"Shit." About three miles outside of downtown, Declan pumped the brakes, slowing down with the rest of the traffic headed out of the city.

 

"Tell me that's not an Agent checkpoint." Rae swore, sitting up in her seat.

 

"That's exactly what it is." Declan swore.

 

“Gideon says Vivienne wants you so bad she can taste it. Are these guys going to recognize you?”

 

“Unlikely. Checkpoint Agents are some of the lowest on the chain.” Declan glanced at Jared in the rearview mirror. "Take dad's old coat from the back and throw it over you, like a blanket." He fished a small bottle out of the console and passed it to Rae. "Toss some of this on him."

 

Rae frowned. "Are you serious right now? You keep whiskey in the car?"

 

"I keep whiskey everywhere. Just do it."

 

Rae shook a few drops of the amber liquid onto her fingers and twisted in her seat, reaching back to smear it on Jared's collar. Declan saw Jared dart his eyes nervously back and forth out the car windows. "Declan?" Jared’s shaky voice echoed Declan’s own fear, his fingers curling into the thick wool fabric of their dad's coat.

 

"It'll be okay, Jare." Declan promised. "Throw the coat on and act passed out, okay? Don't wake up for anything. Unless you get pulled from the truck, in which case we all come out swinging. Got it?" Declan turned to make sure Jared was doing as he was told.

 

Jared nodded, shakily pulling the coat over his upper body. His side had to be screaming in pain, considering the awkward way he was lying on the backseat, but Declan couldn't worry about that right now.

 

"Wait." Rae passed the bottle back. "Take a sip and swish. Just enough to make your breath smell." Jared did as she suggested, swirling the whiskey around his mouth before he swallowed.

 

"Just stay passed out like a good drunk." Declan instructed, slowly steering the car towards the checkpoint. Jared pulled his legs bent on the seat and moved the coat so that it obscured most of his face, only his hair still visible under the mess of clothes. Declan reached back for the whiskey bottle, tossing it onto the floor within sight line of the window. "Cover your wrists and shove them under the back of the seat."

 

"They're letting Reese through," Rae murmured, scanning the scene in front of them.

 

"I don't think they're looking too hard," Declan said. He sure hoped they weren't. "Just stay down, Jare. It'll be okay. We've got you." 

 

Declan came to a stop, heeding the Agent signaling him, and rolled down his window. "Afternoon," he greeted the Agent, masking the venom in his voice. "What can we do for ya?"

 

"Sorry for the inconvenience sir, but we're doing a check of the area."

 

Declan pasted on a nervous smile. "Anything we need to be worried about?"

 

The Agent ignored him, putting a hand on the window and ducking his head to look inside the car. "What's that all about, sir?" he asked, tipping his chin towards the backseat.

 

Declan waved a hand. "Oh, that's just my brother. He had a few too many with his buddies last night."

 

Rae leaned over his lap, grinning at the Agent. "He went to his first bachelor party. He can't quite hold his liquor, poor thing. Been sick all day."

 

The Agent looked unconvinced. "Hands on the wheel, please."

 

Declan had a fleeting thought at how satisfying it would be to give this Agent a hard punch right in his arrogant face, but he gripped the steering wheel like the guy said, knuckles turning white from the effort. Declan held his breath as the Agent circled to Jared's side of the car and opened the rear passenger door.

 

Declan glanced in the mirror as Jared let out a loud snore, his body not moving an inch while the Agent studied him.

 

He and Rae shared a hidden look of relief when the Agent slammed the door closed and leaned down into Rae's window. "Get him home, and maybe into a shower. He reeks."

 

Rae giggled and placed her hand over the Agent's. "It's awful, isn't it?"

 

The Agent tapped the roof of their truck. "Move on, please."

 

"Will do." Declan tipped two fingers towards the guy in a mock salute and slid the truck back into drive, pressing the gas to get them back onto the road. 

 

Once he hit the highway, he finally let out a full breath. "You did good, Jare. You can come out now."

 

"Are you okay?" Rae asked, turning in her seat.

 

Jared threw the coat off and sat up, his hair pasted to his forehead in a sweaty mess. He leaned forward, hands braced on the seat on either side of him. "Fine. Just get us home before I puke."

 

Declan chuckled, pride swelling within his chest at his brother’s performance. "Fast as I can, kiddo. Just hold on."

 

 

“Y’all got damn lucky,” Gideon commented later when Declan relayed their encounter with the Agents. “What the hell are they doing downtown in the middle of the damn day? Suits them just as much as us to keep things quiet.”

 

Declan shrugged, running a frustrated hand through his hair. Most of society was content to look the other way when it came to Agent violence against ditchbreeds, but even Agents tried to keep up a decent PR image.

 

Protection of the people, his ass.

 

“Fuck if I know.” Declan’s face twisted. “We’re spending all our time going in smart, remember?”

 

“You’re gunning for an ass kicking, boy, and don’t think I’m too old to dish one out.”

