Page 107 of Pucker Factor

“So, what I was thinking is that the milk bottles aren’t working. We need to really amp up the missing person aspect. Maybe send out a notice to The Syndicate. That’s no doubt where he is,” Fox frowned.

“The Syndicate?” Tate asked.

“Yeah…hmm, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. Let’s keep that between us.” Then he turned to me. “And us.”

“Sure.” I would go along with anything at this point. I didn’t know anyone or what he was talking about, so it really didn’t matter. “Maybe I’ll just—”

“Sarah, you had a sort of marketing job, right?”

“Actually, it was more of—”

“So, you can handle the PR for this whole thing. And then we can make a movie about it,” Fox continued. “Zoe can write the script with Anna. Oh, and we’ll need some actresses, of course.”

“There’s no way you’re getting Anna to play a part in a movie,” Tate snarled.

“I would never ask her to. No, we’ll hire some B-list actors. It’ll be good.”

“Um…what exactly are we doing?”

Fox turned to me, clearly irritated with having to explain himself. “Trying to find FNG. We were just discussing it.”

“Right, but I don’t know anything about—”

“Fighting. Yes, we should fix that.”

He stormed off, leaving me alone with Tate. He seemed to know him well, so I dug a little. “Is he always so…”

“Yes,” Tate answered immediately.

“It’s like he can’t calm down.”

“Nope. You’ve gotta just go with the flow.”

“How do you know him?” I asked.

“The Navy. We were both SEALs.”

“Really?” I asked in surprise. “Somehow, I don’t see Fox as someone who follows anyone else’s rules.”

Tate smirked as he watched Fox drag over a board and set it up as he argued with one of Rafe’s men. “He’s not. That’s why I stood beside him all this time.”

“Because he’s a rule breaker?” I asked in confusion.

He turned to me, all traces of humor gone from his face. “It’s what saved my life.”

28

CASH

I knew my brother. This whole setup with Fox was all part of his game, and I was done being dragged into his shit. OPS was about protecting the innocent, not getting involved in jobs that were too big for any of us to handle. This war he’d started with The Syndicate was out of control.

“Red,” I snapped. “You’ve got the watch.”

He nodded as I turned to IKE, who had a gun trained on my brother, and jerked my head for him to follow. IKE was good, a shadow in the night that didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. There was a specific reason I brought him to OPS, and that had everything to do with his complete lack of empathy for anyone.

Fox was good, but deep down, he would always have a softer side that he kept hidden. I saw how Anna brought it out in him, tore down the demons he was constantly fighting to bring him into the light. Yeah, he still had his rough days, but it took a lot for him to be dragged into the darkness. And knowing how his life had been, the last thing I wanted for him was to fall into that dark pit again.

IKE, on the other hand, had no tragic story. He had a moral code all his own, and he followed whatever he felt was right. That’s why I needed him. He didn’t care that Rafe was my brother. He wouldn’t hesitate to take out Rafe if it was required. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. And everyone that worked at OPS would hesitate. I knew they wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, which by extension, included my brother.

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