“Nothing.”
That stops my fingers on the keyboard. “What?”
“Helms is a nobody. Doesn’t exist. I can’t even find a record of him with any of the government agencies.”
It’s not unheard of for some of our agents to operate in the black. I’m one of them.
But for Helms to have risen to power without a trace is odd.
“He’s your boss, right?”
“Yes. In a way.”
He chuckles. “No one or nothing controls Koen Grady still, huh?”
I smirk despite trying not to. Chase and I have been friends since our time in Iraq. We were both in the same unit. I came back and was picked up by a government company off the books, and he went in another direction entirely, due to his injury.
I pay him handsomely for his hacking skills, and I’m sure others do, as well.
The squeak of his wheelchair comes through the phone. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re working on, but I don’t think you should be doing it alone.”
“I’m not. I’ve got you.”
“I meantphysicalbackup, man. Don’t play stupid.”
“I work alone. You know that.”
“And you know I’ll always try to talk sense into you.”
“I know. I’ll be careful,” I promise.
Both of us know it’s a lie.
“Good,” he still says.
“Listen, if something happens to me?—”
He cuts me off, “Don’t fucking go there.”
“Shut up and listen to me! If something happens to me, there’s someone I want you to watch over.”
This has him silent for a beat. “I owe you my life, brother. You know I’ll handle anything you need me to.”
My eyes close, the faint reminder of the life I led before flashing behind my lids, before I snap them open again. “Her name is Greer Allen.”
“Her?!” he tosses back. “Shit, man. What’ve you gotten yourself into?”
27
Greer
It's been two days since any texts have come through from Koen. I don't understand why he has periods where he goes dark, but then again, I know he's a serial killer.
What’s even more concerning is how he evaded prison time and managed to delete himself from the databases, all while not texting me.
But the most alarming thing should be how I spread myself out at his command the other night and screamed his name as I came, with his voice as the ominous narrator from a hidden camera in my home, which I haven't tried to find.
It's fucking sick.
