Before Edge and Ghost made it back inside the great room, the other men had started sweeping the house for listening devices. Ghost has everything in the armory, and it doubles as a safe place.
Joel was straight in the surveillance room checking the cameras, but the fucker had blacked out one camera with only his hand visible. He was smart, had done his homework. He’d studied the angles of the cameras and knew the blind spots. He was no amateur. We saw movement in the snow, but his camouflage outfit showed little of who we were dealing with.
Ghost sent me a photo of the note, and the way the guy wrote ‘mummy' not using American English was a major tell. I'm British, and the fucker is either Australian or British if I was to narrow down the western speaking countries. He was after Mathias and Edge, and my first thought was for Whisper and her babies.
Then Ghost sent a gruesome image of a head in a block of ice. I closed my eyes briefly in sorrow for Adam and his family. I owed that man a lot. I vow to get the motherfucker who did this to him.
Before we had no idea, we were being watched, now he wants us to know he’s out there.
I look around the room. I’m missing something because the house has to be clean. We’ve all been here for a week. Nobody’s gotten inside, which left me immediately moving on a hunch about the two people new to this house.
I find Mathias who is physically lifting things looking for bugs outside the great room. I attack him, throwing him up against the nearest wall, my forearm adding enough pressure to his throat that his face starts to go red. His hands grip my arms, trying to release my hold. But that isn’t gonna happen.
“What the hel—”
I lean my body weight forward adding more pressure. "Shut it, Mathias! Need to check you for a wire or anything else that is giving away our secrets. It's been brought to my attention that some fucker knows Whisper is pregnant." I'll judge him on his reaction. The guy’s brow shoots up crinkling, his shocked expression telling me he’s just as surprised and confused as I am. Then I add the real shocker. “And Nicu/Adam’s head is currently being displayed in a block of ice in Ghost’s mudroom freezer care of unknown motherfucker. You happen to know anything ‘bout any of that?”
"Oh my God," He rasps out, not much oxygen getting into his lungs. He tries to move his head, but I'm still pressing against his throat hard enough to cut off his oxygen intake. He starts losing color, so I let up enough for him to speak. "Cezar... one of his men… got loose… it's payback..." he struggles to breathe and talk. He's no longer grasping my arms. He's let them drop to his sides as though the news of Adam's death has deflated him. I'm not willing to release him just yet.
"Yeah, already putting the math together," I respond in a sarcastic tone because shit just went waaay Deep South and now we were swiftly heading into enemy territory.
"Do what you gotta do, Boxer. I got a clear conscience." He holds his hands up, and I relax my arm enough to turn on the device and swipe it up and down his body. And what do you know? The scanner starts beeping near his arse.
Bingo!
“Really?” My concealed weapon is out and aimed at his temple. I’m fucking disappointed Mathias turned out to be a bad guy for Edge and Whisper’s sake. “Turn the fuck around, hands to the wall and don’t mess with me, because I will shoot you—regardless of the family connection.” The guy looks as surprised as I am by this turn of events.
I shove my hand into his back pocket and what do you know? There’s a bug in the back left pocket of his jeans. “What the fuck, Mathias?” I yank it out shove it in his face and then drop it crushing it with my moon boot. “Any more you care to enlighten me on?” I spit out sounding disgusted with him.
"What the fuck? No!" I… Can't be? I would never!" Mathias is outraged, and I'm angered and waaay past disappointed. I'm on my way to beating him to a pulp.
My anger is ripe for the picking. I shout to nobody in particular, “HANDCUFFS! NOW!" Mathias doesn't even put up a fight as I drag him roughly into the great room. I don't give a shit who's listening in. Anger has consumed me, and I see everything through a red filter.
“Here!” Lincoln calls out, throwing a pair at me. I catch them one handed.
Mathias willingly puts his hands behind his back while I slap them on him none too gently. “Don’t fucking move unless I tell you to. Heads-up, we’re bringing your mother in here too,” I warn him.
"She's got nothing to do with this," he replies through gritted teeth, looking over his shoulder at me. There is fear in his eyes for his mother. "I've been framed." His accent is thicker. "I've got no reason to spy on you," he says determinedly. Full blown anger hasn't yet set in, and when it does, I don't want this big guy attacking when he sees us dragging in his mother.
