Page 81 of Overstaying His Welcome

“No need to worry. We’re going to get them. The plan is still the same. It’s just added a step or two.”

Memphis snorted. “Try sixteen steps. Or rather, pathways. Because that’s how many there are on this fucking thing.”

He brought up a digitized version of the map on the wall. It was overlaid with a scale of the city to show us where it all connected.

“Wow,” I murmured.

“Looks like he had access to everything.” Arick stood and moved closer to the screen. “He never had to come up foranything if he didn’t want to. And that development had been on hold for years. How long has he been biding his time?”

“Years would be my guess,” Ronan answered.

“I agree.” All eyes turned my way. “What? I’m only adding my opinion. From everything we’ve seen so far, this is personal. Why would Lune work so hard to bury his identity, aside from his Gilded Ones connection? Even they didn’t really know him. Plus, Pratt went through FBI training. That couldn’t have been easy.”

Mindy snorted. “It’s really fucking not. I hated it, but we do hard things for family.”

The men around the room shared looks. I knew it was because they felt this group was their family, and they had done hard things for each other at some point or another. They always would.

“No matter how long it’s been, the fact remains that we don’t have a location on him anymore and we need to get one. Pratt’s phone must have been in the house. We didn’t stop to look for it, though I suspect it was left there after he left since they realized we’d started making the connections.”

Given how little Godric spoke, his words hit everyone hard. There was so much truth to it as well. We needed to stop worrying about what we’ve missed and focus on what we had.

Tank took the lead, stepping up to the table as he motioned Mindy forward. “Do you think Enzo would be willing to send a few of his guys down the tunnels to do recon?”

“Probably so. He’s got a lot of men. More than people realize.”

I raised a brow at that statement. While I couldn’t say I was clueless to the darker side of the law given my position, it wasn’t something I really dug into deeply. I figured I would have to if I became mayor. Until then, my focus was on my role and the upcoming election.

Ugh. The fucking election.

It was going to be hard to explain my disappearance to everyone when the time came. Given I hadn’t heard from Emmett or my father, I had to wonder if they’d finally given up on me.

I didn’t know if I even felt sad about the idea.

Did I need to really be mayor of this city? Could I make the changes I wanted from the position I already held?

Hell, if I really thought it out, did I want to hold a political position at all?

The questions plagued my mind as the men around me discussed ideas on where to go next. They argued over whether going down the tunnels to check everything out would be a good idea. Mindy swore Enzo wouldn’t mind sending his guys, though we all hated the idea of him losing good men for our cause.

After they eventually agreed to let Enzo decide for himself who he could and couldn’t send out, the discussion shifted to food at Archie’s insistence. The man was a stickler for ensuring everyone ate three meals a day.

We paused all discussion long enough to order food and dig in once it arrived. Even Jared joined us since we grabbed food from his favorite Thai place. Due to an allergy issue, Detective Stabler wound up ordering a pizza for him and Mindy.

As the food and drink went down with ease, I felt myself loosening. It was as if nourishing my body made me suddenly lethargic.

Except, no.

It wasn’t just me.

Looking around the room, I saw confusion on multiple faces. “What’s going on?” I asked Tank. I wasn’t sure he could understand since my voice sounded slurred even to me.

He shook his head slowly, which only worsened everything. Before I could manage to catch him, he tumbled from his chair. I went to reach for him, only to find myself facing the same fate.

With us both on the ground, I watched helplessly as the men around the room slumped in their chairs or fell to the ground. It was a domino effect in a way, with more bodies succumbing to whatever the fuck was going on.

Mindy was the last to go, her eyes wide as her body went lax bit by bit. It was only when she was out completely that I felt my own body sink into the darkness.

What the fuck just happened?

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