Rise & Fall (THIRDS 4)

Cael turned his worried gaze to Ash. “Someone followed you?”

“Yeah,” Ash answered quietly. He gave Cael a shrug and a small smile. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Cael looked like he was about to argue but instead let out a sigh and turned his attention back to Dex, who carried on.

“If he’s sent his goons after Sloane and Ash, what makes you think he won’t send his crew after the rest of us? I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my family safe. As Ash pointed out to me recently, Destructive Delta is my family. Hogan’s caused enough damage and ruined enough lives.” He turned to Hobbs and met his troubled gaze. “Your brother’s a great agent, and I’m sure he’s gonna be one hell of a Team Leader, but he’s on the outside looking in. We’re already knee-deep in this shit. It’s our family that asshole tried to kill.”

“I’m in.”

Calvin’s declaration caught everyone off guard, especially Dex. He’d never seen his teammate looking so determined. “Cal?”

“You’re right. We’ve always had each other’s backs. This is on us. We should be the ones bringing his ass in. The most Sparks can do is suspend us.” Calvin turned to Letty who scoffed.

“Like you have to ask.”

Hobbs nodded his agreement, leaving only Cael who gaped at Dex as if he’d lost his marbles, which he possibly might have.

“Dad will kick our asses.”

“Yeah, he’ll be pretty pissed. But we’re all grown up, Cael. We need to stop worrying about what Dad would want us to do. It’s our choice.”

Cael worried his bottom lip as he thought about it.

“It really is okay if you don’t do it,” Dex assured him. “I’d kind of prefer if you didn’t, but it’s your choice.”

Cael shifted his gaze to him before nodding. “I’m in.”

“Cael—”

“You said it was my choice, Dex.” Cael folded his arms over his chest. “And I choose to join you and make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

“Stupider,” Ash corrected.

Cael sat back down on the bench, keeping his gaze everywhere but on Ash, and he shifted uncomfortably when Ash took a seat beside him. These two were going to drive him out of his freaking head. Putting his brother’s relationship drama aside for later, Dex addressed the team.

“Perry’s handed himself in to the THIRDS, and we believe Jackson’s hauled ass to California. I doubt Hogan’s realized his prey’s flown the coop. There’s a good chance relieving him of his revenge will draw him out, but I’d rather we get to him first. If he doesn’t bail, he might try to regroup. Thanks to Austen, we’ve got some useful intel. Hogan only has a handful of reliable members left, the rest are just muscle. With Merritt dead, Hogan has promoted Drew Collins to be his second-in-command. Collins is a cougar Therian. He’s a tough son of a bitch to track down, which means we need to work around him to get to him.”

“In other words, go for someone close to Collins,” Cael said, nodding in agreement. “Who’s the target?”

A

usten stepped forward and held a tablet out in front of him displaying a high-definition image of a wolf Therian with dark hair and silver eyes. “This is Felipe Bautista, Collins’s boyfriend of ten years. Collins is crazy about the guy, but his loyalty to Hogan keeps him away a good deal of the time, and poor Felipe gets lonely. They argue a hell of a lot. Collins is never there, and Bautista resents being told to stay home and wait like some lapdog. I’m still unclear whether Bautista knows what his boyfriend is up to. If he does, he’s playing dumb. So while Collins is busy playing wanted terrorist, Bautista is at Candy Bar picking up cute boys.”

“So what’s the plan?” Ash asked.

“Send someone in undercover.” Austen removed a small transparent baggie from his jeans pocket and held it up. It contained some kind of white powder. “Then slip a little something in his mojito, get friendly with him, and let the pixie dust do its thing. You ask and he’ll answer.”

“What is that?” Dex asked warily. He wasn’t sure about drugging Bautista. “Is it safe?”

“It’s a special formula. Don’t worry, when he wakes up, he won’t remember a thing. The only side effect he’ll feel is the hangover from hell, which is why it’s important whoever goes in gets him nice and tipsy. He’ll think he had too much to drink and—”

Dex snatched the bag from Austen. “What’s in this?”

“Hey, man, take it easy.” Austen held his hands up. “You don’t want to drop that shit in here, or we’re all fucked.”

A cold chill travelled up Dex’s spine. It couldn’t be. “Is this made with scopolamine?”

Austen’s stunned expression said it all.