Page 130 of Zeus

"Fury," he says, crossing the room quickly toward me.

I shake his hand when he offers it to me, and thankfully, he doesn't mention the condition I'm in, although he already made his thoughts clear.

"Zayne," I tell him.

"Welcome aboard," he says before finding a seat.

This was the guy who had been part of the original plan to join me on this last mission. I can also tell by the easy smile on his face as he chatters with others that his role would've been too similar to mine, and the switch with Zeus instead was the better choice.

A few other unfamiliar faces are sitting around, and I don't have a clue whether they were working when I arrived or are newcomers since we've been gone.

I try to pull faces from memory, an effort to recall if they were included in the personnel dossier I was given, but my mind is still refusing to work in full capacity.

"First order of business," Hemlock says as the three men at the front take a few steps away from each other, their conversation over. "A couple of new guys here. Johnny B and Cyrus joined us last week."

"Johnny B," one of the guys I didn't recognize says, raising his hand.

"Cyrus," the other guy says, doing the same thing.

So I wouldn't have been alone in the other house. Knowing that irritates the hell out of me, and I make a mental plan to get to my own room and out of Zeus's space as soon as this meeting is over.

"We're working on trying to get another member to join our team right now," Hemlock continues.

"Who?" someone asks, but I don't risk the pain it would cause to turn in the direction of the voice to find out.

Hemlock shakes his head. "Until membership is final, I'm not going to disclose their name."

Chatter begins among the guys, each of them curious about who it might be.

"Let's talk about The League of Liberty compound," Hemlock says. "Casper, the stats?"

The massive television behind him lights up, faces and stats on men I recognize from our time there.

"Forty-two arrests," he continues, going over the macro stats on the screen. "Fourteen casualties."

I recognize the three men Zeus left the compound meeting with that morning. He gave me some details about what happened and how Nyx was involved, but I got the feeling there was more to the story than he was saying. I didn't press for details because he didn't seem like he wanted to talk about what went down in the first place. I wasn't going to risk him shutting down and refusing to tell me anything.

"Our top guy," Hemlock says as an image of Bobby fills the screen. "Robert Jones opted to face the devil rather than federal charges."

The room once again fills with opinionated grunts on the subject. I can tell some think this is the best thing that could happen, some wish he had to face punishment for the pain he has caused, and some seem disappointed they weren't the ones who got to blow his head off.

"His computer was recovered, but he ran a program on it before we could get to him that corrupted a lot of the information. Casper is working with the FBI to get what information they have found," Hemlock continues. "As of right now, we've found no link between the LOL and Nathan Adair."

I glance in Jericho's direction, knowing he has more involvement with him than any other man in the room.

He's quiet, his entire body still, but I can tell by the look on his face that he's still very much unimpressed with Adair.

"Sixty-one women were recovered from the compound," Hemlock continues. "Including missing teens Regina Banks and Candice Rogers."

I recognize both faces, the second one being the girl Bobby had with him that first night at the fire pit.

"Forty-three have been identified, and we are working to reunite them with family or friends," Hemlock says. "Eighteen have remained unidentified."

"Seventeen," Casper corrects.

I grip the armrests on my chair when the sad, crying face pops up on the screen.

Peaches.