25. ~Caleb~

It was like they’d planned their outfits ahead of time to coordinate with one another, which I knew they hadn’t.

It just made it all the more uncanny as I took in Caspian clad in one of his tailor-made pale gray pinstripes, his long hair flowing majestically down his shoulders, while Dante stood beside him in the command center in a double-breasted charcoal Brioni suit, his black collar-length hair sporting as much mousse as Caspian’s to look that perfect yet effortless.

And here I was in my gray jeans and a white muscle tee.

Intel had come in from Damien regarding Jett, which had been validated by both Caspian and Dante’s teams as legitimate.

We had a lock on him.

It was finally time to put that motherfucker down.

With him going to ground and us therefore not knowing when this opportunity would come about, nor what stage Cas and Dante’s infiltrators would be at when it happened, it hadn’t been possible to work out a strategy ahead of time. Not a concrete one anyway.

Of course, Cas being Cas, he’d formulated a potential draft one.

And that was what they were working off now to streamline and finalize key details.

As Dante made a call and walked to the far end of the command center, Cas turned to me, smiling. “Almost there. Just putting something in place to ensure Elijah is distracted.”

“I heard,” I said, cutting him off more tersely than I’d meant to. “Gotta make sure he’s not looking his brother’s way when we move in.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, frowning.

“I can’t believe you brought him down here to our Jackals homebase like this.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Why wouldn’t you just use your office?”

“We need the equipment and tech here, Caleb.”

“You didn’t even run it by me—any of us.”

“We had to move quickly. Bastian is at Luxe and then his support group meeting following that, and Skylar is in a session with Doctor Granger. We’re lucky Dante could come down here with barely any notice.”

“Lucky. Yeah, right,” I muttered. “What does Luke think of this?”

He looked away. “It’s not Luke’s decision.”

“Huh. So he doesn’t like it either.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. I know you so well, I can read your reactions.”

“He’s an ally, Caleb,” he hissed back at me. “A formidable one at that. There’s no threat here.”

“You becoming so close with him is the threat. It’s not the norm for you.”

“I already explained how that happened.”

I shook my head. “Nah, there’s more to it than that. On his end. I just… I can’t put my finger on it.” Not yet. I had feelers out already, so it was only a matter of time until I did.

“Everything copacetic over here?” Dante spoke, interrupting our conversation as he returned to the control panel, pocketing his phone in his suit jacket.

“Is it with you?” I bit back.

He didn’t so much as flinch as he responded. “Indeed.”

Urgh. Of course he was unflappable.

Just like Cas. Another thing they had in common.

He told Cas, “I have confirmation from two of our infiltrators that Elijah will be well occupied for the next three days. His continued failure to successfully come at King and the Mancini Syndicate, knowing that we have formed an alliance also is clearly weighing on him, along with the trouble that his brother is causing. He will be spending the next three days in the sub-level of his heavily-fortified compound releasing said stress, likely also trying to clear his head. Something he’s been known to do from time to time under periods of great strain.”

“Sub-level?” I asked, looking between them, and noting that Cas was showing no surprise and clearly already knew what Dante was getting at.

“Think of it as an expansive version of a pleasure room,” Cas told me.

“And pain,” Dante added.

“And pain,” Cas said with a nod.

“Like you with Obscura?”

“Certainly not,” Dante grunted with distaste. “What Elijah indulges in is a far cry from what Caspian does where there are rules and protocols that ensure everybody’s wellbeing and safety. Moreover, Caspian would not be fool enough to mix business with pleasure, nor risk destabilizing King by doing so.”

Wow.

So much for him being unflappable.

Not when it came to Cas being compared to Elijah Bane in any way, apparently. It seemed to be a definite sore spot for him.

“So, he fucks his own staff during this sex-fest, is that it?” I asked.

“He makes whores out of new employees or those wishing to become a part of Bane Industries and share in its success, become close to him,” Dante explained. “He has them all clamor to please him, kneel at his feet, and endure all the sexual degradation he unleashes on them during him locking himself down in the sub-level of his compound over several days.”

