Page 26 of Duality (The Archers #1)

EVELYN

I clasped my hands behind my back, my stance loose as I tried not to shift my feet. I took a deep breath and blew it out, forcing my shoulders to relax.

“This is insanity,” Marcus said for the fiftieth time this morning.

Sebastian and Danny groaned while the others shook their heads. We were standing in the Archers HQ, waiting for our guests to arrive.

“You’ve said that already,” Adrian pointed out from his spot against the wall.

He leaned against the side wall, his arms folded and his stance casual, but I had no doubt that if this turned out to be an unfriendly visit, he could spring into action in an instant.

A trait that had no business being that attractive.

“And I’ll keep fucking saying it,” Marcus said, “Until it dawns on your thick skulls that this is a terrible idea. They’re a mercenary group, for fuck’s sake. A mercenary group that took out a hit on us.”

“They didn’t take out a hit on you,” I corrected. “They accepted a contract from Citadel for information gathering on you.”

Marcus glared at me. “Like that’s much better. They’re actively working with Citadel, and you invited them here? Like I said, insanity.”

I blew out a breath as irritation swelled in me. “I’ve explained this no less than ten times. Carter is a friend of a friend. Having a conversation with him is in our best interests.”

I left out the part that the Archers had saved Carter’s sister, Lily, two years ago.

We hadn’t known her identity at the time as the sister of the leader of one of the scariest mercenary groups on the black market.

She had been part of a human trafficking ring we had busted up that was kidnapping high school girls for this rich guy’s parties.

When we rescued the girls, she had called her brother to come pick her up.

Her very frantic brother, who had revealed his identity to us as the leader of one of the most infamous mercenary groups.

Thus began a tentative working partnership where the Ghosts would contact us if women and children were involved in their missions, and we helped relocate them and gave them new identities.

Carter had also granted me a personal favor for saving his sister.

I was about to call in that favor to try to keep the guys alive.

We could protect them against a lot of threats, but against the Ghosts?

We would struggle and might even fail, and failure wasn’t an option.

“So what’s the plan? You’re just going to ask him nicely to not kill us?” Marcus was on a roll.

“You could have stayed home,” I shot back. In fact, I had wanted the four of them to stay at the house, but they’d all insisted on accompanying me to HQ.

“Uh-uh.” Sebastian waggled his finger at me. “You’re not in this alone anymore.”

I rolled my eyes while Izzy and Danny ducked their heads to hide their grins. “I’m not alone.” I gestured to my lieutenants, who wisely stayed quiet.

Liam’s monitors beeped.

“They’re here.”

I watched on the monitors as a black SUV pulled into the alleyway and four men got out. I recognized Carter and his second, Samson, but the other two men were unfamiliar. It seemed Carter had been recruiting.

Liam pressed a few keys, and the doors buzzed open for the Ghosts.

Carter strode into the room confidently.

His eyes softened when he saw me, although his lips were pressed into a tight line.

The guys stiffened around me as Carter strode closer.

I arched an eyebrow at his strong approach, and when he was a few feet from me, he smiled and held out his arms.

“Ever the dramatic entrance.” I laughed as I hugged him.

“You have some new faces,” Carter murmured in my ear before he released me.

“So do you,” I murmured back, tilting my head toward the two new men he had with him.

“Finch?” Adrian pushed off the wall, his eyes on one of Carter’s new men.

He was definitely ex-military. He stood at roughly 5’10” and was built like a brick house with muscles upon muscles. His brown eyes held a slightly dead expression I had seen on a lot of mercenaries. They widened with surprise when he saw Adrian and Marcus.

“A? Stone?” Okay, it was clear the three men knew each other as they did that weird bro-hug all men did when they greeted each other.

Carter stood next to me, his shoulder brushing mine. “Some things are beginning to make sense now.”

I smiled and nodded in acknowledgement. Sebastian glared at Carter, and I met his eyes and frowned. Why was he having such a strong reaction to Carter? He had been all for the plan this morning. Carter chuckled and moved away slightly, and Sebastian’s face lightened.

“Ah, yes, things are beginning to make sense, Little Archer.”

I rolled my eyes at him and clapped my hands together once to gather everyone’s attention. “Carter, this is Alexander, Marcus, and Sebastian Stone and Adrian Cross of Stone Dynamic Security.”

Carter nodded at the guys. “Good to meet you. I’m Carter. and this is my second, Samson, and two of our newest members, Rico and Finch, who you seem to already know.”

“We served together briefly,” Finch explained, gesturing at Marcus and Adrian.

Carter nodded and turned to me. “So what’s up, Little Archer? This is clearly not a social call, although Lily sends her greetings.”

I smiled. Lily was a feisty redhead who had been dying to join the Archers, but Carter had put his foot down. Or was trying to until she finished college. “How is she doing?”

