Unlocked (18 page)

"I don't have a name for you," he said. "I make it my business to know as little as possible about my clients. It's safer that way, if anyone comes looking." He shot us an ironic grin. "What I do have is the phone number that he originally contacted us on to organise the meet."

Sebastian grimaced. "He won't be using his real phone for this. It's too easily tracked. What about a description? Anything that might help me identify him? I have reason to believe it's someone I'm familiar with."

Anton chuckled softly. "I don't meet them myself. Too risky." He nodded to one of the men in the doorway. "Iman organises the hits."

Sebastian and I both turned to the thug, but he simply shrugged. "He was man. Business man. It was dark, I don't see much." His voice was heavily accented, and it was clear English wasn't his first language. We weren't going to get much out of him.

"Sorry," said Anton.

Sebastian brought his hand up to cover his mouth and stared into space for several seconds.

"I don't suppose we could just call him? See if you recognise the voice?" I asked.

"Maybe," Sebastian replied. "But then we give away our hand. And he might not answer at all. You said you guys used text messages?"

Anton nodded.

"Then yeah, a call will probably just scare him off."

And then I had an idea. "What does your client know?" I asked Anton. "Did you tell him we got away?"

Anton looked surprised for a moment, but he recovered quickly. "He knows. We had to go in and clean up your mess." He didn't sound even slightly upset about the two men we'd killed. He might as well have been discussing spilt juice. "He was not pleased, although we assured him we were doing everything we could to find you."

"Can you organise another meet?" I continued. "You said he still owes you half on completion of the contract, right? So tell him you've taken us out and you want the rest of your money."

Anton licked his lips. "This is not part of our deal. I would be exposing myself for you."

But Sebastian was nodding now, a hint of a smile on his face. "Fifteen million," he said. "And five more when we have him. Plus you get to keep whatever money he brings."

Anton's eyes widened a fraction. I could practically feel his sense of greed and self-preservation squaring off inside him. He got to his feet, and for one brief terrifying second, I thought he'd changed his mind, but then he extended his hand. "You have a deal."

The tension drained out of Sebastian's face, and he reached up and shook. "I'll have my guy drop the money off." He glanced at the two men behind us. "We'll need to borrow a few of your men."

Anton nodded. "I expected as much. Go with these two. They'll make the necessary arrangements. It's been good doing business with you."

Sebastian stared at him for several seconds, before inclining his head ever so slightly and turning towards the door.

I followed, doing my best not to break into a grin. Somehow, we'd pulled it off. The light at the end of the tunnel had suddenly grown that little bit brighter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sebastian

The meet was set for early evening, in an old warehouse in Macdonaldtown, on the outskirts of Sydney. The location couldn't have been more of a movie stereotype if it tried. Cracked windows, rusted girders, piles of industrial detritus littering the floor. It certainly was empty, though. The roads nearby were completely devoid of people or cars. Movie stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.

At this point, things were basically out of our hands. Sophia and I sat in the back seat of Anton's car, waiting for the trap to be sprung. Whoever was on the other end of the phone didn't seem to suspect anything. Their text message just sounded relieved. If everything went to plan, in a little while, we'd have our traitor in custody.

I looked over to Sophia, who was staring out the window. She'd handled herself well with Anton. Part of me had wanted to burst out laughing when she'd threatened him, but I'd restrained myself, and somehow we'd bluffed our way through it. We made a good team. She saw the things I missed and she wasn't afraid to speak up when she did.

She glanced up and caught me looking, and a smile lit her face. "Show time, soon." That smile was like a drug to me now. It was my reason to get up each morning. And every time I saw it, I wanted just a little more. When this was all over, I was going to make it my mission to put that smile there as often as possible.

I nodded.

She gazed at me for several seconds, a question poised on her lips. "Do you think this will be the end of it all?" she asked.

I exhaled slowly. I didn't want the dampen the mood of the victory we were about to win here. "I'm honestly not sure," I replied. "Whoever the traitor is, they have a lot of questions to answer. Once we know his motives, and who he's working with, we can plan our next move."

