Beckett stepped into the room with his shoulders slightly slouched. His face had turned paler since we’d last seen him, other than the dark circles under his eyes that suggested he hadn’t slept well in days. He was wearing posh clothes like last time, but he hadn’t seemed to notice that the collar of his shirt had gone askew. His gaze darted around the room as if he thought we might lunge at him rather than welcome him.
“I—not exactly,” he said in a raw voice.
Gideon looked him over and reached for one of his spare mugs. “Coffee?”
The kid couldn’t have known how rare it was for the tech genius to offer up his precious brew, but he managed a hesitant smile. “Yeah, that might be good.”
Wylder motioned him to the chair the Noble heir had gotten out of and stood over him while Gideon poured the coffee. Kaige studied the Storm’s son too. “You look terrible.”
“Kaige,” I chided.
“It’s okay,” Beckett muttered, a little of his usual spirit coming back. “Tell it like it is.” He accepted the mug from Gideon and chugged about half the liquid in one go, not even wincing at the bitter flavor I could smell from a few feet away.
“Has something else happened at home?” I asked carefully. “It was a big risk coming all the way out here to see us in person, wasn’t it?”
“I didn’t know—it’s hard to tell what’s a risk and what’s not even in the house these days.” He took another gulp and stared morosely into the mug. “Things have gotten worse in all kinds of ways. Dad’s on edge—he’s freaking out over the trouble he’s facing here and looking for people to blame. I don’t really feel safe there anymore.”
My heart squeezed. He was still a kid, really. It wasn’t fair that he’d had to grow up so quickly.
Then Beckett raised his head, and I saw the man being forged beneath all the fear and uncertainty he was facing. He wasn’t beaten yet.
“I think I know how you can force him to back down. For good. That’s why I came here. I want this to finally be over.”
Wylder perked up. “You have a plan?”
Beckett nodded, but I could see the hesitation on his face. “You have to really trust me on this one.”
Gideon gave him a penetrating look. “More than we did before? What’s so special about this time?”
The kid dragged in a breath. “You’d have to confront my dad face to face.”
Wylder laughed for a second before it became clear to all of us that Beckett was serious. Wylder’s eyes narrowed. “How do you expect that to work? We know how powerful your dad is. We’ve been having a hard enough time dealing with his underlings here on our home turf. It’s not as if he’s going to sit down for a negotiation with us.”
The corner of Beckett’s mouth twitched with a hint of a wry smile. “That isn’t exactly how I’m picturing it. I can make it work—I’m your inside edge. I can get you to him in a way that’ll put you at an advantage. You just have to promise you won’t kill him. If you do things my way, he’ll listen. It’ll work; I’m sure of it.”
Hope rang through his voice, but my stomach had clenched. The same resistance showed on the expressions all around me. We’d already come face to face with one member of the Devil’s Dozen, and it hadn’t been a reassuring encounter. If we followed Beckett’s advice, we’d be putting our lives very literally in his hands.
“We need to talk about it,” Wylder said. “Just us. This is too big for us to jump right in without a full discussion.”
“I understand,” Beckett said. “You don’t trust me.”
“It isn’t just about trust. We’re the only line between our men and their total destruction. We have to think this through.” Wylder turned to his aunt. “Anthea, will you escort him outside? There were leftovers from dinner—Beckett looks like he might be hungry.”
Beckett’s mouth opened but closed again without a sound. His head drooping, he followed Anthea out into the hall.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Kaige whirled on us. “What the hell is he on? Going right up against the Storm head to head?”
“I don’t think he’s lying about believing this is our best chance at ending the conflict quickly,” Gideon said. “I hope he isn’t lying, because we need that.”
Wylder nodded. “His heart seems to be in the right place, but I don’t know how well he’s thought through the possible fallout. And what if he’s misjudged the situation? If we go into this confrontation, there might be no way to pull out before it’s way too late to save ourselves.”
“And we’re going to be relying on his inside intel to guide us.” Gideon made a face at his computer array. “I won’t be able to confirm everything he says to be sure the details add up.”
“We should at least hear the whole plan, shouldn’t we?” I put in. “We can’t make any definite decisions until we know exactly what he has in mind. We do need to do something, and fast.”
Kaige let out a huff. “But what if he’s setting us up to get assassinated? That’d be a quick way to end the fighting too.”
Wylder raised an eyebrow at him. “Not really, considering it’d only take out us and not my dad, who’s proven he’s got a stake in this war now too. All the information Beckett has given us so far seems to have been legit. I can’t imagine he’d have let us blow up his dad’s secret base and undermine his real estate business just to set us up for this. The only person who’s actually screwed us so far is Ezra Noble.” A hint of bitterness crept into his tone.