I tighten my grip on the steering wheel, fighting the urge to turn the car around and speed back to the house to take care of them myself.
"Make sure the outside team is doubled. I don’t want any blind spots.”
"Consider it done."
I end the call and grip the wheel so tightly it feels like my knuckles might crack.
The mole came after Mila. They were inside her damn apartment just to scare her, and now the safe house has been compromised? This isn't just about revenge anymore. This is a declaration of war.
By the time I pull up outside the safe house, Brennan and Cormac are already waiting, leaning against Cormac’s Mercedes. The second they see me, they straighten.
I barely nod at them before stalking toward the house, taking the front steps two at a time. I slip my gun out of its holster, Brennan and Cormac behind me, clicking the safeties off their own guns as I push open the front door.
“Fucking hell.” The smell of blood hits me instantly, and I choke on a breath.
Brennan whistles as we take in the scene before us. “Someone had fun.”
Kieran wasn’t exaggerating when he said the place had turned into a slaughterhouse.
My eyes land on the man lying dead in a pool of blood in the middle of the hallway before trailing upwards. The blood splatters continue up the walls as if someone took a paintbrush and started decorating.
I notice the woman at the top of the stairs, her head tilted at an angle. “Christ. Cormac, take a look at her.”
Cormac moves past me and heads up the stairs as Brennan and I move in on the man. Crouching down beside him, I notice that his throat has been almost entirely cut out.
Brennan shakes his head. “Was that really necessary?”
My eyes scan his torso. “I don’t think that’s what killed him.”
“Sure about that?”
I rip apart his shirt to expose his bloody torso and the very obvious bullet wounds in his chest. “Pretty sure. Cormac! Check the woman for bullet wounds!”
His voice comes from above. “I’ve got three in the chest!”
I straighten and stare around at the walls. “There wouldn’t be this much blood on the walls from bullet wounds.”
Brennan nods. “It looks like someone smeared it around on purpose.”
“I think that’sexactlywhat they did.”
“Why?”
“Because they could? And because it sends a bigger message.”
Cormac heads back down the stairs to join us, his hands already stained with blood. “Because two dead bodies isn’t enough of a message?”
“Finn’s been playing games all fucking day. First with breaking into Mila’s apartment, and now this?”
Cormac frowns. “You really think Finn could have done this?”
“Finn or not, whoever did this is taunting us. They want us to know they’re not afraid, which is very dangerous for us.”
"Have you heard from Lorcan?"
"I got his voicemail, again." I pull out my phone and try him anyway, but the call doesn’t connect.
“I wish we could have his input, even if we can’t tell him everything.”
