Page 13 of Coup De Grâce
“He will go after you the minute he finds out he’s been compromised, Libby!”
The anger on Jack’s face was equally matched by his tone of voice. He was pissed. I got it. At one time, we had been really close. But then we went our separate ways, and the connection we once had shrunk to nearly nothing.
“That’s my decision to make. He’s already been following me. There’s not a chance in hell that he’ll discount my involvement just because his keycard wasn’t used.”
I had them, and they all knew it.
“So, why are you after him?”
They shared a look, but folded in two seconds. “He’s part of a group called the Shadow Government.”
“Of course he is,” I grumbled.
“They have their fingers in everything, pulling the strings to make things happen around the world. They were the group that essentially backed The Syndicate, keeping them functioning until…”
“Until Rafe dismantled them,” I finished.
“And we’re pretty sure Cash picked up where Rafe left off and infiltrated them. If we’re going to help him, we need to get as much intel on them as possible.”
“And why this guy? Why this building?”
Jack walked over and sat down on the couch beside me while the others sat in chairs across from us. “Because this guy is like…Moriarty. He knows everyone. We believe he’s the guy who’s ten steps ahead, knows all the information, and connects the rightpeople. See, all these guys have jobs. They blend in, making them appear like they’re just another Joe on the street. But they have to store information somewhere. And that building is like Fort Knox. We could break in, but we’d never get out.”
“And you were going to attempt it anyway,” I snorted.
“If we don’t get that information, this never ends. We need to know all the players.”
“Why not just take them out as you figure out who’s involved?” It might have been a stupid question, but it seemed better to chip away at them than sit back and wait for the information that might never come.
“Because…” Jack looked at his friends, then back to me. “Because they won’t stop at killing Cash. When Rafe took down The Syndicate, he destroyed a major operation for them. Rafe kept himself distant from everyone because he knew anyone close to him would be retaliated against. That’s why he pushed us at Cash. He knew he was at a turning point with The Syndicate, and he didn’t want us involved any longer. But you were someone he couldn’t walk away from.”
Was that supposed to make me feel better? He couldn’t walk away from me, but he could definitely keep me in the dark for the rest of my life. Wow, he was a real winner.
“So, now Cash is trying to end this because Rafe dragged him into a mess. All because of a fucking woman.”
“Watch it,” Jason snarled. His whole body tensed like he was about to pounce, all because of the sister that Rafe had given his life to rescue.
I was surprised by the visceral reaction, and that’s when I realized that something was different. I glanced at his hand and saw the ring on his left hand. That was new.
“You married her,” I whispered as the truth of the matter dawned on me. I huffed out a laugh, unable to believe that this was happening. Shoving to my feet, I paced the room, trying towrap my head around all this. “So, not only did Rafe give up everything to save his sister, but now the three of you are going to follow in his footsteps for this woman!”
“My wife,” Jason bit out. “And she’s as much a victim in this as you are.”
“Right,” I scoffed, though I knew it was true.
“She didn’t ask to be part of any of this,” Jason snapped. “You have no fucking clue what it was like for her.”
“Don’t I?” I shouted.
I remembered the pain and fear on those women’s faces as they were taken on a boat to some fucking island. I could still feel the metal biting into my skin from days of rocking on open water as we were starved and drugged. The only difference between me and those women was that I had an agenda. I had an out.
“Libby,” Johnny said, stepping between me and his friend. “The point is, no one is safe. Rafe put this in motion, and until we end it, we all have fucking targets on our backs. Cash is out there, trying to finish the job Rafe started, but he won’t succeed without help. And if they find out what he’s trying to do?—”
“We’re all fucking dead,” Jack cut in.
“There’s only one way out of this for all of us,” Johnny continued. “And that’s to take them down. That guy wasn’t watching you to judge where you stood in relation to Cash. He’s keeping an eye on you because the moment he gets the word, he’ll put a bullet in your head.”
“Or worse,” Jason muttered, scrubbing a hand along his jaw.
