Page 33 of Duality (The Archers #1)

MARCUS

I scrubbed my hand over my face as I mentally willed my cock to go down. Even two days later, I couldn’t get the image of Evelyn orgasming on Adrian’s lap out of my head. I had been walking around half hard all day, and I was getting tired of it. How could Adrian do that to me?

But he didn’t do anything to me. Not really. The anger I was feeling was really jealousy, even if I didn’t dare admit it. I wasn’t angry at Adrian. I wanted to be him. To feel her on my lap, in my arms, and whispering her secrets in my ear.

It was my own damned fault, though, that I wasn’t him. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t seem to let go of the aching betrayal from Evelyn’s actions. She had hidden this massive secret from us for years. She used us and our systems and could have jeopardized everything.

But you’re not really angry about that, are you?

The annoying voice in my head that sounded suspiciously like Sebastian asked the question that I had been avoiding. Maybe not, but secrets are always bad. Always. Secrets got people killed. They nearly got my brothers and I killed.

I had lost people to secrets before. The military loved its secrets, even the ones it claimed it kept for the “greater good.” And I think that’s why it was so hard for me to move past this with Evelyn.

I knew why she’d kept her secrets. The work the Archers did was important and necessary.

It wasn’t even the legality of her work that bothered me.

It was the whole “secrets kept for your protection” or the “greater good” that was bothering me.

Who said that was her call to make? Did we give her the impression at any time over the last six years that she had worked for us that we would judge her or turn her over to the authorities?

Why couldn’t she have trusted us to help her?

Why couldn’t she have trusted me to help her?

Because you can’t help anyone , a different, darker voice whispered.

I closed my eyes as memories of a different time flashed through my mind.

Gunfire and yelling. The acrid smell of smoke and bright flashes of muzzles.

The last time I lost someone due to secrets kept for the greater good.

The military had deemed that my team had all the information we needed to know going into my last mission.

But we hadn’t. And people had died because of it.

Secrets only led to pain and death. Always.

My pocket vibrated.

“Mad-Dog, it’s Finch. I’ve got information you need to know about your girl. It’s bad and affects your brothers.”

She wasn’t my anything, but my stomach dropped all the same. I knew Evelyn had more secrets. She had been reluctant to share them. But if she was keeping a secret that affected my brothers, then I deserved to know. I needed to know so I could protect them. And protect her.

“Time and place?”

Before I could put my phone away, it buzzed with Finch’s reply. Thirty minutes from now at an address that wasn’t too far from the new buildings we were looking at before everything went down. I would have to leave now to make it in time.

“Where are you going?”

I nearly groaned at Adrian’s question. I was almost to the door, and I didn’t need anyone questioning where I was going. And definitely not Adrian. I still wanted to punch him for the show he put on yesterday.

“For a drive.” I kept my answer short.

I hated lies, so I wouldn’t lie to Adrian if he asked me, but I also didn’t want to tell him where I was driving. I needed to make sure we could trust Evelyn, and Adrian was biased.

“We aren’t supposed to go anywhere alone.”

The reminder was unnecessary, and I barely refrained from rolling my eyes. I turned to face him, folding my arms. “I’m going to see Finch.”

Adrian’s eyes darkened. “I’ll go with you.”

“No.” I held out a hand. “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.” It probably wasn’t. Even if I wasn’t truly angry, I didn’t want to talk about Evelyn right now.

He paused and studied me carefully. Adrian probably knew me better than my brothers did. I could get away with some shit with them, but Adrian and I had seen combat together. We could read each other well, we had needed to for survival.

“When are you going to stop fighting this?” Adrian asked softly.

I played dumb. “Fighting what?”

He tilted his head and pegged me with a look. “You know what I mean.”

I shook my head. “Even if I did, I don’t want to get into it now.”

“When, then?”

Dammit. He was not letting it go.

“Soon.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that, brother.” And he would. He absolutely would. He had let me run from this conversation for too long. I was surprised he hadn’t forced the issue sooner, actually.

“I’ll be back later.” I turned back to the door. I had someone to meet. Secrets to discover.

The drive wasn’t long, and soon I was pulling into the parking lot for a small building that looked like it used to be an old mechanic’s shop.

“ Here.” I texted Finch when I parked.

“Inside.”

I opened the door. Finch was leaning over a table towards the back of the room. “Hey, man, what’s?—”

Something hit the back of my head hard, and there was a pinch at my neck.

Fuck, Adrian was going to kill?—

A sharp pain radiating from the back of my skull was the first thing to come into my awareness.

Fuck, I was really tired of being unconscious.

The groggy feeling of trying to fight your way back to consciousness sucked and drained me.

Slowly, bit by bit, my body came online.

I stayed still, mentally assessing where I was hurt and what I could pick up from the room around me.

