The Darkling Hunters: Fox Company Alpha (Fox Company Series Book 1) Read online

  “Walking dick-bag?” Dex chuckled. “Harsh.”

  “I’m serious,” Sydney said flatly. “You need to go.”

  “Not until you tell us what’s going on,” Sam said. His silver-gray eyes were hard as steel. Dex wore the same expression.

  Shit. They weren’t going to let this go. She couldn’t tell them the truth. Not now. Sydney growled with disgust, squeezing the bridge of her nose as she thought fast. “Fine. If you must know, I’ve been tracking a darkling…biker gang for the past six months.”

  “A darkling…biker…gang,” Dex said slowly.

  Sydney nodded, letting her hand fall to her side. “Yes. I met a darkling at Sturgis last year. Got myself involved with his crew and made a few friends. I’ve been trying to infiltrate their network, get close to the big boss man, so I can take the whole damn gang out of commission. And now that I’m this close,” she held her finger and thumb barely two centimeters apart, “you two yahoos come waltzing in here like you own the damn place. You’re lucky none of them recognized you for Feds, or we’d all be in deep shit right now.”

  “Why didn’t you report this to the Agency?” Sam demanded. “If there’s a whole damn gang of those bastards out there—”

  “When will you remember I’m not DEA?” Sydney snapped, letting her annoyance show. “I don’t answer to your government goat-fuckers.”

  Sam laughed, but Dex remained focused on her. “You could have reached out to us for help,” Dex said, eyebrows turned down in a scowl. “We’ve helped each other before. The DEA has resources.”

  She gave him a sardonic look. “I’ve been hunting darklings on my own for a very long time now. You may like your government red tape, but I sure as shit don’t. Besides, your resources are more of a distraction than anything else.” She was referring to the two of them, of course, but she didn’t say that part out loud.

  Dex passed a hand through his thick, short blond hair. “Well, we’re here now. Tell us about this darkling gang. We can back you up.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks,” Sydney said. “I’ve got face time with most of these assholes. You don’t. If I bring you on now, you’ll stand out like a pair of blind lesbians in a fish factory. Your version of backup will shoot my whole plan straight to hell.”

  “Isn’t that where darklings belong?” Sam said, eyes gleaming. “And you still haven’t told us what your plan is.”

  “That’s because you’re not involved in it,” she said too sweetly. She flicked both hands toward the door. “Go. Get out, now. It’s been long enough that the watchers will think we just had a quick fuck.” Dex’s jaw—and his jeans—seemed to tighten at the words “quick fuck.” For that matter, so did Sam’s. Sydney told herself she didn’t notice. “No one will suspect you of being anything more than a couple of horny johns out for a hot date. But if you stay here any longer, they’ll come sniffing. I can’t afford that, and neither can you.”

  “Is that how you got ‘face time’ with these bastards?” Sam said in a low, angry voice. “By letting them think you’re a real hooker?”

  Sydney met his eyes, expression blank. “What I do on my own time is none of your damn business, Spencer. One of the perks of not working for the Agency is I don’t have to play by your rules.”

  She expected Sam to explode with rage. But it was Dex, not Sam, who took a half-step forward, fists clenched. Dex’s green-flecked brown eyes flashed with murderous intent. “Did they rape you?” His voice came out nearly inhuman.

  Sydney scoffed. “Do I look like a girl who mistakes her boobs for brains? I can take care of myself, in case you’ve forgotten. Now get the hell out, before I have to prove it to you.”

  Dex looked like a teakettle about to explode—face red, hands shaking, chest heaving. Sam, normally the more volatile of the two, looked unnaturally calm. He stared at her out of those steel gray eyes, saying nothing, while Dex seemed to be fighting to remember how to speak.

  Finally, Sam stood straight, pushing away from the door. “You’re gonna have to.”

  She frowned. “Have to what?”

  “Prove it.” Silver flashed in his eyes. “Tell us what you’ve been planning. Tell us how you intend to take this darkling gang down. Prove to us you’ve got this whole thing mapped out, including your escape plan.” He paused, took a deep breath, and said, “If we’re satisfied, we’ll leave you to it.”

