“Then what? How do we get our revenge on those fuckers?”
“That’s the easy part, Jack. As soon as you two have finished doing what you need to do today, I can pull the trigger and solvethe rest of the problems. Because if the minute the hired muscle is done lifting the goods, they’re offered a bounty of $10,000 apiece for each APS or Infinity head they bring to us? Every single one of those do-gooder bitches will be dead before we know it.”
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Blake stretched out her long legs. She was sitting on the sofa in Bryn’s office, Riley and Drew also in attendance, as she was sharing her thoughts about Reflex. “You know we don’t hide stuff from each other,” she had said quietly to Bryn at the end of their morning management meeting so that no one else would overhear, “but I have some things I want to run by you, your twin, and Drew before we tell everyone else.”
Now, she said, “As of end of day yesterday, things have started happening at light speed. Reflex is currently underwater. When India called Gene Wheeler and he shared his suspicions about them, she advised him to close Cask & Canvas for a few days, using the excuse of an equipment malfunction, which he promptly did. The locks were also changed on the microbrewery, so no one but him could access the business, although Brooke has an extra key temporarily for backup. Brooke had basically told Norris to fuck all the way off, that she was exercising her right to cancel the graphic art contract because of their violations, right before she had called Gene and talked to him, setting this whole thing in motion.
“Drew let me know thatCyb3rmoonis still being cagey as fuck, but my cuz is on it,” Blake nodded at Drew. “However, what’s really chafing my ass at the moment is that none of the three remaining Reflex partners are acting as though Kilgore’s death made one goddamn bit of difference to them. I mean,hello? You think that would affect them insomeway, no matter how small.”
Bryn snorted. “I doubt these bastards would give a shit if it was their own mother who bit it. Vince, incidentally, told me Kilgore died from a single gunshot wound to the head. He said it looked execution-style at first, but after the coroner analyzed the wound more in depth, Vince started having doubts since nothing about the kill had the hallmarks of a professional hit. There was a shell casing left at the scene. The shot was taken at close range, not from a distance. No attempt was made to sanitize the area where Kilgore went down. None of which a professional hitman or sniper would do or neglect to do.”
“Cyb3rmoonwas sniffing around Kilgore, but now that he’s dead, she doesn’t appear to be interested in any of the Reflex players anymore,” Drew mused, her fingers steepled in front of her. “That tells me that if shewasinvolved in this embezzlement and money laundering bullshit, it was because Kilgore was a stepping stone to something even bigger. What could that be, you ask? Fuck if I know, but my crew and I agree we need to find out for sure to guarantee there is no threat to APS or to any of our clients.
“Besides,” a dangerous smile touched Drew’s mouth, “my new acquaintance seems to have earned herself a session over my lap from her game-playing. I’ll find her.”
Even with the seriousness of the conversation, Blake smirked. “I’m sure you will, cuz. Let me know when it’s time to make book on your trap closing around her.” Then she told them, “Needless to say, the remaining Reflex partners are now freaking the fuck out. Jack Norris and Thom Berger have been blowing up Brooke’s phone, leaving threatening messages. Brooke blocked them after she had forwarded those voicemails to me.
“Gene and Sandy Wheeler also blocked Reflex because the partners had started harassingthemas well. Riles has been in touch with the three other microbreweries who were targeted in their scam to bring them up to speed on what has been happening,” Riley nodded, confirming, “andthey’vecut all ties with Reflex.”
“The thing is, they’re so fucking greedy, no one believes for a hot minute they’ll simply fold up their tent and go home,” added Riley, her muscled arms folded across her chest. “Kilgore is dead. The prevailing belief is that Jack Norris is the one who pulled the trigger because he’s a fucking hothead sociopath and Kilgore tried to stiff him. Langston is apparently the only one Norris will listen to. Thom Berger will also do whatever Clay tells him to do, so Langston is the one driving the bus right now. Plus, Clay has enough smarts to figure out how they can still get their hands on that product and equipment. They aren’t about to walk away.”
“We’ll see them make a move within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours or so,” predicted Bryn, checking her phone. “Most likely tomorrow night because they’ll want to hit and go as fast as they can. Vince, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and the Tampa Police are coordinating efforts to cover all four microbreweries. Infinity, incidentally, is about ready to head back north since ‘Rob Vonn’ bit the dust…although Indi says there’s still one more thing she wants to explore about potentially recovering Marion’s assets before she goes.”
Blake shook her head. “My femme is going to miss her when she leaves.” Then she rolled her eyes. “India is definitely good people, but I don’t think the two of them should be spending a whole lot of time together. Even though Indi is quiet—unlike my Italian smartass—I suspect there’s a big potential for trouble there based on how we witnessed Ms. Party Girl play Reflex like a fiddle.”
“Can’t disagree with you,broki.” The corners of Bryn’s dark brown eyes crinkled. “I think we all wish they lived closer. Infinity is only about four hours away, though, so it’s an easy road trip.”
When Blake’s phone signaled an incoming text message, she glanced at it, then grinned as she read it. “Speaking of the perfect opportunity for mayhem to make an appearance,” she chuckled, “Brooke is freaking out because she thinks she left an additional piece of her art at Cask & Canvas during her last onsite meeting before everything went to hell. She wants to go and get it since the microbrewery is closed and no one is there, but Gene isn’t answering his phone so she can ask him if he would mind.