“Many have been known to emerge… damaged,” Cas said, grimacing.

“Jesus Christ, and you never told me this? Knowing the work I’m doing with my facilities?”

“It was merely rumor before, Caleb. Until now, we didn’t have people in place this close to him to be able to confirm it.”

“Moreover, even knowing this now, action can’t be taken to stop what’s about to happen,” Dante explained. “The compound is virtually impenetrable by conventional means.”

“We’d need heavy artillery,” Caspian added.

“Something we can’t employ yet, because he would see it coming,” Dante went on. “Soon, though, friend,” he told me. “Very soon.”

“What are we talking? A fucking missile strike?”

“Something along those lines,” Dante said.

“Not while civilians are present at the compound,” Cas assured me.

“How could you even pull that off given it would be like firing off a flare gun to the authorities and the military alike?”

“It requires a smokescreen,” Cas told me.

“And connections to nullify any potential blowback,” Dante added.

“Like the two of you being carted off to a hole somewhere?”

“Everything is well accounted for, you needn’t worry, friend.”

“Caleb, we’ve been working on this for years. All the pieces are in place. Let’s focus on the immediate task at hand. Jett Bane.”

“Fine, but after we’re done, I want to know the ins and outs of this insane plan of yours.”

So much had been going on since I’d returned that we hadn’t gotten into any of that. And once things had stabilized, he’d been non-stop either working at King Tower, in his home office, or on calls with Dante.

He and Dante exchanged a look that I could decipher.

I gritted my teeth, not liking that one bit.

“We’re close enough now,” Dante said, giving him a nod to go ahead.

So now he needed his permission to tell me something? Fucking bullshit.

“All right, I’ll brief you once this op is done.”

I slapped my hand to my chest and said with dripping sarcasm, “Wow, I’m honored, Cas.”

He glared at me and I glared right back with no intention of backing down.

But then Dante cut in, turning to the monitors that were displaying a building just a few miles outside Skylar’s former college town when she’d attended Vista Ridge. The fight club where her and Jett had met.

“He’s bought off the owners and taken up residence there in the apartment above the club,” Dante told us.

Caspian moved to him and brought up images and data depicting eight individuals on the monitor beside the one Dante was focused on. As I drew closer, I noted many of them had some fucked-up criminal activities and offenses under their belts.

“These are his newest recruits?” I asked.

Cas nodded. “Some paid for, some blackmailed. He’s using them as both his security and to wield as an army.”

“Holing up at this specific location is a message to Skylar, yes?” I determined. “He’s calling her out.”

“Indeed,” Dante confirmed.

“He’s intending the emotional connection of it all to get under her skin, have her slipping up, weaken her,” I murmured to myself. “He thinks he can draw her there and take her out.”

“Yes,” Cas said.

“It’s a move of desperation,” Dante spoke. He looked to Caspian, “From your reports, she’s stabilized, but are you certain that it will remain the case once this is revealed to her? She was brutally sexually assaulted and abused by this monster very close to this location. In fact, to reach the precise site, you’ll have to pass through the town itself and her former apartment. Not to mention, actually coming face-to-face with him again. The man who has caused her so much pain and even took her mother from her.”

“She’s confronted her trauma, she’s been processing it.”

“And she’s strong,” I cut in. “I’ll also be there with her.”

It was why they’d called me in on this.

They couldn’t send their teams in, not while we needed their direct involvement to be kept secret for a little while longer until they struck at Elijah.

So they’d asked for mine.

The one I’d assembled while I’d been away, the very one that I’d led into battle on behalf of Asher to take down those awful dollhouses his father and his empire had operated.