  Dex whirled on him. “The fuck we will! We’re not leaving her here alone with a whole damn gang of those freaks.”

  “And we won’t,” Sam said, voice mild despite the iron behind his eyes. “Unless she can prove she truly doesn’t need our help.”

  “You can’t be serious—”

  “How would you feel if Boss came rolling up and ruined six months of our planning?” Sam said quietly. Dex flinched a little. “That’s what I thought. Let’s hear her out, man. She saved our lives enough times we owe her that much.”

  “It’s because she saved our lives I don’t want to leave her to face this alone,” Dex said through gritted teeth.

  “Her is standing right here, jackass,” Sydney snarled. “And last time I checked, I don’t answer to you.”

  “But we have to answer to Boss, who is going to wonder why we abandoned our mission without even starting it,” Sam said, reasonable against her snark. “If we tell him it’s already been handled, he’s gonna ask how.”

  Sydney flipped a dismissive hand. “You have to answer to that talking penis pump. I don’t.”

  Dex did a double-take, his face screwing up with distaste. “Sorry. I just had a mental picture of a walking dick-bag carrying a talking penis pump.”

  Sydney laughed, then schooled her expression back into a scowl. “I’m being serious.”

  “So am I,” Dex said. He shuddered dramatically. “Penis pumps shouldn’t talk. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “Focus,” Sam said, but his lips twitched as if he held back a smile. “Start talking, Syd. Or we start ordering room service.”

  Sydney clenched her fists, her whole body tightening with the need to scream at them. But she knew these guys—knew them better than they thought she did. If they thought for one second she needed their help, they’d never walk out the door again.

  And that, quite simply, would not do.

  So she gritted her teeth, forced her shoulders to relax, and leaned back against the TV table. Better make it good, or these guys won’t buy it. Just enough truth to make it plausible. Should have gotten that damned theatre degree. And the Academy Award goes to…

  “Fine. But you have to promise you’ll leave the moment I’m done.”

  “Not unless you—” Dex started heatedly, but Sam said, “Start at the beginning,” at the exact same time.

  She rolled her eyes and did the latter. “The guy I met in Sturgis last year, his name was Alex Hayworth. Born darkling, never even tried to fit the social mold, yadda yadda yadda. We got to talking, and I convinced him I was safe to be around—meaning he didn’t have to try to hide what he was around me.”

  She paused, waiting to make sure they understood her meaning. Both men nodded grimly—they’d gone the under-cover route themselves in times past, so they knew what she’d been up against. Syd gave them both a sour smile.

  “He knows I’m not darkling, but he likes looking at my ass, so he starts getting sweet on me. Tries to get me to come along with him when he leaves Sturgis, saying he’s got big plans. He tells me there’s a hot street gang out in Memphis he’s hoping to win his way into, and I’m thinking he means on the down-low—you know, just one of the guys, raising some hell. But it turns out he wants to join ‘cuz he heard about this guy who calls himself the Big Man, some big-time player in the evil criminal scene—and word is, he’s a darkling, too. So, I get curious.”

  “Naturally,” Dex said, deadpan.

  She ignored that. “I follow Alex down to Memphis, and we meet up with this biker gang. We ride with them for a while, getting to know each other and all that business. Bu
t, there’s no sign of this supposed Big Man character, so I start making plans to leave. Then, out of the blue, Alex says they’re heading up to Montana because that’s where the Big Man actually lives. I’m curious by this point, so I say why not. We pack up and head back north.”

  “Oh good, another darkling road trip,” Sam said. Dex just snorted again.

  She ignored that, too. “So we get up here, and there’s still no sign of this big bad darkling boss. I’m thinking we’re being set up, and I tell Alex so. Alex gets pissed and goes off to confront the leader of the gang. This other guy’s not a darkling, but he’s mean enough to be. Alex, the dumbass, assumes all regular humans are just pussies, so he tries to call him out.

  “Gang leader kills him—splatters him across the parking lot, right there in front of a Denny’s. Then this guy turns to me and asks if I want to ride with him instead. Of course, I said yes.”

