Page 9 of Coming Up Aces

“Not exactly. I’m a Gryphon. Half eagle, half lion. If I choose to do so, I can shift into either animal separately. Zeus called his Gryphonshounds, thus the name of our MC.”

“Zeus, huh? I was raised to worship a goddess. Does that bother you?”

“It doesn’t. The wolves I know also worship the goddess, as does Rhiannon. I’m assuming you’ve heard of her since Sutton mentioned her during his speech?”

“Wolves…” Rayna bit her bottom lip. Gryphons and wolves and cheetahs. What other types of shifters were there? Getting back on task, she said, “Yes, I’m aware of who she is. Rhiannon is the reason I went undercover. When her father was taken into custody, David Spencer vowed his innocence. Said he took Rhiannon to keep her safe from the Hounds.”

“Yeah, that’s what he told her, but she didn’t believe him. If he wanted to keep her safe, he would have never taken her to Haven where…” Ace snapped his mouth closed.

“I thought we agreed to share the truth?” Rayna urged.

“It’s not that simple. Let’s just say Rhi is special and leave it at that. What I can tell you is Spencer is a dangerous man, and with his stepfather being the leader of The Ministry, he—”

“His stepfather?” How had she not known that? Spencer left out that bit of information during their talks.

“Yes, Abraham Goodman married David’s mother, Ruth. After Rhi’s mother died, David took Rhi to Haven instead of Oasis to keep her away from them, but Josiah Talbert used Rhi for his own gain, and David did nothing to stop it. The man put tracking chips in his young daughter, for Zeus’s sake.”

“That’s appalling.” If the man could do that, he could have lied about the Hounds being mercenaries. Rayna had to tread carefully.

“It is. It allowed James, one of the men from Haven, to track Rhi when she escaped. James was the man Josiah had promised Rhi to even though she didn’t want to be his wife. Whatever else Spencer claimed, I can assure you the Hounds are honorable, Rayna. We were created to do good, and while there have been a few Gryphons who turned from our ways, the majority are decent, and we do what we can to make the world a better place.”

Rayna slid her elbows back and tapped her fingers against the chair arm. Making the world a better place could include taking out the trash. There had been times Rayna wanted to put a bullet between someone’s eyes when there wasn’t enough evidence against them, or they walked on a technicality and went back to their heinous ways. Maybe being a mercenary wasn’t such a bad thing.

Asher continued, “David Spencer provided crates of guns to Haven. He used his computer skills to invest their money while hiding their involvement with governments.”

“How do you know that?”

Asher sat back and propped an ankle on the opposite knee. “When James found Rhi, we were able to subdue him. Wequestioned him about the tracker as well as David’s position within Haven.”

“And you’re certain he was telling the truth?”

Asher rubbed the back of his neck. When she angled her head waiting, he dropped his hand. “Yes. We, uh…”

“You voiced him.”

“We did,” Asher admitted.

“I’ve sat in on the interviews with Spencer. He’s very convincing.”

Asher scowled. “Most sociopaths are.”

“On that, we can agree. Why do you think Spencer is convinced Rhiannon isn’t safe with the Hounds?”

Asher toyed with a loose thread on the cuff of his jeans. “Rhi lived at the cult for years, so she would know they aren’t the God-fearing community they claim to be. She knew they raised the boys to be soldiers. On top of that, she has knowledge of who her father truly is, and if she shared that with the Hounds, we could expose him for the liar he is. It isn’t that Rhi’s not safe; it’s David’s fear of her talking.” Asher narrowed his eyes. “I’m confused, though. Why were you sent undercover inside Haven? You said it was because of Rhi, but she hasn’t been there for almost a year and neither has David.”

Rayna didn’t have a plausible answer. She’d wondered that herself when her boss insisted her time was better spent inside the compound gathering intel on David from the cult members and Talbert than looking into the Hounds.

“That’s a good question, one I asked myself several times. My boss said he wanted intel on David from the members. What he didn’t realize is that I wouldn’t be allowed to talk to anyone who had that information.”

“How is that possible? From what I understand, the FBI has been looking to take down The Ministry ever since they claimed responsibility for the apocalypse. Surely in the last thirty plusyears, they have garnered knowledge of the inner workings of the cult. Rayna, are you sure you can trust your boss?”

Chapter Four

Ace

Ace hated toput doubt in Rayna’s mind, but nothing about her going to Haven added up.

She spread her hands. “Can we ever really trust anyone?”

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