Page 63 of Convict’s Game (Skeleton Crew #1)

L ovelyn

A daily battle came with the way my mind worked. I was a data girl and a strategist. I saw patterns others missed, and I could produce and assess the best ways to reach a goal.

Such as extracting a criminal from the clutches of the police.

Police that included my father. I knew he was here because his shiny new car was outside the safe house, a fact Arran had apparently already gathered.

And intended to use against me.

On the other hand, my mind rejected logic and belly flopped into emotion. I cried at the smallest thing. At random acts of kindness. At a grandpa walking a child to the park. Send me a good news story about a dog rescue, and I’d be sobbing at the supermarket checkout.

It hurt to see the concern shared by Mila and the crew as they discussed Convict. They all loved him.

I wanted to help. Even if doing so pitted me against my flesh and blood. I was also highly aware of what it would mean if I refused.

Mila might have framed my being here as helpful, sweet girl that she was, but I had no doubt Arran would’ve used me as hostage if we hadn’t come up with another plan.

My father made playing both sides look so easy. For me, it felt the opposite, like I was walking a tightrope in a hurricane.

We were close to agreeing on our course of action when the garage doors rattled open. Kane drove in and parked his car in a mechanic’s bay. He climbed out, and his gaze came to me and stayed there.

A chill shot down my spine.

His sister greeted him. “I wondered if you were going to show up.”

Kane kicked back against a metal pillar. “Is Lovelyn needed for the extraction?”

I nodded. “I can walk straight in there. Nobody else has that access.”

His dark eyes didn’t leave me, something in his vision I couldn’t get a read on. I held very still, a prey animal in the sights of a predator.

Tyler tilted his head at the man. “You could go with her.”

Kane finally blinked that heavy focus off me and regarded the intercept man. “Elaborate.”

“Lovelyn’s going to walk in, and we have a plan for what happens once she’s inside, but it carries risk.

She’s unprotected, and there’s a gap in how we handle whoever’s in the way of getting Convict out, if they don’t take her bait.

” Tyler’s gaze sharpened. “You can do that handling. My ear to the ground tells me you’re unknown as a skeleton crew associate.

Congratulations on your temporary promotion to Lovelyn’s new boyfriend. ”

My mouth popped open. “My what now?”

Kane shrugged. “I’m down. Catch me up on who I need to walk through.”

Just like that, I’d been paired off.

In minutes, we were prepped and strolling down the street.

“Put your arm in mine, flower girl,” Kane ordered.

I pressed my lips together then neutralised my expression and slipped my arm through his. Good God. He towered over me, but I’d had no idea how muscular the man was. Thick, hard biceps curled as I rested my hand in the crook of his arm.

That latent power did something strange to my stomach. I had to battle to keep the reaction off my face. He was just another one of the skeleton crew, dangerous, morally grey, and bad to know.

Ahead, the safe house loomed, a brown-brick, ex-office building. Nothing to set it apart from any other on the street.

I scanned the cars. Though the road was a dead end and therefore without through traffic, it was off a high street and most parking spots were filled. “The gold Mercedes is my father’s. At a guess, I’d say the grey Volvo and maybe the dark-blue Polo are police.”

“How do ye know?”

“I’m not giving up trade secrets.”

“After this is over, don’t go anywhere. I need to talk to ye.”

I blinked up at Kane. He stared dead ahead.

“What about?”

He didn’t answer. It was too late anyway, because we were there, in front of the side access with its discreet number pad. I keyed in the code. The door popped inwards.

Stepping over the welcome mat, I breathed through my nose to calm my racing heart, then walked the hall.

The first room had previously been a reception and was often where coats and equipment bags were thrown by the officers who used this building for surveillance.

Despite being called a safe house, its purpose was a base of operations for any undercover police action in Leith. Nothing safe about it.

We bypassed that, and I checked the other lower rooms. Nothing.

“No cameras,” Kane observed.

“Technically, this place doesn’t exist, so nope.”

“Meaning anything goes.”

I shivered at his implication and took to the stairs. I called out a warning as I climbed. “Julian?”

Kane spoke under his breath: “Who the fuck is Julian?”

“My father.”

“You don’t call him ‘Dad’?”

I shook my head.

“Better than Detective Dickhead,” he grouched almost silently.

I couldn’t stop an unexpected laugh. Though I knew the nickname used by Arran’s crew, seldom did they use it in front of me. “Don’t censor yourself on my behalf.”

“Never will.”

We reached the landing, and I entered another code to access the level. Past the door, Kane slipped into a room with all the blinds closed, vanishing into the shadows.

I called out again, this time adding the first words of our plan. “Julian? What’s with the workmen outside?”

A door swung open, and an officer stuck her head out. She squinted at me. “Lovelyn? What’s going on?”

I lowered my voice and smiled. “Oh, hi, Jacqueline. Are you parked outside? You might want to move your car. They said they were about to tow vehicles, I think for some work on the street.”

Jacqueline heaved a sigh. “There’s always something. I’m done here anyway. Thanks for the warning.” She packed up a rucksack.

I hovered at the open door to the room she’d been working in. “Anyone else around I need to warn?”

“Only your dad, sweetheart. See you soon.”

Jacqueline’s footsteps rattled down the stairs, then the street door banged.

She hadn’t noticed Kane’s presence. Good, as I didn’t love the boyfriend alibi. No one would pick him for me.

I stifled a frisson of fear at what I was doing. Adrenaline and I were never friends. Kane appeared from his hiding spot and followed me down the hall. My father had a favourite space he used here, and he was always a creature of habit.

The door was locked, so I rapped on the obscured glass. Kane slid into an opposite room, out of sight once more.

“Busy,” my father yelled back.

“It’s Lovelyn. There’s some kind of work going on outside. There was dust or fumes billowing up when I came in. I thought I should tell you because it’s going to set off the?—”

An alarm wailed.

“Smoke alarm,” I said with a forced laugh.

My father opened the door, using his body to block any glimpse inside. “Fucking Christ. Can’t you stop it?”

I pulled a face against the blaring noise. “I don’t know how. I think I saw the panel downstairs. Can you help me?”

He bitched and moaned but locked the door, slipping the key into his pocket. Together, we descended the stairs. Smoke billowed through a vent near the door.

That was my part of the plan done, and it had gone like clockwork. Convict had to be in that room, else Julian would’ve no doubt dragged me in to handle some task he didn’t want to do.

All I could hope for now was that the skeleton crew lived up to their reputation. And my father hadn’t done anything I couldn’t fix.