Seth gulped whiskey and wiped his mouth. “I told her everything, get it? Lazar's onto me. If we follow the pistol now, it'll be into a trap.”
“Based on the fact that the killer tracked you down tonight?”
Seth was startled by Davy's skeptical tone. “It's the only thing that makes sense.”
“Not necessarily,” Sean said. “Maybe you slipped up. You're not superhuman. Maybe there’s something you don't know.”
“There are three possibilities,” Connor said. “One, she never planted the chip at all, and told Lazar everything from
the beginning. Two, she planted it, Lazar discovered it and is onto the two of you. Three, she planted the chip, Lazar doesn't know, and the ski masks aren't Lazar's. I personally don't favor number one. Why would he attack her if she were collaborating with him? It doesn't jive with what I know of her personally, either.”
“What do you know about her personally?” Seth said bitterly.
Connor raised an eyebrow. “I enjoy the distinct advantage of not being in love with her, so trust me, my judgment is way better than yours. Why would she call a hit man to whack you right after you saved her life? Come on, Seth.”
Seth shook his head. “There was no other way that guy—”
“Shut up and listen for once,” Connor said curtly. “I don't like number two, either. Victor's not the type to show his hand by sending an incompetent goon to attack her. He's the type to rub his hands together and wait until you fall into his trap.”
“The second guy was not an incompetent goon,” Seth said. He touched his bandaged side with a grimace. “He almost got me.”
“Yeah, the second guy worries me,” Connor said. “Which brings us to number three. The ski masks are Novak's, not Lazar’s. We know that he wants her. And he'll go to any lengths to get what he wants.”
Seth buried his face in his hands. “She Is in on it,” he repeated stubbornly. “There's no other way the guy could have found us. And her boot had an X-Ray Specs beacon in it I sold that shit to Lazar.”
“So?” Davy said. “You dusted her stuff too, right? Maybe he just thinks that she belongs to him, like you do.”
“And he tagged her because he wanted to keep an eye on her, like you did,” Sean added. '“Cause he's a paranoid control freak.”
“Like you are,” Connor and Davy finished in unison. They grinned and gave each other a high five.
Seth grunted. “Don't expect me to have a sense of humor tonight.”
“You don't have a sense of humor at all,” Sean observed. “Why won't you even consider the possibility that she's not lying to you?”
Whiskey and exhaustion let the truth just fall out of him. “I can't afford to consider it. I want it too much.”
“Ah. So what you're saying is, you're chickenshit,” Sean said.
Seth was too tired and depressed to react. “Better to err on the side of being a suspicious bastard. I'll live longer”
“Yeah, maybe. But your life won't be worth a damn.”
Seth didn't even bother to glare at him. “It doesn't matter,” he said dully. “Whether she did, whether she didn't, she stays in that room until this is over. I'm following the gun alone. I accept the consequences of what I've done, but that doesn't mean you guys have to.”
Davy sloshed some more whiskey into his glass. “Don't be a melodramatic asshole, Mackey. It's not up to you what we decide to do.”
Seth stared down into the deep amber color of the liquor. “You guys don't have to risk your lives because of some misplaced loyalty to Jesse. He's gone. He doesn't need you anymore.”
“No, but you do,” Connor said. He leaned over and poked Seth in the shoulder. “It's not just for Jesse. It's for you. Don't ask me why. You're a pain in the ass, and we still need to have that talk about your social skills, but there it is. I'm in this for you, buddy.”
Seth choked on the liquor he was swallowing. Coughing to clear his burning throat made his bandaged side sting like hell. “Hey, I appreciate the sentiment, but at this point, I don't even care if it's a trap, see? I just want to end it. Fold my hand and get out of the game. I can't take the responsibility, and I don't want your help.”
“Tough shit,” Davy said. “Count me in,” Sean piped up.
“Me, too,” Connor said, lifting his glass with a grin.
Davy scowled at him. “Not you, pal. You're still hobbling around on a cane. You're not going anywhere. You get guard duty.”
“Like hell.”
“No,” Davy said, in a big brother voice. “I'll tie you down.”
“Let's play a hand of poker on it,” Connor wheedled.
“Yeah, and you'll cheat, you slick bastard. Non-negotiable, so just forget it...”
The conversation degenerated quickly into an energetic fraternal squabble. Seth tuned out the familiar cadences and stared into the fire. The fire of the whiskey warmed him, fuzzing his brain around the edges, and he struggled to follow his own train of thought. Only an idiot with a death wish would follow a transmitter to an unknown destination, to face an unknown number of adversaries with unknown resources. Truth was, he had never meant to involve the McClouds in the actual takedown. He had always intended for that phase to be his own private party.
He broke into the middle of the argument, which had gotten to the shouting stage. “Let me finish this my own way, guys. That way, if it goes to shit, they can't link me to you.”
His words reverberated in the sudden stillness.
“Yeah, right” Connor said slowly. “And what are we supposed to do with Blondie? Keep her in the attic like Rapunzel?”
“Oh, God.” Seth closed his eyes and rubbed them. “I don't have the faintest idea. What a fuck-up. God. I'm sorry, guys.”
The fire crackled and spat for a few minutes. “I know why you brought her here,” Connor said quietly. “And you did the right thing.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. You brought her here to keep her safe.”
Seth shook his head. It was not a negation. “I'm an idiot.”
“You aren't the first, and you won't be the last,” Davy said.
“I were you, I'd go up to the attic and spend some quality time with your lady,” Connor said. “She's in a bad way. And you could use some rest yourself. You look like shit. We've got the Cherokee gassed up and loaded and ready to roll. The Specs are set up and keyed to the Corazon transmitter. The three of us will take turns watching tonight. If it starts to move, we'll call you. We can leave on a minute's notice.”
“Yeah. Chill,” Sean urged. “We need you fresh and snappy when it starts to move. Here, I made a sandwich. Take this on up to her.”
“It won't be long,” Connor said. “Things are starting to move.”
“The circle is getting smaller,” Seth said.
The McClouds looked at him. “Huh?” Sean said.
Seth shrugged. “Just something Jesse said to me in a dream,” he mumbled. He looked around himself. Three pairs of similar green eyes regarded him with varying combinations of worry and annoyance.
He hadn't seen that look on anybody's face since Jesse's death. He hadn't thought he would ever see it again.
He grabbed the whiskey bottle and raised it, in a silent salute to brotherhood He grabbed Raine's sandwich and headed up the stairs.
Chapter 24
Raine jumped to her feet when she heard the lock rattle, wrapping the blanket around herself. She was shaking, but not with fear. She had left fear so far behind she didn't even remember what it felt like.
Seth let himself in, dropping the heavy, palm-sized padlock on top of the dresser. He laid a plate next to it, with something wrapped in a napkin. She was relieved to see that his wound was dressed. The white bandage showed up starkly against his golden skin. A threadbare red flannel shirt hung open over his bloodstained jeans. He held an open bottle of whiskey by the neck. He took a deep swallow.