The last memory I had before falling to the ground was seeing Finch’s face.

I had been betrayed. We had been betrayed.

He was a Ghost. A member of one of the most fearsome mercenary groups in the country.

Was the whole group compromised? Had Carter betrayed Evelyn? Shit, were my brothers okay?

“I can practically hear you thinking,” Finch drawled from somewhere in the room.

My ruse was up, so I lifted my head and glared at him. His fuzzy image became clearer after a few seconds.

“What the hell, man?” I sneered at him. “What are you doing?”

Finch had always been a little off to me, but I didn’t think he was capable of this.

He crouched down next to me but stayed out of striking distance. Even though my hands and feet were bound with rope, he wisely understood I was a threat. “First of all, I want you to know this isn’t personal; it’s just business.”

“Business?” I glared at him. “The Archers saved Carter’s sister, and this is how you repay them?”

Finch waved a hand. “That’s Ghost business. I’m not obligated to observe that favor.”

Ghost business? What? Carter wasn’t involved? A tendril of hope broke through the panic wracking my body. If Finch acted alone, then the Ghosts weren’t a threat. At least not to us.

“You’ve betrayed the Ghosts,” I said flatly as I put it all together.

“Betrayal is such a strong term.” His smile was just as sleazy and punchable as I remembered. “Our interests no longer align, so we parted ways.”

“We?”

Finch beckoned someone out of the shadows, and I recognized him as one of the men who’d visited the Archers HQ. Fuck, the Archers were compromised in ways they had no idea about.

“Why?”

“Why does anyone do anything?” Finch shrugged. “Money. That’s why I said it wasn’t personal. Citadel was paying handsomely for you and your brothers’ deaths, but I’m an opportunist. I figured I would see how much you were worth to your brothers alive.”

“You’re ransoming me?” My eyes widened.

“Why so surprised? Your company does well for itself. The Archers must, too, with how high tech their operations are.”

I kept my face blank. Maybe he didn’t know as much as he thought. The Archers made enough to keep their operations running, but they weren’t in this for the cash. If my ransom depended on the Archers ponying up money, well, half of them would probably just let me rot.

“Why are you getting involved in the first place?” I needed more information. Finch was self-serving. He always had been, but he also usually avoided messy situations.

Finch shrugged. “I owed Citadel a favor. They gave me a job after I got out and paid well.”

The fact that he was telling me this did not bode well for my survival chances. But Finch was always a cocky little shit from the day he had strolled onto base, so he might be thinking he could get away with this. He was a braggart, and that meant I could probably pump him for information.

“So what? Citadel tells you to infiltrate the Ghosts and take down the Archers?”

Finch smiled. “You always were the smart one. But yes, I infiltrated the Ghosts. I had heard rumors that the Ghosts and Archers were linked and knew that if I could play the long game, it would pay off.”

“What does Citadel want with the Archers?”

Finch smiled again. “They’ve become a nuisance, and Citadel is going to eliminate them all. They should have stuck to college campuses and left the big dogs alone.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Finch shrugged. “They were content to let them stay in the city, but a few months ago, the Archers meddled in the wrong thing and got some judge that Citadel had in their back pocket impeached and made enough noise that leadership noticed. So really, they did it to themselves. Now Citadel’s got plans for your little girlfriend and her organization. ”

I remembered that case. It had been big news when the story broke. The judge had been exposed for taking bribes and covering up crimes. I hadn’t realized it was the Archers that had taken him down, though. That judge’s skewed decisions had impacted hundreds of people.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” I said to cover my rising dread. Fuck, this was bad. If that judge was in Citadel’s pocket, and it was the Archers that lost them that asset… Yeah, Citadel was out for blood. Fuck. Add in this new mystery client, and no wonder they had put out a hit order.

Finch shrugged. “Your brothers’ girlfriend, then. I’ve seen the way Sebastian looks at her. She seems pretty free with her affections. Maybe I’ll take a turn with her before Citadel wipes her and her organization from the earth.”

“You won’t touch her,” I snarled. Over my dead body would he touch her.

He grinned. “Touchy, touchy. Too bad you can’t do anything about those big feelings you’re having. Now…” He stood and patted my head like I was a fucking dog. “Let’s go see how much you’re worth to your brothers.”

He left the room through the metal door to my right.

Rico stayed behind, fading back into the shadows behind me.

It was a move designed to psych me out, but it was amateur hour.

I had survived worse. Evelyn might not want anything to do with me after I had treated her like shit, too caught up in my own trauma to realize that she wasn’t the enemy.

Citadel and Finch were. She may never want me like she wanted my brothers, but I wouldn’t let Finch hurt her.

I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her ever again, not even me.

Now I just had to get out of here alive so I could keep that promise.