Page 112 of The Triangle

I lower my gun. Danny turns back to look at me. I nod.

“Sure, bru. Let’s fokken go.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT - DANNY

Alec van den Berg doesn’t scare me.

We have… done things together. And at no point while doing any of those things did he ever act like anyone other than who he is.

A self-absorbed asshole who thinks he owns the world.

A guy who has no fear of anyone or anything, and that kind of shit is contagious when you’re on the same side.

He’s not afraid of me. I’m not afraid of him.

We have no fear of anyone.

But the truth is—Alec and I have never been on opposite sides. Not really. I left, did my thing. He stayed, did his thing. Paths didn’t cross again. So I’ve never actually seen him the way I see him now.

He stares at the man on the ground behind me. The glint of confidence and occasional mischief that usually lights his eyes is gone. They are hollow and dead.

In this moment I am afraid for less than a second. It actually takes a beat of my heart to remember we’re on the same side.

“Brasil Lynch, then, eh?” he says, still not looking at me.

And then I remember… we’re actually not.

I run my fingers through my hair, giving myself a moment to practice picking my way through the minefield I’m gonna cross. “Yes, I sold you out. But bru”—and I smile here. Not to disarm him or anything, just to be a dick—“it was a half-hearted attempt. Trust me. There was no scenario where I actually took you back to that asshole.”

He turns to glare at me finally. Nostrils flaring. Amber eyes not as hollow as I thought. They’re actually burning with hate.

And in that moment, I know how other people see him. People who are not me. Not Christine.

But the way I know him is just… the way I know him. So that version fades, if it was ever there to begin with.

“This really how you wanna spend this time?”

Another beat of hate as he continues to glare. And I know him so well, have seen him in every scenario imaginable, that I can read his mind.

He’s ticked off ten ways to kill me. Maybe three ways to torture me before that happens. Where he’ll leave my body, what curse he’ll mutter as he stands over me, how he’ll justify it to Christine, how he’ll go on when it’s over.

And then he’s back.

Just Alec.

I shrug again. Consider all the things I should probably say to him. Things like… I knew you’d come. I just needed a way out of Brasil’s office so I could get back to Christine and be there when you did. I love you, you know I fucking love you. Shit like that. True shit.

“We can dissect it later. But right now…”

“They’re gone, man,” he says, looking around at the carnage. “Lost in the forest like fokken Red Riding Hood.”

“Yeah, but…” I kinda laugh. It’s so inappropriate, but I can’t help it. I’m just Danny. And then I dig into my pocket, pull out my phone again, and tab an icon. “I know where she is, bru.” I wave the phone at him. “Do you think I was worried about the fucking GPS signal the whole drive up here because my Boy Scout sensibilities were being violated? No. Asshole. I have a tracker on her.”

There’s a long moment before he says, “Say again?”

“The sweatpants she has on. I have a beacon tacked into the leg.”

He looks at me like I’m crazy. That’s fair.