Page 23 of Echoes of Danger
“Not to mention that Knox is still running security at the Mayor’s house,” Taylor adds.
“Technically speaking, the Mayor is no longer the Mayor as of last month,” Knox says from Taylor’s phone. He’s currently out with Freckles and the kids. “Besides, if they wanted to spy on Bobby, then they would have bugged his house and not our clubs. The man doesn’t go anywhere.”
“Alright,” King says. “Then who is your client?”
King turns to Taylor, and I sit back and wait for his decision. I trust everyone in this room with my life, but our current client has asked for anonymity.
And for a very good reason.
Currently, Hayes and Mitchell are sitting with him at a safe house about three hours from here.
“Damnit,” Taylor mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but knowing only puts you in danger.”
“Wait, areyouin danger?” Knox screeches.
“Whose in danger?” I hear Elijah ask.
“I’m fine, baby boy,” Taylor soothes. “But there is always risk with this job.”
Steel narrows his eyes, clearly not satisfied with Taylor’s answer. “That’s not good enough. If there’s a threat hanging over this club, we need to know.”
Taylor exhales sharply, running his fingers through his hair. “Look, I know how this sounds, but this isn’t a situation where knowing helps. In fact, it could make things worse. You know as well as I do that information is leverage, and I don’t want to put any of you in the crosshairs.”
“That’s the problem, though,” Steel shoots back. “If the clubs are being bugged, we’re already in the crosshairs. You think the enemy gives a damn about who knows what? If they’re after something, we’re all part of the game now.”
Knox, still sounding rattled, speaks up, “So what do we do? Just sit here and wait for them to come for us?”
“Who’s coming for us?” Once again, Ihear Elijah ask.
Before Taylor can respond, I lean forward, locking eyes with Steel. “We’re handling it. That’s all you need to know right now. And Knoxy, please calm down and stop asking questions in front of my boy. You’re scaring him.”
“Sorry,” he responds. “I wasn’t thinking.”
Steel glares at me, but I don’t back down. I can feel the weight of responsibility pressing down on my shoulders, but if we spill too much, we risk more than just our own lives.
“We only want to protect our family,” Taylor says.
Steel’s glare softens just slightly, but the tension in the room is thick enough to cut with a knife. “Family, huh?” he mutters, his eyes flicking to Taylor and then back to me. “We protect our own, that’s what we do. But we can’t protect them if we don’t know what the hell we’re up against.”
I grit my teeth, the faces of Freckles, Jessica, and Eli haunting my thoughts. The thought of them being pulled into the chaos makes my chest tighten. “You’re not wrong,” I say quietly. “But this client, this situation, it’s more dangerous than anything we’ve dealt with before.”
Before anyone can respond, Taylor’s phone buzzes on the table, the sudden noise jolting us all. His face is stoic as he glances at the message. “It’s Hayes. He’s not supposed to contact me for another hour. Don’t hang up, baby boy. I need to answer this.”
Taylor is on his feet in an instant, pacing back and forth as he answers the call. “What is it?” he barks into the receiver, his face tense.
The room falls into a thick silence as Taylor listens, his jaw clenching tighter with every second. Finally, he nods and mutters something under his breath before ending the call and putting Knox back on speaker. He turns to me, his face grim. “We’ve got a problem.”
Steel crosses his arms. “Bigger than the bug?”
Taylor nods, his eyes flicking between me and Steel. “They found the safe house. Hayes says they barely made it out.”
“Shit,” I whisper, rubbing a hand down his face. “Are they alright?”
“They’re alive,” Taylor answers. “The client got shot, but Hayes says he’ll survive.”
“Who got shot?” Knox cries out.
“Wait, someone got shot?” Eli squeaks.