Page 67 of Savagely Yours
Neal cleared his throat. “Gentlemen, I have for you six names today,” he announced. “Please listen closely, as these names carry great significance: Sasha Brenly, Thorn Carrow, Imani Vos, Ross Mercer, Devon Brentley, and Leigh Narayan.”
My ears perked up.
If that Leigh was LaSalle’s Leigh from Sanitation, that could spell trouble for LaSalle’s loyalty to Larke. I doubted the Totten generals would have to resort to a significant level of torture to get him to flip. However, if I got a whiff that LaSalle intended to betray Larke, he would be better off if Cerner, Neal, and Ronan got to him first.
“These are the names of six people my team and I have tied to an unsanctioned underground rebellion here at Fort Totten.”
“Unsanctioned rebellion?” I asked. “Aren’t rebellions usually unsanctioned?”
He shot me a glare.
I smirked.
“It’s a valid question,” Cerner said, surprisingly coming to my defense. “For the sake of time, and because lunch smellsheavenly, keep the pomp and circumstance out of it, Neal. Stick to the cold, hard facts.”
Neal nodded. “All right, then. The cold, hard facts are that we’ve been overhearing whispers of a rebellion, but the details were murky. Totten is only so big, but we couldn’t pinpoint where the meetups were happening, or if they were happening at all. Thorn Carrow was already on my radar because his scouting route didn’t align with what he reported. He regularly went off the beaten path.”
Neal glanced at me.
I knew mine didn’t match up.
And I didn’t care.
“So, I decided to start with him,” he continued. “Now, I believe that the heart of the rebellion is tied to Sanitation. Because of that, I had someone monitor whenever Thorn and Sanitation crossed paths. By the way, Harding, in case you’ve never been there, Sanitation is where your whore used to be housed.”
I didn’t flinch.
I barely blinked.
Neal’s power trip had gone straight to his head, but I would solve that problem for him.
With a bullet.
“What I found was that he often crossed paths with Leigh Narayan. Whenever they did, one of them would leave behind a burnt match in an ashtray. There were no cigarettes, cigars, or anything of that nature, just that lone match. We placed a tail on them, which eventually led us to their six-person meetup. When Ronan and I showed up, they were getting ready to scramble as if someone had tipped them off, but we caught them all in time.”
“And where are they now?” Cerner asked.
“In holding, waiting for the go-ahead to execute.”
“Good. I’ll go down once we’re done and give the order.”
“I could give the order.”
“Don’t overstep,” Cerner warned. “I haven’t delegated any of my power to you.”
For a while, it looked like Neal would continue the argument. But then, with a sigh and shake of his head, he returned to his seat.
It was my first time picking up on any tension between him and Cerner, but I’d paid little attention to Neal before I caught him outside Larke’s place. At five in the morning, there was no way he didn’t know that she would have likely been asleep. Then, there was the fact that I’d caught him looking for a key or another unauthorized entry method. That behavior pointed to a potential violation of my woman’s privacy.
Or worse, her body.
Cerner turned to me. “Any of those names sound familiar to you, Harding?” he asked. “That last one, Leigh? Would your attorney have more information on this Leigh woman?”
“Possibly, if I choose to ask her,” I said.
“If you do, let me know.”
“I don’t plan on it.”
