“I could help with that,” Ainsley pointed out.
Mona sat up straight. “Good. You have more access to him than I do. A former cop and a reporter? Pyre won’t stand a chance.”
“Not to mention I have a man on the inside, and he can’t keep secrets from me. Not for long anyway,” Ainsley said with a wink. “I’ll figure out if he thinks Pyre’s interest is legit or not.”
Harlow snorted in amusement. “These guys were military. They’re not going to break for you two.”
“They could. Being former military doesn’t mean they know how to evade questioning,” Mona pointed out.
“Ever heard of SERE school?” Harlow asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, SERE stands for survival, evasion, resistance, and escape,” Melody said. “The guys were literally trained not to give away national secrets. You think they’re going to tell you who they want to bone?”
“Melody,” I groaned, covering my face with my hands. My friends brought out the real me like few could. My family, of course managed it, but these women had done so in record time. To the public I looked quiet and aloof, except when I was speaking to the families of the dead. Then I did my best to be comforting. “He doesn’t want to… Do we have to call it that?”
“Fine,” she said with a smirk. “Make love to.”
Nope. That didn’t make it any better.
“Why don’t we change the subject?” I suggested. It no longer mattered that I had wanted to ask them about this very thing.The conversation was slipping out of my control too quickly for my liking.
“Not happening,” Ainsley said with a laugh.
“Not all the guys were special forces though,” Kaisa said in a thoughtful tone. “They may not have all gone through SERE school.”
“If they didn’t, you know Cypher put them through something like that of his own,” Harlow argued. “He only hires the best of the best. And he refuses to let them say anything to anyone.”
We all looked over at Ainsley.
“What?” she asked. “You just said it yourself. Cypher doesn’t let us talk.” She gave us a wide grin.
She’d started working for Cypher after resigning as the town’s sheriff a few weeks ago. But she was pretty hush hush about what she did for them. I couldn’t blame her. You didn’t want to cross a man like Cypher. Or his motorcycle club. The fight the other night in the bar proved how dangerous the men of The Berserker’s Rage were.
“Besides,” Harlow continued, ignoring the fact that Ains hadn’t given us anything to work with, “Cypher was CIA at some point. So more of those guys probably were too.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Mona said, squirming in her chair. It was as though she couldn’t sit still until she heard the juicy gossip.
“I’m the mayor,” Harlow said with a sniff. “I know things.”
“Bull,” Kaisa said with a laugh.
“Yeah, spill it,” Maya said, bouncing Penny in her arms like she was a baby. Penny was not amused.
My opossum was on her back and she turned her head until her beady black eyes landed on me. Her gaze was screaming, ‘help me’. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. It was good for her to socialize with other people. We both kept to ourselvestoo often for our own good. The last few times I’d had my friends over she’d hidden under the bed in my bedroom. I hadn’t allowed her to stay there this time.
Harlow shook her head. “I’m not giving away my secrets,” she said. “Then I won’t be able to dig up any dirt on any of you when I need to.”
“You could tell us how you know Cypher was CIA, then just ask us about any dirt you want on us,” Mona countered.
Harlow scoffed. “Like you’d tell the truth.”
“I thought Cypher was military?” I asked.
“He was,” Harlow replied. “But then he did a stint with the CIA.”
“Like after he retired?” Ainsley asked.
