Page 68 of Deadfall

“You’re in over your head, girl,” Riggs snarled. “This is a suicide mission.”

“Please—there’s been plenty of things that have tried to kill me, but I’m still here.”

I could feel his eyes run down my scar and his lip twisted in a sneer.

“Falling on the playground doesn’t count, princess.”

My rage threatened to boil over and explode, but I knew that’s what he wanted. He wanted any excuse to prove he was right—that I was a child doing nothing more than throwing a tantrum.

I scowled at him. “You’re an asshole.”

Riggs edged closer until I had to look up at him. “Tell me something I don’t know, sweetheart.”

“Fuck you. Whatever this is—” I waved my hands at him and refused to back down. “—isn’t doing shit to intimidate me, or whatever it is you’re trying to establish, so back the fuck off. I will not be scared out of doing this.”

Riggs’ glare was glacial as he towered. I didn’t budge. Maybe a few years ago I would have clocked him, or exploded, or done any number of things differently. But, I was Sacha’s through and through, and I’d be damned if I was going to give in to my emotions and disrespect his training by losing control.

Riggs spun on his heels. “Fuck!” He shouted and stormed back to the living area where he turned back, jaw clenched, and pointed to the couch. “Sit down.”

“What?”

“Lev is right. Let’s have a conversation.” He chewed the word out like he didn’t like how it sounded.

“Why?”

“Sit the fuck down, Syn!” Riggs exploded.

“Fine.” I crossed my arms. “Then I’m leaving.”

I sat down reluctantly on the edge of the couch as Riggs looked up at the ceiling like he wanted to call in celestial help. Lev ran a hand over his face and with a resigned look, grabbed his tablet. Once he’d turned a few of his larger monitors to face us, he threw a few documents and images up and cleared his throat.

“Now, like I compiled on the tablet, Vetticus is a top level executive at Atrox, maybe even a possible co-owner—”

“Atrox?” Riggs grunted.

“Basically similar to an underground live action Call of Duty, or Battlefield, capture the flag situation where ex-military and, or, ex-law enforcement play for teams sponsored by rich elite. Oftentimes they are trafficked and forced into it. There are many leagues around the world, all under the Atrox umbrella.”

Riggs nodded and Lev continued. “It appears Albatron and Octavius are brothers. They also have a third brother, Basilion. I need more time to research them, but I found a few of their legal, public dealings and they basically have their hands in everything. Between the three of them, they have quite the empire. Including Atrox which they finance together—a little side hobby if you will. None of the brothers or Vetticus make public appearances. They are pretty much ghosts.”

“To avoid being hunted,” Riggs muttered.

“Exactly,” Lev said. “Men like that don’t take risks, and are exceptionally hard to isolate.”

“So, nothing helpful…” Riggs grumbled.

“Yes and no,” Lev held up a finger. “They seem to stay in their specific lanes. Octavius and Basilion mostly deal in drugs and trafficking, while Albatron pops up around weapons deals and black sites.”

Well, that wasn’t very encouraging. I knew I wanted to take them down and I knew it would involve a lot of work, but I hadn’t thought that it might involve taking down the people and organizations around them first. This was starting to sound like a long game operation. Before my mind could spiral around the possibilities, I felt Riggs’ attention.

I met his stare. “What?”

“Who the fuck did you piss off, girl?” He demanded.

“I didn’t piss off anyone,” I said.

Lev opened his mouth to continue, but Riggs held up his hand. “No. Before we go any further, I need to know why we’re doing all this.”

“I thought you said you didn’t want to get involved?” I snapped.