Against The Grain (THIRDS 5)
Page 67
“And what do you propose we do?” Ash griped. “No wonder she didn’t call Maddock in on this. He would have fucking blown his shit.”
“We could take it back to HQ,” Dex pitched in.
Sloane shook his head. “If Sparks is involved, she could easily get to it. She has high-level security clearance. She’ll be able to get into areas we can’t.”
“We could hide it.”
Ash scoffed at Dex. “Where are we going to hide an illegal unsanctioned mind-control drug, genius?”
“Fuck you, Simba,” Dex snapped. “At least I’m making suggestions.”
“Stupid suggestions. Justice.”
Sloane sat back and put a hand out. “All right, that’s enough. Just let me think for a second.”
“Aren’t there contingency plans for this sort of thing?” Dex asked Sloane, though his glare was still pinned on Ash, who couldn’t resist having a dig at Dex.
These two were going to drive them all nuts. How did they always get themselves into these situations? They needed a real vacation, one as far away from New York City as possible.
“You mean for the ‘your lieutenant is involved in a conspiracy, please drop off all illegal substances at point B’ situation?”
Dex appeared unimpressed. “And here I thought your sleeping with my brother might actually make you less of an asshole.”
“Dex!” Cael gasped, unable to believe his brother blurted that out in front of everyone. He wished he could crawl under a rock. His brother must love the taste of boot, because he was always sticking his foot in his mouth. For crying out loud!
Rosa thrust a finger at Ash. “I knew it! Pendejo. You said nothing was going on between you two.”
“Well, I lied,” Ash replied sweetly. “Cael and I are dating, okay? You and your girlfriend will have to find a way to get over the loss.”
“Screw you,” Rosa huffed, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Sorry, that position’s ocupado.”
Cael groaned before Sloane finally lost his shit. “Will you all just shut the fuck up?”
The entire truck went silent.
“We have an extremely grave situation on our hands and little time in which to resolve it, and you’re fucking bitching about who’s dating who? Unless you have a solution, I don’t want to hear a peep out of any of you. Un-fucking-believable.”
The speakers on the surveillance console turned on with a beep, and Cael frowned. “What the hell?” He hadn’t turned anything on.
“Destructive Delta, come in!”
“Austen?” How the hell did he patch himself into the console, and why wasn’t he calling them through their earpieces? The urgency in Austen’s tone had Cael’s instincts on high alert. Something was going on.
“Brace for impact!”
“Harness!” Sloane shouted. No one questioned Sloane’s orders. They all strapped into their harnesses within seconds. “Austen, what’s going on?”
“Hijack! I repeat, you’re about to get—”
Cael’s head shot up in time to see the headlights of a colossal Mack truck speeding right for them before it hit.
The world fell into silence.
His body jerked fiercely, a sharp pain jolting through his neck and limbs. There was a burst of noise and chaos before nothingness consumed him.
EVERYTHING HURT.