Page 19 of Duality (The Archers #1)

I nodded, swallowing. I could do that. It was the least I could do.

I was definitely fired, though. A pang of sadness hit my heart.

Although I took the job under false pretenses, I really enjoyed the work I did.

And now, due to my own inability to keep my people safe, I had lost it.

I didn’t know what it meant for the Archers’ future.

Although maybe with Citadel gone, I wouldn’t have as much of a need for the information I got from SDS.

But we would have to adapt and establish new information sources.

That was a future problem. Now I had to figure out how to keep us all alive.

It wouldn’t be long before Citadel struck again or figured out they were going after the wrong people.

There was no time for regrets over a job that was never really mine to have.

“Don’t worry, Evie, you’re not getting rid of us that easily,” Sebastian whispered in my ear.

I looked up into his light blue eyes. His eyes were uncharacteristically serious, the light blue seeming darker, like he was making a vow.

A thrill raced through me at his words. Sebastian had always flirted with me, but this felt different.

What did he mean that I wasn’t getting rid of them so easily?

They were going to fire me after this was over, weren’t they?

I didn’t have the time to dive into it, though. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I broke my weird stare-off with Sebastian to pull it out of my pocket.

“The others will be here in twenty minutes,” I announced, after reading the message from Danny.

“So do they report to you?” Adrian asked, his eyebrows lifting.

“Technically, I guess.” I shrugged. “They gave themselves the role of lieutenants when we started getting bigger. But it’s not a dictatorship. They make suggestions, and I listen to them, but I’m still the boss. The responsibility is all still mine.”

Alexander hummed, and I met his eyes. Of all the people in the room, Alexander probably understood my position the most.

“Let’s get this cleaned up, then,” Alexander said.

I went to help, but Sebastian pushed me back into my seat. “Let me, milady,” he said with a dramatic flourish as he cleaned my empty plate.

The four men worked together to clear the dishes while I sat there awkwardly, like a knot on a log.

It was strange having people in my house, and it was even stranger to have someone taking care of me.

On the rare occasions my lieutenants visited, they pitched in to help, but they never served me or cleaned up after me.

I handled all of it, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about this.

Adrian placed a glass of water in front of me. I arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re really obsessed with my drinking habits,” I snarked at him. I was perfectly capable of getting my own water.

He ignored my snark and pushed it closer to me. “Someone needs to take care of you.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” I shot back. I didn’t need a minder.

“Yes, you are. But that doesn’t mean you have to.” Adrian kept his voice soft, but I knew the other guys were listening. Anger burned my cheeks, but I swallowed it down. Now was not the time to have this debate. Not when I heard the beep from the alarm system that the front door had opened.

“Honey, I’m home!” Danny shouted, his standard greeting every time he entered a space, no matter who was there. It was almost comical, though, the way the four men in my kitchen stiffened.

“In here, sweetie,” I called back, barely holding in my grin when the four men swung their glares to me. They had some weird dislike of Danny, but they could get over it. My cousin had been there for some of my darkest days, long before I had ever met them.

Danny appeared in the entryway to the kitchen, his eyes locking with mine and tracing over me, as if making sure I was in one piece. I nodded at him slightly, and he relaxed.

“You going to let anyone else in or just block the doorway?” Grace said exasperatedly from behind him.

He slid to the side to let her pass, shooting her the middle finger, which she returned. I shook my head but smiled.

“Morning, Boss,” Grace said, jerking her thumb behind her. “Should we set up in the dining room?”

I nodded. “That has the most space.”

The small kitchen table could only accommodate six people, while the dining room table had twelve seats. It had come with the house, and while Danny had suggested getting rid of it for something smaller, I had held on to it. And I was glad I did when we all settled around the table.

Izzy and Maya set up the portable projector screen at the end of the table while Danny wheeled in a large whiteboard I kept stored in one of the spare rooms. Liam passed out tablets to everyone, including the guys.

Marcus’s eyes widened. “You’re giving us access to your system?”

Liam smirked. “You wish. No, these are clean. The only information on there is your case.”

“We have a case?” Alexander asked.

“Of course,” I said smoothly. “We’re not animals over here. We do have some organization abilities.”

“With you at the helm, I don’t doubt it.” Sebastian winked at me. I could feel the eyes of my lieutenants on me, and I ignored the heat rising in my cheeks. The man was too charming for his own good, and I didn’t have the mask up that I usually did at the office.

“Who are you?” Marcus said bluntly, folding his arms and staring at Maya. I had forgotten they weren’t at HQ last night.

“This is Maya,” I introduced them. “They run our communications. Maya, I believe you know everyone here?”

Maya smirked, their lavender hair brushing their shoulders as they nodded.

“Perfect. Do we have any new information?” I asked as I settled into my seat.

Liam shook his head. “Nothing I’ve found so far.”

“Danny?”

My cousin folded his arms against his chest and leaned against the wall. “Nothing. No one is talking.”

“Do we think they don’t know anything or that they aren’t talking?” Izzy questioned.

Alexander’s eyes sharpened at the differentiation. Danny shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I’m leaning towards the former. Citadel is keeping their cards close.

“We need to know what Citadel knows,” I said, rubbing my fingers against my temples.

“You mean you haven’t hacked their systems?” Marcus raised an eyebrow, his tone disbelieving and accusatory. My lieutenants frowned, and Sebastian glared at his brother.