"Can't take any chances, got a pregnant girl here and far too much shits been done to her already. You play by my rules until otherwise proven. Resist, and I won't play nice," I threaten him.
Ghost and Edge walk into the room and look at Mathias cuffed.
“What the fuck,” they both say in unison. Then one plus one equals—
Edge starts to charge for Mathias.
“Ghoost!” I yell out. He catches on and throws himself at Edge’s back and bear hugs him tight.
“Not. The. Fuck. Now. Edge,” Ghost grits out as he works hard to keep him constrained. “There will be time for that later, but let’s hear the facts first before you go barrelling into your newly discovered bro. Boxer’s just got the cuffs on as a precaution.” He looks over Edge’s shoulder at Mathias with a confused scowl on his face. “Don’t right know what the fuck you have done to cause Boxer to cuff you, but I’m happy to let Edge at you if you’ve been dickin’ us about.” And I’ll raise the red flag.
"As Ghost said, this is a temporary precaution until proven otherwise." Mathias scowls at me in return for cuffing him, refusing to look at his brother.
I direct my next words to Edge. "Found a bug in the back pocket of Mathias's jeans. Says he knows nothing about it. The jury's still out on that."
“So much for a family reunion,” Mathias mutters under his breath. He’s resigned himself to his current status, which is unknown.
"Hey, buddy, I haven't known you long enough to make a judgment call either way," Edge tells him. "But if you've fucked with me this morning, I'll—"
“Yeah…yeah,” Mathias says all deadpan, cutting Edge off. “I got the picture. Let’s get on with the trial.”
I shrug. "Already had one man betray my family, nearly cost Lincoln and me our lives, and I did know him well enough to trust. He was a man on my team. Grady flipped on me for a gambling debt, and he wound up dead, somewhere. The two of us were starved, and I got a clubbed foot, and Linc has a leg that will never be the same again. For the record, I don't think you would have spent years undercover to pull a fucking stunt like this, but shit looks bad from where we're all standing. I think you gotta admit that much," I explain.
Edge continues, "We got to clear this shit up right now, so let Boxer sort it, and then we can move on. I warn you, though, if it's proven you brought this into Whisper's haven, then DNA or not"—Edge points his fingers like a gun at Mathias—"you're dead. I won't hesitate. Bang-Bang!"
Ghost releases Edge. He stands with his arms crossed over his chest like he needs to have them secured or he’ll use them.
"Well, then brother, I'm glad I'm the only one in this room who knows what the truth is and that is: somebody's done this to me. If you lot took a moment to think this through, you would see reason in which a sentinel or even Filip lived to tell the tale and is seeking payback,” Mathias growls, “the more time we stand around gives that fucker time to work out his next step.”
Ghost stares at me, while we have a silent conversation. We both know none of this makes one piece of sense, but we have to air on caution.
I then calmly request somebody gets Lily and brings her in here handcuffed so that we can scan her for a bug.
Lincoln steps forward offering to retrieve Lily.
“Linc… Lily’s helping Evelyn pack our shit up, so I don’t need Evelyn in here worrying about Lily either, so play it cool. Cuff her once she’s separated from the female flock.” He nods and leaves, thumping his way out the room. Bloody hell, there’s three of us with leg injuries. Glad we don’t have to chase anybody down.
I pray to God that she's cleared because I don't doubt Edge would kill her if it meant keeping Whisper safe and ending this once and for all. There isn't a strong bond there yet, and he's still a killer at heart. It's his day job. He shows no mercy.
But is he a changed man?
"If my mother has something planted on her, please give us time to prove our innocence. You've got this all wrong, and it's exactly what somebody like Filip would want you all to believe. Boxer, we—"
"Shut it! Bloody hell, Mathias, you have my word, Edge won't be putting anybody in a grave until I say so." He lowers his head shaking it, knowing nothing he says will stop his mother from being hauled in here to face the music. He's already assuming she's not going to be clean, so I get all up in his face. "What do you expect me to think at this moment after Adam's head is sitting in a freezer and you have a bug in your jeans?! Jesus. Look at it from my point of view.”
