“I’m always willing to talk.” Cord shrugged.

He knew what Jazz knew. It wouldn’t matter what Cord promised, the Kin would carry out the sentence. It was a check-and-balance system designed to ensure that certain laws within the Clan were never broken. The murder of a Clan member being rather high on the list. Phoenix should be aware of that and if he wasn’t, then Cord wasn’t required to inform him of it.

Moving stiffly, the elder Maddox limped back to the porch, and Jazz couldn’t help but let a mocking smile tug at his lips. He may act as though the fight hadn’t fazed him but his face looked like a bull had kicked it and he wasn’t moving easily. It would be a while before he forgot what it meant to piss Jazz off now.

Moving through the house, Jazz paused long enough to give Marcus and Essie the order to join Kenni in the bedroom.

A heavy steel door secured the basement from the upstairs while another secured it from the outside entrance. Locking both doors ensured Phoenix stayed where Slade and Zack had left him. Of course, the hard nylon wrist and ankle restraints helped ensure he didn’t escape.

Slouched in a hardwood chair, he sat morosely between the shelves of camping supplies on one side and several antique desks and sideboards on the other. In front of him Slade and Zack had pulled two chairs over to old wooden worktable Jazz sometimes used when repairing household appliances or lamps.

Moving to the table, Cord perched on a corner and stared back at Phoenix through one bloodshot eye. The other had already swollen closed.

“Jazz hits hard, huh?” Phoenix remarked despondently, more for something to say than anything else.

“What kind of deal do you want, Phoenix?” Cord wasn’t wasting any time on the other man.

Phoenix must have expected that, though, because he didn’t protest, just gave a small nod of his head before breathing in roughly.

“I know I’m dying as soon as I’m off Lancing’s property,” he stated without inflection. “I just want you to make sure I’m buried next to Colby. He was my twin. We’ve never been separated. I don’t want to be separated from him now.”

Cord just stared at him. Evidently, such sentiment from a man willing to kill another’s sister was a little hard to take in. Jazz knew it had shocked the crap out of him.

“Fine, I’ll bury both of you in the same hole, how’s that, Weston?” he finally snapped. “If you know who’s behind this and you have proof. Otherwise, I’ll have you buried on opposite ends of the planet. You got it?”

“I have proof,” he promised. “I told Colby we couldn’t trust her and he wouldn’t listen, but he helped me get proof, just in case. I have several meetings recorded and pictures of her killing Kin herself. I have everything you need. I swear.”

“Where is it?” Cord wasn’t taking chances.

“On the chain.” He lifted his neck to display a heavy gold chain with a small silver-and-black pendant. “The pendant slides open on the back. There’s a computer chip there. It has everything.”

“Convenient,” Cord murmured as Jazz moved to the other man and with a quick jerk of his hand snapped the chain from his neck.

Turning the pendant backward he saw the small catch that held the back on and released it. In it lay a small black micro SD card.

“Get Kenni,” Cord suggested. “Have her bring the laptop. She has a right to hear this.”

Turning, Jazz nodded to Slade to go after Kenni.

As Slade turned and moved quickly to the stairs, he turned back to Phoenix. “How did you get past my security?”

“She had one of the devices that overrides the security codes,” he answered, his voice thick with the tears that dripped down his face now. “She gave it to Colby and told him to make sure he returned it by this evening. She’ll be waiting for him.”

“Where?” Cord rasped, the rough tone of his voice a sound that assured a man death was coming soon.

Phoenix flinched.

“You’ll know once Kenni brings the laptop. You’ll know where to go.”

Glancing over at Jazz, Cord gave a brief nod as they waited.

Minutes later Slade escorted Kenni down the steps, laptop in tow, and led her to the table.

Her face was still far too swollen, but the ice she’d taken up with her seemed to have helped. Her eye wasn’t totally swollen shut, and the bruising seemed to have stopped at the mottled-blue stage.

Bastards.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked, opening the computer and powering it up.

He gave a brief nod as he stepped to her. When the screen came up he handed her the micro SD to slide into the reader.

“Wait.” Phoenix’s voice had them pausing and looking back at him.

“You might want to have her wait to see it,” he suggested. “Warn her first.”

“I don’t need a warning,” she told him softly then activated the reader as she stared at the screen.

*   *   *

Maybe she had needed a warning.

Maintaining her composure would have been impossible if Jazz hadn’t been there. His arm slid around her back, giving her the support she needed to keep from falling when the first video began playing.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” Colby asked the slender, dark-haired woman.

Tiny almost to the point of being frail, her long dark hair trailing down her back, her composed features belying what she was ordering the men to do.

“Aren’t I always sure?” She smiled complacently. “I was sure when I ordered my sister’s death and I’m sure now that we know where that bitch daughter of hers is. Kill the marine too, Colby, we can’t afford to have him looking for vengeance.”

Colby sat back in his chair and smiled back at her. “I’ll take care of it, Luce. Now take care of me…” He was undoing his pants.

She didn’t need to see that. She couldn’t watch it. There were three video files, and dozens of pictures. The proof that Sierra Maddox’s sister had planned her death as well as her daughter’s was irrefutable. The end result was her marriage to Vinny Maddox and ultimately taking over the upper sect of the Clan called the Kin, rather than just the lower ranks of soldiers the Kin often used for backup or support.

For power. For the gold it was rumored the Maddox Clan had hidden in case of a national catastrophe as well as locations of other Clans and planned defense measures should the worst happen and America be invaded for whatever reason.

The locations and plans she had sold the second they were found. The gold she intended to move and keep for herself.

“She’s insane,” Cord finally sighed as Kenni closed the laptop silently, her hands resting on the lid to keep from clawing at Phoenix in rage.

“If Colby and I aren’t there in a few hours, she’ll know something’s happened,” Phoenix told them. “She has an escape plan out of the house to a small private airfield where she keeps a plane. She’ll fly out before you realize she’s left the mountain.”

“She’s not going anywhere,” Cord assured him. “You’ll be buried with your brother as you asked. You have my word on it.”

Phoenix nodded, tears still falling from his eyes as his head lowered and he sat silently, waiting. He’d just be released once they had Cord and Kenni’s aunt in custody. He’d be driven to the county line but Jazz sincerely doubted he’d make it more than a few feet before he met the business end of a Kin bullet.

“Upstairs,” Jazz growled, taking the laptop from the table and keeping his arm carefully around Kenni as he led her to the steps. “Let’s figure out how we’re going to handle it.”

*   *   *

They weren’t handling it without her.

Moving woodenly, Kenni told herself she was fine. She had everything in working order, and now that she knew the truth she could hold herself together. It was just a matter of a plan, and Cord was wonderful with plans.

But inside, deep inside, she knew the truth. When the break came, when the shield that had protected her since the night her mother had died shattered, the exposure of all she had lost and the pain she had pushed back might destroy her.