Page 113 of Kings & Chaos

“Leave?” I repeated.

“We called about the steel for the perimeter fencing on our way back into town this morning,” Oscar said. “The supply chain issues haven’t resolved. It’s going to be at least two more months.”

“We can’t protect you here,” Neo said. “Not without some kind of fence between the property and the woods. Clearly.”

The last word was laced with bitterness, and I had to force myself to stay in the chair at the island, force myself not to go to him, take his head in my hands, tell him it wasn’t his fault.

He wouldn’t welcome it. I knew that. He’d spent his whole life learning not to show weakness.

Rage was his only acceptable outlet.

At everyone else. At himself in this case.

“I have finals.” It was a stupid thing to say. I didn’t care about finals. Not when someone was trying to kill me.

Us.

The men hadn’t just broken in to look for me. The one upstairs had gone into Oscar’s room where he’d been shot.

The realization was a new one, and I looked from Neo to Oscar and Rock. “They tried to kill you too.”

“Definitely felt that way when that fucker was pointing his gun at me,” Oscar said, taking a drink of his coffee.

“But… why?” I was the one getting packages from some psycho.

“We told you,” Neo said, “we’ve been trying to figure out what happened to Emma. Just like you.”

Shame flooded my body like a stain. I hadn’t trusted them, but they’d been telling the truth. They’d been looking for Emma, and now they were targets just like me.

“We must be getting close,” Rock said at the stove. “That’s why they’re coming after us all.”

Oscar nodded. “I thought the same thing.”

I looked at Neo and tried to put the pieces together. “What did Connor say? After Oscar and I left?”

There hadn’t been time to debrief. We’d gone straight from town to the quarry.

“Not enough,” Neo said. “He was paid small amounts through a company account to deliver the packages to Zachary Walsh. They were left at a drop point in town, and Connor passed them on to Zach, who was paid a lot more to get them onto the property. He never saw the people who hired him.”

“Anyone want to place bets the company that paid Connor was a shell company?” Oscar asked.

I sighed in frustration. “How did they find him? I mean, the first time. How did they connect with him?”

Neo stared at me. “You know, you could have asked these questions yourself.”

“Well, I didn’t.” Would I do it differently if I had the chance? Now that I’d made the cliff jump? Now that I’d killed someone? Would I hurt Connor to get information?

I didn’t know, and I didn’t have time to think about what that meant.

“He said they emailed him,” Neo said.

“Someoneemailedhim to help them commit crimes?”I asked.

“They sent it to his school email,” Neo said.

The words hung in the room as we all processed that latest tidbit.

It was Rock who broke the silence. “When was the last email sent?”

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