“My brother is in a shit sandwich. He's been compromised, and no, I don't think by Lonnie.”
Jules sighed. “I told Mrs. Sharpe not to say anything about 'Lonnie' until I looked into it. But she wouldn't listen.”
“How did you know?” Gunnar asked.
“When we interrogated Raul LaGarda—before you killed him—LaGarda referred to Melissa's boss as Lonnie. I overheard Mrs. S. and the admiral a few times, and that's what she called him when she thought she was alone.”
“I never heard that.” Jesse frowned. “She's pretty closemouthed and close-minded around me, though. I never catch a glimpse of what she's thinking.”
“And you'd never hear me if it wasn't for my current distraction,” Ava grumbled, glaring from Jesse to Gunnar. She refused to ignore the obvious anymore. No more tiptoeing around her mate. She'd go balls-out taking him down, and if she had to use his friends to help her do it, she would.
“Yeah, well,” Jesse murmured, not looking at Gunnar's fierce scowl. “I've thought hard about this. I don't care what she called him or what she thinks she saw. The admiral's not guilty.”
“You don't know that,” Gunnar growled. “Just because you like the prick doesn't mean he's not against us.”
“Nice mouth.” Ava shook her head.
“Didn't hear you complaining earlier,” he muttered.
Her cheeks heated, but she ignored him. “Lonnie isn't a common name. I don't know anyone she works with that fits that name. And no one who's familiar with the Circs in DC goes by Lonnie either. It's too much of a coincidence to think our enemy randomly chose 'Lonnie' as an alias. Someone's setting him up. They want us to mistrust him.”
Fallon shrugged. “Maybe so, but I can tell you Raul was telling the complete truth when he confessed to us in the woods. Dude wasn't lying. Panicked and close to death, people normally can't think straight enough to hold a lie in their heads.
And LaGarda was no rocket scientist.”
Ava blew out a tired breath. “Right. So we need to talk to Lonnie. More, we need to find Grayson. I've been going over what he said in my head, and I think the admiral's the key.”
“So he is guilty. He not only fucked us over royally, but now he has your brother.” Gunnar had a one-track mind sometimes.
“No,” Ava answered with patience. “I combed through Grayson's garbled message, and he's frantic that we find Jack Keiser. The admiral will be able to tell us where Jack is. And once we have Jack, we can find Grayson.”
“How the hell does the admiral know where Keiser is? The asshole's been on the run for two weeks. No one's seen a hint of him anywhere. Even Morgan's contacts have struck out.”
“And the psychics won't rat out their own,” Gunnar added in a huff. “None of the bastards around here have any idea where he is. Like I believe that.”
“Trust me. Admiral London can help us with Jack.”
Jules stirred. “And why is that, Ava? What do you know that you aren't telling us?”
The others quieted. The attention directed on her felt uncomfortable, smothering.
Should she tell them the truth or cushion the blow?
“Ava, dammit. Spill.” Gunnar flashed his fangs at her. He wasn't a happy camper.
“Jack Keiser is working for the admiral.”
Even to her own ears that sounded bad.
“Oh, come on, guys. That doesn't mean Lonnie's a traitor!”
“The hell it doesn't.” Gunnar muttered a few more choice words under his breath for the admiral.
“Seriously.” Ava leaned forward, pleading with at least Jules to believe her.
“Grayson showed me a few images of Jack meeting with Lonnie in secret. But the information passed between them implicated someone else. There was real worry on Lonnie's part to take care of us. Not take care of us as in kill us,” she snapped at Gunnar, reading his suspicions. She turned back to the others. “Look, this is about Grandma right now. Why do you think Grayson didn't try to send her his message?
He's worried about her. She's the one we really need to protect.” Ava tried to use compassion to aid her cause. “She's vulnerable. She loves Lonnie. And he loves her.
They've been together for years.”
Jesse flushed. “That's true. The, ah, vision I saw when I first met Mrs. Sharpe was of the pair of them from a long time ago. And they were really friendly. Naked friendly.”
Gunnar grimaced. “Shit, man. Did that need to be said out loud?”
“The point is, Grandma isn't looking at anything with clarity right now. She needs us to be her eyes and ears. We need to intercept Lonnie before he arrives the day after tomorrow and without her knowing. We need to handle him. Not Alicia.”
Ava looked to Jules. “Trust me, when she goes postal, there's no one that can stop her. Not even Gunnar.”
Gunnar finally looked interested. “So what's she like when she changes? Does she look like you?”
Jesse added, “And just what can she do? Predict the future? Read minds, emotions? She seems to know a lot about stuff. Then she has gaps in other things that could really help us.”
Ava wanted to tell them but didn't want to violate her grandmother's confidence.
Jules said nothing. He simply waited for her to talk.
“You want answers? Fine. Help me deal with Lonnie. Hell, if you still don't believe him after he explains himself, I'll serve him to you on a silver platter.”
“First intelligent thing you've said all day,” Gunnar said with a smile.
“Jerk.”
“Witch.”
“Kids, can the love talk,” Jesse cut in. “I'm all for getting to the bottom of this.
And I'd love to talk to Jack again, face-to-face.” The dark grin he shot her gave her beast chills.
Though Jesse came across as charming and fairly civilized, he wouldn't tolerate a threat to his team.
“I'm in, but only because I want to know what the hell Mrs. Sharpe has been hiding.” Jules regarded Ava with a half smile. “You know, you and your grandmother are a lot more alike than I first thought.”
“Thanks,” she grumbled.
“Blackmail, threats, bits of information you dangle like a carrot. Oh yeah, you're definitely related.” Jules snorted and stood. “Fallon, let's go say good-bye to our mates. Tersch, you have your orders.”
Gunnar opened his mouth, but Jules glared him into silence. “No questions, no arguments. Just fucking do it.”
“Hell.” Gunnar grumbled and sank lower in his seat, defeated.
“I guess that's as close to 'aye-aye' as I'm gonna get.” Jules kissed Ava's forehead before heading out. “Keep an eye on him, honey. He gets surly when he hasn't bitten anyone in a while.”
Jesse snickered.
“Laugh it up, pretty boy,” Gunnar snapped at him. “I'd love nothing more right now than to bite your sorry ass.”
“Bye, guys.” Ava pushed Jesse out the door before he could screw with Gunnar.
She turned to face her mate and waited. When he said nothing, she asked, “Well?
What were your orders?”
“To babysit you. Happy you asked?”
“Oh yeah, I'm just thrilled to be paired with a hulking, sulking Circ with an attitude problem. Thank you, Jules.” Yes! Finally, an excuse for him to stick by me.
Gunnar can’t ignore me now. Still, she didn't want to appear grateful. Gunnar seemed to like her best when he thought he was getting on her nerves. Probably because he felt safer that way, more distant.