Like I truly believed that. Lane wasn’t as much of a dick as Vaughn had been, but that wasn’t saying much. “So, if I decided to exclusively date humans and settle down with one, you wouldn’t report me?”
“As long as I don’t see undeniable evidence, I don’t care. This is just a job with a good retirement, and I hope to make it to that point.” He started for his vehicle but stopped, facing me. “There’s a difference between evidence and my gut. For example, my gut told me that your brother was in a serious relationship with the human he disappeared with, but there wasn’t any evidence.”
I leaned against his SUV. Now the conversation was leading into tricky territory. Either Lane was going to lie and pretend that he didn’t know Dawson was sitting inside, most likely not eating his grilled cheese sandwich, or he was going to speak the truth. “Did you see my brother’s body when they found him?”
A tense moment followed, and Lane lowered his chin. “I wasn’t there when they said they found his body along with the girl’s. I was only told what happened. I’m just an officer.” He raised his head. “And I haven’t been told any different. I’m nothing in the big scheme of things, but I’m not blind.”
“What are you saying?” I asked.
Lane smiled tightly. “I know what’s in your house, Daemon. I know that I was lied to—a lot of us have been lied to and have no idea what’s really going on. We just have jobs. We do them, and we keep our heads down.”
I nodded as my respect for the man increased. “And you’re keeping your head down now?”
“I was told to check on Vaughn’s possible whereabouts and that was about it.” He motioned at his car door, and I stepped away from it. “I know not to address anything unless told so. I really want that retirement plan.” He climbed in, closing the car door. “You take care.”
I moved back. “See you around, Lane.”
Tires spun and kicked up gravel as the Expedition pulled back onto the road, puffing out exhaust. That was an…interesting conversation. While I wanted to believe what Lane had said, I knew better than to view him as a non-threat.
Sighing, I wheeled around, scanning the woods. I caught a flash of blue—the sweater Kat was wearing earlier. I started up the driveway, pausing when Kat trotted out of the woods.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
I nodded. “Did you hear any of that?”
“Yeah, I was heading back when I saw him.” She paused, nose scrunching. “Do you believe him?”
“I don’t know.” I dropped my arm over her shoulders, steering her toward my house. “Lane has always been a decent guy, but this doesn’t sit well with me.”
She folded an arm around my waist and leaned in. “Which part?”
“All of it—this whole scenario.” I sat on the step down from the top of the porch and tugged her into my lap, wrapping my arms around her. “The fact that the DOD—even Lane—knows damn well that Dawson’s back and that they have to realize we know they lied. And they’re doing nothing.” I closed my eyes as she pressed her cheek to mine. “And what we’re doing tonight—it can work, but it’s so insane. Part of me wonders if they already know we’re coming.”
Kat smoothed her thumb along my jaw as she kissed my cheek. “Do you think we’re walking into a trap?”
“I think we’ve been inside the trap the entire time and we’re just waiting for it to spring closed.” I picked up her dirty hand.
She shuddered. “And we’re going to still do this?” I met her gaze. “You don’t have to.”
“Neither do you,” she replied softly. “But we both are.”
“That we are.”
Neither of us spoke for several moments, and then she kissed me. “I think…I’m going to spend some time with my mom before we leave. She should be awake soon.”
I kissed her back, pouring into it everything I felt—the yearning for more time, the desperation that there wasn’t enough, and everything I felt for her. When I spoke, my voice sounded raw to my ears. “That’s a good idea, Kitten.”
Hours later, everyone was tense on the way to Mount Weather. There were laughs and curses, but it was forced. We all knew that some or all might not make the drive back. That was a sobering realization that haunted every single one of us.
So I focused on the fact that Kat was wearing one of my old black thermals, and there was nothing more hot in this world than seeing her in my clothes. The amount of possessive pride I felt was probably a bit disturbing.
We took two cars—Dee, Ash, and Andrew were riding in Matthew’s car. Made sense for Blake to be in mine, because I was slightly less likely to kill him on the way. The idiot stayed quiet for the first thirty minutes, but now he wouldn’t shut up. It got so bad that Dawson muttered, “Do you ever stop talking?”
“When I’m sleeping,” Blake replied.
“And when you’re dead,” I threw back. “You’ll stop talking when you’re dead.”
There was a pause. “Point taken.”
“Good.” I focused on the road. “Try shutting up for a while.”
Kat twisted around, facing Dawson. “What are you going to do when you see Beth?”
Remembering what he’d said in the kitchen, I had no idea how he was going to answer this question.
And then he said, “Oh, man, I don’t know. Breathe—I’ll finally be able to breathe.”
Damn.
God. Damn.
Kat’s voice was throaty as she spoke. “I’m sure she’ll feel the same way.”
She glanced at me, and I grinned a little. Her shoulders tensed as she looked back at Blake. “What about you?”
He didn’t answer immediately. “We’ll leave here and head west. And the first thing we’re going to do is go surfing. He really dug the sea.”
My lips twitched at that, because it sounded so damn normal.
Kat turned back around, focusing on her hands. “That’s…that’s good.”
When we were about a half a mile from the access road, a cell dinged from the backseat. “It’s from Luc,” Blake said. “He wants to make sure we’re on schedule.”
“We are,” I answered.
Dawson leaned forward, in between the front seats. Might as well climb into my lap. “Are we sure?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m sure.”
“Just checking,” Dawson grumbled, sitting back.
Blake took his place, and I groaned. “All right, Luc’s ready to do this. He wanted to remind us we’ve only got fifteen minutes. Anything goes wrong, we get out and try again later.”
“I don’t want to try again later,” Dawson protested. “Once we get in, we’ve got to keep going.”
In the rearview mirror, I saw Blake frown. “I want to get them out just as badly as you, man, but we have a limited gap of time. That’s all.”
“We stick to the plan.” I met my brother’s gaze in the mirror. “That’s it, Dawson. I’m not losing you again.”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong, anyway,” Kat interjected. “Everything’s going to go as planned.”
My jaw tensed, seeing the access road up ahead. I slowed down, merging into the left lane. There were no markings, but this was the only road that resembled the one on the map. In the rearview mirror, I saw Matthew’s headlights follow me. A couple hundred feet on the dark road, there was an old farmhouse to the right, barely lit under the silvery moon.
Bingo.
“Creepy,” Kat murmured, staring at half the missing roof. “I bet your ghost guys would say this place is haunted.”
I chuckled. “They say every place is haunted. That’s why I love them.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Dawson said as we parked, and Matthew was right behind us.
Matthew and I killed the lights and engines. Glancing at the clock, I saw that we had five minutes till nine. There was no time to waste at this point.
Blake’s cell went off again. “He’s just making sure we’re ready.”
“God, he’s an annoying little kid,” I muttered, facing where Matthew parked. “We’re getting ready to do this. Andrew?”
He slipped out, murmuring something to Dee and his sister. Then he turned, throwing up what looked like a gang symbol. What the hell? “I’m ready steady,” he said.