Page 109 of Savagely Yours
LARKE
Neal hadn’t thought this all the way through.
I still had the knife.
And I couldn’t stand him.
But then I noticed the rapid rise and fall of his chest and the additional sweat on his brow. A wild spark lit his eyes that didn’t scream dangerous or feral. It reminded me of the first cruise my family and I took and the look on Wren’s face as the shore grew farther and farther away—fear and sickness fighting for dominance.
I frowned. “Are you being serious right now? Don’t tell me you’re claustrophobic.”
He stumbled backward down the small flight of steps, reaching for me, but he missed and had to brace himself against a wall.
“I’m not claustrophobic. Are you joking? Why would I be…” He looked around but then closed his eyes and tucked his chin against his chest. “I’m not claustrophobic.”
“With all this shit that’s been going on, you’re trying to tell me thattunnelsmight do you in? Why would you come down here in the first place if you can’t handle a dark, boxed-in, enclosure with no windows and little air?”
He swayed.
Then, he took a seat on the ground.
Usually, I wasn’t one to kick someone when they were otherwise compromised, but I wanted to swipe the toe of my shoe across that wobbling chin of his. This man was the quintessential bearded dragon, expanding the tissue on his neck to appear larger when, in reality, he was nothing but a tiny and vulnerable reptile.
Are you helpless without your powers, Lord Neal?
I grabbed my flashlight, walked over, and crouched in front of him. “I was investigating you, you know.”
He raised his head. “Come on, Larke. I know what you and your little Class One ‘Destroyer’ were doing. Dez was too insubordinate not to keep an eye on.”
“Why didn’t you do anything about it, then?”
“Because he’s also unstable. With types like him and Ronan, you have to be careful. There’s steps you have to take to indoctrinate men who have the kind of training they do. If you can get them on your side, their loyalty is unwavering, but getting them on your side is the biggest hurdle.”
“It’s because they give their respect only to genuine people. Those who ‘put on’ are generally pushed to the outer edge of the circle. Or eliminated.”
“Dez told you all of this?”
“He didn’t have to.”
He grunted a response.
Inside the federal government, I’d worked with men who had similar backgrounds to Neal and Cerner, as well as Dez and Ronan, for years.
Dez and Ronan saw fake people as a liability.
They knew that men like Neal and Cerner’s “combat skills” or “military history” were almost always fluffed-up nonsense. Unfortunately, however, if the truth wasn’t sniffed out in time,it would reveal itself during the team’s most critical moments, ultimately putting everyone at risk.
Then, those small teams represented more than just the members. They represented loved ones and the countries those loved ones lived in. It was the ultimate “carrying the world on my shoulders,” and with that level of responsibility, bullshit and pretense need not apply.
“I don’t mean that I was investigating younow,”I clarified, and it took everything in me not to knock him over the head with the flashlight. “This was before all this mess happened. You were part of a list of public officials being investigated for treason.”
His eyes opened wide. “Treason? For taking some bribes?”
“From foreign interests.”
“I never took any bribes from foreign interests, honest. I never did anything that would have compromised national security. And, anyway, do you think I did all of that by myself? I wasn’t the only senator. Then there were AUSAs, judges, and clerks. With all of the underhandedness going on, I knew someone had to be investigating. There was no way someonedidn’t know what was going on.”
“I did say a list, didn’t I?”
