Shepherd (17 page)

“It’s not what—”

“Don’t.” Clay brandished a finger before her nose.

“You don’t understand.”

“I understand I’ve been fucking my best friend’s wife.” His shout reverberated from the metal ceiling and walls.

Esme winced at the harsh language, but she couldn’t look away from the smoking destruction as the announcer confirmed Ty’s identification of his wife’s body. “Third wife. I’m his ex-wife now.”

“What? Did he not pay enough attention to you? You wanted to get back at him by undermining his activities—then decided you would add me into the equation. What could be better than cuckolding Vier with his friend? You must really think I’m stupid.”

Anger rising past common sense, she bit her tongue. As cruel as his words were, she could tell he believed them. Somewhere inside, he didn’t believe she loved him enough to have chosen him. Betrayal was his fallback defense, a position she couldn’t talk him down from—at least, not right now.

“Was this all some sort of game to get his attention? You run away so he’d play your tune and follow?” Clay’s hand on her arm whipped her around to face him. The twisted fury of his features didn’t bother her nearly as much as the pain reflected in his eyes.

“You don’t understand. We’re not like that. We don’t have feelings for each other.”

His eyes widened and then narrowed. “So all this,” his hand flicked toward the screen, “all to get back at him, bring him down, and everyone else with him. Or you were working for the squads all along? Is that what why you created those virtual servers? To track all of our teams, capture evidence, and feed us to the Regents forces?”

“No.” She shook her head, trying to move closer to him. “You don’t—”

His sneer of disgust as he backed away sucker punched her. He couldn’t possibly believe—but he did. She didn’t have time to collect her thoughts for a rebuttal before he marched her across the room to the containment room.

“No, Clay, please.”

“Forget it.” He had her inside the room with one wrist locked and cuffed to the wall before she could think. “I’m done playing the idiot. I’m not letting you take other lives. I’ll deal with you when I get back.”

The door swung closed, and the room sank to black after the click. She heard his boots recede. With a quick breath, she scrunched her eyes shut and focused on breathing instead of shaking in the dark.

She almost missed the heavy clip of his boots returning but not the flood of light that followed. He was furious, considering her a traitor and a potential killer, yet at least he didn’t use her fears to torture her.

Slumped against the wall, she considered her options. This was her fault. All her fault. She should have found a way to tell him sooner. From the first time she decided to wait to tell him about Ty, her happiness was doomed. Her death broadcasted on public video said she had also burned a bridge with Ty. Worse, she had no clue how to get Clay to see reason.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled against the restraint to crouch and dig with her free hand along the bottom of her pant leg. The remote for the keg detonation came free from the lining, flashing the timeline’s digital readout. Less than two hours until the extraction and she would bet anything Clay was too pissed off at her to realize how close they were to jeopardizing the mission.

She stuffed the remote in her pocket as the wall behind her back reverberated from the slam of the compound’s outer door. He’d left.

Probably to meet with Ty.

Fine. He could go spin his testosterone somewhere else. He might never forgive her for her secrets, but he would hate her for certain if issues from her past derailed Aaron’s extraction. Frankly, she wouldn’t forgive herself. That meant it was time to leave this box.

Chapter 11

Clay slammed the trailer door. The ten-minute walk and distance from Esme should have cleared his mind and offered him focus. Instead, betrayal and confusion swirled faster as he activated the security and punched at the communications relay on his wrist.

Radar?

Radar: Active

Meet immediately@ lockbox

Radar: Status?

Fucked

The word didn’t begin to describe the emotions boiling through him as he sat on a crate against the trailer’s wall. He scrubbed at his face to erase the image of Esme’s golden gaze fixed on him in shock and then anger as he chained her wrist to the wall. She deserved lockup for scheming to infiltrate the Underground organization. He just couldn’t reconcile the passionate woman who wanted to have his children, who had devised a way to keep him alive and helped him construct the extraction plan, with a cold-blooded traitor. Some sick part of him chanted in the back of his mind that he didn’t care whether she was or not. She was the closest thing to happiness he had ever known.

“You’re getting sloppy, Ebris.”

He glanced at Ty, who leaned against the thick steel door, his arms crossed, as if nothing in the world could rattle him. Nothing reflected on Ty’s face unless he chose, except the occasional tension in his jaw and the fire in his eyes when he was riled. Right now, ease radiated from the commander responsible for more than fifty team members’ wellbeing and the rescue of hundreds of innocent people. Perhaps he really felt nothing for his wife’s death. The thought sent unexpected relief through Clay, which he immediately squelched. “Do I need to be on my toes with you every minute?”

“Didn’t even hear me come in, did you? You need to be alert with everyone.”

“Guess that counts for your traitorous wife. What do you want me to do with the deceased Mrs. Vier?”

Ty’s eyes narrowed as he pushed away from the door to stand before him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Clay lurched from his seat, pushing past Ty’s shoulder, the sudden need to pace and relieve dangerous adrenaline controlling his brain. He couldn’t bear to look at his friend. Her betrayal of them both churned bile into his throat. “She followed you two weeks ago when you dropped off the medicine and the dampener—or were you just trying to ditch her so I would take care of her for you?”

“I expected you to take care of her. Period. The Regents squads are canvassing every crumb they can find, using every opportunity to apply pressure and get information. She needed to be gone.”

Damn. Clay whipped back around. Ty expected him to kill her for him?

“You can’t really think I didn’t know she was there.” Ty’s expression changed into a fierce scowl; his hands clenched, all calm gone as he stalked over to him.

“Why bring her to me?” Clay retreated several steps, uncertain where he had lost insight on this situation. “Why not take care of her yourself? The bombing would have done the trick. Doesn’t look like anyone would suspect you, Regent Vier.”

