* * *
Before Kennedy’sbody had been discovered, Keys had seriously been considering Senator Mathews, Angel and Lyra’s father, as the mastermind behind the attack. It was the only logical explanation. But that note…
There was only one person in the world who would refer to Keys as “big brother”.
Keys hadn’t spoken to Keller since he was fifteen and Keller eleven. He didn’t really have much of a defense; heshouldhave. It would have been right to, but he hadn’t. He could tell himself all day long that it was because he didn’t want to rub his success, hishappiness, in Keller’s face—but who was Keys to assume that Keller wasn’t as equally successful and happy? It was just an excuse because Keys was too chickenshit to stand in front of his little brother and apologize. Keys hadn’t asked to have Leukemia as an infant, hadn’t asked for their parents to genetically create Keller to be Keys’ donor. But in many ways, Keys still felt like he owed Keller an apology for it.
The sticky note had been on hismonitor. Keller had beeninsidethe computer lab. How? And did Keller truly hate Keys so much that he would track down Kennedy and lead him to Mount Grove?
Why? And why kill Kennedy?
Maybe because Kennedy could identify him? But that made even less sense, given the note Keys was staring at. Keller had outed himself. Why do any of this?
Keys did not like having more questions than answers, but before he dove more into his system, he needed to see Rose and Oscar, check on Goose, and he still had to pee.
* * *
Cleanup sucked.Over the next several days, the club worked to unmask the mercenaries and identify them. They started with the dead and wounded who were not trapped inside the MKSS building. Several had outstanding warrants, and the club called in their contact at the FBI, Agent McAlester, to help collect the ones who were wanted on a federal level. Carlos was able to handle the rest, reaching out to the appropriate counties or cities to come collect their bounty. The ones that were left received the best hospitality Keys was willing to offer them, which included odor-control paper bedding, bottled water, and cheese sticks.
Eventually, he might be in the mood to let them out.
He did not question what Bulldog and Scar did with the dead, because he frankly just did not want to know.
Since it was obvious that neither Senator Mathews nor Lyra had anything to do with the attack, the club still had to follow through on their agreement to take out Webber. Poison hadn’t wanted to, saying that she would come back to protect Rose and Oscar, but Rose was able to convince her that the fighting was long over and that there was no point.
Poison wasn’t happy about it, and threatened Keys’ manhood if Rose or Oscar got so much as a stubbed toe before Poison got back, but they continued on their mission, making it look like Webber committed suicide by jumping off the roof of his therapist’s five-story building. According to the news reports, Webber survived the initial fall, and succumbed to his injuries several agonizing hours later. They even managed to get a witness to come forward and claim that they saw Webber on the roof alone seconds before he jumped.
Keys did not know if they made Webber jump or if the witness lied, but either way, the man was dead, and later that afternoon, Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal Talbot Corrigan was placed on administrative leave with pay, pending an investigation of suspected obstruction of justice, witness tampering, conspiracy, accessory to murder, and violation of his oath of office. To start. Based on the roadmap they’d given her, it looked like Lyra was planning on throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the man.
Oscar was spending more of his days with his club cousins across the street. Rose and Keys decided to keep his apartment at the clubhouse, turning it into a mini computer lab for themselves so they could continue working while also being close to Oscar. They also made good use of Keys’ twin bed. All of his belongings, though, were officially moved over to the apartment at MKSS. Maybe they would build a house on the club property at some point in the future, but for now, they were extremely comfortable in the home they’d created with Oscar.
The morning following the assault on MKSS, Ghost, Lucky,Becks, and Ranger traveled to Alexandria, and true to his promise to Bulldog, Ghost had Athena drive them. After his initial evaluation and given the circumstances of his situation, the doctors recommended a ninety-day inpatient program. Visitation would be restricted for the first thirty days, but their surveillance was child’s play for Keys, who promised Becks that he would check in on Ranger for her.
Goose had a concussion and bruised ribs, but thankfully, that was the extent of his injuries. Keys’ guilt over Goose’s injury intensified when he came face-to-face with the Riley brothers’ parents. Their mother, Ingrid, was less than pleased Keys had gotten her son injured, though she didn’t know the specific circumstances of that injury. Thorne later apologized to Keys for their mother, but Keys couldn’t exactly argue with the woman’s accusation.
Following the attack, Grimm removed himself from the field. He increased his sessions with Dr. Rutenberg and was working out a schedule with the club so he could man the gate and remain useful. Keys wasn’t going to pry, but assured Grimm that his job was waiting for him when he was ready.
“Um, Keys?”
“Yes, my love?” Keys responded, trying to keep the nervous excitement from his voice.
“I just received the most unusual error message.”
Keys had to swallow hard to center himself. His heart was racing like he’d just run a mile. “Oh, yeah?” He cleared his throat. “That’s weird. I see nothing on my end.”
“Strange,” she mused. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with me catching Oscar drawing diamond rings on a T-rex’s hand earlier, would it?”
“Can’t imagine why it would,” Keys responded as dryly as he could.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rose’s head bob up and down. “Must be a coincidence, I suppose.”
“Any, uh, any idea how to solve the error?” Keys inquired, hopeful.
“Well, given the options presented here, I really have no other choices.”
Critical System Error
Error code: IRREVOCABLE_COMMIT
