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With a weary sigh, Lynch shoulders his bag. “Just shut up and follow directions for once in your life.”
Bailey sputters with indignation. “I’m the mayor. You can’t let him talk to me like that!”
“You’re not the mayor.” Lynch drags his feet across the muddy ground and shoves past Bailey into the dry warmth of the cabin. “You’re not even the police captain. You’re just a pathetic man with anger issues and a sense of self-importance.”
I look at Lynch with new respect. He’s certainly not Team Bailey anymore.
“What the hell happened to you?” Bailey chases him inside, and I lower my shotgun as we follow them into the safe house.
The door shuts behind us with a heavy thud, and I allow enough of my fire to slip past the amulet’s restraint to dry the rain from my hair and clothes.
“Is this blackmail?” Bailey marches up to his long-time supporter. “Have they gotten to you, too?”
“No, they haven’t gotten to me.” Lynch’s gaze sweeps the small space before he drops his bag next to the wall. “The consequences of our actions have just caught up.”
“Lynch has been marked, too,” Pen says, her smoky voice filling the silence that follows. “He represents Pride.”
“And you brought him here?” Bailey stomps around the room. “Are you trying to make it easier for us to be targeted?”
“What happened to this all being a fabrication of our revenge?” I drawl as I set my shotgun back by the door. “With how much you jump from begging us to save you to calling us liars, I think you just like to hear yourself talk.”
Pen drifts to the coffee pot, filling a mug from the dredges of the carafe. “Should have let me just toss him out of our hotel room.”
“Shouldn’t have brought him back to begin with.” I regret that decision with every minute that passes in his company.
Sharpe sweeps his hands through his hair, pushing out the water. “What’s done is done. The contract’s been signed.”
“Are you seriously just standing there discussing whether or not you should leave me to die?” Bailey blusters.
I ignore him to focus on the new matter at hand. “Explain how you identified Lynch as one of the sins. He wasn’t even on our list of potential victims.”
“Meredith found the link through Collins.” Pen quickly explains how Lynch and the judge were in Reverend Shawe’s pocket.
I shake my head. “Corruption at every level. Why am I not surprised?”
“Don’t try that line with us.” Bailey juts out his chin. “You’ve taken plenty of kickbacks for doing our wet work.”
Pen flashes her teeth at him. “We never pretended to be anything but mercenaries.”
A gleam enters his eyes, like he caught her in a trap. “Then how do we know you aren’t just corralling us here to be slaughtered.”
Sharpe pinches the bridge of his nose. “Because no one cares enough about you to pay for your death.”
His entire face turns red. “You’re using us as bait to lure the black dog out!”
“Are you kidding me?” I snap, my frustration boiling over. “This isn’t some elaborate scheme for revenge! We’re trying to keep you alive.”
“Easy, big guy.” Pen leans against the wall, steam rising from her mug to make the fine strands of hair around her face dance. “He’s just bouncing between the stages of grief. He’ll circle back to bargaining soon.”
Bailey whips toward Lynch, who now sits in one of the chairs, slumped to rest his head on the back. “Why are you just sitting there?”
“Because I’ve already accepted my fate.” He closes his eyes. “Either I die by this monster, or I go before the review board and admit to my actions. Both options mean my life is over, either literally or figuratively. But, it’s over in either case.”
“Maybe you can negotiate a settlement if you turn on Bailey,” Pen suggests, just to poke the beehive. “I bet you have plenty of evidence of his misconduct.”
Her hand drops to her belt, fingers stroking a golden badge clipped there. “And as the new police captain, I can make sure you’re the one who’s offered a deal.”
The blood drains from Bailey’s face. “What the hell?”
