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“Kayden—”
Kayden talked over Beckett. “He has to take out Ryder.”
When they used the wordstake out, I felt a chill down my spine. Ryder was one of Ethan’s old team—he’d brought Ben here and Ethan and Ryder were close. “They want Ethan to kill one of his best friends? He won’t do that.”
“He has to, or at least—”
“But he won’t, so what will they do? You need to get him out of there, extract him, whatever you do. Who are they? Is it that Danvers guy? Tell me you’re getting Ethan out.”
Both men were quiet, exchanging glances and an entire silent conversation that made no sense to an outsider. Then Beckett met my gaze.
“There’s onlyonething he can do right now.”
“What? He can’t kill his friend.”
No, but he’s going to have to beseento kill Ryder. And that’s way harder than it looks.”
ChapterTwenty-Two
Ethan
I hadto trust everything was going right.
I had to trust Josh and Ben were safe, that Sanctuary was looking after them. I had to trust they knew about Ryder and the fact I had to earn my way back into the good books of the bad guys. I hoped to hell they knew what I had to do, and that they had a plan in place. Ihadto believe I could pull this off, even if the thought of pointing a gun at one of my best friends was incomprehensible. This was all my fault. I was the one who’d asked Ryder to keep track of every mission we ran for Danvers, as team leader it was me who said we needed backup in case we were burned, but I know Ryder had dug a lot deeper than he should have.
Because I’d asked him to do it—I’d sanctioned it.
I knew every single word and plan and image he had, and it was all wrapped up in memories of our team, of the orders we’d followed at first until we’d realized things were wrong, of the camaraderie we had… the friendships. Ryder and I had put our lives on the line to keep the other safe so many times. Neither of us would be alive now if it wasn’t for each other.
“It’s easy,” Danvers cupped my shoulder and squeezed.
I had to hold myself still and not do what I wanted to do, which was take the asshole down and break his hand.
“You fucked up on the skin job with that Josh guy, which could have netted me half a million.” He placed the gun in my lap—“do that, take Ryder out, retrieve the information he collated, and I’ll think about smoothing things over and taking you back.”
“And get me off-book jobs that pay?” I forced a little desperation into the question but kept my expression as impassive as I could. I wanted him to think I was trying hard not to lose my shit.
Danvers shrugged. “After you’ve worked off the five hundred you owe me.”
“That wasn’t the deal.”
“Deals change. It’s not like you’re in the place to bargain. So, show me. Showus.”
“‘Us’?”
He smirked, but I’d already read into his words—other people would watch this stream from my body cam. “Do it right.”
It was time to show a small amount of hesitation and remorse. “Ryder was the best second I ever had… He was—”
“He’s your past and if you wanna be the guy who makes it in this world, then you’ll do this. FYI, I have money on you choking. The others are split over whether the amazing tough guy Ethan will actually do the job.” He gestured out of the tinted windows of his SUV, and I followed his hand to where a pinprick of red wavered in a tiny circle on my chest. There was a weapon trained on me, but I knew that. I was half expecting to get a bullet in my head the second I stepped out of the car, and I sent up a small message to everyone I loved…sorry.
I wanted to see Josh again, but I couldn’t think about him now—I had to focus. Knowing Danvers, he’d have a plausible story in place of how dangerous I’d become to excuse me being shot. I was still on the wanted list with the FBI after kidnapping Josh, and he knew one phone call to anyone like the cops, and I’d be done. I wondered who else was out there—who else was part of his team? Was it an off-the-books squad the same as we’d once been? Our replacement maybe?
I didn’t even believe he’d carry through with the agreement, but I had to play the part—I had to be vulnerable here and show him my belly—act the role of a desperate man. “If you try to take me out after I retrieve the information, I have steps in place,” I said.
He huffed a laugh, but there was no humor in it. “I’m not stupid enough to think you don’t have bargaining chips, Ethan.” He tapped the steering wheel.
“Then we have an understanding.”
