Page 129 of Trapped Truth

“Em,” Warner grumbles.

Bursting into laughter, I throw up my hands in surrender. “Alright, I’m stopping now.”

“For the record, I do approve.” Axel wiggles his dark eyebrows at me. “In fact, I prefer it when you swallow.”

Even Hyland is fighting off a hidden smile. I cast him a wink when he rolls his olive-green orbs in my direction. We both sober at the bang of a door reopening deep in the building, but my chest feels a little lighter.

Both Warner and Axel stand to attention, hurriedly collecting and aiming their freshly cleaned guns. It’s proven unnecessary when Blaine enters with a hand held up in the universal plea for calm.

“Only me.” He jerks his chin towards the open doorway behind him. “We have company.”

“Who?” Warner snaps.

“You can drop the guns.”

Behind Blaine, two figures emerge into our cut-rate headquarters. I release a deep sigh upon seeing Kade’s familiar face, though he looks near-translucent and exhausted. Not even wearing a tie. We must be in trouble.

At his side, Gunnar strolls into the room with a lazy look around, apparently unfazed by the rough accommodations. He meets my stare first, offers a smirk then nods at everyone else.

“This is our rescue party?” Axel rubs a hand over his face.

“Hey.” Kade’s head whirls in Axel’s direction. “You’re not pleased to see me?”

“It’s your entourage I have an issue with.”

“Thought we were all buddy-buddy now, bro.” Gunnar lays on a mocking tone. “What about my sandwich peace offering the other day?”

“Jesus, Gunnar. Just sit down.”

“I’m good standing, thanks. Nice place you’ve got here.”

“See what I mean?” Axel groans.

Working his way around our group, Kade clasps hands and offers back-slapping hugs. The embrace he tugs me into is a little softer than usual. I’m actually thankful for it.

“You holding up okay?”

“Managing,” I whisper back. “Still nothing from Gracie. She doesn’t have any identities for attendees of Madden’s parties or other key players she entertained. I’ll keep trying, though.”

“Perhaps that won’t be necessary.”

“How so?”

“Our friend The Hunter has something for us.” Blaine props one foot up on a box.

All eyes turn to Gunnar, lurking in a corner while dissecting us all with those snake-like eyes. He picks up the last disassembled gun from Hyland’s workstation, flipping the detached hand piece in what looks like an anxious tic.

“An old friend reached out to me through the channels I once used to conduct business.” Over and over, he tosses then catches the gun part.

“You’re still using those?” Axel cocks a brow.

“Calm down. Monitoring isn’t the same as using.”

“Who was it?” Warner asks.

“A mercenary pal from the old days, someone who owes me a favour. It isn’t often I helped my business rivals, but I did on the rare occasion. It doesn’t hurt to have an outstanding debt or two. Only I hadn’t called it in.”

Prickles wash down my spinal cord. “Then who did?”