Carter’s face softened as he talked about his little sister. “She’s doing good. Pestering me each day as to when she can join.”

I smiled. “We’ll always have a place for her.”

Carter grumbled. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell her that. I’m trying to get her to finish college if it’s the last thing I do.”

I smirked. “Good luck.”

“Now what do you need, Little Archer?”

I didn’t miss the way the guys stiffened at his nickname, but it wasn’t like that with Carter and me. I think he thought of me like another little sister. The Ghosts didn’t do relationships.

“I need to ask you about a contract that Citadel asked you to complete,” I said seriously, looking into Carter’s hazel eyes.

“The contract for information gathering for SDS,” Carter confirmed, and I nodded.

“We haven’t accepted it yet,” Carter clarified, and I relaxed slightly.

“We were still doing some background when you called. But Citadel is paying a lot of money,” he warned.

“Someone will pick it up sooner or later.” He paused and looked at the guys before looking back at me.

“They also have a hit out on them, which I assume is why they’re here with you. ”

I shrugged. “Kind of. It’s my fault they’re in this mess, so I’m just trying to clean it up.”

Carter frowned, his eyes narrowing. “Explain.”

Sebastian took a step closer at Carter’s brusque tone, but I held up my hand.

“Basically, Citadel thinks SDS runs the Archers as their illegal side project, and Citadel has started targeting the Archers.”

“But the hit on your safe house was before the contract was taken out on the guys,” Carter said, frowning as he began to pace. It was his way of processing.

I nodded. “It was, but that could have been their warning shot.”

Carter inclined his head. “What do you need from us?”

“For you not to take the hit contract for one,” I said, watching Carter closely. “Then any information you are willing to share about Citadel and their reasoning for hiring you for information gathering.”

Carter exchanged a long look with Samson, and the tension in the room thickened.

He nodded. “You have my word the Ghosts won’t take the hit.

” I tried not to let out an audible sigh of relief, but I could feel the tension in the air lifting.

“As for the information gathering contract; they wanted schematics and guard duty shifts of the SDS building.”

I frowned. That seemed beneath the Ghosts. They usually did larger contracts that were more specialized.

Carter nodded. “You’re right. It was unusual that they would reach out to us for this. It’s why we haven’t accepted yet. But I reckon they are having a hard time finding anyone to take the contract against SDS. Your men have a reputation.”

My men? They weren’t my men. But wait. A reputation?

I knew SDS was well-regarded in the world as an honorable firm, but that shouldn’t be a deterrent for most mercenary groups.

Money talked more than morals. The guys exchanged quiet, knowing smiles, and I remembered Sebastian’s words during the B&E the other night about not being Boy Scouts and bending the rules.

Maybe their past wasn’t as squeaky clean as they pretended.

To be fair, I never really looked too closely into their past before I came to work for them.

Samson cleared his throat and held up his phone. “You should know it was a two-part contract. The second part was just posted.”

Liam cursed and started typing as Samson continued.

“The second part is an attack against the SDS office. They want to burn it to the ground.”

Fuck.

“When?” I asked as the room burst into conversation.

“Tomorrow night is what’s in the contract.”

“Liam?” I asked.

“Already on it, Boss Lady.”

I held out my hand to Carter. “Thank you for the information.”

He nodded and took my hand, shaking it before using his grip to pull me closer. Sebastian and Alexander stepped closer, but Carter ignored them to lower his head close to my ear.

“Be careful, Little Archer,” he murmured. “Although it’s nice to see you gathering a strong harem to have your back.”

What the fuck? That was not what I thought he was going to say. I frowned and opened my mouth to scold him, but he just smirked and stepped away.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He held out a hand to Alexander to shake. “Take care of Little Archer, would you?”

“We will,” Alexander promised.

My head spun. What? I didn’t need anyone to take care of me.

“Carter,” I warned, and he just laughed at me. Laughed at me!

“I’ll be in touch if I hear anything else.” He waved over his shoulder as he and his men disappeared out the door. What the fuck just happened?

Sebastian stepped up next to me and bumped my shoulder with his. “I like him.”

Marcus scoffed. “Of course you do. You’re both batshit crazy.”

“Hey,” I scolded Marcus. “Carter may have just saved your life.”

“I don’t trust him,” Marcus grumbled. “We should monitor them and make sure they don’t stab us in the back.”

I crossed my arms, pinning Marcus with a glare. “If Carter says they aren’t going to take the contract, then they aren’t going to take the contract.”

Marcus huffed, but Alexander stepped in. “We can worry about that later. Right now, we need to focus on the other contract they said just went out. Citadel is going to strike at our building tomorrow night. We have to prepare for that.”

I nodded. “Let’s start planning.”