I swallowed at that thought, pushing away the cold nausea turning my gut. Silas wasn’t dead. Silas couldn’t be dead. Silas was the guy who’d saved my unit when everything had gone to shit, turning up in the dark out of nowhere with a vehicle and firepower exactly when we’d needed it. I’d seen him make the impossible possible too many times over the years to imagine something had gone that badly wrong. But nothing about this had made sense from the beginning.
Why had Silas sold Creed Global to Sinclair? He shouldhave put Ryder and Miranda in charge. Ryder had been working with Silas the longest, and second was Miranda. She had the logistical skills to run the team. Hell, she practically ran it for Silas until he disappeared.
And if Silas was coming back, why sell his company? As the thought unrolled in my mind, I felt it leave my lips. “I still don’t understand why he sold Creed Global to you and your brothers.”
“You ready to jump ship so fast?” Cooper asked, which wasn’t an answer at all.
“No,” I said, looking out into the array of partitioned desks in the center of the office opposite the conference room. Our setup at Creed Global had been a little more low-key—a converted warehouse kind of thing. This was— I rolled my neck, stretching out the stiffness. This was corporate. Cooper was wearing a suit, for fuck’s sake. I could wear a suit if I had to, and we did corporate work at Creed Global. It just felt—I don’t know—more relaxed the way we did it. “I don’t love the cubicle farm, but I’m not looking for an out. Not yet, anyway.”
“Fair enough,” Cooper said, setting his pen on the table and sitting back in his chair, propping his ankle on his knee. “Look, I don’t know why Silas sold us Creed Global instead of turning it over to Ryder and Miranda.” He shifted his gaze to them, sitting side by side. “You’ve been here a couple of months now. You’re familiar with our people. You’ve seen how we work. Do you want out?”
“Are you offering us an out?” Miranda asked, one red eyebrow raised in an arch. She was cool, Miranda—her expression pleasant but giving away nothing.
“I’m keeping the client list and the contracts, and I’ll hold you to the NDA, but you’re all at-will employees. I signed a contract with Silas, not with each of you individually.And frankly, given the nature of what we do, if you really don’t want to be here, I don’t want you to stay.”
A jolt of panic hit my chest, the unexpectedness of the emotion taking my breath for a split second. Yeah, Sinclair Security wasn’t where I thought I’d end up, but it hadn’t occurred to me that any of the team might jump ship. We’d worked together for years. They were my family. I clamped down the panic, forcing myself to take a slow breath and look around the table—really look. When I did, calm chased out the nerves.
“None of us are going anywhere,” Maddox said, sitting back, mimicking Cooper’s posture down to the ankle on his knee. “Not saying I’m going to retire here, but you run a good shop. I like most of your people. Your cases are a little more straight-edge than what we’re used to, but you know, I can adapt. Maybe you can adapt too.”
Cooper acknowledged that with the slightest nod. “All right, then.” He put his foot down and slid closer to the table, braced his elbows, and said, “Then what do you want to do about Silas?”
“What do you mean?” Wren asked, tucking a sandy strand of hair behind her ear. She was doing her unassuming girl thing: no makeup, hair in a messy, stubby ponytail, flannel shirt, and jeans. Like this, she could disappear almost anywhere in America, unnoticed and unremarked—which was a load of bullshit, because she was one of the toughest, most dogged investigators I’d ever known. We could drop her in the woods or a city, and she could track anyone. Despite her size, she fought like a demon. And when she wanted to, she could look like an innocent kid a few days out of junior high.
“Obviously, you’ve looked into where Silas is, if you’ve tapped Emmett and Lucas?” Cooper asked.
Maddox nodded.
“What do you want to do?” Cooper asked. “Do you think he’s out there, up to something, or do you think?—”
He didn’t say it, and I was glad. I couldn’t get my head around the idea that Silas might be dead. We’d all seen enough death. I’d seen more than most. But I couldn’t—wouldn’t—consider that Silas wasn’t coming back.
“It depends,” I said, slowly. “There are a few options here. It could be that he just isn’t finished with what he set out to do. Doesn’t explain why we can’t find a trace of him or why he hasn’t contacted anyone.”
“It’s possible he can’t contact anyone,” Wren said, the hope in her tone begging me to agree with her. We both knew better than to hope in a situation like this. We needed to see what was, not what we wanted to see. “What if he needs our help?”
“It could mean that,” Maddox said. “Or it could mean he’s dead.”
“He isn’t dead,” Wren ground out between clenched teeth.
I found myself agreeing. “Not Silas.”
“Everybody’s ticket gets punched eventually.” Maddox crossed his arms over his chest, his chin lifted.
“So, you’re just willing to give up on him?” I demanded, suddenly irritated with Maddox’s dogged pessimism.
“We’re not doing ourselves any favors by hiding from reality,” he shot back.
I wanted to argue, but I’d been telling myself the same thing only minutes ago.
“So that brings us back to my question,” Cooper said. “Are we looking for Silas, or do we give him more time?”
“You would, wouldn’t you?” Miranda asked. “If wewanted to open a full-fledged investigation, you’d put aside the resources?”
“Not everything’s about business, Miranda,” Cooper said. “Silas is a friend. The six of you are assets, and I’m glad to have you at Sinclair. Silas going missing is a big deal. Especially after selling the company he spent half his professional life building. To deal with loose ends? I want answers too.”
“I think we’re worrying too soon,” Ryder said slowly. “He’s not a kid. He knew what he was doing. He clearly had a plan. He’s still executing that plan. Just because you’re all getting antsy doesn’t mean he’s done with whatever it was he had to do.”
“Maybe,” I agreed. “I’d like to think you’re right, Ryder. I think you could be. And I don’t think he’s dead, but?—”