Lily is dragged in by Lincoln, cuffed, confused and looking scared shitless. Her eyes seek Edge’s for help, and he can only grunt uncomfortably at how helpless she looks. He's had time to remember he jumped the gun once, without the full story and he knows if he kills his mother, he can't turn back the time to fix it.
Dead is dead.
I run the device over her and find nothing. I can't help the whoosh of breath that comes out. It's a huge relief, and I don't doubt every man in this room inner monologued ‘thank fuck.' But I have one more thing to check. "Get her handbag," I say to Lincoln. I'm pissed I have to do this to this woman in front of Edge, but before I do... "Ghost, grab Edge, again." I'm tense because if this scanner goes off, I'm afraid he's going to go off.
I hear Ghost tackle Edge, and he's all ‘get-off-me,' but he doesn't fight back.
I run the scanner over her bag, and it starts beeping.
“Jesus!” I drop my head counting to three. “Really? You couldn’t just walk in here without including your mother in this shit?” I mutter, even though none of this makes sense at all.
I shake all the contents out onto the coffee table and run it over the bag again. It’s clean. I move the items about separating them and run the scanner over.
Bingo! It’s inside a crumpled lolly wrapper. Rinse and repeat on the smashing of the tiny device.
Edge's hands are fisted by his sides, and his legs are getting busy fidgeting on the spot with Ghost bouncing about locked onto his back and chest. "Well, get the fuck on with it then, Boxer," Edge growls, a fierce, angry scowl plastered on his face, his nerves stretched. He's chosen wisely to let me handle this.
“Christ! None of this makes a damn bit of sense," I grumble, walking up to Lily. "You're Edge's mother. You came here today—”
“I don’t eat lollies, only chocolates,” Lily slices through my words with a determined voice, her teeth clenched in a very unladylike manner. The lady has some fight in her. She tilts her head up defiantly at me and then at Edge. She’s holding her ground and looking just as fierce as Edge, and right at this moment, I can see the resemblance between mother and son. They’re both holding onto their shit with determination.
Joel and Hazard walk back into the room.
“I gather you found what you were looking for,” Joel says as he cracks an eyebrow at Mathias and Lily standing handcuffed. “Although I am surprised…” He lets the rest of that sentence trail off.
Hazard looks like he wants to rip somebody apart. "There was one set of footprints in the woods, so he's traveling alone. He must have legged it out fast; they were close together. He's fit. Unknown motherfucker's been out there watching for sure," he says in that gravelly voice of his.
I snatch up Lily’s key card that spilled out of her handbag when I shook it upside down. “Hazard and Lincoln, I need you to go for a drive to the Embassy Hotel, sixth-floor suite 664 and see if there’s any incriminating shit in their room. I want you to scan it for listening devices and check under the beds. Ransack the suite. Let me know what you find ASAP.” I’m trying to clear their names ASAP so we can concentrate on the real fucker-at-hand. I hope it doesn’t backfire on them. “It will take twenty-five minutes to get there from here, make it there in fifteen,” I tell them. “Check the cars for tracking devices and bugs before you leave.” And they’re gone.
Edge, I can handle, because he’s got Whisper to think about. Hazard could be the loose, volatile cannon I don’t need in this room at the moment. He's also Edge's only other real allie in this room who could work against me. Edge has too much emotional attachment now, and he's already majorly fucked-up by shooting Whisper without knowing all the facts. My gut knows these two are innocent and that clever bastard hoped today would play out in his favor and it did—for the time being.
“Joel, I need you to hack into the Embassy Hotel’s records and find out who is occupying the rooms on either side of Mathias’s suite. I need to know check-in dates and anything that looks suspicious when it comes to the time Mathias arrived. I want to know any credit card details—anything. You know what to look for.”
“On it!” He jogs out the room to get to his computer.
“Everybody take a load off. We have to hear back from Hazard and Lincoln before we make our next move.”
I take a seat on the couch and Ghost assists Lily to sit beside Mathias. All our minds are filled with loud chatter as we try to make sense of how today could go so wrong, but nobody utters a word.
So much for Christmas Day celebrations.
