Page 24 of The Devil's Reward
Let the search begin.
“They’ll be here any minute,” Viper says quietly as we stand close to the fence and wait for Syn and the dog. They were here last night to search the grounds but came up empty. No surprise there. Still, I’m eager to see what they find in the clubhouse.
We cleared everyone out, including Cryos, who was not happy that I sent him to the office to work with Crypt on a case. The rest of the guys are running errands that Bullet made up for them. To keep from arousing suspicion, the only people here are Viper and I, and Carson and Kaleb down at the gate. Neither of whom will know Syn is here because they’ve been told not to leave their post.
Viper was the one to pull the plug on the cameras in Cryos’s command center, and I know Cryos is going to want to kill us once he figures out it happened, but I’m willing to deal with the consequences.
Viper’s phone buzzes and he glances at it. “Syn’ll be here in five minutes. She said the dogs are well rested from last night after searching the out buildings and are already eager to get to work again.”
I nod. “Can’t believe we have to stoop to this,” I grumble. “Feels fucked up, especially bringing a woman into this; she’s not even an Old Lady. Once the brothers find out, they’re going to be fucking pissed.”
“They’ll have to deal with it,” Viper replies, voice firm. “When it comes to dealing with Dmitri Norikov, and almost killing two Old Ladies, I don’t give a shit if they are pissed. If they’re not guilty, then they’ll suck it up and agree it’s the right thing to do.”
I nod. He has a point. “What are we going to do if Syn finds anything?” I ask him.
“Call Bullet and he can decide,” Viper answers immediately. “Shit like this, Prez makes the final call. I have no problem carrying out the plan and seeing it through to the end, but I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision.”
I know what he means. With my team, I was never the leader, and I was glad for that fact. Now, I’m also glad that Bullet will handle the major decisions, but there’s no way in hell I won’t be one of the men doling out the punishment. King and Torque will want their pounds of flesh, but neither of them will end the life of our mole. Neither of them has ever had to bloody their hands, and this isn’t the time to start. No matter how much they may want to.
“So, before the lovely K9 trainer gets here, you going to tell me what the deal is with you and Quinn Holt?” Viper suddenly asks, making my head jerk around to look at him.
“What about her?” I ask in confusion.
He gives me a droll look. “Really? That’s how you want to play this? You think I didn’t notice the way you two were staring at each other? Or that you’ve never looked at a woman like you want to both push her away and pull her closer, all in the same instant?”
I keep my face blank. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, brother. We were talking about Crypt and the reception position, that’s it.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “You might fool anyone else with that line of BS but we both know it’s more than that. So are you going to fess up, or do I need to go digging?”
I glare at him. “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that, right?” I gripe.
He smirks at me. “So everyone keeps saying, but as you can tell, I don’t give a rat’s ass. Start talking.”
I huff out a deep sigh and finally admit, “She looks like my old teammate.”
His eyes widen. “Wait, you mean she looks like the one you had a thing for? Susan? Sarah?”
“Sam. Yeah, she does. Sam had blonde hair and dark eyes, while Quinn has the coppery hair and green eyes, but everything else about her looks exactly like Sam. Height, body structure, all of it. Hell, even her smile is like Sam’s when she lets it show.” I look away from him, pain twisting in my chest. “It’s like the universe is trying to get in its last kicks. It’d be one thing if I knew I would never see her again, but I keep running into her.”
Viper is quiet for a moment. Finally, he shakes his head. “Damn, brother, that’s damn weird. You have Cryos or someone look into her to see if they’re related?”
I shake my head. “If Cryos is the mole, I don’t want her on his radar. She’s innocent, not involved in this at all. She has a little girl, Macy.”
Viper slowly nods. “Yeah, I get your point. Still, there’s ways we could find out about her without Cryos. Or you could just ask her.”
I snort. “Yeah, like that wouldn’t be creepy as hell.Hey, so you look like my former teammate that I had feelings for before she died in action. Any chance you’re related?She’d run screaming for the hills.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Viper groans. “Okay, so scratch talking to her.” He purses his lips in thought. “Wait, what about Crypt? You said that his specialty is intelligence, so if anyone else could figure that shit out, it’s him. Also, might be a good way to test him out, see just how good he is.”
“She’s his social worker. That’s probably crossing a few lines.”
He waves that away. “He doesn’t need to report to her again, she even told him. She’ll follow up in two months, and by then, we’ll have the information we need. Though, if you really don’t want him on it, you could ask Sloan to have his guy find out the information for you.”
I groan. “Then Raven would get wind of it, and I don’t want that headache.”
Viper chuckles. “Bet you a hundred bucks she could get the information faster than any of us.”
“I’m not taking a fool’s bet. If I decide I want to know, I’ll ask Crypt,” I concede. “But for now, it’s a moot point. We have this shit to deal with, and I need to forget about Quinn Holt. I’m not ready to dredge up the old feelings that I worked through.”
