At the front door, Nic punched in this week’s entry code, and the keypad flipped from red to green.He opened the door and winced at Eddie’s grunge music, the same that had been playing in the truck, turned way up.Cam picked up singing right where he’d left off while Nic wondered at what volume he’d blow out an eardrum.This was loud, even for Cam or Eddie.
They entered the tasting area and Nic suddenly understood why.
Behind the bar, Vaughn was pulling himself a pint of stout, and on the other side, his two goons sat sprawled at a table.Between them, Eddie wasn’t nearly so comfortable, his bulging, muscular arms curved behind him, wrists handcuffed to his chair.
A/V remote in hand, one of the guards lowered the volume.Vaughn turned around, grin smug.“Late night, Dom?”
At his side, Cam drew his weapon, sight trained on Vaughn.
“Now, now, Agent Byrne, we’re all friends here, aren’t we?”
“Friends don’t handcuff friends to chairs.”
Nic put a cautious hand on Cam’s firing arm, pushing it down.“Eddie’s not in any danger.”
Vaughn strolled around the bar, taking a long swallow of the beer.“See, Dom knows me well.Of course I wouldn’t hurt his friend and business partner.”The gangster’s photogenic smile turned sharklike.“I’m just using him as leverage.”
“Afraid you’re wrong there,” Nic said before giving Eddie a nod.
A blink later, Eddie was out of the handcuffs and standing, laughing with his arms spread wide.He made acome-at-megesture to the guards, who foolishly did exactly that.Did these idiots never learn?
Toe under the seat, Eddie flipped the chair up into Goon One’s face, sending him sprawling back, blood pouring from his nose all over his shiny suit.Eddie caught the chair on the rebound, swinging it against Goon Two’s rising shooting arm.The pistol went skidding across the brewery’s polished cement floor, and Eddie took a second swing with what was left of the chair, whacking the guy in the exposed ribs and sending him staggering back into his bleeding cohort.Eddie stood among the chaos, laughing, that little bit of crazy Nic had depended on when they were SEALs.
Eddie tossed the wooden leg at Vaughn’s feet.“You owe me a chair, Blondie.”
Vaughn’s brown eyes flickered down and up.“Noted.”
“Not a pair of handcuffs he can’t get out of,” Nic said as Eddie strode over.“Or a bar fight we ever lost.”He held out a fist to Eddie.
Eddie bumped back.“They had Ang,” he said, referring to their assistant manager.“Traded myself.Figured I’d keep them here for you.”
“You figured right.Thanks for that.”
“You good here?”
Nic nodded.
“Okay, then I’ll go do that errand you asked about.”The display he’d put on just now...that was why he was on rotating Sare guard duty with Mel.Only Nic’s best, most loyal, most deadly people.Eddie clapped his shoulder with a “Hooyah,” then disappeared down the hallway, the front door clicking shut after him.
Vaughn paid no mind to his ineffective muscle hobbling around, bloodying up the fucking bar towels.Instead, he walked right up to Nic and Cam, casually drinking his beer.“I like your friends, Dom.SEALs and FBI agents.Sexy.”
“What are you here to threaten me with now?”Nic cut to the chase.It was late, and he had a big day of nailing this asshole to the wall tomorrow.
“How did it feel to find out you had a sister?Nicolette Sare, right?Or should I say Scott?Or worse yet, Price?”
Nic’s blood ran cold, freezing him where he stood.Same as it had earlier when he’d first seen Victoria and Garrett again, when he’d finally put together who Nicolette Sare was, in Dennis’s office.
Dennis.
Was that how Vaughn knew about Lette?Had Dennis betrayed him again and spilled everything?
While Nic was silent, mind whirring, Cam was practically growling.“You’d really threaten an innocent young woman?”
“Innocent,” Vaughn scoffed.He set his empty pint on the table by Nic’s hip.“She’s been siphoning off my money for a decade now.”
“Wouldn’t you want Victoria’s daughter taken care of?”
Vaughn’s handsome face transformed into something truly ugly.“Victoria made her decision.”
