Darken (Siege #1) (17 page)

Chapter Seventeen

GAVIN SAT WITH CALEB and Logan at a table in the back corner of the bar. Caleb said something, and Gavin gave a one-shoulder shrug, hearing his brother’s words but not processing. He was too busy watching Cora from across the bar. She filled her tray with drink orders and then sashayed across the floor, carefully balancing it with one hand.

She had on a pair of short shorts, and he swore he caught a glimpse of her ass cheeks when she bent over to clear the table. And he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. He saw the looks the guys around the bar gave her, but as tempted as he was to buy her a pair of shorts to hide her glorious ass from their perverted eyes, he refused to miss out on his chance to ogle her himself.

Something hit his forehead, and he jerked in response, looking down at the table to see a balled up beer bottle label. He glared at a smirking Caleb.

“You seem distracted,” Caleb said then lifted his beer to take a swig.

Gavin grunted and shoved a cheese-and-sour-cream-loaded nacho in his mouth.

“What do you know about David McCarty?” he asked around a mouthful of food.

“The name sounds familiar.” Caleb’s brow wrinkled in thought. Gavin waited a moment as his brother pulled the name from his memory, which thanks to Sinclair’s experiments, didn’t take long. “He’s a cop. He took Cora’s statement after the first accident.”

“Try
both
accidents.” Gavin opened a file on his tablet and slid it across to the other man.

He’d spent the day looking into the police reports, something about it nagging at him. What were the chances that both times, Cora’s account had been dismissed? When he first pulled the accident reports, they seemed pretty straight forward. McCarty signed the first statement while a different officer’s name, Patrick Greene, was on the second. It wasn’t until Gavin moved on to the 911 transcripts that McCarty’s name popped up again as the responding officer. He replayed every word Cora told him about what happened and realized she’d only spoken to McCarty. So, he pulled the reports again and that’s when he discovered it.

“Look at the signatures.” He used his fingers to expand the image they were looking at. “Different names, same handwriting.”

“Son-of-a-bitch. How certain are you?” Logan leaned back in his chair.

“Hundred percent.”

“You used the analysis software I sent you?” Caleb asked.

“Didn’t need to. There were so many commonalities between these two, I figured it might be faster to check out this Patrick Greene’s actual signature. So I pulled up his DMV file. This is a straight-up simulation forgery, and a crappy one, at that.”

“You pulled his DMV file? Should I be worried about any trace coming back to one of my IPs?”

“Nope. Noah’s girlfriend got it for me.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “And does Alicia know she helped you?”

“Well, technically she did Noah a favor by checking out Sky’s new boyfriend. So I guess she thought she was helping Noah out.” Gavin smirked. “Apparently, she had a lot of questions about why our twenty-year-old sister is dating a guy who’s old enough to be her grandpa.”

“All right, so McCarty is hiding something,” Caleb said. “What?”

“No clue. All he did was take Cora’s statement. I don’t see anything different than what she told me. I can’t see any reason why he wouldn’t sign his own name.”

Caleb pressed his lips together and tapped a finger on the edge of the tablet. “Let me do some digging. I’ve got a few connections on the force I might be able to hit up.”

Gavin didn’t like the idea of not being in control, but he wasn’t in the same position as Caleb. His brother’s work with TanTech opened a lot of doors Gavin wouldn’t get through on his own. If they had time, he’d be able to figure a way to access the info, but time wasn’t something they had. Sinclair had shown twice that he would risk Cora’s life for whatever twisted reason motivated him. They needed to bring him down before he could try again.

“Has Merrick found anything on the guy who ran Cora off the road?”

Caleb shook his head. “He’s accessed the local footage, but it’s scarce. He’s working on a different angle, looking into damaged rentals and repair shops.”

“Fuck, this sucks.” Gavin tipped his head back to gaze up at the ceiling and dug his fingers into his hair.

“At least you didn’t have to work today,” Cora said, staring down at him.

“Hey.” He returned the smile she gave him. Her tongue peeked out to moisten her lips, and he was thrown back to that very morning when she’d used those lips for something other than speaking.

“I’m off in a couple minutes, you guys want anything else?”

“We’re good,” Logan answered for all of them. “Come sit with us after.”

Her eyes flicked from Logan then back to Gavin. The hesitation was a glimpse into her uncertainty about how open they were going to be about being together. He gave a slight nod, and her smile grew.

“Yeah, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

He watched her walk away, her ponytail swishing in time with her hips.

“How’s she holding up?” Caleb asked.

Gavin glanced at his brother and found Caleb’s eyes following Cora across the room. The inclination to punch his twin had his hands balled into fists, but he held back. Cora was a sexy woman, and men were going to stare at her. He couldn’t beat up
every
guy who looked at her.

“She’s fine.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you be so civil toward Cora,” Logan remarked. “For a while, I thought I’d have to fire one of you. Well, fire you.”

“So much for family first.”

“I thought we already settled this? Cora is family.”

“How did things go at the lab?” Caleb twirled his empty beer bottle on its rim, a circle of condensation forming on the table.

“Nielson tried to deny working with Sinclair, but she had all of his notes on Cora. Whatever he did to us, he hasn’t stopped.”

“You really think that’s what he’s doing?”

“Absolutely. There was a photo of Cora with Subject 8 written across it.” Gavin grabbed a bunch of nachos and dropped them on the small plate in front of him. “At first, I thought he was taunting me, letting me know what he could do. But Nielson’s questions were too specific. She was looking for certain pieces of info from Cora.”

“Did she get it?” Caleb tugged the nacho platter across the table, out of Gavin’s reach.

“No.”

“So all of this was bait? He didn’t do anything to Cora?”

“He injected her with the PH-9E serum. Some kind of variation on the last test he did on us.”

