Page 54 of Locked Down

“Jesus,”Ryker muttered,“this is the never-ending assignment from hell.”

“Yes, it is,”Archer agreed.“But we don’t have a choice.”

“I know.”That was the part that concerned Ryker most. If they failed Austin Davis could become the next Vice President of the United States and God only knew how many lives he and his cronies could destroy then.

“There’s something else.”He tapped his fist on his thigh.“Vic says Davis leaves the office every couple of weeks on a Tuesday looking furtive. He comes back clutching a black satchel like his life depends on it. It’s possible tomorrow will be the right Tuesday on his timeline. If that’s the case, I will follow him, but I’ll need some backup. Hopefully, this will lead to something we can use.”

“Call Rush. He’ll be available.”

Ryker nodded his thanks. He stood. He felt like he should say something but he had no words.“This is just fucking insane”

Archer’s smile was tight.“I know it’s got to be a brutal situation when you actually swear and you’re right. It’s one big cluster fuck.”

The word had slipped out.Sorry Mom, Gram, sometimes the situation just calls for it.“The scariest part of all is that it’s up to us to fix it. We’re not the good guys. Aren’t they supposed to fix crap like this?”

Archer cocked an eyebrow at him.“Do you really think we’re the bad guys?”

Ryker hesitated. Did he think that? It’s how he presented himself. If he owned being a bad guy then he didn’t have to put himself out there at all. He didn’t have to care what people thought. He didn’t have to worry about obeying the rules. But were they really bad guys?

Archer shook his head.“It’s a solid shield. A way to deflect the world and live by our own rules, but you know the truth. No matter what people call us, we’re not the devil.”A ghost of a smile played on his lips.“We’re the only thing standing between humanity and the devil, so we get painted by his brush. We are, in fact, the ones willing to get into the trenches so that others don’t have to. That makes us a bit mad, incredibly tough, and quietly heroic. We do bad things for the right reasons because someone must. It’s why we’ll all go down fighting Davis if we have to, because we will not let a cockroach like him rule the world.”

* * *

Ryker stared at the ceiling. What Archer said had resonated with him. He’d never thought of it that way. Archer was right. It was easier to think of themselves as the bad guys, but weren’t they really the good guys? Ryker and his team were, as Archer had said, quietly heroic. But what did that mean long term? He had no clue but at the rate they were going, he wouldn’t be around long enough to find out. They had to stop Davis at any cost, even if it meant dying for the cause.

The only option left was to take Davis off the playing field. Kill him like the scum he was. And fast. Once Davis made the announcement, it would be too late. They needed to remove him now. Arrange it to look like an accident. Or as if one of his weird-ass followers had done it. He immediately nixed that idea. That wasn’t going to work. If that happened, then an investigation would start. They didn’t need that. What they needed was an accident. Something that wouldn’t raise suspicion. Something that happened in everyday life. Something that no one would think twice about.

An idea came to him. A possibility for sure, but could he pull it off?

He spent the next few hours staring at the ceiling but seeing nothing. He worked on his plan and then reworked it. By dawn he was sure it was solid and doable if he had some help. Now all he had to do was convince Archer. Wasn’t Davis breaking the rules by trying to take over the world? There had to be something in the rule book somewhere about that and if there wasn’t, there should be.

Finally, his eyelids felt like sandpaper, scratching him with each blink. He hauled his butt out of bed and got into the shower. He had a full day ahead. Davis’s schedule was jammed for the day, actually for the week, which made a lot of sense now that he thought about it. He was going to have to lay a lot of groundwork, otherwise people would ask where the hell he’d come from. Why choose Davis? The more he was in the public’s eye at charity events and being interviewed about policy, the better it was for him and the worse it was for everyone else.

Ryker stepped out of the shower as his cell rang.“Archer,”he said as he answered.

“I need you to get the team together and meet me at the Jasmine Door location.”

“Ah, today is jammed with Davis.”

“Unjam it. I want you there in thirty minutes.”Archer hung up.

Ryker cursed but started making phone calls. There was always something with the Society but this something must be massive. Maybe it was time to get out. Run away and do something altogether different. But what? It bore more thinking about for sure. He had a sudden flash of Vic beside him on a beach in the Caribbean. Now that was more like it. He cursed again and hustled to get dressed. Thinking about Vic wasn’t helpful.

Twenty-seven minutes later he walked into the board room. Archer and the rest of the team were there.“Good of you to join us,”Archer stated. His eyes were cold.

Ryker idly wondered if he’d done something specific to piss Archer off or if this was just his general state of being today.

“I have briefed everyone on what we discussed last evening, Ryker, and to a man you all made the same request, so I thought it was better to have this out once and for all.”Archer made eye contact with every man in the room but then held it with Ryker.“You. May. Not. Kill. Austin. Davis.”

Ryker had to bite his tongue to stop from grinning. His boys had the same thought he did. All of them. To a man. This was why he loved his team.

“You may not cause a car accident,”Archer said glaring at Rush. He turned to Flynn“Nor can you shoot him and blame one of his fringe followers. You absolutely cannot poison him,”Archer declared as he pointed at Cash,“and make it look like a stroke.”He turned toward Ryker.“And whatever you were thinking, you cannot do that either.”

All eyes were on him. Ryker grinned.“Air embolism. He just got a shingles shot. Thought we could do it in the same spot. Wouldn’t leave a mark.”

“Solid,”Rush said.

Cash and Flynn both nodded their approval.

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