Pulling out his cell phone, he steadied his nerves, dialed, and waited. A click sounded, followed by a familiar voice.
“Mathews?” Chris Murdoch, his boss at PreCorp, answered on the second ring. “Is that you? You are in so much fucking trouble.”
Mitch pinched the bridge of his nose. A voice in the back of his head urged him to hang up. Chris’s phone could be bugged. Someone could be listening. They could be trying to track the call right now. But another voice screamed this was the only chance Simone had left. And after what had happened with that car…they already knew he was in the area. “Yeah. It’s me. Listen, I need some help.”
“You’re damn right you do. They’re looking all over for you. I’ve tried to head them off on my end, but it’s not going to take them long to figure out who your friends are.”
Chris was talking about Ryan. And Tate. And anyone else who’d helped Mitch along the way. “Chris, you gotta tell me what they want.”
“Aside from your head on a platter? Shit, you know the way things work, Mitch. The brotherhood comes first. Before friends, before family, before your job. You didn’t just bend that rule, you damn near broke it off. And not just for any girl. For one who could cause serious problems for the entire organization.”
Mitch’s protective instinct bubbled up, but he worked to keep his voice even and calm. Losing his cool with Chris would only make things worse. Chris was a lot like him in a many ways. He kept to himself for the most part. But because of his management position within PreCorp, a major player in the oil-and-gas field, he was in closer contact with the founders of the organization. And that meant he played by the rules. At least way more than Mitch did.
“Simone doesn’t know anything.”
“She was Graham’s wife.”
“He didn’t tell her anything. He kept most of the trial secret from her. She didn’t even know he was a Cypher until recently.”
Chris heaved out a sound that was half laugh, half disbelief. “Do you honestly think she’d tell you what she knows? She’s got no reason to trust you. In fact, she has every reason not to trust you.”
“No, she doesn’t. Because she doesn’t know I’m part of this.”
Chris was silent for a second, then said, “Are you sure of that?”
Absolutely. Simone never would have come to his room last night if she’d known he was a Cypher. Never would have stayed. Definitely wouldn’t be sound asleep in his bed now if she did. And that meant he still had a chance. If, that was, Chris helped him.
Nerves ignited like fireworks in his stomach. “Look, I’m gonna make this clear. You tell me what she’s got that they want, and I’ll get it for you. She trusts me. Instead of hunting her down, they can have it, and this can all be over. But if I do this, I want confirmation they won’t go after her or her daughter or any of my friends or family ever again.”
“You want to make a deal?” Surprise rippled through Chris’s voice.
Yeah, he did. He’d thought about it most of the night, and it was the only way he was going to be able to keep Simone and Shannon safe. It meant continuing to lie to her, and ultimately losing her, but it would be worth it to know he could put an end to this nightmare. At least for her. “I know you can make it happen, Murdoch.”
Silence echoed across the line. Then quietly, Chris said, “They’ll bury you. Even after you bring it to them. They won’t forget that you went against them, even if they do agree to your demands. Are you ready for that?”
Was he? Mitch thought about his life. About what he was giving up. The thought of leaving behind his friends and family and everything he’d worked so hard for scared him shitless. But what scared him more was Simone paying for something that had nothing to do with her.
“I’ll deal with it.”
Time seemed to echo across the line. Then finally, Chris sighed. “I’m gonna have to call you back.”
A tiny sliver of hope cut through Mitch. It didn’t mean he had an answer, but if Chris was agreeing to help him, it meant there was a chance. “Call me on my cell.”
Mitch hung up, then stared down at the phone in his hand. There was a chance this could backfire on him. That Murdoch could have traced the call, that someone could be coming for them right now. But his gut said that wouldn’t happen. If the organization had gone to all that trouble to flush Simone out and scare her, it meant whatever she had was important. And it meant they wouldn’t jeopardize her safety just to get it, not when he was all but handing it to them.
His hand closed around the phone as he headed back toward Tate’s house. Take the deal. Take the deal. Take the damn deal.
The grounds were silent when he stepped from beach rocks to grass, the lights in the house still dark, save the one small lamp in the kitchen someone had left on before going to bed last night. He went back around the house toward the front door, quietly eased it open, then typed in—hopefully—the right alarm code. Warmth immediately surrounded him, and a shiver raced down his back, making him realize how cold it had been outside. Adrenaline had kept him from feeling it, but now that he was back in the house, he needed something to warm him up while he waited for Murdoch’s call.
He rounded the corner into the kitchen, then drew up short when his sister turned from the counter, coffee cup in hand, and lifted her brows. “Someone’s up early.”
Those nerves came back full force. She didn’t know what he’d been up to. She couldn’t. He glanced around the dimly lit kitchen, but they were the only two in the room. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“No.” Kate took her mug to the small table near the windows and slid into a chair. “Ryan was tossing and turning. I’d have kicked him to make him stop, but then he’d be awake, and I need some peace from his stressing right now.”
Mitch smirked, poured himself a cup of coffee, then joined her at the table. “Not that I know how he sleeps, but I do know how he stresses. I don’t blame you for escaping.”
“He’s worried about you.”
Mitch knew that.
“So am I, for that matter.”
He knew that too. And he hated that he was causing her heartache. Leaning his forearm on the table, he reached around his mug, squeezed her hand, and worked up the best smile he could. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine, Mitch.” When he let go of her hand and sat back, she eased forward, her eyes filled with the same damn persistence he remembered when they were kids, her voice with an emotion that tugged on his heart. “I love Simone. You know that. She was the first person I met when I came to San Francisco, and the first one I felt like I could truly trust. I owe her. A lot. But she’s not family. You are. And I hate to see what this relationship is doing to you. Especially now when we found out everything that she’s involved in.”
“None of it was her fault.”
“It doesn’t matter. By being with her, your life is in danger.”
“Yours is too. You’re here right now just like I am.”
“I’m not here because of her. There’s a big difference. I’m here because of you.”
They’d always been close. As kids, he’d looked out for her, and in college, when he’d realized she was dating his womanizing best friend, he’d been willing to do whatever it took to protect her. Even jeopardize his scholarship to play ball just to keep her away from the guy. Until, that was, he’d realized how head over heels Ryan was in love with her. And when they’d lost her, when they thought she’d died in that plane crash, he felt like a part of him had died too. To have her back now was more than he’d ever hoped for, even if she was telling him something he didn’t want to hear.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked quietly. “Walk away from her? I can’t do that. None of this is her fault. Just like what happened to you wasn’t yours. If I leave her now, I’ll never be able to forgive myself. Is that what you want?”