My team had begun as security for my facilities, but ended up becoming more than that when I’d extended my role to actually extracting victims of that sort of abuse and brutality too. Instead of waiting for them to come to my facilities for help, it had become a much more proactive setup. I even had members of my team doing recon on a potential human trafficking ring that we’d heard rumors about right now. I was doing my own reconnaissance the way I did best, via what Bastian termed my hacking. We were getting closer and it would require me leaving for a couple of days, something I hadn’t run by Cas yet, because things were going so well between us, between all four of us right now, and I knew me leaving in any way and just for a while was a sore spot for him, to put it mildly.

But I was running out of time, I’d have to do it soon.

After this operation.

Yeah, after this was done, and spirits were high from taking down Jett Bane at last, I’d do it.

“Caspian tells me you can spare six of your team members for this job?” Dante asked me.

“That’s right. I’ll have them deploy directly to the site.”

“You’re not a tactician, though. So your team leader is?”

“Sven, yeah. He’s actually ex-military too.”

“You’re more of a strategist than you give yourself credit for,” Caspian told me. “Everything you’ve put in place with your facilities, even assembling your own team of this nature.”

“Even so, I’m not at the level I need to be in order to risk people’s lives off my own calls.”

“Those dollhouse takedowns and the auction a few months back were masterminded by Asher Monroe entirely then?” Dante asked me.

I winced as he brought him up.

Caspian started tapping his fingers on the desk top, trying to contain his reaction.

“Yes,” I answered Dante.

“What about extracting him from that hellhole? Who masterminded that?”

“Aaron Wakefield. Better known as your spy.”

“I see,” he said, not reacting to or even seeming to register that last part at all. Instead, he stayed on task, and started laying out the tactical plan with Cas.

“Reinforced steel doors with keypad locking mechanisms,” Cas spoke.

“Blowing them will draw too much attention before Caleb and his team even make it inside,” Dante pointed out.

“So would cutting the power to bypass the locks.”

“Sky and I will take the apartment,” I said. “I’ll back her up as she goes for Jett. I’ll have my team blow the doors to create an intentional distraction that will keep them rooted to the fight club floor while we deal with Jett.”

The two of them stared out at me.

“What?” I asked.

The corner of Caspian’s mouth turned up. “Who says you’re not a tactician?”

“The greatest obstacle to you becoming such is your fear of losing those you care about from a decision you’ve made. You need there to be a buffer so you don’t bear the responsibility.”

“Are you gonna stand there wasting time psychoanalyzing me, or are we gonna finalize all these details so we can do this thing?” I snapped.

Dante stared at me, saying nothing, those odd pale blue eyes of his looking like they were trying to search within me.

Good luck with that.

“Let’s do this,” Cas said, noticeably annoyed at my attitude. “Focus up,” he said to me alone, then gave Dante an apologetic look.

Fucking bullshit.

But I did what needed to be done as the three of us ironed out the rest of the details, down to every little thing, the way Cas needed any plan to be with nothing left to chance, every possible eventuality accounted for, and backups in place for the fucking backups.

I was fine with that because it meant putting in safeguards to keep our woman safe.

I knew he didn’t actually want her out there in the field and none of us wanted her getting within arms’ reach of Jett because that motherfucker was an unhinged dangerous shit who’d hurt her so much already.

But we also recognized it was something she needed to do.

And it was her choice.

She might be ours, but we couldn’t wrap her up in protection at all times and keep her in a bubble apart from the world. Skylar Bennett was a warrior in her own right and absolutely not somebody who could be treated like glass and kept on the sidelines. We’d known that going into this, growing closer to her. Hell, we’d originally set our sights on her in order to bring her into TheJackals, for fuck’s sakes. We were just a little gun-shy after what had happened to her a couple of years ago.

“All right,” Cas said, as we finished up. “I’ll bring Skylar down here to give this a look too.”

“Good call, she knows Jett better than any of us. Her input is vital.”

He nodded, then headed on out, leaving me and Dante alone.

I watched him stare out after Caspian, a wistful look in his eyes.

Hmm.

He turned back to me. “For clarification purposes, Wakefield wasn’t my spy.”

“What are you talking about?”

