Page 180 of Fallen Omega

It’s just us. Dante and Knight continue to glare at each other.

“You told her my name, man,” says Knight, clearly settling on the less of the evils in the room.

“You’ve been mooning over her like an idiot,” Dante snaps, “so I figured she already knew.”

Knight throws himself into a chair that’s ended up pushed against the sofa. “Sorry if one of us cares.”

“Stop, both of you.” They look at me. “The Council is trying to smoke her out and I’d like to know why.”

“Well, Trevor says Hover Valley’s inconsequential in terms of power, but it’s an important cog in getting a whole lot of scattered packs to come into line. And those packs are on land that’s worth a lot of money in terms of farming, mining and the rest. The wilds, some call it,” Dante mutters.

“Wilds?” I ask.

Dante pushes back his hair. “If Hover Valley was in the hands of the Council then the pack would soon be, too. This Craig hasn’t wanted to play ball. He gets women, he has kids. A mate from the Council is…stable. That’s never floated or inflated any part of him.”

“Except a young beauty like Liz.” Knight says. “She would.”

“So would others.” I frown. “Why’s she so important?”

“She’s on the most wanted list,” Knight says. “Elias’s kid.”

I glance at Dante.

When he doesn’t say anything, I’m forced to add more. “She’s the most wanted man’s daughter, sure. Let’s go there. She belongs to Elias. A rebel back in the day when she was a baby. But she really has nothing to do with that. So why her?”

“No fucking idea,” he says. “But I’ll play with Knight’s theory. Hot girl, rebel’s kid… Maybe the Council wants to stick it to outliers? Make an example out of her? Then…”

“It’s all conjecture.” I still think the Ghost thing fits. Somehow. “But we have pieces and no connector.”

Except maybe Angel—I mean, Liz—but I can’t see how yet.

“We can go out and bait the hook, see if anyone’s biting,” Dante says, peering at me. “You said you have information. Anything on Ghost?”

“It’s Ghost. He’s definitely in town, in some dark haunts. Seen talking to old school rebels, new ones, and Council, but beyond that? Nothing really, just he’s here, he’s making rounds,” I say. “And he just might fit.”

I need my hands on him.

I concisely outline my thoughts.

“You can find him,” Knight says. “Bring him down, Reaper.”

Knight’s on his feet now. and this time, I approach him. “We’ve done this before. There are fires everywhere.I think they’re distractions. Raids and arrests on small places, people canceling orders. It’s part of a smoke out. Get working on that, find out everything you can. And when we open tonight, be upstairs for some of it. We need you here, Knight.”

“She’s not fucking bait.”

“Tonight, she is. And do me a favor? Get me everything you can on her father, from way back. He was part of a pack. Something happened,” I say, my cigarette down to nothing. I find an old whisky glass and dump it in there. It hisses.

“I’ve looked into Connor Roth.”

“Look into his real name, Elias Enver,” I say.

“I have?—”

“Do it again, Knight. And start with the Alberto pack, where the misfits went. And look for a man and a baby.”

We’re both in black. Dante’s in a three-piece suit. I have trousers on and a long-sleeved sweater.

In between us in the back of the car is a gorgeous redhead.

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