Page 53 of Twisted Empire

Madelyn

Icouldn’t help feeling a little nervous as the Vigil guys and I ventured out into the yard behind Beckett’s mansion, where dozens of strangers were milling around.

I knew Beckett had plenty of criminal ties from high-level, white-collar types like himself all the way down to minor gangs. But the two crews he’d told us he’d called in were both powerful and yet not at all like him—the two gangs who jointly ruled an entire county called Paradise Bend, which Beckett had told me he’d helped save in defiance of his father years ago.

He’d spent a lot of time with the leaders of these gangs. He considered them his closest friends, and they were clearly ready to do anything for him, given that they’d shown up so quickly and with so many of their people for support. But I couldn’t help wondering what they’d make of me and the Vigil guys with our limited experience with the criminal life.

Every man who prowled across the lawn past us looked hardened and dangerous. Several gazes slid over us with expressions that varied from puzzled to incredulous. I hugged myself, fighting the urge to duck back inside.

These were our allies, the people who’d stand with us against Doom’s Seed. I couldn’t let appearances scare me off now, not when we were hoping to end this war today.

Slade clicked the cinnamon candy he’d popped into his mouth against his teeth. “Whoa. Now this is an army.”

Logan frowned. “We just need a target to point them at.”

Beckett emerged from the crowd with five figures striding along behind him. He flashed his brilliant smile at us, and a little of the tension inside me melted.

He trusted these people—cared about these people—andItrusted his judgment. They might look frighteningly cold and vicious, but I’d seen Beckett bring out his savage side when he needed to too. I knew it didn’t stop him or them from having a solid moral compass, one I might agree with a lot more often than not.

“I’d like you to meet my good friends, the leaders of the Claws and the Nobles from Paradise Bend,” Beckett said with his smile still in place, and motioned the others to gather around him. “This is Mercy, who keeps the Claws in hand all by herself.”

The woman he’d motioned to let out a husky chuckle with a swish of her dark brown ponytail. She was about the same height as me, but her body was sinewy with muscle, and she gave off a similar air of total confidence to what I’d always admired in Beckett.

“I do get a little help here and there,” she said with apparent amusement, and dipped her head to us in acknowledgment. “Glad to meet you, but I wish it wasn’t because one of these Devil’s Dozen pricks is threatening Beckett.”

Well, I could agree with that sentiment. I found myself smiling back at her.

Beckett motioned to the four guys next. “This bunch wrangles the Nobles. Wylder is the main man in charge, Kaige helps him lay down the law, Gideon covers the tech side, and Rowan can negotiate anyone under a table.”

The affection in his voice was unmistakable. I looked over the four men—all of them tough and assured, but otherwise very different.

Kaige was the largest, a little bigger and broader even than Logan with a sheen of dark hair on his scalp and a twinkle in his eyes that suggested he wasn’t actually that scary as long as you didn’t piss him off. Wylder was almost as tall but not quite as brawny, looking slick in his collared shirt and dark jeans but with fiery auburn hair that I had a feeling from his fierce expression matched his temperament.

The tech expert, Gideon, was slim though toned, almost delicate-looking, but he offset that impression with the bold blue of his dyed hair and his sharply penetrating gaze. And Rowan—I never would have guessed he was part of a street gang with his business casual button-up and slacks, his blond hair combed neatly back. But at Mercy’s mention of the threat to Beckett, his face had momentarily darkened with a hint of brutal protectiveness.

“We’re here to take this asshole down,” Wylder said without a trace of doubt. “Whatever it takes.”

“Yep.” Kaige cracked his knuckles—and then cracked a grin as well. “And then maybe we can get to know Beckett’s new friends with a whole lot less explosions and gunfire going around. We know how to have fun—the not-so-bloody kind—too.”

His gaze veered to Slade’s lower leg, where the other guy had propped it at an angle that revealed a sliver of his prosthetic above his typical neon sneakers. “Looks like you’ve already been through a war or two.”

“Oh, this?” Slade drawled. “Crazy story, actually. My grandma went on this insane rampage when I was a kid—”

“He was born like that,” I cut him off, hitting him in the arm. “And he’s fine, before anyone asks.”

Slade clucked his tongue at me, but his eyes glittered with silent laughter. “You take the fun out of everything, Piccolina.”

“I’m just trying to keep us on topic,” I told him with an affectionate bump of my elbow. “We do have an actual war to fight, as soon as possible.”

Dexter nodded, his gaze pensive as he took in our new allies, flitting from one to the next without holding eye contact for more than an instant. “We have the manpower now—how are we going to use it to stop Doom’s Seed? So far we haven’t managed to do much more than fend off and avoid his attacks.”

Beckett’s smile vanished, his mouth settling into a hard line. “We’ve been discussing that… and I think it’s time to go straight to the source. We’ve tried to work around Doom’s Seed’s offensives while searching for evidence for long enough. We go at him in one big move and rip the evidence we need right from him.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Logan asked.

Beckett folded his arms over his chest. “First, we need to identify his main base of operations in this state. That’s where the key materials will be. And between my tech guys, Gideon’s genius, and your skills, I’m hoping it won’t take long at all tp track down that location. If you’re up for a little collaboration.”

Logan glanced at Gideon, and one corner of his lips curved upward in a crooked smirk. “I think I can handle that. Let’s get down to work.”

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