I didn’t know, and I supposed I was never going to find out, because I wasn’t about to let him ever get close to me like that, let alone play with my head. If he thought he could just seduce me and get whatever he wanted, then he was wrong.

Chapter 8

“BRENT!” I CALLED AS I spotted him in front of the tech room. He’d just returned from our stash house, and I’d been notified that the attack had indeed happened.

He turned toward me.

“I’ve been told the attackers were defeated. Why such a sour face?” I asked as I approached.

“Yeah, we got them, but I still want to know how it’s possible that asshole knew how to decipher that code. What if he’s trying to trick you into trusting him?”

Oh boy. Here we go again. “I don’t think we should concern ourselves with that. James couldn’t have contacted anyone and you know it.”

“But what if they have some sort of protocol in case they’re captured? He could’ve offered to help us in exchange for his freedom or...”

“Oh, come on. Nobody could’ve known what I was going to do, and do you really think figuring out a few coded messages would be enough for us to spare his life if we actually wanted him dead? The most important thing here is that we stopped the attack and that we’re not missing any more shipments.”

“Yeah, but we haven’t found the one they got their hands on.” He rubbed his forehead.

“Have you caught any of the attackers and brought them here for questioning? Do you know anything about who they are?” I was far more worried about our new enemy, or maybe our old enemy’s associates, than I was about James plotting something. Brent just didn’t like him, so he wanted to find something that would force me to get rid of James once and for all.

“Unfortunately, no. Most are dead and two got away.”

I sighed. “We should be prepared in case they try it again. They’re trying to frustrate us, spread us out, and thin our ranks. If the Desaltis hired them, then it’s unlikely these attacks will stop. We need to monitor for any suspicious activity around and in our territory, especially in the Ezzatis’ part.”

“It’s no longer theirs. It’s yours now. We can call it the new Monti part. I don’t want to hear those bastards’ names ever again. They should be eradicated, along with every mention of them anywhere.” Brent’s eyes focused on something behind my back. “What is he doing here again?” Annoyance flashed on his face.

I didn’t even have to turn around to know James was behind me. “He’s going to help us decode more messages.”

“Of course,” Brent said wryly. “What would we do without him?”