WE’D BEEN SITTING on the sofa staring at the TV for a full minute after getting back to the house before any of us spoke.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Julius said, staring at the photos of Garrison and Blaze that were showing on the screen while the reporter announced that they were wanted in connection with multiple murders over the past five years thanks to new DNA evidence.
Blaze was pacing back and forth in the room behind us. “This shouldn’t even be possible. None of us has DNA on file with any law enforcement agency. I made sure of that. And we’ve been so careful during our jobs.”
“We were careful specifically because we knew how easy it is to leave behind a speck of blood or a hair accidentally,” Julius pointed out grimly. “We’ve carried out hundreds of jobs. It’s not surprising that we could have missed a trace or two in the chaos somewhere. Those would have been kept on file, and now the Blood Hunter has added profiles for you to the databases.”
Garrison’s head jerked around from where he’d been glowering at the TV. “What? How the fuck could he do that?”
The three of us who’d gone to meet Petrov exchanged a glance. We hadn’t had the opportunity to tell the other men what we’d learned from Julius’s former colleague yet.
Julius sighed. “In the ambush in the alleyway, the Blood Hunter instructed the attackers to keep any blood they drew during the attack. Now we know why.”
“He wanted DNA he was sure was yours so he could tie you to those murders,” I filled in, my stomach twisting. We were lucky he hadn’t gotten his hands on samples of all the guys’ blood. “But it’s not like it matters when they don’t even know where you are, right?”
“It matters enough for this to be an effective move on his part,” Talon said. “Blaze and Garrison won’t be able to go out in public without risking being recognized and having the cops called on them.”
“Half of the crew taken out of commission,” Garrison muttered. “I can’t do my job properly if I can’t talk to anyone face to face.”
Anger rippled through me on their behalf. “It’s because of me. The two-day deadline he gave me has passed—he knows I’m not taking him up on his offer. He told me I’d regret it if I didn’t. So now he’s punishing you to get to me.”
Garrison caught my gaze, his eyes flashing. “It isn’t your fault, sweetheart. This shit came directly from that one big asshole.”
“Do you think that’s why he’s done it with the other groups of criminals he had Petrov’s squad attack?” I asked. “So he could get them out of the way?”
“Or so he has blackmail material to hold over their heads if he wants something from them,” Julius suggested. “Knowing that he can set them up for a fall if he decides to.”
I didn’t particularly like that possibility either. The Blood Hunter was obviously used to getting whatever he wanted, and he was way too fucking good at it.
“They still don’t know our names,” Talon said with sober satisfaction. “Or our aliases. They can’t tie this to your pasts.”
Even the pictures were photos that must have been taken from security footage—from the vague bits of background around the guys’ faces, it looked like the images were from the Blood Hunter’s night club. But they were still way too recognizable.
It took a moment before Talon’s comment fully sunk in. I glanced at him. “Aliases?”
Garrison flopped back in his chair. “Really more like our real names now. Who’s used the name their parents gave them in the last five years? Anyone?”
My gaze leapt to him and then to the other two men. “The names I know aren’t your birth names?”
Julius tipped his head forward in acknowledgment. “We didn’t want anyone having access to our birth names that are tied to our public records. And we wanted names that we’d chosen for ourselves, since none of us has fond memories of our formative years. I went with Julius after Julius Caesar. You’ve got to admire his brilliant military strategy, even if he wasn’t so popular with the masses.”
Talon shrugged. “I wasn’t worried about anything that complicated. I liked the sound of Talon, and it’s something brutal that can cut straight to the point.”
I could admit it was very fitting for his ruthless killer instincts. I looked to Blaze next. “And I guess yours is because of your hair?”
Blaze managed to laugh, a bit of a sparkle coming into his bright eyes as he winked at me. “And because it reflects my blazing speed zipping through the internet—and the heat I can bring into the bedroom.”
Garrison snorted at that proclamation and rubbed his jaw, looking a bit awkward. “I’m a garrison of my own making,” he said. “No one gets inside this fortress. All you see is the walls and how I decide to decorate them.” He paused, his voice softening just a tad. “Unless I decide to let someone in.”
His name was even more fitting than Talon’s. I shot him a little smile, hoping he knew how privileged I considered myself to be one of the few people—possibly the only person—he’d ever let those walls down for.
Blaze took a deep breath and went back to his laptop where he’d left it on the dining table. “Do you trust the brothers to let us keep staying here without any problems?” he asked Julius over his shoulder. “Or is this going to be too much heat for them?”
Julius frowned in thought. “I think we’re good for now. It doesn’t affect them as long as we haven’t been connected to the building. But, Garrison, you should put out feelers for alternate accommodations in case we need to move quickly.”
Garrison nodded and got on his phone. The news report had switched to another story, so I turned off the TV and stood up. Anger was still churning inside me. “We can’t let the Blood Hunter get away with this.”
“We won’t,” Julius said firmly. “He isn’t going to win.”
But he didn’t know that. None of them did. That menace had orchestrated every bad thing that had ever happened to me, and I had a feeling that I didn’t even know the half of it.
I turned my attention to Blaze. “Have you found out anything about him? Even something small could make all the difference right now.”
