Chapter Twenty-Two

“You should talk to him.”

“No,” Hayden said.

“Do you really think it’s Jaxon’s fault that you were lied to? Don’t you think that your brother has some responsibility here?” Wrath asked.

Hayden gnashed his teeth at Wrath because the man was making sense, but he wasn’t ready to forgive Jaxon. He’d even lied to his face in the hospital.

Spinning to the apartment’s front door, he stalked over and grabbed the knob before tossing a glance over his shoulder. “Are you coming?”

“Well, since I’m driving, yeah,” Wrath said dryly.

It wasn’t until they were in the elevator and heading down that Hayden offered a begrudging apology. He was being an ass to a guy who had come to help him.

“Sorry.”

Wrath nodded and asked where to when they were both inside the man’s dark vehicle.

“Jaxon’s house,” Hayden murmured and glanced out the window. “I need to get the key.”

Jaxon’s home was deserted, of course, and he let himself in by way of the back door. Wrath was a silent figure behind him and he had to wonder why the assassin was suddenly so protective of him.

“You could have stayed in the car.”

“Don’t you think that they know about this place? That they would have taken you out the minute they found out that Wyatt was alive?”

“What?”

“Think about it. Wyatt goes into WITSEC and you’re told he’s dead. The Moss crime family has no reason to watch you nor want you dead. The minute they find out Wyatt is alive, you became a pawn they can use.”

“Oh.” Well, shit. He hadn’t thought of that and suddenly jerked his eyes around and toward the living room.

Wrath shook his head with a long sigh. “You disarmed the alarm coming inside. I doubt they have the code. How’d you become a bodyguard?” Wrath rubbed a hand at the back of his own neck.

“Ugh.” Hayden grimaced at his own stupidity and had to chalk it up to his anger at Jaxon. It wasn’t only anger and he knew it. He was beyond hurt and couldn’t see any way past this to picture any future for them.

Which posed the next question, if Wyatt was innocent, had Jaxon known?

Lifting the chain from the lamp, he studied the ordinary key that would, he hoped, provide some answers for him. That Wyatt was a good man was only a hypothetical from Wrath and Hayden needed to know if his brother was in fact a criminal or the man he’d looked up to growing up.

They’d always been close, but after Wyatt took a job with a Fortune 500 company, he’d rarely seen the man. That the company had dealings with the Moss Crime family hadn’t been known to Hayden at the time and he’d thought his brother had grown too busy with work to keep in touch. Oh, they had exchanged phone calls and the occasional lunch, but it had been nothing compared to before when they’d hung out routinely.

He missed that, and if there was the slightest chance that Wyatt was innocent and on the run, Hayden had to help him.

“Let’s go,” Wrath said, and he could hear the tiniest hint of anxiety in the assassin’s tone.

They had been there too long for Wrath, and Hayden agreed. He was sure that if Jaxon had been thinking, the man would have been waiting for him here. The only reason Jaxon wasn’t there was because he was trying to reach the bank before him and Wrath. It only made sense. And because he knew Jaxon as well as he knew himself, he could anticipate the man’s every move.

Later, once they were in the SUV, he squeezed the key in his palm as Wrath parked in the filled parking lot of the bank. The double doors were open and several people came in and out.

There was no sign of Jaxon or any of the Cobalt security team, but he knew they were there.

“You ready?” Wrath murmured, and when the assassin tucked his weapon in the glove compartment, it dawned on him that they wouldn’t pass the metal detector armed.

Placing his own weapons in the large space, he watched as Wrath locked it.

“Is that a gun safe?” He touched the front of the box.

Wrath grunted. “I had the regular compartment replaced.”

“Makes sense,” he said and got out.

They stepped through the front doors and out of the drizzle that had begun outside.

The woman at the desk checked his ID and asked him to follow her. When Wrath stayed put, Hayden turned back.

“I’ll wait here.”

After a moment, Hayden nodded and followed the woman through a locked door, through a vault door, and then into the vault. It took two keys, his own and hers to open the box.

