“It might not be, but this looks like Becker was storing evidence against Mathers,” Hunt replies.
“Shit, look at this. Everyone, open the file titled DMZB3,” Xavier commands.
Hunt turns the screen toward me so I can read through it as everyone else pulls it up on their devices.
“Becker suspected he was going to be murdered,” I surmise as I skim through his words. It appears to be a letter advising the recipient of the things that were going down should anything happen to him.
“This was his insurance,” Charlie says. “It very clearly says that there.” He points to the opening part of the document.
“Who is Zayn?” Drew asks. “The message is for him.”
“A colleague or a friend?” Jackson suggests.
“He could be a son,” Hunt says, lifting his eyes to mine. Excitement radiates from his face as anxiety lances through my chest. “Think about it. Vincent Becker was the chief technology officer for Techxet at the time of his death, and?—”
“Everyone on the embezzlement secret team said he was a freaking genius,” Xavier interjects.
Hunt glares at his husband. “Can I continue speaking, or do you have anything else to add?”
“The floor is yours, Drill Sergeant.” Xavier looks like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.
“Make your point, Hunt,” I say through gritted teeth.
Abby drapes her arms around me, and I cling to my wife as kernels of an idea start forming in my brain, and I think I know where Hunt is going with this.
“Becker was a genius, and we know your brother has mad tech skills. We also know Rogan gave us that file on Hamilton. This could be the link between Techxet and the elite. What if Becker adopted your brothers?”
“It’s a bit of a stretch,” Jackson says. “Mathers killed him, so it stands to reason he’d go through his shit and take anything incriminating. And didn’t Becker’s family die in the car accident with him?”
“I’m checking that out now,” Xavier says.
“What do you think, Kai?” Abby peers into my eyes. “What is your gut saying?”
“I don’t know,” I truthfully admit. “I don’t know what to think.”
She buries her face in my neck, pressing a soft kiss to my skin.
“Okay, my spidey senses are definitely on high alert,” Xavier says, not looking at us as his fingers fly across the screen. “There is nothing on Becker online. Not a single mention of the man or the accident.”
“Again, not surprising,” Jackson says, and I’m glad he’s playing devil’s advocate. We can’t afford to chase the wrong lead. “If Mathers killed him and he was the link between Mathers and the fraud at Techxet, it stands to reason everything would be wiped.”
“That makes sense,” Abby says, “but this still warrants checking out.”
“I know a way to find out for sure.” Hunt grabs his cell and eyeballs me. “There are people still working at Techxet who worked with Becker. Someone has to know about his family. Let me call Mom and see if she can find out.”
Rick is waiting for us outside Techxet HQ in Manhattan when we get out of the car Hunt’s mom sent to pick us up from the private airfield. I wanted to storm the building yesterday and go through staff records, but Hunt told me showing up at Techxet employee doors on a Sunday would not have endeared them to talk to us, so we had no choice but to wait.
I spent most of yesterday buried deep in my wife to distract me from the terrifying thoughts eddying through my mind. If Hunt is correct, and my gut is now telling me he is, then our brothers are in grave danger. Especially if Hamilton is already aware of their location, which we have to assume he is. Hamilton and Mathers were in cahoots on most things. If Hamilton figures out it was Rogan who gave us the evidence to put him away, he’ll want to add Rogan to his murder list alongside our names. We don’t think he’ll risk going after us when he’s still inside, but we’ve always known he’d come for us if he gets out.
We’ll kill him before letting that happen.
“Good to see you,” I say, grabbing my older brother into a hug. I don’t know how he managed to get away from the hospital, but I’m glad he’s here.
“How’re you holding up?” Rick asks.
“I’m on edge. Have barely slept a wink since Saturday when we started to piece this together.” Not that I ever get a full night’s sleep. Worry has been my constant companion since we discovered Argon interned at Techxet.
“Same.” He squeezes my shoulder. “But think of it like this, Kai. If Hunt is right, we’re going to find our brothers. We’ll get them back, take them to Rydeville, and protect them. No fuckingelite scum will harm a hair on their heads without answering to us.”
