Rack & Ruin (THIRDS 3)

Sloane entered all the information into his tablet exactly as Ash told it. “What about our victims from the Order. Can you confirm they’re connected to Reyes and the Westward Creed?”

“Yes. Hogan set up the Coalition as a way to fight fire with fire. At first all he wanted was to stop the Order, but during one skirmish, he recognized one of the members of the Order. It was Cristo. That’s when the plan changed. I overheard him and Merritt talking. The Westward Creed gang had killed Merritt’s cousin. They decided to use the escalating violence as a way to pick off the gang.”

There was a knock on the door, and Sloane logged off Themis before telling their guest to enter. It was Levi and Taylor.

“Hey, Keeler. Looking mighty fine in your hospital duds. You commando under there?” Taylor teased.

Ash gave a snort. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“I would.” Taylor blinked at him. “That’s why I asked.”

“Dick.” Ash chuckled, and the Team Leaders approached Ash’s bed, chatting to him about what happened and how glad they were he was alive. The whole office was talking about Ash and what he’d done, infiltrating the Coalition, then taking a bullet for his teammate. Taylor teased Ash on his ego and how he was going to be more unbearable than ever. The three of them laughed, and Sloane observed his teammates, glad to see how pleased they were to see Ash.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Levi said.

“Yeah,” Taylor added somberly. “For a minute there, we thought we’d never see you again.”

Levi waved a hand in dismissal. “Are you kidding? Ash is like a bad penny. He always turns up.”

Sloane froze, his gaze darting to Ash. His friend was still smiling, his gaze on Levi. “Say, that’s one hell of an expression,” Ash said. “Where’d you hear it?” A dangerous leer quickly replaced his smile. “Wait, that’s right. You heard it from me.”

“What are you talking about?” Levi frowned, looking puzzled.

“There are five people who’ve heard me say that. One’s dead, one’s behind bars, one’s Dex, the other’s my best friend. And the fifth is the masked Therian who was there when I said it.”

Sloane sprang to action, but Levi had already grabbed a stunned Taylor and in a heartbeat had his sidearm to Taylor’s head. “Back off, Sloane,” Levi snarled. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

“What way was it supposed to be, Levi?” Sloane held his hands up, his tone calm.

“Don’t fucking use that tone with me. I’m a Team leader. I know all the tricks. The Westward Creed should have been dead long before you figured it all out. That piece of shit Reyes should be dead!”

“You lost someone close, I understand.” It was the only explanation. The look of pain and anger on Levi’s face was a familiar one.

“Fuck you. All those assholes got away with murder. Hogan had the right idea. If the law wouldn’t give us justice, we’d just have to take care of it ourselves. I knew you wouldn’t make the connection. When they put Carolyn’s name in the system, they put her under our mom’s maiden name. Unless someon

e dug deeper and cross-referenced her name specifically with mine, no one would know.” Levi took a step away from Sloane, and Taylor slowly lowered his arm. Levi was onto him, wrapping his arm tighter around Taylor’s neck. “Just try it you little shit, and I’ll blow your brains all over the eggshell blue walls.”

Taylor held his hands up. “Okay. Take it easy, man.”

“Don’t fucking tell me to take it easy.” Levi continued to back toward the open door with Taylor in his grip. “Do you know what that son of a bitch Reyes did to my sister? He fucking raped her and then passed her off to his friends. After they had their fun, Reyes slit her throat. She was sixteen! Then that piece of shit judge lets him go? Tell me, Sloane. Where’s the justice in that?”

“Is that why you joined the THIRDS? Because of your sister?”

“I joined so scum like Reyes would pay for their crimes. So Therians like my sister would get justice. When I found out Reyes was going to head up the Order, I knew this was my chance. He wasn’t going to escape justice this time.”

“And he hasn’t,” Sloane said, slowly edging toward Levi as he continued to move out of the room and into the hall. There was a shriek from somewhere nearby, but Levi ignored it. His fiery eyes on Sloane.

“Prison is too good for him. He deserves to be mauled by the very animals he despises. Ground into pet food and fed to the wolves.”

“So what’s your plan now? Even if you leave this hospital, you won’t be able to get to Reyes.”

“That’s what you think,” Levi sneered. “If I can work with the Coalition right under your noses, I can get to Reyes. You think I’m the only agent willing to turn for the right reason? You can’t be that naïve, Sloane.”

“Levi, please, think about what you’re doing.”

“Shut up! I’m tired of talking!” Levi moved the gun away from Taylor to aim at Sloane when the agent’s body started to convulse, the gun going off in his hand and a shot hitting the wall to Sloane’s left. Both Levi and Taylor fell to the floor, the electric shock of Dex’s TASER going through both agents. His partner’s timing had been impeccable. Not just in showing up when he did, but in calculating the exact moment to stun Levi so no one was in the line of fire.

Sloane rushed over and waited for the discharge to complete before he grabbed Levi and turned him onto his stomach. He took the Therian zip tie Dex held out to him and secured it over Levi’s wrist. Dex held Taylor as the agent recovered and Sloane called Maddock. Backup arrived shortly after Sloane explained everything to his sergeant and they carried Levi away. The team was stunned, though not as much as Levi’s team would be once they discovered their Team Leader was the mole.