“They’re a closed system,” Liam jumped in, quick to defend me. “Can’t get access unless we’re on the inside, and we don’t have someone inside.”

We had tried to get someone inside previously, but Citadel operated in a “good old boys’ club” way, and we didn’t have anyone in their circles.

Plus, it hadn’t really been a priority. We had always known we would have to take Citadel down eventually, but a job like that meant exposure.

More exposure than I wanted us to have. Shining a light on the Archers like that meant it was harder to operate in the shadows for our other cases.

But now that they’d attacked the brothers, they’d left me with no choice.

It wouldn’t be long before Citadel realized the brothers were the wrong target and came after me, or worse, my lieutenants or anyone else in our organization.

At least right now, we could use the brothers as a diversion and hit them before they realized they were chasing after the wrong target.

Although everything in me protested at the idea of using the guys as bait.

“Our primary concern needs to be the hit,” Grace said. “The other stuff can wait, but the faster we take care of the contract, the faster the golden boys can go back to their ivory tower.”

I sighed. Grace was feeling touchy about the guys being in our space.

“Take care of the contract?” Marcus argued with her. “It sounds like you’re gearing up to take it.”

“The thought crossed my mind if you can’t get that stick out of your ass,” Grace shot back.

“That’s enough,” Alexander said sharply, glaring at both Marcus and Grace.

“I get this isn’t ideal, but you aren’t helping.

” His voice was deep, the growling command clear as he glared at Marcus.

I couldn’t help the spike of heat that shot through me.

I liked a dominating man, sue me, and Alexander could command a room like no other.

It surprised me, though, when he turned the meeting back over to me.

“Miss Harp—Evelyn, what do you propose?”

I bit my lip, aware I was about to unveil another layer of the Archers to the guys, but at this point, they had enough on us to cause us serious trouble.

Maybe if they learned more about us and the good we did, they wouldn’t go to the authorities.

And if we saved their lives, we were probably going to be in a better bargaining position, anyway.

“Liam, are you still monitoring the contract on the dark web?” I asked.

Liam nodded. “I can see who’s accessed the page.” He knew what I was asking.

“I’ll reach out to some contacts. See if I can get them to hold off on taking the contract to give us some time.”

“You have contacts on the dark web?” The disbelief in Marcus’s tone was starting to rankle.

“The Archers have contacts everywhere,” I said, ignoring his obvious distrust. “I can buy us a week. Maybe two. The bigger problem is going to be figuring out what Citadel knows.” I looked at Grace, who cracked a smile for the first time all morning.

She knew what I was going to say next. “It’s time for a little B&E,” I said.

“Breaking and entering?” Marcus’s eyebrows shot up.

“Yes, that’s usually what B&E means,” Sebastian said, his tone full of snark.

I didn’t like the tension between the brothers. It was worse that I was the cause of it, but their tense postures indicated there was little I could do to change it.

“Who’s going to do it?” Alexander asked, leaning forward on his elbows. I tried not to let my eyes linger over his defined forearms and instead met his fierce gaze.

“Grace and I will,” I said.

When it came to B&E, Grace and I had the most patience.

Danny was like a bull in the china shop, and Izzy preferred to be the backup around the corner.

We tried to keep Maya out of most of the illegal things, both by their preference and keeping our contact in the police force safe.

It was hard for Captain Patel to be a trusted member of the force if his child was out doing criminal activities. And Liam never left his den.

“Sebastian will join you,” Alexander said. I arched an eyebrow at him. Oh, would he? “He knows most, if not all, security systems on the market and can hack as he goes. Citadel, no doubt, has one of the best systems on the market.”

Danny went to protest, but I raised my hand, and he fell silent.

I allowed my lieutenants to speak their minds all of the time.

But I was still the boss. And Alexander had a point.

Sebastian did know most of the security systems, and his knowledge would be invaluable.

But could he do what needed to be done if we came across any Citadel employees?

I caught glimpses behind the happy-go-lucky mask he wore, but that didn’t mean he was any good in a fight.

“It could get messy,” I countered, tilting my head.

Alexander nodded, a strange look crossing his face before he spoke. “We have experience in the messy part of our job.”

Marcus sat up straighter. “Alex,” he warned, but Alexander shook his head.

“No, it’s only fair. They have been more than accommodating with us. It’s only fair they know.” He looked back at me, and the seriousness in his eyes had me stiffening in my seat. “In the early days of SDS, we… Well, we were known to walk on the wrong side of the law a time or two.”

Sebastian bounced in his seat. “Best days of our lives!”

My eyebrows shot up. The strait-laced, strict morals, Stone brothers used to walk on the dark side? It didn’t fit anything I knew about them.

Alexander’s lips quirked as he took in the disbelief on my face. “As shocking as it is to believe, we did. We understand more than you think,” he said darkly, his lips twisting in a grimace. Whatever he was thinking about, it sounded personal. “Sebastian has experience. He’ll be able to help.”

Sebastian placed his face in his hands and leaned forward on the table, looking like a golden retriever puppy as he batted his pretty eyes. “Please, Evie! I can be the Robin to your Batman!”

Grace rolled her eyes, but she shrugged when I looked at her. It was my call.

I nodded.

Sebastian bounced in his seat. “It’s stakeout time!”

I was about to take one of my bosses, or not-bosses, and one of the men I was crushing on with me to a stakeout for a dangerous enemy that had a hit out on him. What could go wrong?