It took me a second to fill in the blanks. “Jakov’s helping us because Locke saved Viktor?”
“Yup. He wanted to wire him some cash—like a lot of fucking cash—but I told him Locke would never accept it.”
“He wouldn’t.”
“Right. Then he asked if there was anything else he could do for him, and coming on the back of him asking what the hell was wrong with me... fuck. I don’t know.” Cam fired a glare at the sky. “It didn’t feel wrong at the time, and it doesn’t feel wrong now. But I have no clue where it’s going to take us. He didn’t say what he was going to do or if he wanted anything in return, and that shit feels dangerous.”
“It is dangerous. What if we end up as puppets in their war up north?”
“It won’t come to that.”
“How do you know?”
Cam turned back to me, his hot O’Brian gaze set in stone. “Because he called Viktor his brother and I believe that means as much to him asyoudo to me.”
* * *
The feds didn’t show. It was the most nerve-racking, anticlimactic bullshit ever.
“We need a phone.” Cam mounted his hog. “Let’s roll.”
We sped away from the meeting spot, riding into a storm as the heavens opened and the wind picked up, lashing through the fading daylight.
It made progress slow and it took over an hour to reach the place where we’d left every phone and tracker in our possession.
Taking shelter under a tree, Cam powered up the burner I presumed he used to contact the feds.
I reactivated the tracker on my bike, trusting Alexei would find us soon.
We left our personal phones alone—for now, staying dark until we knew which way was up.
Cam placed a call.
It didn’t go through, and he scowled at the screen. “Line’s dead.”
“It didn’t connect?”
“Number not recognised.”
I didn’t know enough about how phones worked to know what that meant. “Where’s Alexei?”
Cam fired off a text. “I don’t know.”
“You told him about Jakov... right? He knows you told him?”
Cam winced. “Not exactly.”
Christ. Could this day get any more crocked? I scrubbed a hand over my face and lit a cigarette, casting a longing gaze at my personal phone, yearning so hard for Orla and Locke that my first drag caught in my throat.
I coughed up a lung, banging my chest.
Cam rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so fucking dramatic. He doesn’t tell me lots of shit.”
Alexei. Damn. I smoked some more, grounding myself in the burn. “Keeping another secret is going to hurt his feelings, though.”
“No, it won’t.” Cam snorted. “You think there’s any reality where I could make that call to Jakov and Alexei didn’t know about it before that fucker picked up?”
I was starting to believe that thinking about anything only ever led to trouble. Thatdoingthings—actions—was the shit I wanted to live by.I need them. My hand twitched for my phone, but the burner rang first.