CHAPTER 21
“Lars Scrully,” Aric said, dropping a passport photograph and a folder of intel he’d assembled for the four Order commanders gathered with Nikolai in his private office.
The group of Order elders presented an imposing picture, even seated as they were around Niko’s large desk, engaged in sober conversation. Gabrielle Thorne and Aric’s mother Tavia were also in the room, seated together on an oversized sofa near the fireplace. The other warriors’ Breedmates and the rest of the mansion’s occupants were catching up elsewhere in the compound with Kaya and Mira and the Montreal team while Renata continued to rest with the baby.
“Scrully wasn’t on the wedding guest list, nor in any of the gate check security data Gideon’s hacking provided us. But we’ve got the son of a bitch.” Aric gestured to the file of intel he’d collected in the twenty minutes since Kaya had ID’d the squat, dark-haired man in the reception photo. “I knew I’d seen his face somewhere before,” he told the group of warrior elders. “There were some news stories from eighteen months ago when Lars Scrully inherited his father’s pharmaceutical empire.”
“Scrully Pharmaceuticals?” Tavia asked, her distaste for the name evident in her tone. “That’s the company that came under fire several years ago for acquiring expired patents on antivirals, cancer treatment drugs, and other medicines, then jacking up their prices by five-thousand percent. People literally died because they couldn’t afford to pay his exorbitant prices.”
Aric nodded, unsurprised that his mother would be the one to mention that fun fact. If his gift for recollection was flawless, it was only because it was handed down to him through her powerful DNA.
“That’s the one,” he confirmed. “Lars’s father, Simon Scrully, made a fortune off the backs of other people’s suffering.” Aric pulled out a printed obituary and laid it on top of the folder. “The old man had a severe allergy to shellfish. Apparently, someone forgot to tell the new chef at his favorite restaurant. Scrully ate a bite of lobster sauce on his pasta and dropped dead of anaphylactic shock before anyone could administer his medicine to counteract it.”
Dante let out a wry chuckle. “Ironic way to go, considering how the asshole got rich in the first place.”
“Or convenient,” Aric’s father said. “Now that I’m hearing this, I recall some rumors about the old man’s death. Some of the gossip at the time seemed to suggest Scrully’s son settled into his inheritance with a bit more glee than grief.”
Aric nodded. “That’s right. And he’s been spending money like water ever since. Expensive toys and women. Palatial homes. In fact, just three months ago, he moved into a newly built twenty-thousand square-foot lake estate here in the province.”
Nikolai frowned. “And thanks to Kaya, we also know Scrully was making arrangements to pay a cool hundred million to Stephan Mercier on behalf of Opus Nostrum.”
“Right,” Aric replied. “The question is, in exchange for what?”
His father grunted. “Too bad we can’t ask Mercier. Kind of hard to talk when you’re missing your tongue and half your throat.”
Niko nodded, grim. “No need to guess whose handiwork that hit was. Opus tends to get twitchy whenever we start closing in on any of their weak links in the chain.”
“Which means we need to get our hands on Lars Scrully as soon as possible,” Lucan said, his gray gaze as cool as gunmetal.
Dante leaned back in his chair, flashing a dangerous grin. “I do love a good old-fashioned interrogation session.”
Beside him, Rio chuckled. “I’m with you on that, brother. Especially the part where we each take a piece of this Opus bastard apart with our fists and fangs.” The immense warrior with the smooth Spanish accent and a vicious tangle of old shrapnel scars riddling the left side of his face could be a charmer, but tonight he was as lethally serious as the rest of his comrades. He glanced at Aric. “How far is Scrully’s place from here?”
“About an hour.”
Dante’s whiskey-colored eyes lit up beneath the black slashes of his brows. “Plenty of time to be there and back with Scrully before the sun rises.”
“Lucan,” Gabrielle interjected softly, but firmly. The auburn-haired beauty had the regality of a queen, and now was no exception. All heads turned toward her as she spoke. “I don’t think I like this. I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“How so?” The Order’s founder looked at his woman, all of his focus fixed on hearing her opinion.
“Opus isn’t playing games, Lucan. They’ve been a serious threat from the very beginning. And now we know for certain they have ultraviolet weapons. A lot of them.” She shook her head, true fear written on her pretty face. “Maybe we should take this new intel on Lars Scrully back with us to D.C. when we return, then work on a plan of attack after we’ve had more time to consider it.”
Lucan listened to his mate in sober silence. All of the warriors grew serious and quiet, everyone grimly considering the gravity of the facts she was pointing out.
It took Lucan a moment to reply. When he did, his deep voice was low and gentle. “Yes, Opus does have UV on their side now. But they’re going to have it no matter how long we wait to strike. And to wait will only risk letting Scrully or the others in Opus’s cabal have more time to get the upper hand.”
Gabrielle nodded, but Aric could see that as sound as her formidable mate’s logic was, it did little to erase her worry.
