“I’ll call Indi right now and give her a heads-up on Gene, then give the rest of our team an update on both Jack and Gene.Infinity doesn’t share our comm frequency—they only did the night everything went down at The Hideout as an exception—but I’ll tell Indi to make sure Shaelyn and Dani are in the loop.” She blew out a breath and dragged her hand through her auburn hair. “The burning question at the moment is, who the fuck put Kilgore down? He was in deep shit with the rest of the Reflex partners, but would they really have killed him for it? Norris is a fucking hothead with no impulse control, so maybe, but who knows?”
Holding up a finger, she touched the comm in her ear, her face becoming intense as she listened to who was on the other end for a couple of minutes before responding. “I have something to tell you that dovetails directly into that, but I have to call Indi first and get her in contact with Gene Wheeler. Give me five. As a matter of fact,” Blake considered her next words for a brief moment, “I’m home with Brooke right now, but I’ll head over to the complex and meet you all in the Bunker instead. This is not a discussion we need to have over the comms.”
Ending her communication, she leaned over, wrapped her arms around Brooke, and kissed her. “I have to go, tigress. Trill already has intel on Kilgore. My money says that lunatic Jack Norris flipped out and killed him, but we’ll see what my cuz has to say.” She frowned. “Part of me says it was strange Jack was all business as usual, as if nothing had happened when he called you, but the other part of me says that’s what sociopaths do. He saw a threat, he eliminated it almost immediately, then he moved on without giving it a second thought.”
“Be careful, Blake.” Brooke kissed her back as she cupped the sides of Blake’s head. “Alyssa says, in her opinion, psychopaths are slightly more dangerous because their actions are deliberately calculated—whereas sociopaths tend to be impulsive—but that still doesn’t mean someone like Norriswon’t resort to extreme violence, even murder, when and if he perceives the need.”
“Lys is absolutely right.” Blake rose from the couch and grabbed her leather jacket, putting it back on before bending over to give Brooke one last kiss. “You did good today, baby. I feel a hell of a lot better knowing those fuckers are out of your life for good. Indi will make sure Gene and Sandy are safe. This evening when I get home, I’ll fill you in on what we know so far. Bryn is going to check with Vince Masterson to see what he knows about Kilgore’s death at this point, and Drew is going afterCyb3rmoontonight.”
A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth as she headed for the front door. “I almost feel sorry for the moonchild. Christ knowsIwouldn’t want Drew on my ass when she was in this kind of mood. The odds ofCyb3rmoongetting out of this one without a blistered bottom aren’t looking that good, if you ask my opinion. Because there isn’t a woman in this world that Drew Hollister can’t find when she sets her mind to it.”
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“No more games,Cyb3rmoon. I don’t know what kind of fool you take me for, and I frankly don’t care, but Purgatory ismydomain. Any fuckery going on that has to do with hurting or exploiting women ismybusiness, which is no surprise to you. Now, it looks like our mutual friend, who was a threat to certain women for reasons, has met with a very unfortunate accident. He was on your radar, moonchild, and I want to know why.”
“Lover, I’m not exactly sure I understand why you think you have the right to know that.I’mcertainly not hurting women or doing anything to exploit them. If you want my honest opinion, the world will be a much better place withouta piece of trash like whoever-he-was living in it. Why you felt dragging me into a private chat—somethingThe ShadowNEVER does, incidentally—is beyond me. Take the win, darling, and move on. There are much more interesting games to play.”
Drew and her counterintelligence team were sitting in the secure office from where they accessed and monitored Purgatory. Liz Acevedo’s wife, Yolanda, who was a Greek mythology scholar, had given the Purgatory office the tongue-in-cheek nickname of “Styx”—both a goddess and the principal river in the Greek underworld which formed a border between the underworld and the world of the living—and the name had been unofficially adopted by the team, much to Drew’s amusement.
Now, there was no humor to be seen on Drew’s handsome face as she verbally sparred withCyb3rmoon, her team paying close attention to the words on Drew’s ultra-wide monitor. “I’ll ask you once again. What do you know? Even better: who do you work for? I WILL find out, you know, no matter how much of a secret you think you’re keeping. WhileThe Shadowcouldn’t typically give a shit less who is who in Purgatory, unless I’m tracking them for a reason, you are hiding behind a much bigger story. Every instinct I have tells me I need to know what that story is.”
“You’re being all scary again, lover. What I know has nothing to do with you or with Purgatory. Well, not much anyway. Who I work for is none of your concern and is of no threat to you. My story is my own and will remain so. Should you wish to ban me from this place, however, there is nothing for it, I suppose. Then again…since our mutual friend has shuffled off this mortal coil, the answers I seek may dwell in a completely different underworld realm than this one. Only time will tell.”
