Read No Peace for the Damned for Free Online

had control over my powers. And I’d be damned if I let what I felt for him distract me again.

It was still early in the evening when the sliding, crunching sound of cars on gravel came from outside. One of the hidden security monitors in the bedroom beeped twice. I grabbed my whiskey and waited in the kitchen.
    Wonder if they will bother knocking, or just come right in?
    A single beep sounded when footsteps hit the front porch. Everything was quiet for a minute, then they knocked.
    “It’s open.”
    They entered the kitchen in a single-file line. It was everyone from the meeting, minus Chang. Each one of them stared me down as they silently flowed into the cramped kitchen. Those who sat down did so in exactly the same order they had in the Thirsty Turtle’s conference room.
    Their faces were practiced blanks, every one of them completely devoid of expression.
Good
. They were tough, not dwelling on the trauma of my memory. They might actually be able to handle what I was going to tell them.
    “Where is Thirteen?” Shane asked. He sat in one of the seats across from me, his thick arms crossed over his chest, his long blond hair hanging in his eyes. When I turned to him, his expression wavered, a flash of anger peeking through. He was seriously pissed off at me but his thoughts weren’t giving specifics as to why.
    “He and Banks are picking up some food,” I answered. “They’ll be here any minute.”
    And thank God for that
.
    Not that the room’s awkwardness bothered me, but there was absolutely no food in the house. And I was starving. In fact, besides toilet paper, there were hardly any of the essentials. I’d brought my own whiskey, but with only two bottles left, even that was in short supply.
    That reminded me. “Does, um, anyone want a drink?”
    As soon as I spoke, I winced. What the hell could I offer them? Whiskey or water? And were there even enough glasses for everybody?
Shit
. My cheeks started to burn.
I must look ridiculous
.
    “We’re fine,” Jon said. Then he forced a “Thank you.”
    I shrugged and took another drink. It was a strange silence, what with all of them staring at me, trying to be intimidating. I glanced across the table to Charles. He’d spent most of the day at the ER getting pins put in his broken hand. The cast was so huge his fingers weren’t even exposed.
    “We were hoping we weren’t too early,” said Cordele, fingering a lock of her hair. She needed to touch up her roots. Probably shouldn’t point that out, though. “We tend to run ahead of schedule. The Network is kind of unnaturally efficient that way.” Her eyes widened into perfect circles. She blushed deeply and looked at the table, hoping no one had actually heard her.
    “No problem,” I said. “I tend to be
unnaturally
efficient myself.”
    “We already knew.”
    Everyone’s expression so perfectly mirrored one another’s that it took me a second to pinpoint Charles’s wife as the speaker.
    “Excuse me?”
    Marie’s dark eyes narrowed. “We already knew that your family had powers. And that they’ve used those
abilities
—” she spat the word in disgust “—to torture anyone they wanted. Hell, the number of unexplained deaths in the pharmaceutical division of Kelch Incorporated alone should have them on the FBI’s most wanted list. The whole corporation is just screaming ‘front operation.’ But they aren’t even a blip on the feds’ radar. Gun running, election fraud, illegal drug development, murder—no one can get away with that much illegal activity without leaving any evidence. Not without supernatural help. It’s why the Network was created. Why this team was brought together in the first place.”
So don’t think you showed us anything special
, the last words heavily implied.
    Her short hair had been styled into tight curls, emphasizing the pinch of her face. She squeezed Charles’s good hand as she sat taller in her seat.
    Well, wasn’t she just the important little