Page 45 of Fallout

“What’d you say?” Gage stowed his phone.

“Something isn’t right.” Jasper turned, trying to figure out if what niggled at him was in his peripheral. “This whole situation.”

What was making him feel like this was off? Maybe the whole thing. Someone showing up at George’s house, making a whole lot of noise. Drawing far too much attention to him. If the kingpin wanted him dead, it would’ve been a lot easier to do it quietly.

Maybe it had something to do with his parents and Destiny and which one had been targeted at the cemetery. The shooter got away, and he was still out there.

Gage asked, “You think it’s a misdirection?”

His lieutenant didn’t want an answer if Jasper didn’t have one, so he just shrugged.

If this was some kind of diversion, there was no telling what this guy might be up to. The kingpin seemed to have so many things going on, making it that much harder to nail him down. Scooping up territory was one thing. Messing with a business leader and a senator? Something different.

Then, there were the gunmen themselves—the ones SWAT now had in cuffs. The possibility that these men had participated in that massacre of cops a couple of months ago was something they’d have to unpack after the fact. No one wanted cop killers to get away with it.

Vanguard thought handing the police information about a financial transaction would’ve solved it. But maybe not.

“Where are we at on the incident at Rammington-Harper?” Jasper asked.

“FBI took the case so their forensic accountants can figure out where the money went.”

“We need to ID this kingpin.” Jasper couldn’t let go of the anxiety. “And we need to watch ourselves on the way out of here.”

Anderson called out, “I’m not staying here. I need protection.”

Gage ignored the man and said to Jasper, “Your tension could just be residual, left over from the church.”

Jasper bristled at the insinuation he was having a trauma reaction from the massacre outside the church a couple of months ago. Not that there was anything wrong with having a trauma reaction. He just didn’t like the idea of it affecting his behavior.

A half dozen people had died, most of them cops. Gage’s suggestion was completely reasonable. “It might be that. I just don’t think it is.”And I don’t want it to be.

Gage nodded. “Okay. We’ll watch ourselves.”

Jasper shifted his weight, trying to get rid of the adrenaline racing through his system.

“How was everything over at Vanguard?” Gage glanced at Blake, then back at Jasper.

He knows about Destiny.He had to, considering Clare was his wife. Jasper said, “They’re good.” He needed to let out at least a little of what he was feeling. “Blake is gonna hit the roof when he finds out everything that happened to her.”

“But she chose to include you in it.”

Might not be so cut and dry as that. “Those women, the Famous Ones, let me up. She had no idea I’d be coming over. But I’m glad she told me. I wanna be there to help.”

“You get what that means, right?” Gage’s expression darkened. “Don’t string her along and break her heart, thinking you’re helping out, but you’re hurting her more, and you don’t even realize.”

Jasper clenched his back teeth. “You think I?—”

“What’s going on?” Blake stood beside them.

Jasper said, “Nothing.” To Gage, he said, “I’ve got it covered.”

“Yeah?” Gage said. “Like you did with Tessa?”

So he would try to help and end up making things worse? The guys didn’t know the truth about how it had gone down with Tessa. They didn’t know about Caleb.

In fact, maybe they didn’t know him all that well. Because he hadn’t let them in.

No surprise now that he had to deal with the fact they’d come to their own conclusions.

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