"I thought you said you didn't want to talk," she said hoarsely.
"I don't."
He carried her into the bedroom without another word, going over to the big bed with the black velvet quilt on top. The big wide bed he'd ordered her not to go anywhere near two days ago.
She was tempted to say something about that as he put her down on it, the velvet quilt soft and sensual against her bare skin. But he didn't give her a chance to either speak or think about what that meant. Instead he followed her down, pushing her beneath him, his mouth finding hers, hard and demanding.
And there was no talking at all after that.
"Okay," Eva said from her chair beside the fire, her attention on the laptop balanced on her knees. "I've finally managed to track down some info. It's not much, but it's something."
Gabriel thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans, trying to keep his impatience in check. "Well don't keep us in suspense," he said acidly. "Fucking spit it out."
Eva raised an eyebrow at his tone but let it pass without comment. Looked like his extremely bad mood was obvious. "The name we're looking for is Jericho," she said.
The Second Circle meeting room was silent for a long moment.
Alex, sitting on the couch with Katya and Honor, frowned. "Never heard of him."
"Not many people have." Zac was standing beside Eva's chair, looking down at her laptop screen. "He's a fairly shadowy figure from the looks of things, and what little information we have about him is sketchy."
Fucking wonderful. Yet another criminal asshole to track down.
Gabriel clenched his fists in his pockets. Opposite him on the couch, Honor gave him a level, blue glance. A sudden uprush of intense desire caught him by the throat and it was all he could do not to leap over the damn coffee table, pick her up in his arms, and take her somewhere quiet where he could forget all about this fucking mess for a while. Forget about the fact he had a sister. A sister who was in deep shit.
But of course he couldn't do that with Honor. At least not yet.
"That's it?" he demanded, getting himself the fuck together. "That's all we know?"
Eva eyed him. "This guy's gone to a lot of trouble to hide himself, so you're going to have to give me more than just a couple of hours if you want more info." She looked down at her screen again. "But what I did find out was that he-or at least businesses he's associated with-have a lot of fingers in a lot of different pies. Trafficking, drugs, weapons. A whole lot of bad shit basically."
"What's his association with Fitzgerald then?" Gabriel tried to make it sound less like a demand, but failed miserably.
"I think that's obvious," Zac said in his usual calm way. "They're both in the same business. I'd say Fitzgerald was angling to grow his little empire and wanted Jericho's European connections."
"Shit." Alex sighed and looked at Katya. "Should have kept Conrad alive, sweetheart. He might have come in handy right about now."
Katya snorted. "I have no regrets about South, and I'm sure we can find the information we need our ourselves." She glanced around. "What about the remaining members of the Seven Devils? Perhaps they know something?"
The Russian woman had a point. There were two Devils still alive, and one was Honor's stepfather. The Circles club hadn't bothered with them, since Guy Tremain was still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head and was having memory problems. The other, Mantel, Zac was keeping under surveillance just in case he decided to make a move toward taking control of Fitzgerald's empire. So far he hadn't, though maybe he was just biding his time.
"Good idea," Zac said. "Perhaps I should pay Mr. Mantel a visit. I've been meaning to have a chat with him anyway."
"You know how much I enjoy your little chats, Zac," Alex commented lazily, leaning back on the couch and sliding an arm around Katya's waist, "but do we really want to upset people right now? After Fitzgerald's very public death?"
Zac lifted a shoulder. "I'll be discreet. From what we've managed to discover, Mantel hasn't been active in Fitzgerald's empire for years, though given these men's ability to hide their nasty little secrets, who knows?" He smiled and it wasn't pleasant. "I'm sure he'll be willing to talk if offered the right incentive."
Gabriel shifted on his feet, angry and restless. "He needs to know he's a dead man if he tries to take on any of Fitzgerald's shit, understand?"
"Of course. Don't worry, Gabe, I'll make sure he knows his position."
"Okay, so what other options do we have for finding this Jericho motherfucker?" Gabriel paced down to the end of the fireplace before turning back. "I want to know why he's after Violet. What he wants her for."
Eva pushed the laptop shut. "Could be Fitzgerald was hoping for an alliance. These criminal factions are like medieval kingships in a lot of ways. Marriage and shit like that tying people together."
"But Fitzgerald is dead," Honor pointed out. "So why does Jericho, or whoever this man is, want her now?"
"Good fucking point." Gabriel paced back toward Eva, fists clenched tight. Christ, not being able to do anything sucked balls. "If it's an alliance he wanted, then he's shit out of luck now."
"Unless he wants to take over Fitzgerald's operation," Eva said. "Then again, why would he need Violet? From what I can gather about this dude, he's pretty goddamn powerful. He could just waltz in and take it if he wanted to."
"So there's absolutely nothing about this guy anywhere?" Alex asked, black brows drawn together.
"Nope." Eva pulled a face. "All I managed to find were mentions of him. And from the sounds of it, even the people who work for him don't know who he is."
"Excellent. Another shadowy underworld figure." Alex's tone was acidic. "Just what we need."
Gabriel stopped pacing, abruptly sick of all the talking. He wanted to act. The longer they pissed about trying to figure things out, the longer it was going to take to get Violet back. And he really wanted to get Violet back. Fitzgerald had screwed enough with his family. This shit was going to end.
"What's happening with Violet?" He looked at Zac. "Any movement on that little tracking device?"
The big mercenary shook his head. "No. Looks like she's back at Hunt's apartment."
"At least my sweater is," Honor murmured.
Not appreciating the reminder, Gabriel shot her a narrow glance. "Yeah, well, that's all we got, so we'll assume that she's there." He glanced once more back at Zac. "Shall we go pay Mantel a little visit then?"
"I can do this on my own, Gabe."
"I know you can, but I gotta do something." He only just refrained from kicking the coffee table. "Waiting around like this is driving me fucking insane."
"Yes," Honor said, pushing herself up from the couch. "Please take him with you, Zac. He's driving me insane too."
"I'll join you," Alex offered. "I could do with some fresh air."
"With your shoulder like that?" Zac nodded toward the shoulder in question. "I don't think so."
Alex raised a brow. "And here was I thinking you were actually going to chat."
"I could go," Katya offered. "I am quite skilled at negotiations."
"Oh I know how skilled you are, Katya mine." Alex was grinning. "Believe me, I know."
Katya gave him a disdainful look, yet the corner of her mouth had turned up.
"Are we done here?" Gabriel growled, in no mood to watch Alex and Katya flirt with each other. "Because if you hadn't noticed, there's some important shit going down that's gotta be handled."
"Hey Gabe. Chill out." Eva put her laptop in the battered black messenger back that sat beside her chair then got to her feet. "Okay, if you guys are going to have a Zac chat with that bastard, I'll get back home and do some more digging about this Jericho guy."
Gabriel refrained from telling her his opinions about the idea of "chilling out." How the fuck was he supposed to do that when his half sister was about to be used as bait to lure out some major goddamn crime lord? It didn't matter that he barely knew her, that he'd only had a few days to get used to the idea of having a sister at all. She was the only family he had and he wasn't going to let anything happen to her.
Zac, however, caught his eye, and Gabriel knew the other man understood. Zac had had a sister once too.
"Actually," Alex said. "I think I will come with you two. I remember Mantel from the good old days back at the Lucky Seven. Might be able to think of some good leverage."
Gabriel glanced at Alex and saw the same look he'd seen in Zac's eyes.