Satisfied I’d hear something in a couple of hours, I hopped into the car, eager to get the night over with.
Eager to expose the bastards.
And if I had my way, destroy everything in their lives.
CHAPTER 21
Kendrick
“I asked Ruger to join us.” Maverick walked with the guest into the room Chase used for both his base of operations for work within the CIA and for Raven Intel. Chase was certainly more of a rule breaker than I’d realized prior to creating the organization.
Bringing agent work home was certainly frowned upon. Not that anyone knew a single thing about the man’s personal life, especially regarding our extracurricular activities. The only other person outside the group to know of its existence was Hudson’s wife.
There was no one central location for Raven Intel. As I’d told Reese, we all had locations within our homes where we could conduct investigations or communicate with Intel members through secure lines.
If anyone asked, we were avid computer gamers.
Ruger nodded to everyone in the room, concentrating on Reese. We’d taken an oath to preserve the secrecy of our operations much like the members of the Privileged had done.
Suddenly, all eyes were on Reese. My woman. Mine.
“Keep your fucking eyes to yourselves,” I barked a little too vehemently. Jesus. Now I was choosing to be completely possessive even with my buddies.
“Sorry, buddy. Reese. But she looks hot. I mean, whoa, baby.” Chase howled and I threw such a hateful look in his direction he should be glad the earth didn’t open up and his body drop into hell.
“Sorry, boys. You couldn’t handle me. Only this man can.” I’d be damned if Reese didn’t drape herself all over me, pursing her lips and driving a finger into her mouth. They were watching everything she was doing.
With their damn mouths opened.
But she egged them on, gyrating her hips. “My master.” Even her voice was breathless as she rubbed the tip of her wet finger around my lips.
“Jesus,” Maverick hissed. “I need a drink.”
“Alright. Back to business,” I snapped, giving her an evil eye.
Reese laughed, completely comfortable in wearing a goddamn corset and leather skirt that barely covered her ass. My ass. There I went again. What kind of bastard had I become?
“Kenny boy is right. Back to business. Glad you could make it, Ruger. We’re chasing a lot of dead ends and I for one am getting sick of it,” Chase tossed out, busy making drinks for everyone.While this wasn’t a social call, my DEA buddy had heard the tone in my voice and knew alcohol would be needed. Who knew. Maybe for a celebration if what Reese had captured on film and on the piece of glass bore fruit, along with her knowledge of Franklin and Global Universal.
We were all sick of it.
“However, we now have four names of the girls,” he continued.
Hudson whistled. “Well, that’s something.”
While we’d worked with Ruger on a couple of missions over the last few months, he’d yet to make an appearance at any meeting. One of Maverick’s more illustrious cases that he’d solved as an FBI agent had involved what had been the most notorious hacker in the business.
He’d served his time but had never lost his love of breaking into secure networks. Now we used his skills to our benefit.
He’d been the man responsible for wiping my fingerprint as a prosecutor off the face of the earth. He also had connections that were far more reaching than we’d originally believed, including with third world countries and communist regimes.
“Ruger, this is Reese Murphy. You might know of her father, Thomas Murphy.”
It took him a few seconds before recognition hit, a beaming smile slowly crossing his face. “Global Universal. Oh, my freaking God. The architect of the world’s supreme security software. Allow me to shake the hand of the daughter of the man inventing the only network I’ve never been able to crack. The reason I was caught by the infamous Maverick Callahan.”
I had to wonder if Franklin’s decision to work with Maverick was more based on his FBI experience. Why not also find out how much the FBI knew about the security application.
Reese’s eyebrows knitted together, but she accepted the gesture.
