Chapter Fourteen

Hunter

Well, shit.

Now what?

Being silent was ingrained in him. It very well meant the difference between life or death. Had Jaxon shared everything, including Hunter’s involvement?

Of course, that didn’t matter; it was time to tell Seven everything.

“You.” Hunter pointed a finger at Jaxon. “Are you going to use that on him?” He finished with a jerk of his head toward Theo.

After a long, tense moment, Jaxon tucked his gun away. Theo deflated on the bed with a huge sigh, hugging one of the pillows to his chest.

“Come on,” Hunter said and reversed the grip on Seven’s wrist to lead him into the wide kitchen of Theo’s unit.

The men all filed in after the door was once again secure. They took seats around the conference table that had been designed to accommodate a large group.

Hunter took note of all who were there—Seven, Owen, Link, Eagle, Jaxon, Creed, Theo, and Kellum—and mentally calculated their individual skills ranging from zero to a shit ton. But why had Ace sent Kellum?

“What are you doing here?” Hunter asked.

“I’m your tech support.” Kellum waggled his fingers and placed three laptops on the table before popping open one. Talk about overkill?

But having Kellum there did make sense and Hunter was suddenly glad for the help. “Can you get into the perps’ phones and find out if they’ve contacted anyone for backup?”

“Sure, bring them to me,” Kellum said, and Creed disappeared along with Owen. Theo got up and started a pot of coffee.

Hunter tapped his fingers on the table, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it. He was saved from speaking when Creed and Owen returned to dump the cell phones on the table next to Kellum.

They collectively watched as the techie went through each phone. By that time, the coffee was done, and Hunter thought he might have a hole drilled in his head from Seven’s hard gaze.

“No communications have gone out,” Kellum said into the silence.

“You’re positive?” Hunter asked.

Kellum snorted and gave him an are you kidding me look.

“Okay.” Hunter smirked and nodded.

The information gave them an edge.

“All right, spill it. What the hell is going on?” Seven pushed, aiming those ocean-colored eyes at him.

“Where’s Fisher?” Hunter said instead.

Owen squinted at him. “He’s outside taking care of the bodies. He won’t be joining us. He feels safer outside, and frankly, I feel safer having him out there.”

Hunter turned to Jaxon. “What did you tell them?”

“Just the bare minimum.” Jaxon shrugged.

“All right. I need to make a call and then I’ll try to tell you what you want to know,” Hunter said carefully, ignoring the muscle that suddenly ticked in Seven’s jaw.

“I’ll make some food,” Theo announced and started pulling stuff from the fridge.

Hunter took out his cell phone and dialed Dave’s number. If shit was coming out about Erebus, he wanted Dave to fucking do it. It was out of the norm for him and Dave to speak. After he’d left Erebus, Dave and he had agreed to act like they didn’t know each other until they were “officially” introduced through Pegasus. It had worked, for a while. That time was over.

“Hunter?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“I need an update,” Dave said.

“From what I know, Malcolm broke the code and Solomon thinks Theo is in with Malcolm and is after them both. Theo says both he and Malcolm are innocent. Malcolm sent Theo to me. I don’t know if Solomon caught Malcolm yet or not.”

“Did Seven show up?” Dave’s question hit him out of left field.

“Mhmm.” Hunter’s eyes shot to Seven.

“I was hoping that was the case. Are you alone?”

Hunter looked around the room. “Ah…that would be a no.”

“Who all is there?”

When Hunter stated the names of each man in the room, every single one of them looked at him. Hunter kept his gaze calm and cool.

“I need you to tell them what’s going on,” Hunter said, looking directly at Seven. The man’s face was a stone mask and it worried Hunter. Would they ever recover from his secrecy and lies of omission?

“Put me on speaker,” Dave said.

“Better yet, I’ll put you on a video call. Hold on.” Hunter nodded to Kellum.

A few moments later, Kellum turned the laptop to the room and the screen popped and shimmered before clearing to show Dave.

Dave sat behind a desk in his office. At the sight of the former SecDef, several of the guys straightened in their chairs and gave their full attention to the man.

“Jaxon?”

“Sir?” Jaxon stepped into view.

“I’m glad you’re there,” Dave said, and all eyes in the room went from the laptop to the long-haired bodyguard. “How much have you told them?”

“As much as I could,” Jaxon admitted. “No sense in having them in the dark about everything. I doubt any of them will talk.”

“Damn right we won’t talk.” Owen sounded affronted.

“It wasn’t meant as a slight,” Jaxon growled.

Once the room grew quiet, all eyes turned back to Dave.

“I had hoped to never have this conversation with anyone in your unit, but I’ll tell you what I told Ace an hour ago,” Dave said with a sigh. “Erebus Society has been a well-kept secret way before Phoenix was even a thought—”

“Not so much a secret,” Link interrupted.

Eagle scowled at Link, who rubbed at the back of his own head beneath the disapproving look.

“Sorry, Sir,” Link murmured.

“I understand your frustration, Link. You knew of Erebus from previous encounters.”

“What? How did you know?” Theo gaped at Link.

“I had encounters with a few of them back in my Fury days,” Link said with a shrug.

“You what?” Eagle sounded like he was strangling on the words. “I thought you said you ran across a case file?”

“It was both. A case file and a few run-ins,” Link clarified, leaving out the fact that he’d lied earlier by omission, but then Link had been under a gag order about any ops Fury had done. The Army Special Ops unit was a three-man specialty team of Dave’s consisting of Link, Eagle, and one other soldier.

“Where was I?” Eagle said.

Link rubbed at the hair on his chin, ignoring Eagle’s question, and turned his eyes instead back to the monitor.