Her shoulders slumped a little, but she tried to remain stoic. "That makes sense."

"Hey," I said, reaching out to brush her cheek with one knuckle. "This is a big step forward. With any luck, they'll crack quickly and tell us everything we need to know. I suspect you'll be back burning the midnight oil at work and getting tanked with Ruth and Lou again in no time."

The smile returned. "I have missed excessive quantities of wine."

"You're allowed to drink more than a glass or two with me, you know."

"And be that embarrassing drunk with the begrudgingly tolerant boyfriend? I don't think so."

"So maybe I'll have more than one or two as well."

She raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realise you did messy drunk."

"I haven't for a few years. But I'm willing to make an exception for you."

She laughed. "That might just be the most romantic offer you've ever made me. It's settled then. When this is all over, we will drink to excess!"

"Deal," I replied.

Another minute passed. "You know, something about this still doesn't sit quite right with me," she said.

"In what way?"

"Well, when you rescued me, you fought your way through a whole house of guards, right?"

I nodded.

"So why did they hire out the killing this time around? Why not use their own people?"

"That's been bothering me too," I replied. "So much of this still makes no sense. Obviously they had their reasons. Maybe we hurt them worse than we thought when we raided that house?"

"Maybe," she replied, although she didn't sound convinced.

"We'll have some answers soon."

"I know," she said.

At that moment, another car appeared at the gate. It was one of the fleet of black Alpha BMWs. I felt something heavy settle in my stomach. Behind those doors was one of my brothers. A man I would have trusted with my life. A man who had betrayed me. I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm.

Through the tinted glass window I watched as the car pulled slowly into the empty lot and stopped about thirty meters away. Iman was standing off to one side, flanked by two of Anton's thugs. He was doing a good job of playing the part. He looked impatient, perhaps even a little bored. Just a guy on another routine pickup.

For a few moments, nothing happened; then the back door opened and out stepped a man.

Ewan.

Something hot surged in my chest. Until that moment, I think part of me had still refused to accept it. A tiny voice in the back of my head, arguing that there was some other explanation for the way those assassins had surprised us; a hacked security system, or a building flaw we didn't spot. But seeing Ewan there, delivering payment for our deaths, meant that I couldn't lie to myself anymore. The group had been compromised.

It made me feel so damn stupid. I'd always believed the group rhetoric, those wonderful tenants that spoke of using power for the greater good, but now I realised how naive that was. The Alpha Group wasn't some last bastion of nobility. We were as susceptible to greed and self-interest as anyone. I still didn't understand what would possess Ewan to do these things, but I was going to do everything in my power to find out. He would pay for the pain he'd caused.

I looked to Sophia. She had every right to be wearing an 'I told you so' expression, but she seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. Instead, she just shot me a sympathetic smile and reached out to squeeze my knee.

Two Alpha security personnel followed Ewan out of the car, but after a few seconds of hushed conversation, they stayed in place while Ewan began to stride purposefully over the dust towards us. I wondered if the guards had turned on us too, or if they were just doing their job and simply had no idea of the traitorous deal going on right under their noses. I suspected the latter. In our line of work, you naturally see a lot of strange things, and they were taught not to ask questions. Besides, Ewan had kept them purposefully out of earshot. If he had nothing to hide, he'd have brought them in with him. They were probably just here to stop Iman and his men trying anything shady. Only a fool wouldn't tread carefully around Anton Silva.

It felt like it took Ewan forever to cross the empty yard. The animal inside me was raring to simply charge out of the car and let loose with all my rage, until he was just a bloody wreck on the ground, but I knew I needed to hold back. The situation could get messy in a heartbeat, if not handled carefully, and we needed Ewan alive if we wanted any chance of ending this.