He was on the verge of telling them about the visions Cora had been having when he noticed his brothers looking past him. A glance over his shoulder revealed Cora walking toward them. She’d changed out of the snug black Porter’s Pub shirt and into a wispy gypsy style top that barely clung to her shoulders.

His foot hooked around the leg of the empty chair beside him and pulled it out for her. The fact that it moved closer to him was pure coincidence. Placing her drink on the table, she slid onto the chair and gave a wide smile in greeting. He wasn’t sure what he expected when she arrived, but the casual greeting, no different than what she gave his brothers, wasn’t it.

“Gavin was just telling us that Nielson confirmed Sinclair injected you with some type of gene mutation serum.” Caleb rested his elbows on the table and leaned toward Cora. “So, I have to conclude that you’ve been exhibiting symptoms.”

She turned surprised eyes on to Gavin. “You didn’t tell them?”

“I thought it would be easier if you explained.”

While she told his brothers about the visions, he took the time to study her. Earlier, her hair had been pulled back into its normal high ponytail, keeping it out of her way during work. Now, though, her soft curls were loose covering her shoulders, and the sight brought a knowing smile to his face. Thanks to the scruff of his beard, she’d woken with a case of beard burn along her delicate skin.

Under the table, he slid his hand over her knee and up to her bare thigh. Her hand clamped down on his before he could go any further.

“We can use this,” Logan said once Cora finished describing the visions.

“How?” Cora asked.

“We’ve been chasing Sinclair, always one step behind him. He’s out there watching us, waiting to strike,” he explained. “With your visions, we can figure out exactly when and where he’ll be and grab him before he makes his move.”

Caleb nodded, an eager look taking over his face. “You mentioned having a log of the visions. We need to use that data to find patterns with Sinclair’s movements.”

“There are no patterns,” Cora said. “That’s the problem. Everything is random, constantly changing.”

Gavin and Caleb flashed each other identical smirks. Identifying patterns, whether binary, mathematical, or behavioral, was where they excelled. Nielson once told them their ability to find those patterns along with their eidetic memories were due to PH-02F, a genetic modifier that enhanced the brain’s visual and information processing, strengthening synaptic efficiency.

“There’s a pattern, and we’ll find it,” Gavin said.

“But Sinclair’s movements are always dependent on you.”

“That’s exactly how we can manipulate them,” Caleb interjected. “Once we understand how he’s picking the moments, we can create a series of opportunities, pinpointing which one he’ll follow through on.”

Cora’s shocked eyes flickered from brother to brother. “You’re going to create opportunities for him? Are you
crazy
? The guy is planning to kill Gavin, and you want to give him more chances?”

Gavin understood her concerns, but Caleb’s idea had the greatest probability of success. By controlling when Sinclair could strike, they’d be better able to catch him before he did anything. Yes, there were risks, but getting Sinclair was worth it. For what he did to them as kids, but more importantly for what he’d done to Lela. Gavin was determined to see him brought down.

“How would you even be able to do that?” Cora shook her head. “The situations are so normal. I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart without there being something significant in each.”

“That’s why you’ll be there,” Caleb said.

A long pause ensued as each of them considered what that meant. It meant putting Cora in the line of fire, but he realized why Caleb suggested it. Cora’s presence meant she’d easily be able to identify the events well before anything actually happened. It would keep Sinclair from suspecting they’d figured anything out. More important, was the fact Sinclair obviously kept tabs on Cora, and this would present him with more opportunity to do so.

“I’ll bring Cora’s journal by in the morning,” Gavin said.

“Wait a second,” Logan interrupted. “Can we go back to the question of involving Cora in this?”

“It makes sense for her to be there. It’s the only way for us to pinpoint when Sinclair will hit,” Gavin explained.

“What about asking whether it’s worth risking her life?” Logan asked.

The incredulity in his voice caused Gavin to squirm in his seat, and he pulled his hand away from where it rested on Cora’s leg. He resented the implication that he didn’t care about Cora’s life, but this was Sinclair.

“Think about what Sinclair’s done to us, Logan. He almost destroyed us in the labs, he killed Lela, and now he’s hunting us. We need to stop him. We need to make sure he pays for what he’s done.”

“And if Cora gets caught in the crossfire?” Logan’s eyes drilled into Gavin.

“I admit, it’s not an ideal plan, but letting Sinclair go isn’t an option anymore. We’ll keep her safe,” he assured Logan. Even to his own ears, his reasoning sounded weak. Beside him, Cora shifted in her seat, lifting a hand to rub the side of her neck.

“It’s okay, Logan. We need to do this,” she said. “If Gavin and Caleb think this is the best way, then I’m in. At this point, Sinclair being out there is just as dangerous for me as it is for you guys.”

“Fine,” Logan conceded, though his reluctance was evident. “Let’s get started.”

Gavin pulled up the notepad app on the tablet, and beside him Cora sank back into her seat, shoulders slumped. In his rush to start working on the plan, he’d almost forgotten about their date.

“Not tonight. We have plans.” Gavin closed the tablet.

“We do?” Caleb asked.

“Cora and I have plans.” Ignoring the curious looks on his brother’s faces, he pushed his chair back and held his hand out to Cora. She slid her hand into his and stood along with him. “I’ll catch up with you guys in the morning.”

“I take it you didn’t tell them about us,” Cora said as they walked through the parking lot to his Jeep.

Gavin shrugged. “It never came up.”

She made some kind of noise under her breath that left him wondering if he’d said something wrong. He shook his head dismissing the thought. Cora didn’t play games like that. Not that it would have mattered anyway. He never willingly talked to his brothers about his hookups.

Okay, so Cora wasn’t just a hookup, but he wasn’t exactly planning on anything long-term with her, either. Hell, he still couldn’t believe he’d even asked her out.