I can’t even think about Adam’s death and what he went through. I can’t feel those emotions at the moment. I have to concentrate on what’s at hand. But I can’t help sparing a moment to think about what this means for his mother. She only just got Adam back from years of undercover service, and she's now lost both her children. She won't have another body to bury, because she sure isn't getting her son's head. I rub my hand over my eyes, feeling like I let Adam down somehow. His poor mother’s had enough nightmares with Eve's disappearance and confirmed death. And now her only other child is dead—Christ! She's probably worried sick about his whereabouts now. I'll have to get Jerry Kingston to break the news to her in person. I would prefer to do it myself, but I can't fly to Colorado. The alphabet suits are going to have to handle it; they put him undercover.
“Mathias, if they find any damning evidence in your room for either of you…” Edge doesn’t finish that sentence.
"Yeah-yeah heard you loud and clear already," he replies deadpan. I see the truth written on his face. They have to have been set up. "But you won't. We're the good guys."
“Doesn’t make fucking sense these two are involved in some master plan.” Edge is calm and thinking logically about all the pieces on the chessboard, trying to find a motive, but like me, he’s coming up with nothing.
He gets up and moves to Mathias, holding his phone up to the guy’s face. “Read that note!” Edge demands.
Mathias reads it and curses.
“This is also why none of this makes sense. Adam’s dead and you and I are next.” Lily gasps. “Time will tell if you are a loose end or retribution. I hope for your sake you’re as much a retribution vendetta as I am or else there won’t be anything left for this fucker to hunt down and kill.”
When he's finished, he swipes his screen. "That head was once attached to my friend's body"—his voice hits an emotional spike—"and it's now in the mudroom freezer, and his mother is going to find out soon enough she's lost another kid to the evil of this world." He's looking for a reaction from Mathias, and he gets rewarded with genuine horror from Mathias. "It was sent as a gift to me and considering Adam was in Colorado visiting his mother for Christmas; some fucker got to him. Don't even know if Mrs. Balan is alive," Edge wonders out loud.
“Shit… Joel?” I holler.
"On it next," he hollers back. He's close enough to hear what's still going on in here.
“Jesus Christ,” Mathias whispers, shock evident on his face before he drops his head, staring at his feet. “Jesus…” he repeats. He raises his head; his blue eyes are full of sadness. "The only man I can think of capable of this is Filip. He's got the resources, and he's known Cezar a long time. He was loyal to the core. It makes sense he would seek vengeance for him. He's got to be the one behind all this. You sure Filip didn't get away? I'm a traitor, and he knows it—somehow."
"None of us are sure of anything, because we've got a fucker out there who knows a whole lotta stuff he shouldn't. He knew before I did you were my brother," Edge says in a pissed off tone. "This means he knows where you're staying and he's close enough to get that information. He also heard hot-off-the-press that Whisper is pregnant and that means he was listening in with those bugs you were both carrying, so if you're not involved, then you came into close contact with the fucker. He's onto you both. The note to me is printed out except for the addition of Whisper's pregnancy he added in his handwriting."
“Filip, the black guy who killed Rose, he’s British? Is that right Mathias?" I ask.
"Yes," he answers, waiting for me to continue.
"Person who wrote the note used ‘mummy' and not ‘mommy.' Could be a good starting point? By all accounts, it makes sense to start with Filip, even though the motherfucker was laying face-down on the floor in a pool of blood. Could’ve been staged. Torque had to jump over a black guy in a suit, who resembled the masked guy Edge and Ghost saw kill Rose when he came to Edge’s aid while Hazard was shooting it out with Kane. He jumped over him before the lights went out and the rest of the men had to hop his body and help get the women out in the dark, but they had their night-vision goggles. We’ve been through all this already in great detail. I grilled you and the other men making sure there were no roaches left scurrying about, and we knew what Filip—a key player—looked like.
“Kane was thought to be the only roach, and he got blown up. But what if there was another roach? Filip/Anonymous-fucker terminated the last loose end as a decoy that Ghost witnessed—thinking it was a land mine—shutting down any reason we would believe any other roaches made it out alive.” Even I’m starting to feel convinced Filip could have been a slippery eel. He was Cezar’s right-hand man, so he knows how to survive.
