Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(51)

“Not when I lived here,” Ty answered.

Val looked around at the group. “And we’re pretty sure Jax was Ace’s handler, right?”

“We got his fingerprints everywhere at Ace’s stash house,” Greer said.

“Plus he admitted to it,” Owen said. “Why?”

“Ace saw blueprints of the bunker and the tunnel leading into it,” Val said. “Those were never publicly available. The original bunker and the modifications Bladen made weren’t submitted for county permits. Those plans don’t exist anywhere Angel has been able to find. So how did Jax have them to show to Ace?”

“He could have been here when I was in Afghanistan,” Blade said.

“Yeah. With Amir and your daddy dearest,” Val said.

Max sipped his beer as he looked at Owen. “You said, months ago, that Jax had gone rogue.”

“So…is he an Omni?” Kelan asked.

“I don’t know,” Owen said. “He may just be under so deep he’s lost who he really is. It’s interesting, however, to consider that his dad was instrumental in getting the Red Team formed and funded. They pulled all of us who had a reason to hate the Omnis together, then sent us overseas to fight terrorism—”

“Conveniently keeping tabs on us while they kept us worlds away from the real action,” Ty said.

“Right,” Owen agreed. “I had a couple of partners help me get it off the ground. Val’s one. The senator’s the other. If he’s bad, he’s bad all the way through. And he knows everything we’re doing.”

“And he’s who sent us here to Wyoming,” Kit said.

Owen’s nostrils flared. “Max, we need to put up a wall between the senator and us.”

“We can’t lock him out without him knowing we’re on to him.”

“Delay sending stuff to him,” Owen said. “Send him incorrect info.”

Max nodded. “Copy that.”

“Jax said he was on a special assignment for his dad,” Owen said. “I’d actually invited him to join Tremaine Industries. He declined. I learned yesterday that it was because he knew the senator was dirty…so I was guilty by association. He also said he had his own crew. In some ways, it seems he’s working with us, and in others, against us.”

“We figured out some other pieces while you were gone,” Greer said. “We knew my grandfather had been part of organizing the Red Team. Guess who Santo is?”

“Henry Myers.” Owen’s voice was flat.

Addy gasped. “He was my lifeline.”

“I told you he was bad. But even I didn’t know how bad,” Owen said.

Ace nodded. “I’ll be killing him.”

“There’ll be no need to, once I’m done with him, sis,” Greer said.

Sis? Were Greer and Ace siblings?

Greer answered Addy’s unspoken question. “Ace is my baby sister. We thought she was murdered in our house when she was a baby. Santo either took Ace from her crib—when she was only two—or facilitated that happening so no alarms went off in the house. They sliced her up in a bloodletting that left us convinced she was dead. Santo handed her over to the Omnis to be raised in hell.”

“Oh, Ace—” The thought of that racked Addy with grief.

Ace shrugged. “I survived. And I killed most of those who used me.” Her eyes hardened. “Except Edwards. He’s next.”

Kelan shook his head. “You don’t get to end all of them, Ace. Don’t be selfish.”

“She can have him. I get Jafaar,” Angel said.

Max shook his head. “First come, first served, bro. Get in line.”

“Pick who you want, but leave my dad to me,” Val said.

Owen looked around the room. “Addy’s parents are mine.” His eyes met Greer’s, then Ace’s. “And Edwards is mine.”

Addy shivered, then folded her arms. This Owen was terrifying. His eyes were cold, his face hard. No one in the room countered him.

“What did you mean about Santo being a lifeline, Addy?” Ty asked.

“I didn’t know how to get out,” Addy replied. “I didn’t know who to trust or how to go about getting away. The house where I lived was surrounded by miles of national forest, so remote we couldn’t get internet for many years…or so I was told. The telephones were monitored. And any time I tried to stand up for myself or my children…there were consequences. Brutal consequences, not only for me, but increasingly for my sons. Cecil told me Owen was King. I believed him. I had no reason not to.”

“Do you still?” Ty asked.

Addy stared at Ty, trying to avoid the pull of seeing Owen’s reaction. “I’ve learned that Omnis have perfected the art of living double—triple—lives. I’ve learned nothing is what it seems on face value.”

“Not an answer,” Ty persisted.

Owen bent his head and sipped his whiskey, then stared into his glass. “Leave her alone. I said she was safe here. They beat those beliefs into her, Blade. She believed what she had to in order to survive. Leave it at that. She has to heal in her own time, like we all do or have.”

“Finish what you were saying about Santo,” Rocco urged her.