Page 72 of My Cruel Salvation

As he’d hoped, she grinned. “Well, in that case, I really will make muffins.”

As Ellie walked Brandy to her car, he and Tamra went over some thoughts on how to spin the Walt litigation. By the time they finished, Ellie had rejoined them.

“We can go soon, too,” he said as he composed a new text. “I just want to pull Lamar in on the Walt side of things.”

“A detective?” Tamra asked. “It’ll be Lamar’s job to investigate you.”

“I trust Lamar to do the right thing and to investigate the shit out of this case,” Devlin said. “The police deserve to have all the facts as well.”

Tamra frowned, but ultimately nodded.

“Honestly,” Ellie began, “We’re not going to know anything until we find out something about the text or they send another one. There are too many possibilities. The timing may suggest Walt, but it also suggests Christopher or one of Blackstone’s lieutenants.”

“That’s true,” he agreed. “Except for the fact that I wasn’t on that mission. And Blackstone didn’t know about Saint’s Angels. That much seems pretty clear from the documents that the team found in his home. Which means his men wouldn’t have reason to believe that I was behind the assault.”

“Devlin,” Ellie said, “don’t be naive. Of course they would. He’d been harassing you. He’d been pulling your strings with regard to the security breaches for months. Saint’s Angels went in, sure, but nobody there would know their affiliation. Only that someone finally bested Joseph Blackstone. And anybody paying attention would assume—quite rightly—that it was you who pulled the trigger.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Before…

“I understand, General.” Alex stood at attention in front of the gray-haired man. His title was General, but Alex knew that he wasn’t serving. Not anymore. Maybe not ever. He was one of those commanders who looked like he served in the military, but actually served in secret. In the kind of organization that hid in the shadows. The kind that movies made up, thinking they were fiction, but they really weren’t.

“You understand the ramifications?” the general asked. Alex nodded. Right then, the government was offering him the deal of a lifetime. Something he had fantasized about, that he was certain he could never pull off entirely on his own. “Absolutely. I think I’ve made clear that this is a mission I am more than eager to take on.”

For a moment, the general stayed at his desk. Then he pushed back and stood. He came around the desk and put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “You’re a good soldier. We won’t be losing you forever. But some people will. You can live with that?”

“Yes sir.” Alex answered with hesitation, but even as he spoke, he knew it was a lie. The general had come to him with a scheme for accomplishing something he had always wanted to take care of, and Alex would be eternally grateful. He would willingly accept the help, and in payment, he would carry out the missions, committing three years of his life in exchange for the help he needed. But some of the parameters weren’t acceptable. That, however, was something he intended to keep to himself. He’d learned a lot of things over the course of his life, and one of them was how to keep a secret, and how to choose confidantes who would keep that secret too.

So all he said now was, “I’m ready, sir.”

“Tomorrow then. 0800. Report to Mr. Johnson.” He stuck out his hand for Alex to shake, the action startling him, since it was such an un-military like gesture. Alex resisted the urge to salute, and instead took the other man’s hand firmly in his.

“We understand that this is something you want, but we also acknowledge that you’re making a big sacrifice. We thank you. Your country thanks you.”

Alex nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

“Have you decided on what your name will be?”

“Saint,” Alex said. “My new name will be Devlin Saint.”

“So you’re really going through with it?”

“Do you think I shouldn’t?” Alex asked, looking at his friend Ronan, the only one with whom he’d shared the secret. So far, anyway.

“No. I’m completely on board,” Ronan said. “It just feels like something out of the Bourne books.”

Alex laughed. Ronan wasn’t wrong.

“You’re clear on the parameters?”

Ronan cocked his head and looked down his nose at Alex. “What do you think?”

Alex laughed. Ronan was the most capable man he knew. And he was glad he would have him on his team when this was all over. He hadn’t decided who else would ultimately join him. He was going to talk to Tamra for sure. That would be a little dicey. She wasn’t in the military, so she couldn’t be an active part of the team he was putting together. But he thought she was a good choice as a coordinator. Someone who could help him with both sides of the world he wanted to build. The secret side and the public side. A public side that would try to solve the world’s problems with philanthropy and education. A secret side with a similar goal, but much different methods.

“And you’re okay with doing this?” Ronan asked. “The price they want you to pay.”

“I am. Hell, it’s been a fantasy of mine my entire life.” Ronan knew the story of Alex’s life. Who his father was, how he escaped to the military by telling The Wolf that he was joining up to gain respectability as well as skills. So that he could hide better in plain sight and further his father’s business. That, of course, was a lot of bullshit.