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“You smell like my brother,” I murmur.
She bites her lip. “I’m filled with him, too.”
Blood rushes to my dick so fast I’m surprised I don’t lose vision. “Did you have fun?”
She nods. “I shot my first sniper rifle.”
“Right on target,” Xavier adds, and Silence grins. “Although, it really should be Yale teaching you. He’s the best shot. Always has been.”
Yale picks up his laptop and sits on the couch, saying nothing. He doesn’t like bragging, but he has frighteningly sharp accuracy. He’s best with a sniper, but he rarely picks up a weapon.
“You don’t like shooting, though?” Silence asks.
Yale shakes his head. “I prefer typing.” He sits up straight. “Ryker fucking Blake, formerly known as Ryan Blake.”
Xavier barks out a laugh. “Wow. How covert.”
“The good news is that we know why he’s targeting us. The bad news is that we don’t know whether he can actually cause us damage. He could have an army. It could just be him and some hired guys.”
“Why is he obsessed with us?” Silence asks, and I know she’s wondering if Ryker is her stalker from when she was younger.
“His brother was in the Agency,” Yale says. “In the same trainee group as us. Carter Blake.” The name has the hairs on the back of my neck lifting, and Xavier and I exchange knowing looks. “What? You knew him?”
I clear my throat. “We killed him.”
“Another recruit?” Silence asks. “Is that allowed?”
“It was encouraged. Unofficially,” Yale says. “We don’t allow it anymore. We can lose good recruits from a shitty recruit with a lucky shot. Why did you kill him?”
I’m never proud of my kills like Xavier is, but I’m definitely not ashamed of this one. It was my first time really facing death, and while I didn’t land the killing blow, I contributed.
“He cornered one of the newer recruits in the showers, and I don't think he planned on killing her,” Xavier says. “Zayden and I were passing by and heard shouts. Gable Flynn was with us.”
It was Gable who stopped Carter’s heart, and it’s the first time I witnessed him truly lose control. He was our friend by that point, but Asher was the one who stepped in to calm his brother.
“Gable wasn’t in any fit state to speak to Drago, so we did,” I say, gesturing at Xavier. “Reported the kill, took the blame. Nothing ever came of it.”
Silence plays with my fingers. “Until now.”
Xavier says, “So little bro buries big bro, somehow gets access to the reports, and finds out we did it. Then, what? He waits more than ten years to come for us? Why?”
“Planning,” Yale says. “The Blakes were broke, so it seems Ryker has spent the last decade building himself an empire of his own. He worked in stocks, made himself a small fortune, then invested it. He was a millionaire by the time he was twenty-one, and that’s when his money got dirty. Organized crime, trafficking, anything to make cash.”
“And now he’s putting his plan into action.” Xavier rubs his hand down his face. “Is he a threat?”
“No clue. Even the most careful leave some kind of paper trail. Correspondence, meetings with other powerful people, bank transfers … but I can’t find anything. The FBI aren’t even aware of him. He’s flying under the radar, and he’s fucking good at it. But”—he smirks—“not as good as me.” He spins his laptop to face us, a grainy screenshot of CCTV showing a man in his fifties. “I analyzed the hotel footage again, and I noticed that whenever Ryker walked through the lobby, there was someone else there. Hanging around or drinking at the bar. So, I searched his face through the police database, and this guy popped up. Corey Ray. Small-time criminal, did time for assault back in the nineties, spotted with a few powerful guys over the last ten years or so.”
“He’s Ryker’s protection?” Silence asks, and Yale nods.
“He did closed protection for a few years after prison but got fired for disorderly conduct. Guess who he worked for.”
I close my eyes. “Please say Charlie fucking Callahan.”
“Charlie. Fucking. Callahan.”
My grin is wide and much fucking needed. “We need to call him again.”
“Already have. He’s gonna get in touch with Corey under the guise of rehiring him, see if he can arrange a meeting and get him to give up wherever Ryker’s staying.”
