“I’m not sure what I’m doing with her yet. All I know is that she’s ain’t leaving until she gets my money back.”
“Jesus Christ,” he rumbles, shaking his head and stalking towards the chapel.
Chuckling, Journey claps me on the shoulder as he follows after my brother. “That went better than I expected.”
No fucking doubt. I half-expected him to lose his shit and demand I take the girl back where I found her. I wouldn’t have, of course.
Butting my cigarette out on the bottom of my boot, I put it back in the pack and head for church.
Inside, the room is almost full. “Phone,” Bash grunts, holding the wicker basket for me to drop my cell into.
“Yep,” I mutter back, dropping it in. No devices in church. That’s the rule.
I take my seat at the table, right next to Tacoma’s chair at the head. Journey settles across from me, and one by one, everyone files in. Cyber, Banks, Story, Tracer, Bishop, Lobo, Red, and Gamble. Tacoma even signals for the prospects, Nobel and Bax, to come inside. Their brows go up but they do as instructed, leaning against the back wall to listen in.
Once all the patched members are seated, Tacoma brings the gavel down, silencing the room.
“I know it’s late, but our problem with the Sinner’s has moved closer to home.” Tacoma nods at Journey. “The floor is yours.”
Journey leans forward, his elbows on the table. “My sister and her friend were coming out of the movies tonight when one of them fuckers tried to grab Stella.”
A chorus ofwhat the fucksgoes around the room.
“She okay?” Banks asks.
Journey blows out a relieved breath and nods. “Yeah. Her friend pepper-sprayed the asshole, and they got away.”
“Where’s Stella now?” Gator asks, a concerned look on his face.
“City and Moby are at my apartment with her. She’s safe.”
All eyes turn to Cyber for answers. He’s been working day and night, trying to get a lock on who is trafficking women in our town and who they’re working with. His hair is sticking up in every direction, and there are dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. The kid looks like he hasn’t slept in days, which might not be too far from the truth.
He scrubs a hand over his face and sighs. “I…” Another sigh. “I can’t do it alone. I’ve reached out to Dex in Miami and Zero in Jacksonville, and they’re doing what they can from their end, but this… this network these fuckers have created is too goddamn big. Whoever these assholes are working with is connected. I’m talking about never-before-seen technology here. Shit that’s so high-tech I can’t track them. Every time I get close, they bounce through proxy servers in countries that don’t cooperate with US law enforcement. They’re using encrypted communicationchannels that change every hour. And the IP addresses?” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “They’re spoofed through a botnet that’s constantly shifting. It’s like trying to catch smoke.”
The room goes silent. None of us has a fucking clue what he’s talking about, but Cyber is one of the top hackers in the country. There’s never been anything he can’t do. If he’s struggling, we’re in really deep shit.
My mind flashes to Frankie. She stayed a step ahead of Cyber for weeks. Maybe…
I clear my throat. “What if I can get you some help? Could we at least figure out who the fuckers here in Odin are? Get rid of the threat closest to home first?”
Cyber’s brows draw together. “I mean, maybe if it’s someone who can keep up.”
Tacoma groans, Journey starts laughing, and the rest of the room looks confused.
Cyber’s brows snap together as he looks between us. “What am I missing here?”
“The asshole who’s been stealing Bane’s money?” Journey grins. “Is a girl. And our boy here,” he nods to me, “broke into her place tonight. She’s here.”
“Unwillingly,” my brother adds.
Pop’s eyebrows shoot up. “Aww, fuck. Please tell me you didn’t do anything to this girl. Your Ma’s gonna go apeshit.”
I purse my lips. I guess that depends on what he means by“do anything”.
He shakes his head. “What’d you do?”
“Tied her up and dragged her here, kicking and screaming,” Journey answers unhelpfully.
