Lazaro’s question jolted him for a moment before he realized he was talking about the SD card. “You know I can.”
Lazaro nodded. “Then let’s go see what’s hiding on that card.”
* * * *
Lazaro Archer led the way up the corridor, with Savage walking alongside him. To Sia’s dismay, Trygg lagged behind his comrades, slowing his long-legged strides to match her pace. The last thing she wanted to do was speak to him, but he seemed determined to have a few words.
“Are you going to tell me the real reason you’re here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” She kept walking, refusing to so much as glance at him. “The Order is looking for intel on Roberto Santino and it appears I may have found some.”
“You know what I’m asking, Sia.” He narrowed a look on her, keeping his deep voice at a tight whisper. “Why bring the evidence to Lazaro instead of coming to me?”
“Oh, was that an option? I’m sorry, I guess I wasn’t sure based on the note you left before you slunk out the door while I slept.”
“You’re upset with me.”
“Not at all. You behaved exactly as I should have expected.”
He uttered a curse under his breath, then slowed her to a halt with his hand on her wrist. “I said I was sorry about last night.”
“Yes, you did.” She wrenched free of his loose grasp. “And so am I.”
She quickened her pace until she had caught up to his commander and colleague. She felt the heat of Trygg’s eyes at her back as she sailed through the door Lazaro held open for her, and into a room filled with computers and other technology.
Trygg entered a moment behind her, stalking over to take the empty seat in front of a bank of monitors and lighted processors.
He said nothing, getting right to work on the data storage card. Sia stood beside Lazaro as Trygg inserted the card into a computer and his fingers flew with speed and grace over the keyboard. She looked on, captivated as he worked.
It seemed odd to watch him excel at this skill, knowing he’d been born and bred to be a killer.
Although no more odd than it felt knowing those same deft, deadly hands had also delivered such intense pleasure last night.
She mentally barred the memory of their lovemaking from her mind. She was here because she wanted the Order to succeed in stopping Santino.
After her conversation with Lazaro Archer today, that mission was all that mattered.
She swallowed hard and watched along with Trygg’s comrades as he clicked on the tiny drive’s link to open its contents. As Lazaro had discovered when he attempted to open the card’s data, the files were protected by an encryption code.
It took Trygg all of three seconds to hack through it.
On the screen, a list of six files labeled with numbers only stared back at them. Trygg opened the first one. It was a text file with what appeared to be a copy-and-paste collection of emails. Each had little content, each dated within the past three weeks, all of them from someone with the user name “il_re.”
“The king,” Lazaro murmured, his tone sardonic.
Sia’s eyes went wide. “Are you saying these are Santino’s personal emails?”
“Looks like it.” Savage smirked. “Il Re.Subtle, the asshole is not.”
Trygg opened each file, and Sia excitedly started reading them out loud, translating as she went. “Marina di Ardea still too hot. Scouting new location. Await word before proceeding.”
She watched as he scrolled down to the next one, and then the next, her pulse beating faster as she realized they were almost certainly looking at correspondence from Santino to one or more of his lieutenants down the line.
When they reached the end of the list, Lazaro stood back with a frown. “This is a good find, but I have to admit I was hoping for a lot more.”
Sia glanced at him. “It may seem insignificant to us, but the contents on this card were enough to cause Gianni Tiaggi to fear for his life—and with good cause, considering his body was found in the river less than a week ago. Whatever information is here was enough for Santino’s men to kill Rosa just because they thought she might have it.”
“Sia’s right,” Trygg said. “And the emails aren’t the real piece of intel on this.”