“For years, he was keeping a covert watch on Asher, looking out for him from a distance. That documentation and surveillance package I obtained pertaining to your interactions with Asher was his. He was concerned about him consorting with you, worried it would fuel his darkness.”

“It didn’t. I helped him to control it.”

“He didn’t know that at the time.”

I grunted.

“I was searching for you on Caspian’s behalf because he wasn’t whole without you here and it was causing him great distress not knowing where you were, what you were doing, or even if you were well. During that search, I came across Wakefield and from there, with his worry concerning you and Asher, he handed over that intel. From that point, I was able to trace your movements, back and forth and put the proverbial pieces together, and even determine your location. He wasn’t my spy, merely a source.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his fancy suit pants. “But that isn’t where this animosity toward me is rooted, is it?”

I hooked my fingers in my belt loops and faced off with him. “Why have you drawn Caspian so close?”

“He’s an ally and a friend.”

“You have others. Why him?”

“His father and I were close.”

“Try again. It’s not that. There’s more to it.”

He smiled. “I admire your loyalty and love for him. He’s fortunate to have that. In you all, actually. He certainly has a good group of people around him, an admirable support system.” He scrubbed a hand over his goatee, worry taking him over. “If only he could bring himself to draw on that support more.”

I frowned. “You’ve noticed that too?”

“Yes. He may play it close to the vest and fancy himself superhuman, but it has become apparent to me. He operates much like I did when I was his age.”

“So, that’s it? You’ve drawn close to him in order to make sure he doesn’t break under the strain?” That made sense with Dante allying with him so closely against Elijah. It was obviously a good business move for him too to wipe one of his competitors, Bane Industries, off the board, but that wouldn’t entail getting so close to Caspian if that was all that it was about.

“Everyone requires a helping hand once in a while,” he answered, noncommittally and clearly evasively too.

Dammit. The hard way it was then. That had never stopped me before when it came to obtaining difficult to acquire information.

I’d get to the bottom of it.

And then we’d really see what was going on here.

Footsteps sounded down the stairs, and I looked to see Cas leading Skylar down the steps.

Dante walked to her and held out his hand, introducing himself politely.

“Wow, you’re a legend,” she breathed.

Urgh.

He chuckled. “Much appreciated. However, you have become quite the legend yourself.”

She grimaced. “I think notorious is more apt.”

“I’m not referring to your recent activities in your pursuit of Jett Bane.” He gestured between me and Cas. “I meant among your loves. As well as the beautiful words Caspian has spoken about you.”

“Oh, well, thank you,” she said, looking between him and Cas, her cheeks heating at the overt compliments.

Caspian smiled and nuzzled her hair. “You’re worthy of all the beautiful words in the world, love.”

I watched Dante taking in their interactions, observing her shrewdly.

He looked away when Cas eyed him and said, “She’s ready to see what we’ve laid out.”

They walked back over and Skylar slid her hand into mine and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek.

“Hey, darling. How was your session?” I asked quietly as Dante and Cas brought up the details on the monitor, heading back to the beginning of the site itself as well as the recruits Jett had gathered to give her an overview before getting to the actual plan.

“Good,” she said, smiling up at me. “She’s helping me, like you are.”

Her eyes were a little red, indicating she’d been crying, possible signs of a breakthrough, or at the very least her unloading things she’d been bottling up for too long.

I stroked her hair with my free hand and she moaned softly, relaxing into me.

Unfortunately, that reverie was short-lived, as Cas motioned for her.

She pulled from me and stepped up to the monitors and he started laying out the plan, hissing when she saw that Jett had obtained more recruits after her efforts to stop that twice already. But she managed to move past it and focus on what mattered—taking the fucker down permanently.

And then, I hoped, she could finally be at peace with that aspect of things.

Although she was getting better, getting back to herself, it was clear he was still haunting her. Knowing he was still out there was eating at her.

But it wouldn’t be long now.

She’d get the justice she’d long deserved.

Beyond Jackals justice.