“And,” she burst out laughing as she read the message again, “she said if—and I quote—’those hairy apes from Reflex’ have put their filthy hands on her shit, there’s going to be a smackdown coming, and I need to make book.” Drew and the twins snickered.
“There’s your opportunity,” Riley told Blake. “We’ll ask India to take Brooke to Cask & Canvas this evening so the two of them can hang out together one last time before Indi goes back to Tallahassee. Indi will be glad to do it because Dani told me she’s just as fond of Brooke as Brooke is of her. Since she’ll be on informal bodyguard duty, though, she won’t fuck around. Brooke’s safety will be her priority. Your woman can do a final check to make sure she hasn’t forgotten anything else, then they can get out of there. In and out. No way Reflex can have their resources lined up to hit it tonight.”
Bryn was already texting. “That’s what we’ll do then. I’ll tell everyone to meet us in the Bunker, and we’ll get everyone on the same page as far as this Reflex shitshow is concerned. Brooke and Indi can go to Cask & Canvas tonight, Riles and I will double-check to make sure local law enforcement personnel have their efforts coordinated, and I don’t think it’s a bad ideafor Trill to take an even deeper dive into live and dead body brokering in our area.” She gave Drew a meaningful look. “If your moonchildwasusing Kilgore as a stepping stone or, if in the very unlikely event it turns out shedoeshave an affiliation with the U.S. intelligence community and they’re investigating a related case—if only peripherally—it would be nice to know why she is running dark.”
“Two separate situations there,” Riley remarked. “Drew and her team will sort the moonchild and her games out, although I’m not personally convinced any of what she’s involved in will be a direct issue for APS in the end. Reflex, however? Their sleazy con with embezzlement and money laundering is finally coming to a head. When law enforcement arrests them, with help from the mountain of evidence APS and Infinity have collected, they will cease to be our concern.”
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“I feel so bad for Indi’s client,” sighed Brooke as she gave Blake one last kiss before they left their apartment. India was already waiting for them at the front entrance to the apartments so that she and Brooke could head over to Cask & Canvas. “She told me that asshole Rob Kilgore had takeneverythingfrom Marion. Ask me if I feel bad that fucker’s dead. But,” the corner of her mouth lifted as she smirked, “although she hasn’t said much—because she and the Forrester sisters are about as closed-mouthed as APS—I have a sneaking suspicion Indi is hanging around because she plans to raid Kilgore’s assets and recover as much as she can for Marion before she goes back to Tallahassee.”
“Good for her, although you have to wonder if Kilgore actually kept the stash of stolen goods and cash that belonged to the victims he fleeced up in North Florida, like Marion, hiddenup there.” Blake escorted her out of the apartment. “The vast majority of his grifts took place offline, which means he had a fuckton of stolen physical goods and cash lying around. Hauling the entirety of that shit everywhere he went wouldn’t have been practical. He probably has a stash in every location he hit.”
They reached the front entrance, where Indi was waiting for them. “Take care of my woman, Indi,” Blake said after giving Brooke one more kiss. The three of them headed across the street so Brooke and Indi could get Brooke’s car, and Blake could head back to Utopia. “Better yet, make sure you stay the fuck out of the way if someone pisses her off,” she advised, grinning. “This is not a temper you want to detonate on any level.”
Indi laughed in her quiet way while a small smile crossed Brooke’s expression. “I think I’ve already figured that out, Blake.”
After Blake, Drew, and the twins had finished with their impromptu update in Bryn’s office, Bryn had summoned the rest of the APS management team to the Bunker, where Blake had filled the rest of them in. “We don’t keep secrets from each other,” she had said, uncharacteristically grave. “Never have, never will. The reason I wanted to run all this by the twins and Drew first before bringing it to you was because it’s such a tangled clusterfuck of shit, the last thing I needed to do was babble like a goddamn lunatic trying to explain everything before I had made sense of it myself.”
“You act as though that’s not behavior we’re used to from you,” Casey had smirked as the management team had burst out laughing. Shooting her the finger, Blake had relaxed, shaking her head. “Seriously, cuz, we get it. The whole Reflex deal is a fucked-up mess, plus we’ve had Infinity involved on top of it. Right now, though, it sounds like we’re in a pretty good position to kick their asses to the curb and neuter them.”
Now, Brooke and Indi climbed into Brooke’s car and left the APS complex to head to Cask & Canvas. “When I finally heard back from Gene, I told him I had my key, so there was no reason for him to come down unless he wanted to. He didn’t feel that was necessary, he said. I think I know exactly where I left the art piece, unless those skanky fuckers messed with it, which I doubt. We should be in and out. Although,” she grinned at Indi with a devious side-eye, “I may feel a teensy, weensy compulsion to snoop around the office for a minute or five before we take off.”
Indi burst out laughing, her eyes alert to the scenery around them, even as she raised an amused brow at Brooke. “I’m armed with a revolver loaded with a full moon clip, my friend. As long as you keep your chaos to a minimum, we should be just fine.”
The drive to the microbrewery passed quickly. “It’s weird I haven’t heard a peep from Reflex. I mean, I had them blocked because they were getting on my nerves, but they haven’t tried to call at all this afternoon, according to my blocklist. Maybe they finally got the hint to leave me alone. I have my gun on me, too, by the way,” Brooke said as she pulled in front of Cask & Canvas. “Admittedly, being armed in public all the time sucks, but I’ve learned that’s part of life when you’re either dating or married to an APS badass.”
