology. Grayson does the same, and Jasper rubs his hands together. “Okay, Brother. Where’s our sister at?”

Chapter 9

Raven

Cole sifts through the information he unearthed about anyone and everyone who was ever in the building where his sister was caught on camera. In the three days he spent on a killing spree, he hunted the ones who were local in the area.

“You mean to tell me, you conveniently decided to come find me when you ran out of local leads?” I ask him.

He at least has the decency to wince. I appreciate the feigned act of emotions. “It wasn’t a conscious decision. Just so happened to work out that way.”

My hacker nerd is the type of man to plan things out to work perfectly for him. But I believe him because he’s also the type of man to admit the truth to me. At least on this. Past Ravenmaster secrets aside.

“So then, where are we going?” Vander asks. “Who’s our target?”

“That’s what I’m working on figuring out now. There are too many breadcrumbs leading me in all different directions.” His fingers fly over the keyboard. “I’m trying to narrow it down, but…” He trails off, working on uncovering even more details of the men on his suspect list.

Something he said earlier has been haunting me, like there’s a hidden detail that’s important, but I can’t figure out what it is. I stare at the screens, studying them. The list of most likely suspects is broken down with details of why they seem like good candidates. And as I stare at them, it comes to me.

Cole is fucking amazing at what he does. How could his sister have dropped off the face of Earth without him knowing about it? All this time and she never once showed up in a picture? Has never been caught on video somewhere? No CCTV recording devices? I find that highly suspect.

As I scan the data, something sticks out like a sore thumb. One of the men has decidedly fewer details than all the others. “Cole.” I stand and move closer to the screens. “Why isn’t there much information on this man?” I point at the name I’m referring to, Brent Mangrum.

His eyebrows pinch together, and he tilts his head to the side, studying the name. “Because I haven’t been able to find much.” He returns to typing on his keyboard, and even more windows pop open. “You’re right though. There are holes in his profile. No one is this clean.”

“Is it possible his personal data was scrubbed from the internet? Maybe he has a hacker as good as you covering his tracks.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” Cole mumbles. “And now I know what to look for.”

Jasper takes advantage of my standing position and wraps his arms around me from behind, dragging me against his chest where I lay my head back and watch Cole work. He seems to be in his element again, and I wonder how he made it three days without his computer setup. Who knows how much more information he would have by now had he simply stuck to his computers in the first place. Not to mention having us to help him.

“Found something,” Cole says in an offhand way, like it’s more for himself than us. “Fuck, this guy is good. But I’ve caught on now.” He seems like a completely different man compared to the one I saw in the bedroom when he first found her, and then again from the man who came to me beside the pool.

“Cole,” I prompt, trying to get his attention after he doesn’t say anything. Way to keep us all on edge.

He glances from the screen to me, and his eyes go wide like he forgot we’re here. “Sorry,” he mumbles, running a hand through his hair. “You’re right, he does have someone covering his digital footprint, which means it’ll take me a while to dig everything up. I was able to find an address though. But knowing this type of asshole, he’ll have more than one residence. So who knows if he’ll actually be there or not.”

Jasper’s arms flex around me, and I feel his head nod, acknowledging the information. “Well, at least it’s a start. If he’s not there, we should be able to find a clue as to where to search next, in case you don’t find anything else up online.”

“Yeah,” Cole concedes, but he doesn’t sound convinced.

“So, where are we going?” Vander asks.

“Florida. Somewhere in the swamps. From what I’ve gathered, it’s a compound of some sort. Doesn’t seem like a residence, but it’s the only address I’ve found.” Cole cracks his knuckles and continues to type, settling in for the long haul. Or so he thinks.

“Don’t you need to let the pilots know where we’re going?” I remind him.

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