Page 76 of Falcon’s Forever

“Do you have an excuse?” he asks.

“No,” I answer.

"Good, saves time." He doesn't say it cruelly. He says it like a man who's already decided how this ends and doesn't see the point in drawing it out.

"You think I don't know I fucked up?" I say anyway, because some part of me still wants the fight instead of the verdict.

"I think knowing's the easiest part." The words land harder than I want them to. "Carrot knew you were on that road because he heard it over the same channel I did. He made his own call too. Doesn't make yours smaller."

I don’t have an answer for him, because there isn’t one.

“Church,” Vulture says. “Ten minutes.”

“Now?” I ask.

“Yes, now,” he replies.

“Emily is in the hospital,” I remind him.

“And this club is still standing because half your brothers were where they were supposed to be,” Vulture says.

My gaze shifts toward the women’s house.

Vulture notices. “Cara isn’t there.”

“I know,” I reply.

“Are you going to chase after her?” he asks.

“No,” I answer.

His eyebrows rise. There’s no lightness or teasing in his expression this time.

“Good,” Vulture says.

He heads for the clubhouse, and I follow because there's nowhere else useful to be.

Church fills up slowly tonight, there’s none of the usual noise ahead of it. Somebody's left one chair at the end of the table empty rather than filling the gap, and I understand why the second I see it. Nobody's stupid enough to sit in it.

Hustler's not here, Knox kept him back. Digger sits near the far end with yesterday's stitches still visible, staring at the empty chair like it might explain itself if he looks long enough. Vulture takes his seat, and I sit on his right out of habit, and I can feel every man at the table deciding whether that's still where I belong.

"Status," Vulture says.

Ice Pick answers first. "North breach came through the old utility section. The fence was cut behind the vegetation, they knew exactly where the camera gaps were."

Condor turns his laptop. "The feed was jammed for two minutes forty-eight seconds. The same equipment as the outage at the women's house before."

Rook drops a photo on the table. "Tire tracks north of the road. Two vehicles."

Sterling opens a folder on the table. “There’s one more thing. Rachel’s prescription transfer request entered the system at eight twenty-seven this morning. The second branch location was logged at eight forty-two. Somebody accessed the record at eight forty-nine.”

Every eye in the room turns toward him.

“Who accessed it?” I ask.

“An employee account,” Sterling answers. “The employee wasn’t scheduled to work today.”

“Was the account hacked?” Zip asks.