Lucan went on, his steely gaze moving to the four commanders who trusted him to lead. “Right now, we have the element of surprise working for us. We should use it to our advantage.”
“We hope we have the element of surprise,” Nikolai commented. “Lately, it’s feeling as though Opus is staying one step ahead of us.”
“What are you saying? You think we’ve got a leak somewhere?”
“I don’t see how we could. All of our contacts in JUSTIS and elsewhere have been double and triple checked. They’re solid, Lucan.”
Rio glanced at his friend, a haunted look in his topaz-colored eyes. “If that’s true, then any breach would have to come from somewhere outside of those networks. Possibly someone we trust.”
The massive warrior knew a thing or two about that. The scar on his face had come on the heels of the worst betrayal a man could suffer--that of his own mate. It wasn’t until Rio met Dylan that he was finally able to heal on the inside. The wounds that marred him on the outside would always serve as a reminder of the pain that came in trusting the wrong person with his heart . . . and his life.
As Rio spoke, Aric thought back on Angus Mackie and the certainty that the gang leader and his followers hadn’t merely gotten lucky when they made the decision to vacate not only the tavern and its store room but Big Mack’s residence as well.
Sure, they could have guessed that trouble would be heading their way after the headlines Mercier’s wedding reception debacle had made. Or maybe they’d had an attack of nerves after the heinous act they’d pulled in ashing that Darkhaven family.
But Aric’s warrior senses prickled with unease when he considered all of the what-ifs and the scenarios he was reluctant to put into words.
And then there was Kaya.
Try as he might to deny it, he kept coming back to her remoteness, her emotional distance, following the Darkhaven attack. After her run that same day, she had been even more anxious and withdrawn. Her edginess hadn’t improved as she and the rest of the Montreal team had gone with the commander on the mission to grab Mackie. When she asked Nikolai for a private meeting, she looked about as miserable as Aric had ever seen her.
What did she need to talk with Niko about that couldn’t be said in front of everyone?
Was it something about the raid?
Then again, maybe it was simply Aric himself who was making her so uncomfortable.
Whatever it was, she didn’t seem ready--or willing--to trust him with it.
Not that she should. He hadn’t made her any promises. No, all he’d done was pursue her with single-minded purpose then seduce her. They had agreed to no strings or obligations, but the more time he spent with Kaya the less eager he was for his business in Montreal to end.
“So, it sounds as if we’re all agreed that we need to act swiftly” Lucan said, then he slid an apologetic glance at Gabrielle. “Most of us, that is.”
All four warriors nodded, their faces solemn yet determined. But then a further look passed between them. The exchange was unspoken, until Aric’s father took the lead.
“We’re agreed that we cannot wait to make our move on this new Opus lead, Lucan. But your mate is right to caution us that this is no ordinary mission. None of them are, now that Opus and their loyalists are in possession of UV weapons.”
Lucan Thorne’s scowl deepened to one of suspicion. “What are you trying to say, Harvard? If you’ve got something on your mind, spit it out.”
Chase nodded. “We’re going in to get Lars Scrully. Tonight. But we’re going without you.”
A growl erupted from the powerful Gen One. “The fuck you say. If you expect me to sit out on a mission with my dick in my hand--”
“You’re not going this time,” Dante said, his deep voice as firm as Chase’s had been.
Rio nodded. “The risk is too great. You’re Gen One, Lucan.”
“Yes,” he snarled. “And a blast of UV will kill any one of you the same as it will me.”
“But you’re the founder of the Order,” Nikolai added. “We can’t afford to lose you.”
He bellowed a sharp curse and shoved to his feet. “No. Fuck this. And fuck all of you if you think the Order will stop without me. We can’t afford to lose anyone, understood?”
“Lucan.” Gabrielle stood up and walked over to him. He stilled as she laid her hands on his broad chest. “They’re right. The Order can’t lose you. But you’re more than just the leader of these fine men and women who serve under your command. You’re the chairman of the Global Nations Council. Since First Dawn, whether you like it or not, you have become the voice of the entire Breed nation.”
His eyes flashed amber-bright with his barely banked rage. But Gabrielle’s words calmed him. It was clear to everyone in the room that this woman grounded him the way nothing else could.
“You’re staying behind this time.” Her demand was softly spoken, but brooking no argument.
He cupped her cheek in his big hand, his jaw clamped tight for a long moment. Then another low curse rumbled out of him.
Finally, he looked back at his comrades and Aric. “Tell everyone to assemble in the war room in ten minutes to receive their team assignments and mission directives. I want schematics of Scrully’s estate now, as in yesterday. Let’s go, people.”
As they all began to hop to his command, Lucan pointed a finger at Nikolai. “If I’m cooling my heels here tonight, then so are you. I’m not going to risk leaving that baby boy without a father in the first few hours of his life.”
Niko scowled, but after a moment, he gave a curt nod.
“Look alive,” Lucan ordered them all. “Time’s wasting already.”