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“Liam only brokered the deals and initiated the software. I engineered everything else. He can’t do what I can do. Not since he turned the division over to me years ago,” Killion shared. “We should warn everyone. You’re all at risk as long as I’m being sought out… no one even remotely close to me is safe.”
“It’s a hell of a lead for us to work off,” Bozz said. “It’s been established that we were put together and meant to cross paths already. We know that. But knowing this means we find out who was ultimately behind the Dirty Dozen, the mass murdering, the corruption we were accessory to, the absolute injustices…”
Bozz stood and kicked his chair behind him, walking the floor as he pinched the bridge of his nose as if it helped him collect himself and regain a sense of calm.
He turned to them. “We’re here to help. You have our full support and access to everything we know –– I’ll see to it. Down to our last contact. Until the end, you know that. But when we finish this, once and for all, we’re going after this. I want to know the face behind all our nightmares.”
Killion nodded and gently laid the baby back in the stroller. “And we’ll have your back when that time comes.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Hen asked. “I feel like this just escalated to a war against the world. We have people to protect.”
“Already on it,” Cane said. “Mercy is in the loop and looping in his brother.”
“Shit.” Hen cackled. “He just calls up his brother the president… I’d never get used to that.”
“Ransom may be president of the United States, but he’s also one of us. He knows there’s corruption all over Washington, but he also knows who we can trust, and for right now… it’s just him and his detail,” Cane shared. “They’re recommending that we get everyone here in Portland to Watermark and lock it down. Get everyone outside the immediate area to their ranch out in Montana. Next to this building, it’s the second most secure place in the country. Nobody will storm the president’s personal property looking for leverage.”
“It’s worked before. It will again,” Killion said. “They’ll be safe there.”
“I’ll work on rounding folks up.” Finn stood, pulling out his phone. “Assuming there are no limits to resources?”
“Anything you need,” Killion said. “If anything happens to anyone from our teams, our families… because of me?”
“It would be because of the assholes who did it, not you, cousin,” Brody assured.
“To get to me…” Killion corrected. “Gather your team, Finn. Call in everyone. We’re going to need them.”
Rainy reached for Killion’s hands with tears in her eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Killion.”
He squeezed her hand tenderly and nodded. “It will.”
His words lacked confidence, but he shared them anyway in the event they’d serve a purpose in any form. The last thing Killion wanted was for anyone to worry on his account or, worse, feel fearful. Something about Rainy offering comfort and encouragement left a pinch in his chest, making it hard to breathe. If he’d learned anything about Rainy over the past several months, it was that she was tough and didn’t scare easily.
After all Rainy had been through, it was a wonder to him, and likely others, how she developed such grit, given the trauma she’d experienced in her life. But here she was, not worried for herself or even the babies, it seemed. She was worried for Killion and consoling him… supporting him… and that made him feel some kind of way.
The team began to resort to their phones, calling in favors, sending alerts to call in operatives, and so on. The machine was at work, and it was well-oiled and primed for battle.
“You’re not the enemy, Killion,” Bozz said. “I’m sure it’s someone we have in common –– it almost has to be to make sense. The enemy of our enemy is someone who has played both sides and played them well. We’re going to find them, and we’ll end them.”
“He’s right,” Jazz said, pecking at his phone. “We all know how this works, right? Someone in common, someone patient who has been laying in wait. Letting both of our teams remove all the players one by one, leaving the kingdom of Chalice for the taking.”
“Someone who had power and lost it because of us?” Killion asked. “Maybe took some dirty money and ran, hid on the sidelines, and waited for their opportunity to present itself?”
“Whether it’s a new threat or an old one, they’re making their play,” Cane said, joining the conversation. “Why let out Lindstrom just to kill him? Isn’t that a bit like showing your hand?”
“It’s a distraction,” Carter said, clicking at his phone before sliding it back into his pocket. “It’s the only thing that makes sense right now. There’s a major power play here and we need to be careful not to fall for the manipulation.”
Killion nodded. “Let Lindstrom out, cause a little trouble, make his presence known, and kill him so we investigate his murder instead of how he got out in the first place.”
“Good call. Smart. That tells us whoever is behind this likely double-crossed him and played him for a fool.” Brody stroked his chin while he mulled over the facts as they knew them. “It also tells us they don’t know us well, or the Dozen. They’re banking on us falling for something we’d never fall for.”
“Which means they’re not well versed on BK or the Dozen, just tuned into Killion.” Cane turned to his brother. “Someone you know better than any of us.”
“I can’t imagine who that would be. I’m just the tech guy, not the face of this place,” Killion countered. “And it’s not like we advertise this place on billboards or anything.”
Wit reached for the baby Rainy was still holding and snuggled his nephew into his chest. “For the smartest guy in the room, you surprise me sometimes. You said something a long time ago that I never forgot, and I suppose it bears reminding… You said tech, programming, all this stuff you do has a signature, like a fingerprint. Just like my prints, eyes, and the shape of my ears belong to me and help identify me… so does your programming or whatever you call it. You’ve said it before that how a techy goes about designing techy things is like their fingerprint.”
“Someone knows his fingerprint, even if they don’t know his face,” Rainy said. “If this has been a long game, and even the Dozen are involved, that means they know Relay’s too.”