I continue with my theorizing. “Evil fucker knew Lily and Mathias were coming here today. If he’s been watching them and possibly us, then he must have an accomplice to have got to Adam in Colorado yesterday and have the head here by this morning—makes sense with the timeline.”
He’s probably been stalking them the whole time, but why didn’t Mathias notice somebody lurking? He’s trained. If it’s one of the men he worked with, he should have recognized somebody, but of course they wore masks, but still, body shape can tell a trained eye a lot.
Is the fucker head-to-toe disguised? Would make more sense. My mind is throwing a lot of theories together.
It's too personal. Has to be one of Cezar's men; that's the only assumption at this early stage.
“He's worked out Nicu was a traitor, he learned Adam's name and where he lived. He's been watching us the whole time and listening in, and this means dating back to the night of the event. He knew where Mathias is staying. He had to be outside with some listening device when Adam and Edge were talking at the fake printing business to hear Nicu wasn't who he said he was. He quite possibly could have gone straight to the printing business thinking it was gonna be his haven until he got his shit together and we had already beat him to it? He's had Adam followed and then killed. He's close in rank to Cezar, so Filip isn’t a farfetched assumption,” I deduce out loud. “Joel! I shout.
“Yo!” he hollers back.
“You got that information yet?” Time is wasting.
“Just about to bring what I have,” he replies, sounding tense. And then he’s racing back into the great room; his focus is Mathias. “What’s the name of the concierge?”
“Gavin.”
Joel’s now cursing under his breath.
“Okay, here goes on what I’ve discovered—” he raises one brow—“it isn’t good.”
Edge growls, while Ghost stands up straighter ready for anything.
"Concierge Gavin Wilson is now dead. His townhouse was blown-up yesterday late afternoon. It's all over the news. He was last seen at a gay nightclub the night prior. What's left of a bomb was discovered under his bed. The police are treating it as a homicide."
Joel’s phone rings. “Yes? Shit, okay, call Slade immediately and get him to tell you what to do. I’ll send his number. Be safe, Linc,” he says softly.
“What the fuck now?” Edge rumbles.
"Lincoln just clocked in, and they found a small explosive under Mathias's bed," Joel rushes the words out. "By the way, there were also trackers on the cars; Lincoln dealt with them."
"Motherfucker!" Edge looks at the two people he can't deny are his family, and shit just got even more real for him.
"Oh my, God," Lily says, tears welling in her eyes. The severe danger their lives have been in, now hitting a home run.
“Kuksuger!” Mathias spits out, reverting to Norwegian. His face pales to a sickly ashen color.
Joel continues, “And there was one bug each in the back pocket of two more pairs of Mathias’s jeans, plus more sewn into other items of clothing. It would appear this fucker didn’t want to miss out on any information.
"Now for the bomb, it isn't on a timer; fucker would be using a detonator when the time was right to kill Mathias. There was nothing else in the room to incriminate mother and son. It appears they were the ones being spied on. I took the initiative and told them to disarm it with Slade's help. No time to chat about it, that's my guy in that hotel suite with a live bomb. I know we can't involve anybody else or alert the hotel because then that would blow all the keep-Whisper-quiet shit and bring us into the media spotlight."
Bloody hell! “Linc knows what he signed up for. He’s disarmed bombs before. Slade’s expertise will be helpful, just in case, there’s a twist to the bomb. There’s nothing Slade can’t handle in that area. Continue, Joel.”
"Now as far as the occupants of the suites either side of Mathias, one has a young family in it and they check out as good people, but I'm not sure about the old man named David Smith. He's paying by cash, no paper trail and he requested a room change to the one right next to Mathias, which rings alarm bells considering the suite number is 666. Only thing is according to his ID; he's checking out tomorrow morning."
Something stinks here.
“Call Hazard and get him to introduce himself to David’s room, don’t care how he does it. If he’s our man in disguise, then by now he could well know somebody from here is in Mathias’s suite. In that case, he won’t be coming back to that room. We need to confirm David is just an old man and not the fucker who had Adam killed. If he’s our guy, he’ll have transport.” I have too many questions where this old man is concerned.