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Ty hauled Clay up by his shirt. Before Clay could react, his back slammed against the wall. “Tell me you haven’t hurt her.”

He gritted his teeth at the impact and stared at Ty in confusion. If he knew she had followed him to the trailer and didn’t want her silenced, what the hell was his game? “Whatever sick joke you two are playing, I don’t want any part of it.” He forced Ty’s hands away and slammed him in the chest, shoving him backward.

“I brought her to you,” Ty shouted as he pointed a finger at Clay. “She’s perfect to work with your segment of the operation. I expected you to see her value and use her.”

Clay’s mouth dropped open in shock. Blood welled in a hot pain behind his eyes and pushed him over the edge. His fist slammed into Ty’s jaw. “Like I need you recruiting for me.”

His action should have shocked him. Instead, the pain he had witnessed in Esme’s eyes lessened with his strike at Ty and the throbbing in his own fist. Anything to make the pain disappear.

Eyes bright with rage, Ty growled back, “Because I respect you, you get that one shot. The next hit and I’m taking you down. I won’t even give you your injury as an excuse if you keep this up.”

“Like I give a flying fuck. I’m healed, so take your best shot. Or you can pick up your little whore and crawl back home.”

Even after his taunt, the strike took Clay by surprise. Shiny watermarks wavered in front of his normal eye as he tried to force the ceiling into focus from his position on the floor. Gripped again by his shirt, he flew farther back onto his ass.

“I’m going to assume you’re angry because you care about her. I’ll also assume you’re in love with her and it’s made you incredibly stupid. It’s obvious you’re not going to bother to listen to me. I’m guessing you didn’t even allow Esme to clarify her relationship with me.”

Clay wiped the blood from the side of his mouth and spat. “What’s to ask? She’s your wife. Your
third
wife.”

“Yes. And do you want to know why?”

Clay blinked. What a stupid question. She was smart, gorgeous, an incredible lover, and she wanted to have children. Who wouldn’t want Esme?

Ty leaned back his head and closed his eyes. With a snort, he turned back. “I married her to save her life, not to fuck her.”

“I don’t need a visual on your private relationship.” Unfortunately, the image of Esme’s naked body in the same room with his best friend made his stomach clench and a red haze fog his vision. It took every ounce of willpower to stay in the moment and focus. “Save her from what?”

“Ivan Loures was set for execution. The council was perfectly willing to let Esme Loures die with her husband.”

Feeling almost dizzy, Clay waited for his network to catch up and regulate his heartbeat, now in overdrive. She’d told him her husband was a traitor. He just never figured she married Public Enemy Number One—and that counted from both the Regents and the Underground. “The one who rigged the Founder’s Day explosion and killed all those families?”

“One and the same.”

He looked beyond the storage crates to the dark corner. This was getting uglier by the minute. How had he never seen any of this in her gorgeous face? How could she keep so many secrets from him? He forced the logical questions, fighting down the part of him that refused to consider Esme capable of the same atrocities as Ivan Loures. “Why wasn’t she immediately charged like her husband?”

“Clayton. Damn it, have you learned nothing being with her these few weeks?” Ty shook his head again. “She was sold to Loures by her father, for the same skills that made me think she’d be a good match for you. But since you refuse to ask, I’ll tell you why I led her to you.” His fists flexed as Clay started to object. “Shut up. I’m giving you this whether you want it or not. She reminded me of you. I though you two might be right together. That you might have something to offer each other beyond your incredible talents.”

“You gave me your wife?” He hadn’t meant for it to come out the way it did, though the fact Vier had claim to Esme, body and title, was eating him alive.

“Did I make some mistake, Ebris? The message to the doc was to save you, right? Because she cares for you.”

His injuries… Yeah, she was incredible under pressure. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. She had found a way to get help and absorbed the details on his cyber modifications. He had no doubt she could perform the surgery again by herself if need be. He tried to erase that thought. There wouldn’t be a next time. She was someone else’s wife.

“We never had sex. It’s a marriage in name only.” The soft words cut through his haze of misery, and Clay opened his eyes to look at Ty. In all the time they had known each other, Ty had never lied to him. He hated that he used his cochlear enhancement to read his best friend’s vocal tone to be certain. He wanted Esme to have chosen him, as she claimed, not pick him as second best. Somehow the confirmation his cyber implant fed back only made him disgusted with himself.

“There’s no chemistry—for either of us,” Ty repeated.

“She’s still married. Twice.”

“The dead one doesn’t count. And unless you do something extremely stupid, I’m really not an issue.”

Clay tried to swallow against the bitterness. Only determination forced him to rip the raw wound further open. “You took her as a breeder.”

He had never seen pity turn to disgust so quickly in Ty’s expression. “I did what was necessary to get her out of the Pit before they broke her. They’ve been trying to rescind my marriage
arrangement
ever since, trying to bring her back for interrogation. That’s why I manufactured her death.”

With a wince, Clay looked away. The Underground did whatever it took to save lives. If Ty was right about Esme, and his heart didn’t let him conjure any more stupid excuses, then he was being an ass. From all he had seen, in spite of all the monsters in her life, Esme maintained a steady respect for life and her passion, building tools. She didn’t have the physical DNA to be a monster. He couldn’t fault her for her circumstances. Ty was right
—
her life was the only important thing, no matter what it took to save her. He just couldn’t get past another man having a greater claim to his piece of heaven. “Why did
you
trust her?”

“She was found with Loures’s sister and her child after Loures was captured. Esme tried to negotiate their freedom. She claimed to have information to trade for their lives—or so she said—our team managed to get the boy and his mother out during their transport to execution. The interrogation unit wouldn’t let go of the possibility Esme had information. They were never going to let her go.”