That’s exactly how the fourth member of the team that kidnapped us died.
Is that a coincidence? Or was that someone tying up loose ends?
“Fun fact,” Jace continues. “Jeremy Reynolds, a.k.a. Jeremy Ryan, worked for multiple private security firms before taking a job as a steward here on campus over Thanksgiving break.” Jace taps one of the keys on his keyboard, and multiple police reports pop up on his third screen like a slideshow. “Dude’s been arrested for burglary, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, battery, stalking, and some minor things like vandalism and uttering threats. Nothing ever stuck, and all these reports were buried after he was released, but they were easy to find when you know where to look. And I know where to look.” He snaps the blade of his knife closed. “Does any of what I told you sound like a guy who’d randomly attack Damon for shits and giggles?”
I shake my head, a heavy feeling settling in my stomach. “It doesn’t sound like someone who’d off himself a few days later, either.”
“No, it doesn’t. And isn’t it suspicious that the last living member of your kidnapper group died the exact same way?”
“Yeah, that was the first thing I thought when you said that.”
“I looked into Jeremy’s financials,” Jace continues. “And someone paid him a shit ton of crypto right around the time he started working here. I can’t trace who or where it came from, unfortunately, but that also doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”
“That attack was a targeted hit,” I say, stating the obvious. “And the fact that he’s dead is probably why there haven’t been any other attempts. They either took out their insider, or his past caught up to him and took him out before he could finish the job.”
Jace nods, his expression grim. “There are too many missing pieces to know exactly what the fuck is going on, but so far, all roads are leading back to Damon. He’s the common denominator here. The giantXon the treasure map of answers, if you will.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “Have you been able to find out anything more about Blake and whether it’s him?”
“I don’t think it is,” Jace says, his tone careful. “I don’t have concrete proof either way, but the deeper I dig, the less clear the connection is. The first reference I could find to Blake is from just over four years ago. Damon’s only been a student here for three and a half years. It’s possible he was tapped for the job when he was still in high school, but unless he was gathering intel on people at his old school, the references make it sound like this Blake person was actively working with them four years ago.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t fit,” I say slowly. “But it’s also not impossible.”
“Exactly. And everything I’ve found that could possibly link him to Blake is like that. It’s all possible, but highly improbable.”
“So he’s most likely not working with the Kings, but they’re definitely after him. Or at least one of their staff was.”
Jace nods. “And what I’ve found is making me think Jeremy was just using the Kings as a cover, and they had no idea he had a side gig as an assassin. Everything about Jeremy’s employment is hinky, but the altered ID and the fact that he had an insider with the ability to get that ID into the system means someone put a lot of time and money into getting him on campus. And as much as I’d love to blame the Kings and go nuclear on them, I don’t think they’re involved this time.”
“Go nuclear?” For him, that’s the same thing as saying burn the fuckers down and toast marshmallows while we watch it happen, and he only talks like that when something is personal.
He shrugs. “You might not be able to admit it yet, but Damon means something to you, so he means something to us. You know how we roll. Anyone who fucks with ours is fair game, and he’s one of us until you tell me he isn’t.”
“Do the others know?” I ask as something deep inside me settles.
I didn’t realize it until now, but lying to everyone has been taking its toll on me, and it means everything that Jace has so easily accepted that Damon isn’t just a guy I’m fucking, even if I have no idea what he is or what I’m going to do about it.
“Not officially, but they’re not stupid. Jax definitely suspects that you’re boning him, but that’s also a ‘takes one to know one’ thing and not just a ‘you’re being obvious without realizing it’ thing. Killer and Felix haven’t said anything, but there’s no way anyone missed how you almost lost your shit when I suggested that your boy and Eden might be fucking last week.”
I shoot him a flat look.
“Don’t give me that face.” He grins. “Not my fault you fell for my test and didn’t even realize that’s what it was.”
“You’re annoyingly observant,” I grumble. “You know that, right?”
His grin widens. “Yup.”
“Well, at least we know Damon isn’t part of the blackmail scheme,” I say, still processing everything Jace told me. “But now we know that someone is after him for something completely different, and there’s a good chance they’ll try again.”
Jace nods, his expression serious again. “But the good news is I think I know where things might go down. Or at least where they could go down.”
“What do you mean?”
His fingers fly over his keyboard, and an event flyer pops up on his screen. “He’s got a gig in two weeks.”
I quickly scan the flyer. Right there in giant font is his stage name, and the animated caricature of him in his famous mask takes away any ambiguity over whether it’s him or another person using the name Helix.
“And the really sus part is that this event was literally only announced an hour before the flyer was released and tickets went on sale. I’m not an expert in event planning or raves, but I’d imagine that’s pretty short notice for something like this, where you need to rent spaces and hire staff and get permits. And before you ask, yes, I checked to make sure this isn’t a case of them replacing a different act and marketing it like it’s a new event. There’s no record of it anywhere I could find prior to the big announcement.”
