Give Me War - Kate McCarthy Page 0,24
then it turns to Coby. His eyes are red and he keeps swallowing as if there’s something lodged in this throat that won’t stay down. It pulls me from my pathetic little tantrum and I turn around, walking back to my car where Mitch and Kelly stand waiting. Coby follows. “We need to get her back before that meeting.”
The big Sentinels biker grunts. “Agreed. Don’t trust those fuckin’ Vipers. That meeting is a trap.”
“They don’t want us to stand down,” Mitch says.
Coby looks at me. “They want to take all three of you out.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Kelly interjects.
“Then we need a goddamn plan.”
“I got a plan,” Kelly tells us, then his phone rings, giving us all a start like a bunch of damn rabbits.
I swipe a hand down my face as Kelly tugs it free from his back pocket and steps away to answer it, barking, “Fox,” into the device.
Then Mitch’s phone rings. He looks at it, muttering, “Rossiter,” then steps away to take it.
Coby stands with hands on his hips while I pace, impatient.
Kelly hangs up first, done, and tucks his phone away as he returns to the huddle. “The Sentinels don’t know where they stashed her but I got ‘em workin’ on it.”
Then Mitch hangs up and my eyes shoot to his.
“Rossiter says she’s safe. Out of the line of fire. But that’s all he knows.”
“Safe? Gee my mind is now at fucking ease,” I bite out, thick on the sarcasm. Evie is with the Vipers. There’s no safe in that scenario. “We need to get a hold of Rossi’s contact.”
“Working on it,” my brother replies.
“So what’s the plan?” Coby prompts, his attention turning to Kelly.
Kelly lays it out for us and I have to admit, it’s beyond insane. It’s the kind of plan that could compromise our relationship with the AFP, compromise our reputation, and compromise our lives. But it’s also a plan that could see the Vipers back down. Permanently.
Coby shakes his head. “That kinda shit would take weeks to put together. We don’t have that kind of time.” He jerks his arm out, pointing to God knows where. “My sister is out there and she needs us now.”
Kelly ignores him and looks at me, his eyes willing me to trust him. “Give me just a few hours. I can get this done.”
We don’t have a few hours, but his plan is the best we’ve got. I give him a nod. “Get it done.”
His response is a chin lift before pulling out his phone and turning away.
While he does that, I deal with another problem. Taking my brother by the shoulder, I pull him out of the huddle until we’re a good enough distance away. Mitch hasn’t hesitated wading into this and God knows I can’t risk Evie’s life by going it alone, but I can’t ask him to do this. “You gotta stand down. This game we’re always playing is a dangerous one. Skirting the law on just about everything we do. I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to cover our tracks this time. There’s going to be consequences. It’s not just your job at stake here.”
Mitch looks at me. His eyes are hard and I can’t remember seeing them any other way since Gabriella died. “Try stopping me, Jared. I know the risks better than anyone.”
We arrive at our offices to find them almost deserted. Casey and Seth remain, both of them bent over the large square table in the meeting room. Between them is a map of Sydney dotted with pins and a pile of empty takeout cups.
Casey runs fingers through his hair, straightening as we walk in. He answers the question before we can voice it. “We’ve marked out every Viper location we know of and we’ve assigned everyone we have to check each one.”
“Any luck yet?” Coby asks.
A growl of frustration escapes him, and he crumples a takeout cup before hurling it against the wall. “None. It’s like they’ve all crawled up inside their own assholes and disappeared.”
We outline the plan to Casey and Seth while Tim steps inside with another tray full of coffees. He calmly sets it on the table before picking up the one Casey tossed and leaving the room. It’s not like him. Not usually. There’s always a smart retort to anything Casey says or does, but today his expression is sober, and terror seems to run beneath the layers of his skin.
I squeeze his shoulder as he walks past, halting him. It’s Christmas Eve