Page 132 of Split You Open

I turn my attention back to unscrewing the plaque attached to the drone that’s preventing me from getting into the interface and to the information we’re looking for.

“I wish I’d done better about where to aim,” Ledger admits, grimly, bringing my attention back to him. “But my first instinct was to destroy these things, not save them.”

Out of the three drones Ledger dragged back to the cabin, only one wasn’t a complete loss. But one is better than none and I’m determined to salvage what we can from this hunk of metal.

My shoulders lift and then drop heavily as I sigh. “There’s no guarantee that this will give us a suitable lead, anyway.”

“It better give us something,” Ledger growls.

I can’t agree more. How much longer can we live like this? Always on edge and bracing for trouble.

“If it doesn’t?”

The first screw comes off, and I resist heaving a sigh of relief.

I don’t want to jinx the other three screws.

Ledger hums thoughtfully as he reaches up to tug at his facial hair.

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Anchor has so many enemies that my knee jerk reaction was to go back through all the jobs he took, that Blair can recall, to see if there were any loose ends that he may have missed. From there, we could follow each lead to see who has the means to go after Anchor with this much force.” Ledger shakes his head. “But this feels too personal. It would have to be someone closer to him. Someone we may have enlisted together with, perhaps? Or someone he did a tour with? I hate to think one of our own brothers would turn on us but…”

Ledger’s voice trails off as he turns and stares at the crackling fire.

I wait for him to continue but he doesn’t.

“But what?” I urge.

“What Ledger is implying is that Dad isn’t all that easy to be around,” Blair answers without looking away from the grill. “He could have easily said the wrong thing around the wrong person and pissed them off.”

Ledger sighs. “Anchor’s always been kind of a loner. Smart, skilled, and has patience unmatched by anyone else I’ve ever met—the man is a perfect killing machine. But he never did really learn how to be around others in situations outside of warfare.”

“But you guys are friends, right?” I counter. “How come you two get along so well?”

“Because Ledger has no moral compass—just like the infamous Anchor,” Wes offers as he walks over to Blair to hand her something he’d grabbed from inside. “As we’ve all bared witness to.”

Rhett, who’s sitting and stewing in a chair by the fire, grunts his agreement.

Blair shoots Wes a glare. “Excuse me? My dad has a moral compass.”

“Not what I heard, baby girl,” Wes objects.

“You don’t know him.”

“I don’t have to—his infamy says a whole fucking lot about him. He’s someone who doesn’t give two shits about life,” Wes counters.

Blair opens her mouth but Rhett scoffs loudly. Pushing himself up and out of his seat, he turns to glare at her. “The things I heard directly from you about him let me know that he’s a fucking psychopath.”

Wes nods his agreement. Ledger presses his mouth into a tight, disapproving line but he doesn’t object.

I look at Blair curiously. “Cariño, your dad’s a psycho?”

“No!” she objects, affronted. “He was just determined to make sure I learned life lessons and⁠—"

“Your dad drowned you for fun,” Rhett interrupts. “I’d say that’s pretty fucking spot on for psychopath behavior.”

A terrible chill sweeps through me as I gasp in horror.

Wes visibly flinches before giving Blair a pained look. “He did what?”