Page 81 of Explode
“Right then, let’s head back to the house and get a plan together, ‘cosI don’t know about you, but I’m itching to spill that psycho’s blood,” Miles said, turning to head to the car parked in the distance.
Taking Riley’s hand, I followed behind my cousin, because like him, Iwas more than ready to shed some blood.
The next few hours were spent in the war room working out a plan toget inside Thorne’s house. Or rather,myhouse, because the fucker had taken up residence in my old family home.
He really was fucking deluded that he was a Wolfe.
Over the last few weeks, the Apollo team had conducted surveillanceat the house, but Thorne was taking his security measures as seriously as Hendrix was.
It was fucking laughable. To the public he played his role as thelaw-abiding Chief of Police, yet to the unseeing public eye, his home was guarded around the clock by gang members, armed to the hilt with guns. On top of that, he had installed the same security system Hendrix had, meaning Miles couldn’t hack it.
Miles had managed to establish the system was on its own powersupply, meaning even if we cut the power to the house, the system would still work. The second we tried breaking in, Thorne would be alerted and would no doubt run and hide his cowardly ass in the panic room, and we couldn’t risk that. Unlike Riley, Thorne had no one we could use as bait to lure him out.
We had the option of the tunnel that led from the staff lodge to thehouse. The same tunnel Hendrix used to get Riley out of the house without the Apollo team knowing. But we were all in agreement that if Thorne had half a brain cell, he would have blocked the tunnel up. Given we’d established he was a smart psycho wack-job, we figured he would have done exactly that.
There were no two ways about it. Covertly breaking into the propertywas never going to work.
But arrogance was always going to be Thorne’s downfall. He wasarrogant enough to think that no one would get past his security measures, just like he was arrogant enough to think no one would see through his web of deceit, and that went in our favor.
With a plan formulated, me and Miles, and the team, minus Ash,loaded up the van ready to head off to finally deal with the thorn in my side. After the long flight, Jack, who was none the wiser that his boss was working alongside him, ordered Ash to stay at the house with Riley so he could get some rest.
He hadn’t grumbled, he was exhausted. Besides, him staying putwent in our favor. Once we had Thorne secured, Ash was going to reach out to his contact in the bureau and provide him with the information proving Thorne wasn’t a cop.
Stephanie had come through for us. She’d been more thanwilling to provide a statement confirming Max Thorne was not Michael Tucker. With the DNA proof confirming he wasn’t related to the Wolfes, Ash was confident an arrest warrant would be issued within minutes of his contact getting the information.
Sadly for them, they’d never get to arrest the cunt for impersonating acop because Thorne wouldn’t live to see another day, and come morning, everyone would know the web of lies Thorne had been weaving.
It was a shame I wouldn’t get to see the look on Hendrix’s facewhen he realized he’d fallen for Thorne’s lies like everyone else.
I said goodbye to a sulking Riley. She wanted to come with us butaccepted I wouldn’t intentionally put her in harm’s way. Tank drove the van with me, Miles, Oz, Dan, Travis, and Liam, while Jack and Seb followed behind in a car, the two of them dressed as FBI agents.
When we established the only way past the security system was by getting someone inside the house, Miles had a brainwave, hence the reason the two mercs were playing dress up.
Subterfuge at its finest.
The journey to Hollows Bay was quiet, every one of us focusing onthe task ahead. Adrenaline thrummed through my veins at the thought of getting my hands on the cunt, and my mind ran rampant with all the pain I was going to inflict on him.
That was until I looked over at Miles who was staring blankly at theback of the chair in front of him, his jaw clenched tightly. As much as Theo was my brother and we were close, it was nothing in comparison to the relationship Miles had with him. The two of them were inseparable, had been since they were kids, and Miles hadn’t been the same since Theo died. He was slowly coming back to himself, but there would always be a part of him that died with Theo.
As I stared at my cousin, a realization dawned on me. I could givehim something that would help him find closure. As much as Thorne had been hellbent on destroying me, and as much as I itched with the need to see his blood spilled, Miles needed the kill more than me. He needed to be the one to end Thorne’s life.
Besides, I’d get Hendrix.
“He’s yours,” I said. Miles’ head snapped to where I sat, and when hiseyes met mine, there was a darkness in them I’d never seen in him before.
“What?”
“Thorne. He’s yours.” Miles held my gaze before giving me a nod,and when the tension eased fractionally from his body, I knew I’d made the right decision.
Night had fallen by the time Tank pulled the van off the road. With afinal radio check, Jack and Seb continued on their way to my family home. It would take them a few minutes to arrive, so we used the time to load our weapons and strapped them to our bodies, ready to move when we got the nod.
And then we waited.
The air was thick with excitement. The Apollo mercs lived for this shit,and Miles and I were desperate to get our hands on Thorne. Seconds ticked by, and we waited with bated breath until the radio sprung to life.
“Evening,” Jack’s voice came through the speakers. He had amicrophone hidden underneath his uniform so we could hear everything that was happening. “I’m Special Agent Clarke, this is Special Agent Diaz. We’re here to see Chief Thorne.”
“What do you want to see him for?” the voice of a Stag came through.
