Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“I’ll talk to Tenn and Royal. It depends on how long this goes. I can’t lock everyone down for months.”
“Hopefully, we can get it wrapped up faster than that,” Cooper said. “Listen, you remember Silas Creed and the team he put together?”
“Of course,” Griffen said. “Silas is a fucking legend.”
“Well, Silas sold me his company.”
“What?” Hawk asked. “He can’t sell his company. You mean the team? He sold you the team?”
“Basically,” Cooper said. “We took the deal—it was too good to pass up—but the whole thing is weird.”
“Why would he do that?” Griffen said. “Is he retiring? But if it’s that, why not put Ryder or Miranda in charge?”
“All good questions,” Cooper said. “He wasn’t willing to answer them, except to say he was stepping back, and he wanted his team with someone who’d keep them together.”
Hawk was shaking his head. “That doesn’t sound like Silas. I mean, the keeping them together part—yeah. But stepping back? Silas Creed has never taken a vacation in his life.”
“I don’t know that it’s a vacation,” Cooper said. “He only promised that the team was clean of any trouble.”
“Are they?” Griffen asked.
I could almost hear Cooper’s shrug. “Clean enough. You know Silas’s team—they always did the stuff that was a little too shady for us. Took bigger risks, sketchier clients.”
“So why are you bringing them under your roof?” Hawk asked.
“Partly as a favor to Silas,” Cooper said. “I don’t necessarily believe that everything they’ve done is clean, but the opportunity to get my hands on the six of them was too good to pass up. We talked it over, and the decision was unanimous.”
“When was this?” Griffen asked.
“A week ago. I can’t say they’ve integrated with the rest of us yet. They’re like our teams here in that everybody has a specific area of expertise. In the long term, we think they’re best assigned together, but at the moment, we have them split up so they can work with the Sinclair teams that match their skill sets. I can’t free up all six—some of them are out training with my people, working on bringing them into the fold—but I can send you three. If Hawk can stretch his people to cover the family, Silas’s people can go after the assassins.”
“Well, shit,” Griffen said. “Three of Silas’s crew is like twelve of anyone else’s.”
“They’re not that much better than my people,” Cooper said, sounding a little annoyed.
A slow grin spread across Hawk’s face. “Considering we were your people, we’re not going to argue. But Silas’s team is on a different level.”
“Yeah,” Cooper said, “you won’t be surprised to know they took to Emmett like a duck to water. Lucas too.”
“Yeah, not a surprise,” Hawk murmured. “But hell, that’s good news. When will they be here?”
“They’re leaving in an hour, so not long.”
“I feel a lot better about the idea of being murdered in my sleep,” Griffen said wryly, and I barked out a laugh, despite the darkness of the conversation.
“Side note,” Griffen said. “Because of course there’s never enough going on around here—I need you to find anything you can on a Paul Williams. Married a woman, last name McKenna. Dropped off the map in 1986.”
“I’ll get somebody on it. Who’s Paul Williams?” Cooper asked.
“Turns out he’s the father of our nanny, Paige, and possibly the man our mother ran off with,” Griffen told him.
Cooper paused, obviously taking it in. “Well, shit. That’s new information.”
“Yeah. Turns out Paige came here looking for him and ran into a dead end. But she found letters our mother wrote him before they both took off.”
“Any interesting information in there?” Cooper asked.
“Don’t know,” Griffen said. “We haven’t read them all yet. Paige says no, but there might be something she didn’t catch. One thing we did find out—the postcards Ford and I got for years on our birthdays? Not the same handwriting as the letters our mother wrote Paul Williams. Close, but not the same.”
“Interesting,” Cooper said slowly, as if turning the new information over in his mind, examining it for answers.
“We thought so,” Griffen agreed.
“I’ll see what I can find,” he said. “Meantime, keep your heads down. When the team gets there, you’ll figure out a plan.”
“That’s the idea,” Griffen said. “Talk to you later.” He cut off the call.
Hawk sat back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest, a smile playing across his mouth. “Fuck me. Silas’s team is a part of Sinclair Security. I almost regret that we’re not there.”
“I know,” Griffen said. “Not to stay. I like it here, but I’d love to watch those six try to integrate with Sinclair.”
“What’s the difference?” I asked, completely lost.
“Sinclair Security,” Griffen said, “works for high-end clients, mostly in business and entertainment, sometimes political targets. They design security systems and provide bodyguarding services. They have a division that handles kidnappings. They work comfortably with law enforcement and generally stay on the legal side of the line, though—”