“Right?” rumbled Bryn, crossing her ankles where she was leaning against a wall in the Bunker as she folded her muscled arms over her chest. “A decade in this business and there are still times something comes out of left field and knocks us for a fucking loop.”
Her hands laced behind her head, Teagan said, “I agree with Trill and Drew, though. From all appearances, Reflex isn’t truly involved in the body brokering business. Although,” she gave a clearly pissed-off Blake a pointed look, “you need to settle your ass down, cuz. It sucks that even the distant possibility is going to upset Brooke like it will—and she doesn’t deserve that—but there’s no doubt little sis will grasp that in the next breath. She’s going to be okay.”
“Broki.” Riley was sitting on Kelly’s desk next to her wife. “Brooke is intelligent, just like the rest of the APS femmes are. Like Teag said, she’ll get it the minute she works it out in her head. Whatyouneed to worry about is that Italian temper exploding if she thinks for even a second that Reflex wouldhave considered the possibility of trafficking Sandy’s remains, as remote as it was. She’ll slaughter them.”
“Jesus,” Casey muttered. “It will take Kelly, Piper,andSabine to hold her down.”
“And that’s a problem,why?” Blake shot back.
Kelly glowered, her arm propped up on Riley’s thigh, glancing across the Bunker at an equally-pissed Piper, who was leaning against Kenn. “Seriously, Riles? The fuck we won’t help our homegirl either beat the shit out of those dicks or use them for target practice. You know Sabine will be all in, too.”
The corners of Drew’s mouth tilted up. “Good to know, Red. However, since we’ve determined impending femme slaughter is not necessary at the moment, we can move on.” She gave Blake her own pointed look until the Utopia head had calmed, with Kelly and Piper settling down as well.
Continuing, Drew said, “I’ll have Dara and Ari do some scouting in Purgatory, put their ears to the ground, and see what bubbles up.” Abruptly, her mood darkened a bit. “Now, though, I need to give you an introduction to my new friendCyb3rmoon.”
“Cyb3rmoon? Who or what the fuck is aCyb3rmoon?” inquired Bryn, her dark brows drawing together, with the rest of the team looking just as mystified.
Drew rapidly brought everyone up to speed on her recent encounter with the mystery woman in Purgatory. “She’s been hanging around for the last year or so, giving the impression she’s nothing more than a bad boy chaser who’s had her sights set on Rob Kilgore,” the counterintelligence team lead said when she was done with her update. “There are more than a few women like her around, so I haven’t paid too much attention, outside of keeping an eye on her like I do everyone else.
“The last thing I was expecting was forCyb3rmoonto approach me and drop what we can assume was meant as some type of a code word the way she did. I mean, ‘reflexive’? Shewanted to make damn sure I knew Reflex was on her radar. Which begs the question:Who the fuck is she?She doesn’t feel like someone on the wrong side of the fence, but she sure as hell didn’t give me the impression she was local law enforcement either.”
Trill was thinking. “Is she U.S. intelligence then? CIA? A DoD agency like the NSA? However, that leads me to ask why a pissant bunch of players like Reflex would draw the attention of the U.S. intelligence community? And which government agency, specifically? There are what? Over a dozen organizations that make up intelligence?”
“Eighteen,” said Kelly, frowning.
“And the CIA is a foreign intelligence agency prohibited from conducting domestic surveillance or operations within the United States, correct?”
Kelly, a former CIA covert agent, snorted and rolled her eyes. “Technically, the CIA cannot operate domestically...unless, of course, they are explicitly authorized to do so in cooperation with other agencies—such as the FBI—when foreign nationals in the U.S. pose a threat. That and a few bucks will buy you a cup of coffee, though. A lot of line-crossing goes on in secret behind the scenes.”
Aggravated and raking her hands through her light auburn hair, Blake gritted, “Interesting as that is, what in themotherfuckdoes it have to do with my woman being anywhere near those dicks? Frankly, I don’t give a hairy rat’s ass what Reflex is involved in outside of the embezzlement and money laundering scams in Tampa Bay. We need to make sure Brooke is safe above all else.”
