Page 6 of Peak’s Code

"You deliberately let yourself get caught,” Peak said quietly.

"Yes,” she breathed.

"So we'd listen to what you have to say,” he finished.

"I knew that you’d have to listen to me eventually."

"You gambled your life on that,” Peak said.

Maeve shrugged. "I've made worse bets." Peak studied her for another long moment, and then he stood.

Warden looked at him. "Where you going?"

"I’m going to talk to Captain,” Peak growled.

"Wait, we’re done here?” Warden said.

"Yes." He picked up his laptop. "If even half of what she said is true—" He looked at Maeve. "Then we're no longer talking about one woman caught snooping around our docks." His eyes met hers. "We're talking about someone using Grave Prowler territory to traffic women."

The room went silent. Maeve finally let out the breath she'd been holding, which meant she'd expected him not to believe her. He wasn't sure he did—not yet, but one thing was certain. This wasn't a territory dispute anymore. This was a war, and someone had just declared it on the Grave Prowlers.

Peak shoved through the clubhouse door so hard it slammed against the wall. Every head in the room turned. Captain looked up from where he'd been speaking with Ruin. "Problem?"

Peak didn't answer immediately. Instead, he dropped his laptop onto the conference table with enough force to rattle the coffee cups sitting nearby. "We've got one."

Silence settled over the room as Warden stepped in behind him, closing the door. "She isn't lying," the Enforcer said simply.

That got everyone's attention. Captain leaned back in his chair. "You sure about that?"

"No," Peak answered before Warden could. "But she's convinced she isn't."

Captain studied him. "That's not the same thing."

"No." Peak rubbed the back of his neck. "It isn't." He looked around the room. "But she knows too much."

"About?" Captain asked.

"Our docks, our patrol schedules, the prospect routes, and the shipping lanes,” Peak said.

Ruin frowned. "That information ain't exactly classified."

Peak nodded. "True, but she also knew I'd search for her sister."

Captain's eyebrows lifted. "And?"

"She stopped me,” Peak said.

"Why would she do that?” Captain asked.

"She says whoever's running this operation monitors database searches." Several brothers laughed, but Peak didn't, and neither did Warden.

"You think that's possible?" Captain asked.

"I know it's possible." Peak flipped open his laptop. “If they've got someone inside law enforcement—” He looked around the table. "Or someone with access to NCIC, then they’ll know that someone is searching for her sister."

Ruin swore. "You've seen that before?"

"I've done it before,” Peak said. The room fell silent, and he sighed. "Legally."