 

“Where is Iris?” Rae asked. She sat on the couch, where Jared had settled upon their return home. He had yet to move, same as Reese, who was leaning silently against the wall near Jared’s end of the sofa.

 

“She’s already headed towards Jefferson.” Gideon answered. “Gettin’ everyone together so they will all be ready to go when we get there.”

 

Declan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is killing us, Gideon, not having anyone on the inside. Not having anyone we trust on the inside,” he corrected, when Gideon opened his mouth to argue.

 

“Hell.” Gideon slumped down into his desk chair. “Don’t I know it.”

 

“We’ll just have to be more careful,” Rae stated, rubbing Jared’s back, trying to soothe away the shaking.

 

“Careful isn’t gonna help if every city we pass through is swarming with Agents, RaeRae.”

 

Rae spat out a nasty phrase that summed up everyone’s opinion of Vivienne Knox. “So not only are we down manpower, we are lacking in intel.”

 

“Johnathan was my intel. Declan, too, though you can’t be expected to know what’s happening when you’ve been out of work for a month. Couple other trackers that talk to Iris are pretty good at keepin’ their ears to the ground, but that’s just one region.” Gideon said gruffly. “What’s killin’ us is that the Agents have a much more united front than we do. Vivienne may be more soulless than the devil, but she’s one hell of a leader. The Agents believe in her mission, they respect her.”

 

“Our dad could not possibly have been the only one holding the Renegades together,” Declan argued. “And I funneled out everything I could from when I met with Vivienne, and picked up a hell of a lot more working in the field, but there is no way you were so efficient in getting Renegade teams together based on my intel alone.” 

 

“Yeah well, after what happened to your daddy I’m not jumping to put anyone on the inside. Iris has got connections I couldn't even dream up, and Blaine and Brandt can get gossip faster than a bullet from a gun. For now, that’s what we got.” Gideon tossed back a shot of whiskey. “It ain’t just that we lost your eyes and ears on the inside, son, it’s that the Renegades lost their leader. Johnathan was a trailblazer, and a damn strong one. Since he passed, the Agents have been using his death to their advantage. They’re moving far, and they’re moving fast.”

 

“And they’re getting bold,” Reese said quietly.

 

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Jared muttered, abruptly standing from the couch. Rae rushed to follow him to the bathroom.

 

Declan’s steely gaze landed on Reese. “You sure got out of there pretty fast today.”

 

Reese uncrossed his arms. “We still needed to pick up the Jefferson blueprints and I figured Jared was safer riding with you. That’s what you love to tell me all the time, isn't it?”

 

Declan grit his teeth, barely able to push the question out between them. “Did you know?”

 

“Did I know what?”

 

“Don’t fuck with me. Did you know there were Agents downtown today? Did you know about the goddamn checkpoint?”

 

Reese stepped forward into Declan’s space. “What part of ‘I’m Team Renegade’ aren’t you understanding, Cooper?”

 

Declan grabbed Reese by his smug shoulders and threw him up against the wall. “The part where you seem to show up and disappear at exactly the right times.” Declan fisted his hands in Reese’s shirt. He never should have agreed to let Jared go into town with Reese today, while Declan was on a different run.

 

“Declan,” Gideon warned.

 

Reese bared his teeth. “You’re forgetting who helped you tie that Agent up and toss his ass into the van. Also, you’ve got two seconds to take your hands off me before I break one.”

 

“Declan!” Gideon grabbed him by his shirt collar. “That’s enough.”

 

Declan shoved Reese against the wall one more time before backing off.  “Gideon may trust you, but I don’t. Stay away from Jared.”

 

“If he asks me to, I will.” Reese headed for the front door, shoving Declan with his shoulder as he went. Palming his bike keys, Reese looked back at him. “While I’m gone, maybe consider that you aren’t the only person in the world who thinks Jared is worth protecting.” He slammed the door on his way out.

 

“Christ, boy.” Gideon smacked Declan upside his head. “Didn't I just talk about unity and leadership?”

 

Declan fumed. “He’s hiding something.” There was a mystery hanging around Slater that Declan couldn’t quite nail down, and it pissed him off. 

 

Driving his boot into the Agent’s back earlier before wrangling him into zip ties and throwing him in the back of his own vehicle had given Declan a small outlet for all the anger simmering inside him, but it hadn’t been nearly enough. He’d known that killing that bastard William Kingsley wouldn’t bring their dad back, but Declan had expected to feel something- relief, vindication, a semblance of inner peace- anything other than this quiet anger that never seemed to leave his veins.

 

Declan tried to not to think of how precarious his tight control over that anger was becoming, just as he pushed away the image of who had been right there beside him helping him disarm those Agents.

 

Gideon sighed. “I know you’ve been burned, son, but taking it out on Slater ain’t gonna help anything.”

 

Declan smirked. “It helps me feel better.”

 

Gideon slapped a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Go check on your brother.” He walked away, muttering. “And then someone better cook something up for dinner. I need a drink.”