Page 64 of Dangerous Chaos

“I knew my family, my brothers and sister, cousins… all the key to put a final nail in the proverbial coffin of Chalice. It was the only place I could trust that our allies could trust. It’s why we shuffled the cases your way. That includes friends in high places.” He looked at Carter Landry. “None of it was an accident. You were hand-picked, Carter. Ransom Wyatt sitting as president isn’t by accident either.”

“You rigged the election?”

“No. Nothing like that. We just made sure he had a donor list that could fund a winning campaign, and it worked. Again, not by accident. Perfectly timed and orchestrated. You mentioned the Mariana Guerrero cartel –– handpicked. The world sees her as a threatening crime boss, but she’s really just a well-placed operative with insane resources. She was a part of this from the beginning and like the others, found out she was being used by Chalice and joined the revolution.”

“Revolution? That sounds very third world…” Killion said.

“Yeah, maybe. It sounded better in my head.” Brodie snickered. “We have people everywhere, and you’ve crossed all their paths in one way or another.”

“So we’re the Keepers. Literally and figuratively,” Wit said.

“Yes. You’re our vault. Keepers of all those effing ledgers. Hold all the control and power,” Brodie informed. “Cormack didn’t just set up Safe Haven as a way to fight the world’s worst criminals and save their victims. It was also a recruiting tool, and it led us all here.”

“And that’s why we were all left to believe you were dead. The same reason as their dad,” Ryker chimed in. “You were too deep and couldn’t get out without risking the entire plan.”

Brodie nodded and looked away, fighting the feelings threatening to reveal just how hard it was to sit with his brothers again, back from the dead.

“Where does that leave us, then? If we have the final ledgers now, or have had, technically, who is behind this elaborate act coming for Hen and Wit?” Cane asked. “What are we missing?”

“Good question. I don’t know.” Brodie pulled a thumb drive from his pocket and slid it to Killion.

“The ledgers?” Killion guessed, earning a chuckle.

“You were always the smartest kid in the room, cousin. You and Liam. Glad you still are.” Brodie nodded to the drive on the table. “It is the ledgers. If anyone else pops up claiming to have anything, it’s a fraud. Someone trying to build a new cell or infiltrate you to get to the real ledgers. Guard them with everything you have.”

“Technically, I’m smarter than Liam. We have tested three times, and I’ve beat him by a handful of IQ points each time,” Killion shared as he tucked the thumb drive under his flak jacket.

“I know. I’ve followed all of your careers. Every last one of you. Even the O’Reillys in Pine Valley making wine and whatever they’re distilling over there. You didn’t know where I was, but I knew where you all were… always. It was like I hadn’t left on my end. I was in the loop on everything.”

“What’s next?” Wit asked.

“I go back to Portland with you. We have one last mission before we can put all of this behind us and manage the outcome… indefinitely.”

“What’s the mission exactly?” Hen asked.

“Put together our own HRT or K&R… however you want to look at it.” Brodie stood and began to gather his things, and the others followed suit.

“A Hostage Rescue Team? Kidnap and ransom?” Wit asked. “Let me guess. Those ledgers are the ransom payout.”

Brodie nodded.

Wit seemed satisfied with the answer and shrugged. “Okay. Fair enough. Who’s been kidnapped?”

“Your sister.”

21

“This is it,”Killion said through his comms as their teams began to move in on their target.

“Pete’s people are moving first,” Cane said back for all to hear.

Wit and Hen were in the mobile tactical unit they were using as a command center. It was like a portable Lair. They could do anything from that unit that they could do from the Watermark building. Ayelish and Ashlyn were as much targets as Wit and Hen, so they sat this mission out and ran ops from the unit with Killion instead.

“Smart thinking, bringing Pete Langley in on this,” Brodie said, referring to the head of the Portland FBI Field Office. “Keep it by the book. This thing has to stick.”

“It’ll all be for nothing otherwise,” Carter said, watching the teams move in from the screens in the mobile unit. “I’m abandoning my leave of absence to handle this case personally when it comes through my office. Don’t fuck it up out there.”

Brodie muted his mic so he could hear the chatter from the mission, but he couldn’t be heard by anyone else or distract them. He nodded to Wit and Hen to follow suit.

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