“Truthfully, the situation withCyb3rmoonprobably doesn’t have a thing to do with the current scams Reflex are running in the area, Blake.” Drew was honest. “If the four partnersareinvolved in something way bigger, however, andCyb3rmoonisscouting for information, her approaching me like she did makes sense. Especially if she and whoever she’s working for want to find out what APS knows about Reflex.
“The Shadowisn’t unknown to her, I guarantee you, and it’s never been a secret that APS and my alter ego have had more than a few dealings with each other over the years. We’ve never hidden that association. Plus, Kel is former CIA, but it’s also common knowledge she’s part of the APS management team now. That’s yet another link. Little moonchild is going to learn fast, however, that Armstrong Protection Services is not an organization the intelligence community can lead around by their dick.”
She smirked darkly at Blake. “And thefuckthey are going to put one of our femmes at risk with their games. Make book onthat, cuz, because Kel, Piper, Sabine,andBrooke will collectively swing the hammer and pound them like pegs into the ground if they don’t cut the shit.” As the team burst out laughing, Blake visibly relaxed.
“When are you due to make a personal appearance again in Purgatory,broki?” Riley asked when the laughter had died down.
“Early next week, if I stick to my usual schedule. SinceCyb3rmoonhas been around for over a year and knows my habits, me behaving like everything is business as usual in Purgatory won’t set off any red flags for her. At this point, I’d like to avoid tipping her off that APS is wiser to her snooping than she believes we are.”
Bryn nodded in agreement. “Our priority is to focus on Brooke and the Reflex embezzlement scam, along with any other schemes they have going on in the Tampa Bay area. Drew, continue to keep an eye on our friend in Purgatory for now. Just let us know what her real interest is in Rob Kilgore when you find out,broki.” Drew nodded. “Whatever Kilgore andClay Langston have up their sleeve that’s caughtCyb3rmoon’s attention, it isn’t necessarily something of concern to APS and our charter, or to Brooke, as intriguing as it might be.” Her gaze sharpened.
“Blake, we’re positive your woman won’t have to make any more on-site appearances in Cask & Canvas to meet with those dicks?”
“No. Now that she has sign-off on the concept, she and Gene Wheeler can accomplish anything else regarding the final label art online, she said. Brooke technically doesn’t have to go into the microbrewery again until those storyboards are complete.”
“What have the tails you’ve put on the Reflex partners found out so far?” asked Kenn.
Blake snorted. “Apparently, the four of them have made some sleazy Pinellas Park dive their unofficial headquarters—The Hideout, which I know you are familiar with—which stands to reason, if they need to hire muscle to steal product and equipment from the microbreweries. It also becomes more apparent every day that Kilgore is the brains behind this operation. We’re still digging.”
After the team agreed to touch base again in their daily staff meeting the next morning, Blake blew out a deep breath as she rose to go. “Now, I get to go home and tell my woman about the shit those fuckers were considering before Sandy Wheeler was given the all-clear on her breast cancer diagnosis. That has mefurious. I know Brooke is strong and she’ll get through this, but goddamn.
“You better hope and pray none of those dirtbags ends up with a bullet buried in the brain at the end of this. I’ve waited a long, long time for Brooke Marino to be mine, and I willdestroyanything that hurts her. There’s a reason Utopia ismydomain. Reflex had better hope they don’t find out the reason why firsthand.”
?ω?ω?ω?
Curled up on the couch with Blake, finally calm, Brooke wiped the residual tears off her face. “I still can’t wrap my head around it, Blake. Who in their right mind would even think body trafficking is a thing in the first place? I don’t…it’s not…Good God.” Growling, Brooke gritted, “You realize it’s a good thing I don’t have to see any of them anymore, right? Because my girls and I would be harvesting some seriously shriveled balls if I did.”
