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“And how pleased are Red, Gold, and Blue you’ve been keeping this secret from them?”
“Pretty fucking unhappy,” he grunted.
Another nod.
“That was what Maddon wanted. Disorder within the teams. Dissention. Suspicion. Men distrusting their leader, because if he didn’t tell them about Black what else isn’t he telling them? It is no secret when Viper feels threatened he strikes. Maddon’s hope is, with Zane’s company in turmoil and no one there to talk him down, Zane will act out of emotion and activate Black. Dutch will follow orders, Badger will back that play because he’s been jonesing to take out Maddon for months. Three powerful men, reacting instead of planning. That’s chaos. That will lead to someone getting killed.”
She paused, brought her hands to her hips, and shook her head.
“Maddon sent a GB Team to take me in. Now imagine Black in that same situation, having to take out a good guy to protect themselves, to protect me or Zane or you. They’d do it. Their loyalty is with Black. But they’d die a thousand deaths and have to live knowing they took out a good man, who was just misguided.”
Fuck.
She wasn’t wrong about any of that.
“More chaos. More reacting. The war Zane would wage would be bloody. There would be no winner, just a bunch of good men dead for no fucking reason.”
“And you?” Smith rejoined. “Where do you fit in?”
“I’m inconsequential—”
“That’s a lie,” I cut in. “It seems to me, all of this revolves around you.”
“Does it, Easton, does it all seem to revolve around me? Because where I’m standing it looks a hell of a lot…” she trailed off, her head jerked to the side, and she got a faraway look in her eyes.
I glanced at Smith. He was studying Nebraska, eyes narrowed, looking just as perplexed as I was.
“Looks a hell of a lot like what?” I prompted.
“Where’s Badger?” She asked instead of answering.
“Hunting.”
Nebraska was rapidly shaking her head at Zane’s announcement. There wasn’t that much room separating us in the small living room but whatever space there was she quickly closed and stopped right in front of me.
“Call him home,” Nebraska demanded as she reached up and curled her hand around my bicep. The hand curl was an unconscious reaction to whatever had her so scared.
“As you’re well aware, that’s not my call,” Zane returned. His tone clearly communicated even if it was his call he wouldn’t make it.
Nebraska might’ve been aware, however I was not.
“Why isn’t that your call?”
“Black Team might fall under the umbrella of Z Corps’ protection but it is not my team, it’s Dutch’s. As you’re very aware it’s his team, his call.”
Nebraska’s fingers dug into muscle, her grip getting tighter and tighter as she continued to shake her head.
“Dutch will listen to you,” she disagreed. “You know he will. You’re his moral compass.”
Well fuck. If Zane Lewis was this Dutch dude’s moral compass we were all fucked. Not that Zane didn’t have one, he did—his pointed true North. The problem with that was Zane’s North tended to be other people’s South. Zane didn’t have moral dilemmas; the code he lived by didn’t allow for such things. There was honor, integrity, and loyalty. When you lived by those principles there were no dilemmas.
“Dutch is—”
“He’s playing into Maddon’s hands,” she interrupted Zane in a panic. “He’ll be ready for Badger. He’ll hide behind—”
“Do you know what your problem is?” Zane calmly cut in.
My arm jerked with Nebraska when she rocked back clearly unprepared for Z’s question. “In all this shit those two assholes taught you, they left out the most important lesson. They groomed you to be the best Mediator, the fixer they needed. I can’t say they didn’t do a damn good job leading you to hone in the skills your mother passed down to you. You are the best Mediator the Black Team has. You earned the respect of powerful people. You were fair in your negotiations. You’re fucking smart as hell and you see the field clearly. You understand the board, and move your pieces accordingly. It’s impressive. But you lack two skills and I suspect it’s because they lied to you and told you they were weaknesses. Trust and family.”