“But you already knew I knew that I had a run in with some of them,” Link told Dave.

“I did.”

“Then you also remember that the murder charges in those instances miraculously disappeared.”

“Yes. And all I can say is that the people eliminated by Erebus were done so by orders above my pay grade.”

Hunter glanced at Seven and found himself pinned like a bug beneath a microscope. Hunter wanted to move closer to Seven, but he stayed at the head of the table.

There was a reason Malcolm had sent Theo to him.

Five years ago, there had been three men in the running to replace Malcolm as the head of Erebus Society. Solomon had been one, Jaxon two, and Hunter had been the third.

Solomon had won fair and square by outwitting them both. If anything happened to Solomon, Hunter knew that Dave would approach him or Jaxon to fill the spot. It would be a futile effort on Dave’s part, because there was no way in hell Hunter wanted anywhere near that way of life again. They would have to choose Jaxon.

“So, what you’re saying is that the Erebus Society is a hit squad for the Oval Office?” Link said, who appeared to have some lingering anger over the past.

“If you want to put it that way,” Dave said calmly.

“What other way is there to put it?” Link snapped and then let out a deep sigh when Eagle glared again.

“There really isn’t any other way to put it, Link. We do what we have to do to keep this country safe,” Dave said. “It takes a particular set of skills to work within Erebus. And sometimes that means taking a chance on hiring someone who exists on the fringes.”

“Like Malcolm,” Hunter said.

“Yes,” Dave agreed. “Malcolm was recruited by me, and I saw the darkness, but I hired him anyway.”

“He used to be our leader,” Jaxon murmured, taking a seat.

“What?” Link said.

“Malcolm, he used to lead Erebus,” Jaxon said and calmly folded his hands on the table.

“Theo overheard a conversation that Malcolm was taking contracted work, but how solid is that information?” Hunter asked into the sudden silence.

“It’s solid, Hunter.” Dave sighed. “There’s a money trail and trips that correspond to each hit.”

Well, fuck. That must have been the money Theo had wanted to tell him about. So, Malcolm had turned. In truth, Hunter had seen the darkness in Malcolm. It was one of the reasons Hunter hadn’t been surprised when Malcolm had stepped down.

“So, Solomon is after Malcolm, or hell, he could have killed Malcolm by now,” Hunter said.

“What about me?” Theo said during the slight pause in conversation.

Silence filled the room when Dave didn’t answer Theo. That was when Hunter noticed Dave glance away. That wasn’t like the SecDef at all. What the fuck was going on?

Owen pointed at Jaxon. “You said this wasn’t the first time someone has gone rogue,” he said, changing the subject.

“Last time we had someone go rogue we handled it in house,” Jaxon said at Dave’s continued silence. “That changed when Theo sought out Hunter.”

“Cut the we bullshit. Call them what they are,” Link barked. “Fucking assassins.”

“Do you need to take a walk?” Dave finally snapped out of whatever the fuck was keeping him quiet. His growl to Link came through the video feed loud and fucking clear and the meaning was crystal—get your shit together.

Link clenched his fists and then released a long, quiet breath before he shook his head.

Hunter cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the room and Dave. “What do you need from us?” Hunter hadn’t missed that Dave hadn’t answered Theo and neither had his friend. Big eyes caught and held his before Theo turned back to making food, his shoulders hunched.

“I need you to find Solomon and Malcolm,” Dave said. “And bring them to me.”

“Dead or alive?” Hunter asked.

“Either.”

Hunter looked around the room, meeting each man’s gaze. “If anyone has a problem with this order, speak now. It won’t be held against you. You can pack up your gun and head back home. Except for you, Theo. You’re not going anywhere.”

Theo, who’d turned with the can of beans in his hands, gave a quick, jerky nod. The man’s thick, dark lashes were wet with held back tears.

“Like hell I’ll go back home,” Seven snarled, and Hunter pulled his eyes from Theo to Seven.

Hunter fought a rising smile. Ah yes…there’s my warrior.

“Anyone else?” Hunter swept his eyes around the room.

Nobody said a fucking word, not even Jaxon, although the guy was giving him a humorous look.

Hunter turned his eyes to the video feed. “There’s your answer, Dave.”

“Good. I put in a call to Stone.”

“No fucking way!” Creed slammed up and out of his chair.

Kellum’s head snapped up at the man’s outburst, the techie’s fingers hovering over a second laptop he’d opened a few minutes prior.

“Creed?” Dave said softly.

Creed clenched his fists at his sides and then released a hissing breath before turning reluctantly to the former SecDef.

“Sir?”

“If there was any other way, I’d go another route,” Dave responded, and nobody said a word.

The men in the room seemed to hold their breaths.

“Jaxon?” Dave said.

“Yes?”

“Call me. To the rest of you, I’ll be in touch. Until then, Jaxon and Hunter are in charge.”

The line went dead and nobody moved other than Theo, who continued putting what looked to be chili together, and Jaxon, who left the room with his cell phone to his ear.

“Who’s Stone?” Kellum asked into the silence.

Creed leveled his burning gaze on Kellum. “My cousin.”

Kellum’s face filled with confusion when Creed walked abruptly out of the room.

“Why would Dave call Creed’s cousin?” Kellum said.

“Indeed,” Owen responded, looking at Hunter.

Hunter felt the weight of Owen’s gaze, but before he said another word to the group, he turned to Seven.

“I need to speak with you,” Hunter told Seven. “Privately.”

Seven said nothing and rose to his feet to stalk from the room.

Dread filled Hunter’s gut, but he squared his shoulders and followed.