Page 26 of Cease and Desist

Hawk blinked. “Um, I…” He had no idea what to say to that.

Logan put a cup of coffee down in front of Hawk. “I think you’re gonna need this.”

Dragan smiled slightly. “There’s no need for detail, but earlier in my…career, I worked for some rather nefarious organizations.”

“Nefarious,” Mitch sputtered, pointing at Dragan. “You’ve been hanging out with Logan too much.” He turned to Hawk. “After Dragan got out of the SEALs, he worked for serious crime organizations over in Croatia and some other countries in Europe before he saw the error of his ways. He was considered the best at—”

“Problem solving,” Dragan said with a sardonic grin. “Let’s just say I was proactive, and my bosses liked that.”

“So where does Archer Gray come in? I thought you said he was the best.”

Dragan nodded as the smile slipped from his face. “Archer and I moved in the same circles. We were…competitors, in a manner of speaking, until I got out of that line of work. Then he rose to the top. Five years ago, he dropped out of sight.”

“Well, he’s here in New York and he’s up to something. I just wish I knew what.” And he wished Remy wasn’t Gray’s focal point. Hawk filled the three men in on the situation at the bookstore. “He said he’d kill us and any cop we brought down there with us.”

“Jesus. He’s not playing around.” Mitch shook his head.

“Logan, pass me that napkin,” Dragan said. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and started drawing on the napkin. A minute later, Dragan pointed to the napkin. “Did Archer mention anything about this?”

Hawk looked down at the napkin. Dragan had drawn a key with a skull winking at the bow. “He didn’t say a word about it, but how doyouknow about it? That’s Remy’s logo and she’s upset that the locksmith store around the corner started using the same logo as her shop. That’s why she called Lacy in the first place. What does this logo have to do with anything?”

Dragan paused. “Back up a minute. You’re saying that Remy’s book shop uses this logo?”

Hawk nodded. “Yes, her family has used it for almost a hundred years. They used to own a locksmith shop. Now it’s a book shop, but they kept the name and the symbol.”

Dragan had gone still. “What’s the name of Remy’s shop?”

“Under Lock and Key Books.”

Dragan didn’t say anything, but his face went hard. His gaze turned first toward Remy and then back to Hawk. “You need to get her out of town. Far away. She is not safe.”

Hawk’s gut knotted. “Archer Gray said the same thing.” He’d also instructed Remy to drop the legal action against the locksmith. “What the fuck is going on?” Hawk didn’t like people telling him Remy was in danger and, for damn sure, didn’t like that that they weren’t telling him why.

Remy must have sensed something because she asked from across the room, “Are you discussing the shop?”

Hawk hesitated but then nodded. It was her store, and in the end, her problem. He was just along for the ride. “Maybe you should come over here and hear this.”

Remy and Lacy walked over. Mitch and Hawk stood and let the women have the stools.

“Dragan was just about to explain something to us. It’s something to do with the logo of your shop,” Logan said.

Dragan let out a breath. “The key with the winking skull is the symbol of the Lock and Key Society.”

Remy frowned. “But it’s been our logo for almost a hundred years.”

Dragan nodded. “I believe the society has been around that long.” He hesitated. “I don’t have a lot of information, just some rumors I heard over the years that I’ve pieced together.”

Hawk shrugged. “We’ll take anything you have that might help solve the current situation.” He tried to remain calm, but his instincts were on blast. Whatever was coming was gonna be all bad.

“Okay,” Dragan said, “The Lock and Key Society is…” He stopped speaking and glanced at nothing in particular. “It’s hard to describe. Essentially, it’s like an old-fashioned gentleman’s club, only now it’s unisex. It caters to a very select crowd. I’m not sure how they are picked or what they have to do to be admitted. I do know each member possesses a token of some kind that identifies them as a member. They have to present that token before they can enter. Each token is linked to a specific person. However, if someone new shows up with the token, they are admitted and added to the list. The person who no longer has the token is stricken from the listifthey are still alive. I imagine that most are killed for the token.”

Hawk froze. Killed for a token? At his side, Remy made a small sound, and all the color had drained from her cheeks. He swore quietly. “Logan,” he said and indicated Remy with a tilt of his head. Logan nodded and quickly brought a glass of water for Remy. Hawk would have preferred something with a bit more kick to remedy the shock, but Remy took the glass and sipped the water.

“Jesus, Dragan,” Hawk began, “what kind of club is this?” He couldn’t quite get his brain around what Dragan was saying.

“The Society is a place for people to…relax, recuperate, take some downtime without anyone bothering them.”

“So, it’s a fancy spa hotel thing?” Remy asked in a quiet voice. “Who would kill to go to one of those?”

---