“What were you going to offer me to rescue your sister?”
He set his drink on her desk and leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees. “Money,” he said quickly. “I have some saved. Or I did before I was captured. I assume it’s still there. And I’ve got a building.”
“A building?” She hadn’t intended to interrupt, but that was not what she was expecting.
“Yeah, an old warehouse near the water. We lived there sometimes.” He canted his head to the side. “And secrets,” he said finally.
“Secrets?” Secrets were always handy. But they were dangerous too. The old Jack would have taken them in a heartbeat. Taryn was more cautious.
He raised a hand to the back of his neck, then dropped it back in his lap. “Because you’re the Jack. I figured you could do something with them.”
“And you can’t?”
He shook his head. “Not to get my sister out.”
“Fair enough. You were a hacker and you were obviously good at it if you’ve got money and a building, so why didn’t you ask someone from pre-Tremaine days for help?”
He finished his drink in one long swallow. “I’ve been out of the game for five years. I don’t know who’s around. Who to trust.”
Taryn leaned forward. “Why do you think you can trust me?”
“I don’t,” he said. “But you’re the Jack. Unless things have changed, the Jack will do anything if the price is right.”
Ash wasn’t wrong. Though he wasn’t quite right either. She’d eliminated some of the more problematic aspects of the previous Jacks’ business. Refused business in some darker gray areas.
“So why now? Why the sudden urge to leave? You’ve been there five years. Did they suddenly threaten your sister?”
He unclenched his jaw before answering. “It’s time.”
“That’s not an answer,” Taryn pressed. Sure, she’d basically decided that she was going to take the job, but they needed to establish some ground rules first.
“It just is.” Ash leaned back in the chair, arms crossed over his chest like a recalcitrant child.
Taryn echoed his position and kicked her feet up onto the desk. “Look, you’re the one asking for help. It’s nothing to me if Hope gets out of the Tremaine hospital or doesn’t. But you’re wasting my time, and my patience isn’t going to last much longer.”
Ash looked everywhere in the room except at her before he spoke. “I... may have been poking around in places that I shouldn’t have been.”
“And?” she prodded.
“And I might have uncovered some Tremaine family secrets that I shouldn’t have.” He looked pale admitting that.
Taryn sucked in a breath. Oh shit. Did he mean...
“So the timing,” she chose her words carefully, “is related to the recent... revelations?”
He stared at her for a few long seconds, then gave a sharp nod.
Shit.The explosive news about the long-lost Tremaine daughter—and Phillip Tremaine’s horrifying organ harvesting program—had dominated the headlines since the bombing. Everyone in the city had speculated about how the news had come out. “Do the Tremaines know?”
He leaned forward. “I don’t know for sure. They’ve got someone looking into it.”
“That’s a problem.” One she wasn’t entirely sure how to solve. “Is that person any good?”
He smiled and her heart nearly stopped. “Yeah, I’m the best there is.”
Her boots hit the floor as she shifted closer to her desk. “Portia Tremaine hiredyouto investigate yourself?”
His smile was a mix of proud and sheepish.
