Page 16 of Deliverance

Maya scoffed. “Yeah, I’m not telling him that last part. He’s out for blood, and frankly, I think we should let him.”

“Kingfisher is?—”

“Dangerous,” Danny said. “We know. But he’s brought the fight to us. To our city. And I, for one, am not going to hide while he pulls strings from the shadows. Let him come.”

I held his solemn gaze. “I don’t want any of you to get hurt.”

“That’s our choice,” he said firmly.

I blew out a breath and nodded. I was just going to have to find Kingfisher before he hurt anyone else I cared about or one more person in this city. This was my city to protect.

CHAPTER 8

EVELYN

Alexander’s fingers tapped softly against the leather armrest of the sofa. The rhythmic tapping was driving me crazy, but I held in the urge to snap at him. My irritation was more from lack of sleep than it was from the tapping. I shifted in my seat. The sofa was comfortable, and I fought the urge to lean back against it. If we were anywhere else, I might have closed my eyes for a few moments. But with being up so late last night, if I shut my eyes for even a moment, I might actually fall asleep, and that would be embarrassing when we were just about to ask Nathaniel Drake for a favor.

Everything in this office looked lavish and comfortable. From the gold framed art on the wall depicting scenes from the countryside to the warm tones in the brown leather and green cushions. Drake had an excellent interior designer even for his temporary offices. It made sense for a real estate developer. Liam had scraped together a thin file on Drake prior to this meeting. I meant to do a deeper dive on him as well, but for now, we knew he was a well-known real estate developer known for his philanthropy work. Every city he had done a major project in, he had either donated heavily to local nonprofits or helped in other ways, like building low-income housing. He made moneyfor sure, but he seemed to have a soft spot. One we were planning on using if we needed to.

The sumptuous luxury was a stark difference to the rubble I had spent hours combing through yesterday. Like Matt had predicted, there was nothing salvageable in the rubble of HQ. The fire, aided by the gasoline, had burned too hot. Most of what we picked up was melted beyond recognition. I hadn’t stopped until every piece had been combed through. With Kingfisher gunning for us, even a scrap of a document or a hard drive from a computer could be enough to strike at us in his hands. It was long, tedious work but necessary.

I had gotten back to my apartment late, sooty, sore, and exhausted. And yet sleep still evaded me, and I spent most of my night tossing and turning and trying not to wake Adrian.

Nathaniel Drake had set this meeting at 8:30 a.m., and it was currently 8:41. His secretary, a young woman in her early twenties, apologized for the delay but hadn’t given us any details as to why he was running late.

I shifted in my seat again, and Alexander placed a hand on my knee. “If he’s not here in the next couple of minutes, we’ll reschedule,” he murmured softly.

“Okay,” I murmured.

We didn’t have the time to wait here all morning. The list of things I had to do was longer than my arm, but something in my gut told me the cameras in the rail yard were important. We needed access.

At 8:45, the door to Nathaniel Drake’s office swung open.

“Mr. Stone, Miss Harper, I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.” Drake stepped out of his office. He was in a gray suit and blue tie, his brown hair neatly combed over.

“Not a problem,” Alexander said smoothly, like he hadn’t been tapping his fingers with impatience for the last ten minutes. He stood, and I followed him into Drake’s office.

Floor-to-ceiling windows dominated the right wall, flooding the room with light it didn‘t seem to want. The darkly stained oak desk was massive and matched the leather of his chair and the two smaller guest chairs. It made a statement about who held the power in the room. Gilded frames lined the walls, more impersonal countryside scenes, the kind of art picked to be noticed for how expensive it was rather than how it felt.

“What can I do for you folks this morning?” Drake asked. He gestured for us to take a seat in the chairs. He settled into his, leaning back into it and steepling his fingers in front of him.

“It’s more about what we can do for you,” Alexander said, leaning back in his chair to mimic Drake’s pose. He crossed his ankle over his knee and folded his hands on his lap. “SDS is interested in providing security for your rail yard development project while construction is underway.”

Drake raised one of his eyebrows. “From what I’ve heard, SDS is experiencing a boom in business due to recent events. This rail yard development is an important project for me. Does SDS have the capacity to take it on?”

Alexander didn’t outwardly react, but I could tell by the rigidity in his posture that he took Drake’s words as an insult to SDS.

“We have experienced a boom, yes,” I answered, smoothing things over so Alexander didn’t say anything rash in response. We needed access to the rail yard. “But our leadership had plans in place for us to scale up to meet our clients’ needs.”

“I see,” Drake said, his brown eyes taking me in as if he didn’t realize I could be more than an assistant. I was used to men like him dismissing me when they saw my tablet and stylus in hand. Their dismissal had worked to my advantage many times in the past, so I wasn’t bothered by it.

“SDS is more than capable,” Alexander assured him. “Additionally, we’re very invested in our community. The railyard development is an important project that will bring economic growth to the city. We would love to be involved in helping make your vision a reality.”

I hid my grin. Alexander hit on the right words as Drake puffed up in his chair. The rail yard was an important project for the city, although I was still concerned with the gentrification in the surrounding areas. But playing to Drake’s ego was a good move here. Still, the man looked hesitant.

“I appreciate the offer,” he said slowly. “However, I typically have a team I keep on retainer for projects like this. I’ve worked with them for years. They’re actually onsite today getting everything set up.”

My heart sank. Fuck, we were too late. There went that plan. An in-house security team complicated things.