DDI is still meddling in affairs that aren’t their own.”
“I think you’ll find this is our affair.”
“Consorting with the bedeviled and wicked? Your hands are tainted.”
“And I’m sure yours are covered in blood. Probably shouldn’t be casting that first stone.”
Well, just from the talk alone, he bet he knew who he was dealing with. Disgust and anger filled him, and he drove the butt of the gun into the side of the man’s head before he could say another word. Jacob watched him crumple to the ground dismissively, knowing he had a high chance of being okay.
Now he had another problem on his hands.
Another sound had him turning around, and he heard Levi speak. “Lou.”
Just the name, one he’d swear he’d heard before somewhere but couldn’t immediately place. Then, something slammed into him from the side, lifting him up off his feet. He came down far harder than he should have and crashed through the coffee table in the living room.
Blinking up at the ceiling, he sucked in a deep breath, taking stock of his body. It was still there, and somehow he’d kept hold of the gun. His back was going to feel even worse than he’d originally predicted in the morning, but he’d live. That was at least another problem taken care of.
The biggest problem was the barrel of a shotgun staring down at him and the furious man holding it.
“Who the fuck are you?” Levi hissed.
Levi
His heart thundered in his ears as he kept the shotgun level with Jacob sprawled on the destroyed remains of his coffee table. Emotions swirled through him faster than he could focus on any one of them. Fear that he’d been found by people who were trying to kill him, pain that Jacob was not even close to the person Levi thought he’d been, betrayal at the same, and regret that nothing in his life could ever go right for once.
“I said,” Levi told him, emphasizing his words with a motion of the gun. “Who the fuck are you?”
Jacob didn’t move, didn’t quiver, his eyes locked on Levi’s. “Am I going to get the chance to answer, or are you just going to blow a hole through me?”
Levi had never killed another person in his life, but Jacob didn’t need to know that. “Answer my fucking question.”
“I’m guessing from the shotgun aimed at my face, you already have a good idea. That is unless threatening someone is your idea of foreplay.”
“Don’t,” Levi warned. “Don’t flirt with me. Don’t fucking...just don’t.”
It was hard enough to deal with the reality that Jacob had been lying to him the whole time. He had been right, Levi had heard what one of the men had said to him, and damn it, Levi knew that name. DDI, it was just one more group, this one with government funding, who were desperate to get their hands on him.
Jacob sighed, finally dropping his eyes. “My name really is Jacob. Jacob Ryder.”
“Agent Ryder,” Levi corrected with a growl.
He nodded. “Yeah, Agent Ryder, null class of the Department of Domestic Intelligence.”
“Null class?” Levi asked, not entirely up to date with the latest terms.
“Means I don’t have any psychic powers or anything supernatural tied to my life.”
Levi fought to keep his voice steady. “And you were assigned to what, bring me in?”
“No.”
He lies!
Levi flinched at the venom in Lou’s voice, having almost completely forgotten about him as he tried to interrogate Jacob. God, he should have listened when Lou told him not to trust Jacob. But fool him, he’d gone and allowed his emotions to get the better of him, thrown all sense of caution and care out the window. It had seemed like such a great idea at the time, and now he was left with an ache.
Jacob swallowed. “Who’s Lou?”
Levi’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not the one asking questions here. You’re answering them.”
Jacob’s gaze darted over Levi’s shoulder as though expecting to see something. “Fair enough. Ask away.”
Not that he needed permission. “Supposedly, you aren’t here to drag me into a cage like everyone else or kill me like the rest.”
“Right.”
“Then what are you here for?”
“Shouldn’t I put the gun down first?”
“I’ll pull the trigger faster than you will, I can promise that.”
Sounded good, but he wasn’t so sure about that. He’d seen Jacob fight, and the man had been as quick as he was precise. All those muscles weren’t for nothing, and he’d dealt with two people without breaking a sweat. Levi seriously hoped the guy didn’t try to shoot