When he was a few feet away from Anton's men, he stopped. In his hand he held a plain black briefcase that no doubt contained the rest of Anton's money. "You had me worried," he said. I had the window down ever so slightly, so we could hear everything clearly. "When they escaped the house I thought we'd lost our shot."

Iman smirked. "We find them. Or rather, they find us."

Ewan's eyes narrowed, but before he could react, all three of Anton's men had guns trained on him. The Alpha guys were good. In a split second they were both charging forward and reaching inside their jackets, but they froze as two more thugs emerged from the shadows behind them with weapons raised.

"What is this?" Ewan asked, but there already was a sense of understanding in his voice.

I nodded to Sophia, and we both reached for our door handles. I was expecting fear, but all I saw in his eyes when they fell on us was surprise, followed by resignation. The anger inside me flared. I didn't want him to be okay with what was coming. I wanted him to feel the same terror Sophia had, when he'd taken her from her house. That raw hopelessness of knowing that there was nothing left for him, beyond pain and death.

"This is you, getting what you deserve," I growled, and before I could stop myself, I clocked him with an enormous uppercut that lifted his body from the ground. I was on top of him, moments later, my fists a blur in front of me, my vision clouded red. There were people yelling behind me, but they were muted and distant. All that mattered was Ewan and the pain I wanted him to feel.

It wasn't until Sophia grabbed my face and yanked my gaze up to hers that the rest of the world came back into focus. "Sebastian, stop! You're killing him!"

I looked down at the crumpled form below me. Ewan's face was a mask of blood and dirt. His hair was matted and his breathing shallow. He wasn't moving.

I closed my eyes and flung myself to my feet. I'd never lost control like that before. It was frightening. And scarier still, it had felt good. I wanted someone to blame for everything that had happened, someone that wasn't myself. And now that someone had finally presented himself, I could finally unleash some of the guilt that was devouring me from the inside. "I'm okay," I said. "I'm okay."

The adrenaline was already fading from my veins. My skin felt hot and my lungs burned. I'd hit him with everything I had.

Sophia leaned down to check Ewan's pulse. "He's alive."

"He's a tough old bastard," I replied.

"We need to get him somewhere soon, though, and check him out. You did quite a number on him."

I nodded. "I'll call in the cavalry."

I walked off towards the corner of the lot, just to put a little distance between Ewan and myself, and pulled out my phone.

"Thomas, I'm going to need a little help here."

* * * * *

"Doctor says he's alright," said Thomas, appearing in the doorway. "You certainly did a number on him."

I grimaced. "That's what Sophia said."

He pulled up a chair and sat down next to me, pouring himself a scotch from the bottle in front of us. It was about two hours since I'd called him, and we were inside a small Alpha complex in the Inner West, which had a couple of rooms fitted to keep prisoners. Holding people wasn't something we did often — we pulled strings, we didn't arrest people — but we liked to be prepared, nonetheless.

He threw back the entire glass in one sip, wincing with the burn, then shook his head. "I never suspected he could do something like this. I mean, he was a bit of an asshole, sometimes, but still. Not this."

"I know," I replied. "Is he talking yet?"

"Not yet. He's awake, but still pretty groggy. It won't be too long, I imagine." Something in the way he was looking at me told me what was coming next. "You could have called, you know. When you disappeared, we all assumed the worst."

I hated that I had to have this conversation, but there was no avoiding it. "I know, but at that point I didn't know who to trust."

A look of hurt crossed his face, and I didn't blame him. He was my friend and he deserved my trust. Then again, I'd thought Ewan deserved it as well. Would I ever be able to fully trust these men again? I wanted to think so, but I suspected there would always be a niggling doubt. I didn't know what to do with that. Maybe I could have lived with it a few years back, but I didn't just have my life to consider anymore. Sophia claimed she was okay with the risks, but that didn't mean I was. I couldn't stand the thought of ever putting her in jeopardy again. She deserved the happiness that came with a normal life, a life of not constantly looking over your shoulder. No matter how hard I tried, I didn't know if I could provide that anymore.