Blaze’s knee stopped bouncing for a moment as he looked up at me and shook his head sadly. “He’s kept a low profile. Such a low profile that there’s no talk of him on any forums or dark websites. He’s so far underground that it’s hard to believe he exists.”
“Have you tried tracking the security cameras after the celebration the other night?” I proposed.
“Nothing. There’s no sign of him on any cameras across the city. Not a single one has shown his face. To make matters worse, I don’t have an image to feed into my recognition app for a quick scan. I snapped some photos with my phone in the club, but I had to be careful about it so his security didn’t notice and confiscate the phone, and the best I got was the back of his head. So I’ve spent hours trying to manually find even a partial face. But there’s nothing. If I hadn’t seen him with my own eyes, I’d swear he was a ghost.”
Garrison kicked the wall beside the TV, and I startled at the loud noise. He stretched his arms over his head as he took a deep breath to calm himself.
“I’m going out to see if I can hear anything on the street. We’re not having any luck with any other strategies, and I can’t just be a sitting duck,” he said.
My pulse stuttered. I gestured to the blank TV screen. “But the news—someone will recognize you—”
He rolled his eyes at me. “I’ll put on a disguise. I know how to change how I appear to people—that’s one of my main specialties. As is gathering information.”
“I’ll keep looking in all the ways I know how, but it’s hard to find answers when I don’t know anything about him other than an alias that doesn’t turn up results.” Blaze’s fingers drummed restlessly on the table beside him.
Julius motioned to Talon. “We’ll start packing the weapons and our other supplies just in case we have to make a hasty exit. We need to be ready.”
They headed toward the bedrooms where I knew they’d stashed a bunch of the crew’s equipment. Blaze was fully immersed in his computer, and Garrison…
Garrison was over by the front door, getting ready to leave.
My heart skittered all over again. I tried to tamp down my nerves, but we’d only just gotten him back a few days ago after the Blood Hunter had kidnapped him to use him as bait in a larger plan. The thought of him being taken again—hurt again—made me want to throw up.
But Garrison needed to feel he was contributing. I knew how much he hated acting like a weak link. How could I prevent him from doing his job—doing everything he could to protect the crew, just like I planned to do?
I went to join him by the door. “Please, just be careful.”
He arched an eyebrow at me. “So concerned for my well-being?”
I gave him a light sock to the shoulder. “You know I care about you. Don’t be a jerk about it.”
Some of his usual cockiness faded from his face. “I’m not trying to be. I’m really not.” He touched the side of my face, holding my gaze, his hazel eyes turned green in the shadows. “I’m still not used to this whole ‘showing my real emotions’ thing. But I’m trying my best, as much as I can. If I revert back to my old snarky self at a bad moment, feel free to give me a good wallop.”
That last remark got a brief laugh out of me. I set my hand over his and leaned in to give him a quick peck on the lips. “It’s okay. You have no idea how much I appreciate the effort.”
The corners of his mouth quirked upward in response. “You have no idea how lucky we are that we found you.”
He bent down and reclaimed my lips, his mouth soft but determined as it molded to mine. I hooked my hand around his neck and pressed myself further into him, pouring all my desire for his well-being and safe return to me into the kiss.
He pulled back just slightly, his forehead resting against mine. “You know,” he whispered, “it’s all going to be all right. Right now it might seem like everything’s crazy, but we’ll figure this out. We always do.”
I nodded, but I couldn’t bring myself to verbally respond. I knew he was trying to comfort me, but nobody knew how this mess would end up.
“You’re getting bad about hiding your emotions, sweetheart,” he murmured, tapping the tip of my nose. “It will be okay. Imagine all the other things we’ve survived together. It wouldn’t make sense for it all to end here. We’ve made it this far, and we’ll finish this together.”
But life wasn’t a movie, and there weren’t always happy endings.
I forced myself to hide the uncertainty in my eyes as I looked at the utter kindness in his. “I think I like this side of you,” I teased.
Garrison moved his hand down my chin and pinched it between his fingers, meeting my lips again. “Well, don’t get used to it. I can’t be chivalrous and nice forever. I have a reputation to uphold over here.”
I tipped back my head with a grin. “Oh, you do?”
“I do indeed. And that includes my reputation for going incognito.” He fished in the pockets of the satchel he’d left by the door. In a matter of seconds, he’d transformed his face with a pair of sunglasses, a fake moustache and goatee, and a spiky black wig that hid his blond hair. He spread his arms. “Who’s going to think of that guy on the news now?”
“No one,” I had to admit, and swatted him. “All right, go out there and do your work.”
He pressed one last kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be back in no time. Don’t waste your time worrying about me.”
The old Garrison would have heckled me more about my worries, but I could tell he understood how much I’d been affected by almost losing him so recently. The gentleness of his tone brought a warmth into my chest that was the first real comfort I’d felt today.
As he left the house with a smile on his face, I knew he shouldn’t be identified, but what did it matter as long as the Blood Hunter was still out for his head? I’d gotten the entire crew tangled up in this crazy revenge plot, and I needed to find a way to fix it. Things were only getting worse the longer he persisted, and I simply wouldn’t let the Blood Hunter get to Garrison or any of the others again.
We had to shut him down, and we had to do it quickly… somehow.