“Roger that.” Joel’s got his phone up to his ear as he starts walking back out the room.
“Santa Claus!” Mathias says abruptly, his eyes lighting up in one of those ‘ah-haaa’ moments.
“What the fuck about him?” Edge snaps, while cocking an eyebrow at the random outburst.
Lily’s eyes go round; she’s on Mathias’ wavelength. “Yes,” she whispers. Then louder, “He stumbled into the both of us as we were leaving our room to go out to dinner and a movie last night. He had a sack over his shoulder. My handbag got jostled from my arm.”
Mathias takes over. "We were a tangle of limbs until I sorted the old guy out… or he appeared old. He was in a full outfit, but he had a white-bearded face. The only part of his skin visible. He certainly wasn't black," Mathias says like he's trying to confirm it from memory. “Oh shit! His face could have been an elaborate mask. I thought it was unusual he was on our floor, but at the same time this is the silly season, anything is possible in America at this time of year.”
“Joel—”
“I’ll see if I can tap into the hotel cameras,” he replies before I can use all the words.
Lily’s straining her neck. “May I move closer? I want to see more clearly the contents of my handbag?”
I walk over and grasp her arm, helping her up gently. These two are as innocent as they were when they walked in the door.
She inspects all her things scattered on the large coffee table. She points with her cuffed hands. “That hotel pen I didn’t put in my handbag.”
“So you’re saying that pen is a foreign item in your handbag and you didn’t forget you put it in there?” I want no misunderstanding.
"That's exactly, what I'm saying." I know she's telling the truth.
“Can you please uncuff her; I can assure you she is unarmed and unable to tackle any of you men to the ground.” Mathias stares at me as though disappointed in me.
I ignore him and pull a tissue out of the small packet lying on the table, which is part of the contents of Lily’s bag. I then go to pick the pen up with it. I’m thinking to find a zip-lock bag in the kitchen and place it in there until I can lift fingerprints off it.
"DON'T… touch that pen," Edge says in a voice full of steel. "Could be a damn bomb, seems anything is possible with this motherfucker. If it is one, then clicking the end could mean KABOOM!" His arms wave around. "Better to assume the worst. It might be just a regular ol' pen. I might be overreacting," he says to settle the sudden spike of fear we all just felt. Slade sounds like he’s got his hands full so I’ll take it outside and—”
“Fuck that! You’ve got two babes and a woman to think about.” Ghost has his gun out and snatching the pen carefully from the table at the same time. “Everybody stay calm.” What the hell is he doing? "I'm just gonna do what Edge has in mind, just don't want him potentially blowing himself up." Edge rolls his eyes, and then Ghost is jogging out the room before I or anybody else can get a word in. I would have liked those fingerprints if there were any, although the Hell's bastard probably wore gloves.
I toss the handcuff keys to Edge. “Uncuff Lily and Mathias,” I holler at Edge to slow him down from following, while I trail after Ghost. It’s not that farfetched to assume a bomb could be hidden inside when dealing with the evil human who cut a man’s head off and got into Mathias’s room to set up a bomb and listening devices.
We both don't stop to get rugged up, just our boots get hurriedly tugged on.
Ghost is already heading for the front door.
I’m not far behind making it down to the bottom of the porch steps, my moon boot thumping on the wooden boards to find Ghost has made it through the winter wonderland out to the start of the wooded area. He puts the pen on top of one of the 3D polar bears Joel has purchased that’s sitting in the snow by the trees and then starts jogging back to the porch.
Chances are it’s a regular pen seem high, but—
Ghost stands a couple of yards away from me and starts firing at the bear until—
KABOOM!
Snow explodes up into the air and showers down as the Winter Wonderland shit blows up at a safe distance from the house.
“Damn! Thought it would take fewer bullets than that, but I kept missing,” he grumbles.
“It’s a pen… Ghost. Don’t blame you for needing extra bullets, that’s the least of our worries. “Jesus, Ghost. Lily was carrying that around in her handbag. It could have gone off at any time with her rummaging through it as women do."
The fucker was playing Russian Roulette.
It's all a game to him.
A very deadly game.