Chapter Five

Atlas

W e are about an hour into the drive, and we haven’t seen the car again or anyone else suspiciously following us. So, we are in the clear and have successfully lost our tail. I’m glad because the next step after trying to lose them would have been to confront them, which could have stopped us from getting information from the second informant.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I frown, unsure who could be calling me; I don’t get many calls, especially now that I don’t speak to the guys because it’s safer for them that way. I suppose it could be one of the guys from Blackbreak telling me that someone is trying to cause shit in our absence. I hope not though because I am in absolutely no mood to deal with that shit.

“Who’s calling you?” Rage asks, sounding just as confused as I was.

“Fuck off, I have friends,” I retort, slightly offended that he sounded as incredulous as he did.

Rage chuckles, “You don’t have friends who call you apart from me. Well, you have the guys, but you put a stop to that.”

I decide to ignore that comment as I glance at the caller ID, and then I smile smugly, “It’s Jynx. I told you I had friends.”

Rage just shakes his head and laughs.

I decide to ignore him and answer the video call from Jynx, “Hey!”

“Hey, just calling to check in,” Jynx smiles happily.

Rage leans forward, and I angle the camera so we are both on the screen, “Hey, Jynx, hey guys!”

Gathered behind Jynx and trying to get on the screen so that they can see too, are Jynx’s men; by that, I mean they are all together. She loves them, and they love her. It works for them. The guys actually spoke about doing something similar with Ever when they found her and, of course, if she was interested. Honestly, I think what Jynx and her guys have is very rare, and I think the guys would get jealous of each other if they tried to do something similar with Ever. Just because I thought that didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to try and help them find her. I know how much she means to them and want to help them. I am still trying, and I have still had no luck. It’s definitely strange. I have a lot of contacts on both sides of the legality line. I have people looking for her, but I still haven’t been able to find her. It’s almost like someone is trying to hide her.

Jynx’s family is made up of Rome, Malachi, Mason, Rip, and Ace. They have and will kill for Jynx, and she has and will kill for them. They are all deadly and incredibly good at what they do. The way that they met is actually an incredibly interesting story; Jynx got a shock inheritance from a grandmother she didn’t know existed; she was just getting over being kidnapped, so she wasn’t actively working for D at the time. The conditions of the inheritance said that she had to move to a specific town and attend the school, but the grandmother had done her research on Jynx and knew her reputation when it came to schools, so she said in the letter that she had to behave. Jynx being Jynx took that as a challenge, and completely changed her personality at school, the guys thought she was innocent and tried to protect her from their deadly lifestyle, and in doing so managed to piss her off. Long story short, she let her true colors show and shocked the shit out of them. As if that wasn’t enough, they then found out that they were linked in a way that none of them could have predicted.

It was a fucking wild ride. I am still not sure that I have the whole story straight.

They do a similar thing to what we do, except they are a hell of a lot less legal, and they pretty much always do the assassination jobs. Jynx is the best at what she does in the criminal world, and has been for years which is an even more impressive fact when you take into consideration that she is in her twenties.

D is her uncle, and he is a bigger crime boss than my father and brother by far. The difference is that D does jobs for the organization that Alaric works for, and because of the nature of them and how good he is at his job, the organization leaves him alone.

I really don’t know how that came about, or how he still gets away with it, but he does, and it works for everyone involved. My point was that he is her uncle, and she has been raised in the life much like Rage and I have. She actually taught me what I know about a sniper rifle, and she is the only reason why I am as good as I am.

D is also another one of Alaric’s best friends.

“Hey!” Ace greets us, as happy as always. Don’t let that fool you though he is as deadly as they come, they all are. “Been up to anything fun?”

“By that he means deadly,” Jynx grins, her smile sharp.

“The same old,” I reply and then add, “Oh, we just got shot at. Does that count?”

“Definitely,” Malachi replies. Curiosity sparking in his eyes as he asks, “Do tell, what happened?”

“Liam happened, what else,” Alaric says.

I turn the camera so that they can see him.

“It’s been a while, Alaric,” Jynx says fondly.

I try to move the camera so that I have sort of got all of us in the shot, and we can at least see her.

“Were you on a job?” Rome asks.

“Yeah, technically, and it wasn’t Liam,” I reply. I quickly fill them in on what happened.

“Fucking Blake,” Jynx spits. She knows exactly what he is like and what he has done to me, and it’s safe to say that she is not a fan. “Just say the word, and I will take him out.”

Rage grins, “We know you would. I think if it were completely up to us, we would get you to step in, but the organization is involved.”

Alaric takes over, “I don’t want to risk you, even though D is involved with the organization there are special circumstances that protect him. It would protect you to a certain extent, but we don’t want to risk it. Neither of us would be happy to have you guys that close to an organization run operation.”

Jynx sighs and rolls her eyes, “I know, and I love you guys for that, but if you need me and my services, just say the word. I am sure that we can figure out something that would keep everyone involved safe, and Blake dead.”

“She’s right,” Rip smirks, “we have our ways, and we have plenty of resources. If you need help, just yell.”

“Got it,” Alaric smiles warmly, “thanks, guys.”

We all know that we aren’t going to do that, it’s like Alaric said, we don’t want to risk them. Alaric is technically on the opposite side of the law to them. He is above the normal law enforcement, but he is still on the side of the law, Jynx definitely isn’t.

“How are the grandparents?” I ask.

Jynx smiles, “They are great. We are actually heading out to see them in a couple of days.”

“That’s great,” Rage replies. “I bet it’s still an adjustment, even though it’s been a while.”

“Yeah, it is. I mean, they mostly remember us as little kids, so I think they have been struggling with that more than we have,” Rome replies.

“I can see why that would be odd,” Alaric agrees with a frown.

“How is Sawyer and the rest of the Conspiracy?” I ask.

Jynx doesn’t really talk about the grandparent's situation that much, but then again, Jynx doesn’t really talk about anything much. It’s just the way she is, the only reason why I know as much about her as I do, is because we run in the same circles, or rather our parents and her uncle did, plus her uncle, D, is best friends with Alaric. We have pretty much always been in each other's lives.

“Amazing. They are handling a lot of shit for us at the moment so that we can do a couple of jobs for D, and they are doing great.” Mason replies. “Fucking awesome to hang out with, too; you guys will have to meet them at some point.”

“Sounds good to me,” I reply. “You guys talk about them a lot. I would love to meet them.”

“Yeah, you would get on really well. They are all a bit stabby,” Jynx chuckles, making the rest of us laugh. She suddenly gets this look in her eye, and I know that whatever she says next will not sit well with me. “So, when do I get to meet the guys? You brought them in yet?”

I groan.

“I’ve been telling him that he should. We could use their help,” Rage immediately answers for me.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on them,” Alaric adds, a smile on his face, “they stopped a guy from selling his partner, found out that he was the one that stole drugs and money off the local crime boss, gave the fucker up to him and then relocated an abused woman and child far away using their own money and a made up scenario to ensure that they were safe. She now owns a house, thanks to them, and is fully settled in her new town.”