She took a shower, disappearing off camera. The first thing I noticed was how she never went back to lock the door. Even after I saw her pass by the camera on her way to the bedroom, she never went back to lock it.
I rubbed my temple, trying to give her more time to check it, but she never returned. I expected her to come back to the couch, where she slept most nights, but instead, she must have gone to the bedroom. My phone buzzed on the table, and I reached for it, seeing the name WIRE pop up across the screen.
“Hey,” I said, “what do you have for me?”
“Not everything you want,” she said, voice unapologetic, “but I have some info.”
Wire was the woman you went to when you needed information and you didn’t want anyone to know you had it. I had never met a person who knew her real name, she was truly invisible outside of the world of crime. I had worked with her many times on higher profile hits when I needed intel, access to public cameras, hacking into someone’s devices… things like that. I couldn’t say I trusted her, necessarily, but in this world, she was one of the few people that I wanted to stay in good standing with.
“I’ll take whatever you got for me,” I assured her.
“I’ve got five names for you, ones that I have confirmed for a fact know about the mark you mentioned. There are at least four other guys, but I don’t have that. Those were offline contacts. Idoknow a guy who can get you those names, but he works strictly face-to-face, and you’d have to meet him somewhere neutral. I can drop him your information if you want.”
“Yeah, perfect. You’re sure about these five?”
“Sure about all of them.”
“How?”
“A magician never reveals her secrets,” she laughed. “Got pen and paper?”
“Don’t need it. Shoot.”
“Nick Palmer. Low-tier runner: handles pickups, drop-offs, surveillance. Brian Tate, former corrections officer. I think he’s mostly the liaison for the dirty cops, and the muscle. Jason Rowe: logistics and transport. Danny Carver: fixer, but street-level. Eric Saunders: tech support for their communications, he’s alright but not good enough. It goes without saying, you’ve got his two right hand men – I didn’t include them. Mark Delaney and Tyler Grant.”
“Nick and Danny are grey.” I stated. The two guys from the car at Eden’s apartment.
“You have anything to do with that?”
“Nah.”
“Well, I don’t know, which means no one else knows they’re gone either.”
The screen in front of me had been still for the last several minutes, and I had moved my cursor more than once to make sure it wasn’t frozen. Her fucking door was still unlocked.
“Appreciate the word, Wire. I’ll drop off what I owe you. Have your guy let me know where to meet him and when. Put the heat under him; this is time sensitive.”
“You got it.”
The call disconnected, and I immediately went to the number of Eden’s burner. My thumb hesitated over it, hovering for a moment before I committed. It rang so many times that at first, I didn’t think she would answer. I was just about to get up to put on my boots when her voice came across the line.
“Halo?”
I could tell that I’d woken her up by the way she said it, and I relaxed back into the chair.
“You need to go lock your front door,” I said, voice low and quiet.
There was a pause. “Are you watching me again?”
“I’m always watching you, Eden.”
“I didn’t see you.” She yawned.
“I’m not there.”
There was another hesitation, and he heard the shuffling of fabric and the sounds of her feet on the floor, but she didn’t walk into the living area.
“Do you have cameras in my apartment?”