  “Dear Lord, keep me from strangling this woman,” Dex muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

  She flashed her teeth again. “We start riding all over the place—Utah, Southern Cali, Arizona, back up to Montana. I get to meet several more gangs, get to know a few more of these guys. Each gang has a few darklings, but there’s no sign of the Big Man character. I start sniffing around for more info—quietly, of course. Find out the leader of my gang has been trying to catch the big boss’ attention for several years now, without much success.”

  “What’s your leader’s name?” Dex asked.

  “Simon Porter,” Syd replied. “Goes by Port-scythe, ‘cuz he thinks it makes him sound more badass.”

  “Of course, he does,” Sam said with an eye-roll. “So, how’d you end up out here?”

  “I’m getting to that,” Syd said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She crossed her arms. “I start working my magic on Simon, making myself indispensable. I convince him he needs more guys like Alex, not fewer, if he wants to get the boss’ attention. So we start riding, gathering a few new guys here and there, but nobody big-shot enough to make a scene. I start losing hope this is ever gonna work, and start making exit plans.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Then, we hit the jackpot.”

  “Oh, I’m just going to love this, aren’t I?” Dex grumbled, crossing his arms again so that his muscles bulged way too enticingly.

  Syd chuckled. “To each his own, my jarhead friend. I’ve always been more of a thrill-seeker than you are. Do you want me to finish the story, or not?”

  “Please do,” Dex said in disgust. “I haven’t had nearly enough heart attacks for one day.”

  She settled her ass against the low table, smirking. “We’re sitting in this bar up in Missoula when this big biker dude walks in. Darkling, no doubt about it. He walks right over to us—and asks me if I want to bring my gang to meet the Big Man.”

  “Your gang,” Sam repeated slowly.

  She shrugged, nonchalant. “Yeah, well, Port-scythe ain’t the brightest crayon in the box. I was running circles around him from the moment we met. While he was making playdates with local gangs, I was putting the word out there was a rival for the boss’s position waiting in the wings.”

  Dex whimpered.

  Syd grinned. “Hey, it worked, didn’t it? Made the Big Man’s minions come sniffing. I take this darkling guy at his word—his name is Rylan Marcus, in case you want to know—and he tells me to meet him in Boulder in two weeks’ time. I go, bringing all my now-loyal guys with me—”

  “Wait, what does that mean?” Dex demanded.

  She raised an eyebrow. “It means I got rid of the competition. Haven’t you been paying attention?”

  Dex started cursing, hot and low beneath his breath. Sam just looked grim. “Go on.”

  “I get myself to Boulder, and I’m given the star treatment. Big fan-fair, all the bells and whistles. They think I’m a badass, naturally, and they’re trying to impress the shit out of me. I pretend it works, and they fall for my charms.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake…” Dex groaned.

  “Finally,” she said, “I get invited to meet another guy who works for the Big Man. And this dude—guys, I’m telling you, he’s the real deal. One-hundred-percent darkling, down to the bone. Worst I’ve ever met. Name is Jasper Thomas, and he says he’s a captain in the Big Man’s personal army. He likes me on sight, and he promises to introduce me to the Big Man personally. I’m thinking I hit the jackpot, and I start on a plan to take him out.”

  “I’m guessing that’s where we barged in,” Sam said, sounding even more grim.

  She tilted her head. “Yes, and no. See, I originally just planned to take out him and his personal minions, then hunt the rest of the fuckers down one-by-one. But it turns out, I don’t have to do that.”

  “Why not?” Dex asked, reluctance vying with curiosity in his tone.

  This time, she let her grin go full force. “Because he’s going to bring them to me.”

  Both men stared at her, stunned.

  She chuckled. “I probably got that deer-in-the-headlights look too, when I first found out about it. See, it turns out this Big Man—that’s really what they call him—has a regular get-together planned every few years.”

  “Where?” Sam demanded.

