planted said bug without realizing that her team had cameras watching everything.
“Claire made a convincing teenager,” Leo said. “She’d make a great agent.”
AJ laughed. “She is . . . just for a different team.” He lifted the ax overhead and brought it down hard.
“Is it safe to assume you met Neil through Sasha?” Leo moved the wood, pulled over another log.
“Yup.” He didn’t elaborate.
Leo stood back. “So if you don’t work for Neil, what do you do for a living?”
“I dabble in some investigative endeavors.”
Leo laughed. “Okay, Mr. Cryptic.”
AJ didn’t apologize or clarify. “Truth is, Sasha and I really don’t have to work. I, too, had a grandmother. She had money. Sasha has a fair amount. So we pitch in when Neil needs a hand. It’s philanthropic without giving away money.”
Leo hadn’t expected that answer. “Neither one of you are getting paid to be here?”
“Does that surprise you?”
Hell yes. But then he saw how this team worked. “I guess not.”
“Why should the mafia be the only ones with extended families you’d do anything for?” AJ asked.
“Good point.” Leo liked the concept, although he’d never seen a mafia-like family be anything but criminal. “So do Lars and Isaac get paid?”
“Oh yeah. Claire, Cooper, Jax. Neil has a lot of people on payroll. But if they all won the lottery tomorrow, they’d still pitch in.”
Another log. Another cut.
“That’s saying something about the boss.”
“It’s about the work, too. Bringing down Mykonos? Who wouldn’t want to see a dirtbag like that get what he deserves?”
Leo peeled off his jacket when AJ handed over the ax.
“I have a question for you,” AJ said.
“Go for it.”
“I seem to remember a child’s room in your decoy apartment. What was that about?”
Leo brought the ax up in both hands. “Part of the disguise. A single new teacher would likely socialize with his colleagues more than a bitter divorced man with a son. My older sister has a son. My nephew offered a lot of fodder for a single father. I kept a couple pictures of him on my phone when people asked.”
“I thought it was strange that I didn’t see any photographs in the apartment.”
“You went into my place?”
AJ looked at the sky. “Not in a ‘breaking and entering’ kind of way.”
Leo pinned him with a stare.
“Slightly wiggling a lock. Besides, we weren’t sure you were legit at the time.”
Leo smiled, swung the ax. “Nothing I wouldn’t do.”
“We know.”
He laughed. “What about you? Do you have siblings?”
AJ paused. “Had. Sister. But she’s gone.”
Leo let the head of the ax rest on the forest floor. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s been a long time.”
But not so long that AJ didn’t have that look of grief in his eye. “I’m guessing this is what had Cooper apologizing the other night.”
AJ looked at him. “Why do I get the feeling I’ve just been interviewed?”
Leo shrugged. “It’s hard to be cooped up in the same space without information exchanging hands. I’ve determined a lot of things about all of you. None of which strikes me as irreversible criminal activity. If anything, it seems as if you all have justifiable reasons for your actions. Maybe someday my character will prove I’m worthy of knowing everything.”
AJ opened his mouth right as the sound of a gunshot rippled through the air.
They instantly crouched and ran to the side of the house for cover.
Leo reached for his weapon as adrenaline shot through his system like wildfire. “Sounded like a shotgun,” he said.
Leo took the lead and motioned for AJ to follow him back into the house.
A second shot echoed through the forest, the location of the weapon difficult to determine. Not that either of them wanted to stay in anyone’s range to figure it out.
Leo pushed through the downstairs door, and they both scrambled inside.
Isaac stood at the bank of monitors scrolling through the feeds. “Where is it coming from?” Leo asked.
“All of our circuits are clear.” Isaac pushed his glasses farther up his nose and started typing. They heard a third shot.
Leo’s entire body stood on alert.
A noise from the floor above made him look up. “Where is Olivia?”
Isaac pointed to one of the cameras.
Olivia and Pam were in Pam’s room, both sitting on the floor behind the bed and away from the windows.
Lars stood by their door, a weapon in hand.
Another shot.
“I don’t think it’s on the property,” Isaac said, punching keys.
“Might be a local hunting off-season.”
“Four shots?” Leo asked.
AJ lifted his hands. “Target shooting?”
A radio on the desk crackled, Lars’s voice came through. “Any idea what’s