Beneath the floormat, I ran my hand along the carpet until my finger caught on the tiny clasp. Pulling on it, the flap in the floor disengaged to reveal a control panel.
“Code?” I yelled to Cade.
He turned a corner then replied, “0711.”
I punched in the numbers as Cade continued, “Gonna change my shit after today. Don’t need you or your annoying ass brother knowing my business.”
“Like you think I can’t crack that weak ass password. Shit, I could get through the security at your lake house in time to have dinner with Shawna and Malissa tonight. Keep fuckin’ with me.” KC loved antagonizing Cade.
When the green light flashed on the control board, I slid it aside and retrieved the gun that was tucked into the compartment. Putting everything back, I righted myself in the seat and set the gun on the console.
“ETA four minutes,” I told KC after glancing at the GPS.
“Wait for backup,” KC said.
“Nah,” I told him. “Jett and Titan are right behind us. This won’t take long. Call you when it’s finished.”
“Fury,” KC started.
I interrupted his next words, “I got this.” I could’ve said more, could’ve assured him that I would be careful and shit like that because I knew what he was thinking.
Archer Mathias got into his car and drove away one Sunday evening. His guards had been given the night off. He was at the house he and my mother lived in, not on the compound. If he were at the compound, nobody would’ve ever let him leave alone. After more than thirty years on the streets, he’d made lots of enemies. And that night, while I was doing a walk-through at one of our newest warehouses and KC was somewhere begging Joy to take him back, my father’s car took seventy-eight bullets.
“I’m not alone,” I added when his silence stretched on.
“Yeah,” he said finally. “If something happens to my brother, I’m comin’ for you Donovan.”
Cade shook his head. “Again. Fuck you, KC.”
I knew this time instead of being dead serious, Cade’s comment was meant to snap KC out of the dark place his mind had gone to, and I appreciated him for that.
KC chuckled then disconnected the call.
“So this is just a grab,” Cade stated as he made another turn and slowed down. “We go in, get this trick, then we get the hell out of there.”
I nodded. “Yeah, in and out.”
It was late afternoon on the quiet suburban street. The neat row homes were the exact opposite of August’s sophisticated persona. When we were doing our thing, she had a condo in a high-rise building in downtown Alexandria. She drove a Lexus back then and only ate at Michelin star restaurants. This street looked like teachers and nurses lived here with their husbands, two kids and a goldfish.
Cade drove past the address we were given, and the GPS immediately began recalibrating. I reached out, punching a new address into it. If need be, we could erase the history later, but just as a quick precaution, I wanted to make sure the last address wasn’t the one a woman was about to go missing from.
“Wish we had eyes in there,” I said, retrieving my own gun and checking the clip. This wasn’t how I normally operated, which was another reason KC was worried.
I got it, I really did, and if this was under normal circumstances, there would’ve been another meeting to strategize. The Ryders moved smart, calculated and efficient, which is how we managed to stay off law enforcement’s immediate radar. But this wasn’t normal circumstances, this was about my wife.
“We have confirmation that it’s her car,” Cade said. He snapped a picture of the tag on the Maybach parked in front of the house with the fresh-cut lawn and white flower-filled bushes surrounding the porch. “Worst case scenario she’s not in there alone and we have to come up with a contingency plan off the cuff.”
Cade removed the gun from the back band of his pants. He reached over, opened the glove compartment and stuffed thegun inside. Then, he picked up the gun I’d sat on the console, going through the same check I just had with my own.
“Not off the cuff. Whoever is with her we’re taking too. No witnesses.” I turned to him for confirmation that he understood what I was saying.
He nodded. “No witnesses.”
Titan came up on the passenger side of the truck, and I opened the door to step out. Jett was already crossing the street and headed toward the house. Cade got out just as I closed my door.
“Jett’s gonna head around back,” Titan said, as I fell into step beside him. “We move as soon as this guy does his job.”
He tipped his head toward the house and I noticed the mailman stepping up onto the porch.