She left him there with the box on the table and he reached out with trembling fingers to open the lid. He took out the laptop and a passport, as well as a flash drive, cell phone, and cash. The passport had his own picture on it and the name was Hayden Sanders, not Thorne. The laptop needed a charge before it could be used so he placed it along with everything else, except for the flash drive, into the black bag Wrath had thought to provide him. The drive he tucked into the front pocket of his jeans and left the room.

Back in the SUV with Wrath behind the wheel, he finally spoke.

“Is Jaxon following us?”

“Mhmm,” Wrath said, aiming a look at the rearview mirror. “You want me to ditch him?”

“No. I need to get back to my house…er, his house and see what’s on this laptop.”

“Sounds good. I think you’ll need his help.”

“Oh?” Hayden frowned. “Why would I need that?”

“Your brother’s message—”

Wrath was cut off when the glass on Hayden’s side of the SUV was blown out.

The impact from a large vehicle cratered in the rear door, but the force shoved them so hard that the SUV tipped sideways. Hanging onto his seatbelt, he watched as Wrath hung onto the wheel as they scraped across the asphalt. Only the driver’s side airbag deployed and Hayden found himself hanging by his seatbelt. The grinding noise ended when they came to a jarring halt and he shouted at Wrath, his voice hoarse.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” the man grimaced.

And before Hayden could figure out a way out of the seatbelt without falling down on top of Wrath, his window was shattered. Hands reached inside and he was yanked and pulled through the opening. His first thought was to thank god help was there, but when he saw the hooded man, he knew that was not the case.

“Hayden!” Wrath yelled, but he couldn’t answer. He was dropped to the ground, and the black bag he still wore over his neck and shoulder was wrenched from him and as a last ditch effort, he grabbed the strap and held on.

The man’s gun came out, but before he got a chance to shoot him, gunfire erupted. Two big black SUVs and a suburban barreled onto the scene with engines roaring and tires screeching.

“Drop your weapons!” He would know that voice anywhere, the Cobalt calvary had arrived and for some reason, the gunman changed his mind and instead of shooting those coming for them, the masked man swung the gun around and pointed it at his head.

Hayden released the strap and fell back. When he let go, the man turned and ran down the street, weaving between cars until he jumped in the passenger side of a red, four-door sedan. Hayden couldn’t see the license plate.

Hard but tender hands were suddenly on him, and lifting him and brushing over him everywhere. His shoulders, cupping his face, his chest, and then his hips.

“Are you hurt?” Jaxon asked, sounding like he’d swallowed gravel.

“No.” He pulled away. “Check on Wrath.”

“Gunner and Brick are getting him out.”

“Where’s Felix and Ryder?” he said for something to say, because he was rattled by Jaxon’s touch and nearness and he hated that he was still affected.

“They are guarding the two other suspects.”

“Suspects?” Hayden stalked around the vehicle on shaky legs that had more to do with the brooding bodyguard following him than it did from the accident, and he found two men lying face down on the pavement with their hands locked on the back of their heads.

Wrath was standing near Gunner and drinking a bottle of water. Felix held out one for Hayden and he took it and drank, knowing the water would go a long way toward countering shock. He knew that from personal experience.

“What was in the bag?” Wrath asked him, and Hayden finished off the bottle before he spoke.

He told them of the contents, watching as Jaxon’s face turned into a thundercloud of anger and when the man stalked to the two on the ground and pulled his gun, Hayden stepped in.

He couldn’t, in good conscience, let Jaxon shoot the two men when the sirens in the distance were growing closer. He may be beyond angry with Jaxon, but he didn’t want him in prison.

Knowing that being face to face with Jaxon again was inevitable, plus finding out that the moment was today, gave him heartburn. He and Jaxon were going to have it out before the day was over, he silently vowed.

“We need answers,” Jaxon said, and then drew in a sharp breath when Hayden placed a hand on his arm. It was as if Jaxon hadn’t thought he’d ever touch him again and Hayden shook his head sadly.

“Let the cops arrest them, we need to get to your house.”

“We do?” The confusion cleared in Jaxon’s eyes when he pulled the flash drive from the front of his jeans.

“Yes, we do.”