to work. Now I’m stating it plainly—Wick, us, CID, Liberty, I don’t much give a fuck, but if it’s not over in the next five days, I’m taking a leave of absence and I’m taking a trip to D.C. and I’ll be personally ending it and I’ll be doing that on my own without any interference from any of you.”
“Drake—”
“I can’t fuckin’ sleep.” Drake’s strangled voice cut off Levi. “If her ass isn’t in that bed next to me, I do not sleep. I close my eyes and I’m back in Syria, only I’m standing across the room and I can’t get to her. All I can do is stand in the corner and watch her fade away. It was me who breathed life back into her. It was me who carried her outta that shithole. It was me who cleaned her. It was me who held her in the helo. And it was me who had the fucking honor of watching her muster up the last of her strength and with only my socks on her feet walk off that helicopter. You know what she said to me? ‘Stick close, just in case I start to take a header.’ It was then I promised her I would never let her fall.”
Drake pointed around the room. “I get you’re her father. I get they’re her uncles. I get they’re her cousins. But she is mine. Mine, Levi. Five days, then I’m taking the fucker out. This has to end.”
With that, Drake left the room and slammed the door.
A ragged “fuck” came from Levi. His brothers moved closer to him and Carter stood.
“I’ll go talk to him. He was—”
“He was right, Carter. He didn’t say anything that wasn’t true,” Levi told him. “This has to end.”
Carter jerked his chin to his uncle and left the room.
I took in the rest of the men at the table and said, “We’ve got less than five days to make sure Davidson goes down. Dylan, get on tapping Liberty’s phone. And I don’t care what Wick said, find the origin of those deposits. Nick, you got any friends at the FBI who could help, now’s the time to call in those markers. Jason, you know the dark web better than any of us, start digging. See if CP is out there hunting for intel they can buy.”
Wordlessly, Nick and Jason nodded and left.
“Logan, Matt, you’re on Wick.”
“Wick’s clean,” Jasper told me.
“I know he is. I also know we’re getting close. Davidson’s gotta be feeling the heat. Wick’s smart, but he doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head.”
“You think Wick’s put the pressure on Davidson?” Clark asked.
“If I was Wick and I was getting impatient I’d get word to Davidson I was getting close. I’d want him sweatin’, scramblin’, forcin’ him to make a mistake. Since Wick taught me most of what I know, I figure he’s done just that. Which means Wick needs someone covering his ass.”
I felt Jasper’s eyes boring into me, seeing more than I wanted him to see.
“More than just crossed paths,” Jasper mumbled.
Here goes nothing. “Wick was my handler.”
Jasper’s knowing gaze held mine.
If he changed his mind and didn’t want me near his daughter, he wasn’t getting his way. And if Jasper changed his mind, that meant Hadley’s brother would follow. Then every man in the room would back his play and I’d be up against a battalion of badasses.
But I’d win.
Hadley was mine.
27
Wick
General Wick sat in his rental outside Triple Canopy and engaged his cell phone. He had to make this call now, before his phone, hers, or both were tapped.
That was what he’d do, so he knew he didn’t have time to waste the thirty minutes it would take him to get to his hotel.
There were closer places to stay, but he’d chosen the rundown, out of the way, pay by the hour motel carefully. They needed this done but also needed civilians safe. So Wick had rented three rooms, that way no one would be in the adjoining rooms. There was no telling how Davidson would come at him and the general didn’t want bullets going through a wall and striking an innocent bystander.
“How’d it go?” Liberty immediately asked.
“About as well as expected. Your dad took a pound of flesh and your man looked like he wanted to wring my neck.”
“I know they’re gonna be pissed when this is over, but they’ll understand. I’ll talk to them. Are you on your way to the motel?”
It was