  She poked a thumb westward. “Remember the little two-stoplight berg you passed on the way up here? The namesake of this dingy scrap of real estate? Big Man owns the whole town—down to the last nut, bolt, and screw. He’s there now, matter of fact; you probably passed him, sitting in his Mustang at the all-night drive-through. I’ve seen him from a distance but haven’t had a chance to get close. Every few years, he kicks out the locals and calls his boys in for a meet-and-greet. And from what I can tell, he’s the baddest of the bad—like a darkling overlord, if you can believe it. The rest of them? They answer to him. And there are a lot of them who answer his call.”

  “How many?” Dex’s voice came out scratchy, as if his throat was dry.

  She met his gaze. “A hundred. Maybe a few more. And yes, before you ask, they’re all darklings.”

  Both men looked sick.

  Sydney let the implications sink in for a moment, then met both their eyes. “In six days, this whole area is gonna be overrun by darkling scum. And after they’ve conveniently bunched themselves together for me, I’m gonna do what needs to be done. Either one of you got a problem with that?”

  “In theory, no,” Sam said, cocking his head. “But how do you plan to take out that many scum-suckers all by yourself?”

  “Need to know information,” she said, slashing a hand sideways for emphasis. “I’ve told you what I’m doing here, and what I’m planning to do. Now, get the fuck out.”

  “Except the deal was,” Dex growled, “you tell us what you plan and how you plan to escape. I haven’t heard that part of the story, have you, Sam?”

  “No, I think she conveniently forgot to mention that part,” Sam replied.

  “The less you know, the better,” she said pointedly.

  Sam and Dex stared at her—and then Sam sighed. “Meaning your plan involves breaking a shit-ton of laws,” He ran both hands over his face. “All right, we get it. Come on, Dex. Let’s go.”

  The other man gaped. “You cannot be serious right now.”

  Sam glanced at her, then gave his partner a shrug. “We said she needed to convince us she’s got things well in hand. Well, I’m convinced.”

  “I’m fucking not,” Dex snarled. He took two steps toward his partner, fists clenched as if he might take a swing. “You seriously think I’m going to leave her here to face over a hundred darklings by herself?”

  “Would you rather face the prospect of arresting her after they’re dead?” Sam said, raising an eyebrow. “Come on, man. Be reasonable. She is right about one thing—she’s got less red tape to deal with. You and I can bend the rules, but we sure as shit can’t break them. And besides, what we don’t know won’t kill us, but it will kill them. Far as I’m concerned, that’s all I need to know.”

  �
�Thank you,” Sydney said, meaning it. “If it helps, I promise I won’t be in any more danger than usual.”

  “Oh, well, that just makes me feel so much better,” Dex said acidly. His eyes looked angry enough to burn through steel as he glared at his partner. “You cannot seriously think I would agree to this.”

  Sydney sighed. “Dex, look at me.”

  He flinched at her tone, refusing to obey.

  “Look at me,” she said softly.

  Dex’s shoulders clenched along with his jaw. He didn’t move.

  “Look at me,” she whispered a third time, walking forward until she stood right in front of him. She waited, heart pounding, until he finally looked her in the eye. For the first time since she met the two of them, she dropped the badass act. She let him see the real her—or as close as he could see, anyway—and waited until his expression softened before cupping the side of his face with one hand. She stared into his eyes, feeling his pulse through her palm.

  “Your instincts are screaming for you to defend and protect, and that’s one of the things I like best about you. But right now, I need you to listen, and really hear me this time, okay? I’ve got this. I promise. I can handle myself, Dex. You know I can. But for me to get this done, I need both of you to get out of here. Not because I couldn’t use your help—I’m sure I could find a way for you to be useful—but because right now, I can’t do what I have to do if I have to worry about you guys ruining your reputations because of something I started.”

  “Our standing with the Agency is worth a lot less than your life,” Dex said hoarsely. His eyes were too bright.

  “Not to me,” she said simply. “I do what I have to do because I don’t have any other choice. You guys are out here because you want to make the world a better place. That means something to me, even if it doesn’t seem that way to you right now. Let me finish this, alone. You guys can call your cavalry afterward and pick up where I left off. Your reputations will stay intact, and I can go on knowing you guys are still wearing those non-existent badges. Hear me?”