“Knock yourself out. Knox and I will meet with Montgomery, and the rest of you can do some shopping.”
Dani gathered her papers. “I’ll go get Rainbow.”
Rafe started for the door. “I’ll let Mace know. See if he needs anything.”
As they scattered, Maya hovered next to Gray. “Are you gonna come, too?”
After his conversation with Mace—and his friend’s subsequent meltdown—the last thing he wanted was to be in a crowd, surrounded by people. But as Maya stared up at him with big eyes and a shy smile, he found himself unwilling—unable, even—to disappoint her.
He was going to be hurting her enough already by dying.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” he assured her. “But I’ve never been before. You’ll have to show me around.”
Her smile grew. “It’s a deal.”
NINA
On Market Day, Jaden Montgomery held court on a raised platform overlooking the bustling maze of stalls and tables that spread out to fill his little corner of Atlanta. The half walls of the gazebo-like structure dampened some of the noise—voices and laughter, crates slamming together, even chickens clucking—but didn’t block it out completely. So while vendors and shoppers went about their business below, Jaden sat up here, tending to his own.
And there was plenty of it. People came to Oakland from all over Atlanta to speak with him. Some needed favors, and others wanted him to invest in their ventures. Still others had disputes for him to settle, interventions that both parties had agreed for him to mediate.
It was easy to see why people considered him an authority figure. His practical and financial influence was readily displayed by the market he oversaw. In addition to vendors who flocked to the site to take advantage of the foot traffic, the market was filled with goods his band of smugglers had attained at great personal risk. Plus, he was a big man, powerful in every sense of the word. His stern countenance made it seem like he was always glowering, even when he smiled.
Or maybe it only seemed that way to Nina because he loathed her.
It wasn’t fair, but she understood. Fair didn’t usually come into play when matters of the heart—especially jealousy—were involved. And Jaden Montgomery was one jealous son of a bitch.
The reason for that jealousy stepped forward to greet Nina and Knox when they approached the platform. “Nina!” Dakota grasped her upper arms and pressed a fond kiss to her cheek. “It’s good to see you.”
“You, too.” Nina returned the gesture and studied her friend and former lover. Dakota’s dark, curly hair was pulled back from her face, and dark circles shadowed her brown eyes. “You look exhausted.”
“Long run. And by the time we made it back, it was a hustle to get ready for this morning.” She glanced over at Knox, tilted her head, and smiled. “Who’s this?”
At least Knox didn’t seem jealous. He smiled, warm and easy, and held out a hand. “Garrett Knox. Nina rescued me.”
“Yeah, she’s good at that.” Dakota shook his hand then raised both eyebrows at Nina. “He’s cute.”
“And he knows it.”
Dakota burst out laughing. At the back of the gazebo, where he sat in his big chair that might as well have been a throne, Jaden’s glower deepened.
Nina tilted her head toward him. “Your boss is looking stormy today. He hasn’t forgiven me for romancing you.”
“Ignore him. He’s naturally cranky.” She rolled her eyes, then gestured for them to follow and led them through the small crowd. “Jay, you remember Nina.”
Jaden leaned back in his chair, one elbow resting on the arm, his eyes filled with lazy arrogance. The sun burnished his deep-brown skin, and even dressed in denim and flannel and his hair cut with military precision, he managed to look like a king already bored by an interloper.
His gaze skimmed dismissively over Nina before jumping to Knox. His brow furrowed. Next to her, Knox tensed. The two assessed each other in increasingly fraught silence as the promise of violence filled the space between them.
Dakota sighed, perched on the other arm of Jaden’s chair, and leaned in close to his ear. “It’s customary to greet guests, asshole.”
The tension broke with his abrupt, booming laugh. “Even when it’s your ex-girlfriend dragging some fucking TechCorps muscle behind her?”
“Former TechCorps muscle,” Knox corrected mildly.
“I assume former if you’re running with Nina,” Jaden shot back. “She’s a pain in the ass, but she’s no traitor.”
Coming from him, it was a definite compliment. Well, as close as Nina was going to get. “Thank you, Jaden.”
Dakota shook her head. “They’re here about that thing I told you about.”
“The children.” Jaden’s eyes froze over, and Nina realized that every glare of irritation had been just that—mild, casual. Because this?
This was anger.
He lifted one hand and crooked a finger. A massive bear of a man with pale skin, a buzz cut, and a spattering of silver in his reddish-brown beard straightened from where he’d been watching them and ambled over, his stern face breaking into a smile.
“Nina!”
“Lucas.” She grasped his outstretched hand and returned his half hug, half pat on the back.
“Been too long, girl.” He pulled back. “Tell me you brought Dani. I found a couple toys for her on my last run.”
Dani and Lucas enjoyed a casual, occasional sexual relationship that Rafe would no doubt despise. “She’s shopping.”
“I’ll find her.” Lucas pivoted to face Jaden. “What do you need, boss?”
“Nina has intel on another group trying to run cloned kids through our territory. I want them found.”
Nina handed over the data stick that Conall had prepared. “This is everything we have—surveillance footage, satellite imagery, every bit of information we were able to scrape together.”
Jaden rose from his chair. “I’m going to put out a call now, just in case. But if no one’s spotted them, I want you to run the whole network for her.”
“Got it.” Lucas tucked the data stick into his pocket and stepped aside to let Jaden pass. Jaden gathered Nina and Knox with a tilt of his head and led them away from the gazebo and around the back of the largest warehouse.
The well-worn path ran a few hundred yards through a field of wildflowers to the top of a small hill. At the end was a two-story log building that looked like someone’s rustic getaway cottage tucked between a few massive pine trees.
Knox tilted his head back, studying the tallest tree—and the way the sun reflected off something metallic high in its branches.
A radio tower.
Knox whistled softly. “How far can you broadcast with that?”
“Far enough.” Jaden flipped open a wooden box near the entrance and pressed his hand to a biometric scanner. The lock popped, and he hauled open the door. “It’s not about distance so much as coverage.”
“Multiple towers, you mean.” Nina studied the tower. It was well-camouflaged—expertly, even—but that didn’t mean jack shit when you were sitting in the TechCorps’ backyard. “They monitor your communications. They must. There’s no way they would just let you … have this.”