“Now, on to the reason we’re here.” Ghost turned to Keys. He crossed his arms over his chest and lifted a ginger eyebrow.
Keys had been prepared to have to stand up and face the crowd alone, but there was no hesitation in Rose’s movements as she stood with him. Together, they switched places with Ghost at the front of the group.
Their united position gave Keys the confidence he needed to start. “I know some of you are angry with me, and if you want to add to what Poison did to me yesterday, I understand. By now, everyone knows about my plan to draw Tyson Kennedy out of hiding. Unfortunately, despite recent events that says he’s looking for Rose, and willing to go after Poison, he has not come looking for her personally. We know he wants Oscar. We used Oscar’s DNA to entice him, but he’s not budging. He’d rather send peons to do his dirty work than come himself. But I promised Rose revenge.” Keys squeezed her hand as he looked over at her. “If Kennedy won’t come out of hiding for Oscar, then we have to give him another reason to.”
Poison leaned forward, balancing her elbows on her knees. “So where is he?”
“We don’t have a confirmed location,” Rose told her sister. “Kennedy has been careful. He’s been operating through intermediaries and Corrigan’s federal access, and he’s been extremely patient. Likely, he’s been waiting for us to make a mistake.”
“Then we go find him, and we gut him,” Poison said darkly. At her side, Kitty casually draped an arm over the back of her chair like his lover hadn’t just declared violence.
“That is one option,” Keys stated carefully.
Poison’s eyes narrowed on him. “You say that like it’s not theonlyoption.”
“Because it’s not,” Ghost interjected. “I am not saying that Kennedy is not a piece of scum the world would be better off without, but we cannot ascend on him en masse. He’s protected on a federal level, and I won’t bring that sort of heat down on my club. Therefore, I wantallthe options before a decision is made,” he added pointedly to Poison.
The two club presidents stared at each other for a heartbeat before Poison waved a hand like she was giving permission for the meeting to continue. Ghost turned to Keys and gave him an encouraging nod.
Keys cleared his throat, nerves starting to rise again. “We need to take out Corrigan first.” Keys looked around the room. “As long as Corrigan is operational, Kennedy has eyes inside systems we have limited access to. If we go after Kennedy first and Corrigan learns of our involvement, then all of us will spend the next year looking over our shoulders waiting for the federal infrastructure to collapse on us.” He cleared his throat. “Which is why I am proposing we go after Corrigan first and expose him for being corrupt.”
The room was quiet for a moment.
“And how do you propose we do that?” Papaw asked from his place at the bar. “Unless the man makes a written confession, we’re going to need proof of wrongdoing.”
“We have some proof, but it’s circumstantial at best,” Rose told them sheepishly. “And it’s not like I used legal means to hack into the Marshals’ database.”
“But we do have an in that neither Kennedy nor Corrigan will see coming.” Keys turned his attention towards Angel.
The lone VDMC female member sat up more as everyone followed Keys’ line of sight to her. “What?” she demanded.
After all Angel and Cage had done for him, Keys really hoped that Angel did not see what he said next as a betrayal. “Steel ordered me to do background checks on all of you,” he reminded her gently. “I know who your sister and your father are.”
Angel did not pale or look offended by this knowledge. Instead, she laughed. “Then you should know that I have no relationship with them. I called in any familial debt when I adopted Bree. I haven’t spoken a word to either of them since.”
Pirate lifted his hand like he was in second grade. “Um, who are your father and your sister?”
Angel made a face. “My father is irrelevant in this matter, but my sister is the Deputy Director of the U.S. Marshal Service.”
As others processed that shock, Keys kept the conversation on task. “If we get her the evidence, would she be able to handle Corrigan?”
“She would handle Corrigan because she wouldn’t stand for corruption in her agency,” Angel clarified. “But she also would not trust the evidence unless it was extremely damning or she knew the source, and like I said, she no longer knows me.”
“She doesn’t need to know it came from you then. But she would be able to handle Corrigan and not sweep what he’s done under the rug, right?”
Angel rolled her neck. “Yes,” she sighed. “She would handle Corriganthe legalway,” she emphasized. “Do we even know what Corrigan’s crimes are? Other than giving Kennedy access to classified information?”
“Based on the footprints I found, I believe Corrigan is Kennedy’s silent partner,” Rose answered. “Kennedy got caught, but Corrigan didn’t. When Kennedy cut his deal to get out of prison, he gave names, even listed some higher ups, but he never mentioned Corrigan. That leads me to believe that Corrigan either kept the scheme running while Kennedy was away or he kept his hands clean so Kennedy could pick back up where he left off when he got out.”
“I have no plans of allowing Corrigan to get arrested and dealt withthe legalway,” Poison said mockingly. “Both he and Kennedy have some pain coming their way.”
“Poison, please,” Rose groaned, tightening her hold on Keys’ hand. “This is one of the reasons I did not want you involved. Any of you,” she said to the group as a whole. “I have no doubt that we can protect ourselves against a number of formidable enemies. But this is the federal government we’re talking about now. They won’t hesitate to take us all down, especially to saveface. You can’t go in guns blazing. You’ll get yourself killed or arrested. We have to be methodical.”
Before Poison could respond, Angel spoke up. “Even if we get Corrigan arrested and taken out of play, what’s your plan for Kennedy? Based on what you told us, he clearly wants Oscar. He killed Katy’s handler to leave you that message.”
Keys winced, still feeling guilt about that. He might not have been the one to shoot that gun, but he’d put the plan into motion that had led to that federal agent’s murder. It didn’t matter that the man was unmarried and childless. He was still alife, and Kennedy had had him killed just to send a message to Rose.
Others spoke up, offering their ideas when Keys remained silent.