“You, little one, are playing with a fire that has a very, very incendiary flame. In case you are not aware, no one has ever been able to hide fromThe Shadowfor too long. My breath on your neck is getting closer all the time.”
“You delight me, lover. I’ve already told you I adore spontaneity, but even more so, I adore the hunt. And to be the hunterandthe hunted at the same time? Delicious. I will, however, give you one small piece of advice.”
“And that would be?”
“This is far bigger than you know, my Shadow. Our mutual friends are but the very tip of the iceberg. There are malicious scams dwelling in the darkness that, when they unravel, have the potential to bring more chaos than you suspect. I am no threat to you or the women you help, nor have I ever been. Nonetheless, sometimes the enemies you expect to see are not the ones who will actually show themselves in the end. Keep those beautiful green-hazel eyes wide open, lover. Because I suspect the adversary you truly must be cautious of is still hidden in the shadows, lying in wait.”
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“How in themotherfuckdoes she know what color my eyes are?” Drew was staring at her screen asCyb3rmoonlogged off.
Dara’s fingers flew across her own laptop. “With all the scumThe Shadowhas dealt with in the Tampa Bay area over the past ten years, chief, the color of your eyes isn’t exactly a burning secret. Neither, frankly, is your connection to APS. We haven’t exactly kept that a secret either, although it’s not like we advertise it. What I want to know, though? Is the moonchild local? Has she actually seen you, or is this idle dark web chatter?”
“I vote for local,” said Devon Sanders. “Because if anyone is babbling about Drew’s eyes in or around an online place like Purgatory? They’re a fucking weirdo. Jesus.” She shuddered, then made a gagging sound.
Drew shook off her momentary surprise. “The only new people we’ve been around recently are the crew from Infinity. However, India’s primary focus has been recovering stolen assets for her client Marion, who was a victim of Rob Kilgore under his alias of ‘Rob Vonn.’ He trafficked the remains of Marion’s mother in addition to the money he stole from her, but that was a one-off crime of opportunity. Shaelyn and Dani are here assisting her, so I can’t see how they would be involved.”
“It takes three of them to handle something like that?” Ari’s brows were lifted, not a little skeptical.
“Not typically, but Shae and Dani Forrester, the sisters who are the co-owners of Infinity, took advantage of the opportunity to come and see Bryn and Riley. The four of them have mad respect for each other, but Infinity is located in Tallahassee, so they rarely find themselves down this way because this is not their territory. They decided to kill two birds with one stone,” Drew told her. Ari nodded, her face settling.
“We need to find out who she is.” Dara was blunt. “YourCyb3rmoon. I don’t know that I’m buying her ‘I am no threat to you or the women you help’ story. Are any of us falling for it, really? She may not be an imminent threat. But Drew’s instincts were right on the money: there’s far more going on than we can see. What thefuckdoes she know, and how does it affect APS? We need to find out what the hell it is.”
The coldness that fell over Drew’s face was unmistakable. “Since little moonchild adores the hunt, then I think it’s time she learns what it feels like to be in my crosshairs, don’t you? Because I promise you, this is one game I can guarantee she’s going to regret playing by the time I catch her. You can bet on it.”
Chapter 24
“Those motherfuckers from APS are involved! Plus, we find out goddamnInfinity Securityhas joined forces with them, thanks to Kilgore and his ‘Rob Vonn’ bullshit! He rips off some broad, then sells her dead mother’s body to a body trafficker, so nowthey’reafter him? Thefuck? That traitor has screwed us up the ass in more ways than one!”
“Traitor? Maybe, but the hell either APS or Infinity deserves to get off scot-free for what they’ve done to him. The more I think about it, the more I’m positivetheyare the ones who killed Rob but are keeping it quiet. Right now, though, we need to work fast before our entire con falls to pieces. Rob’s dead, there’s nothing we can do to bring him back, but there’s still plenty we can salvage. After that? Both those organizations need to pay the price for ruining our partnership and killing Rob. They need to beobliterated.”
“What’s your plan?”
“First things first, Thom. The product and equipment from those microbreweries have to be lifted immediately. Now that Kilgore is no longer around to steal our resources, it should be a simple matter to get some crews together in the next day or so. You and Jack can take care of that piece this afternoon. Meanwhile, I’ll start calling the targeted microbreweries right now to tell them one of our partners unfortunately had a very tragic accident. We have to wrap up our business with them by the end of the day so we can go home.”
