That had been her take too, and she was glad he agreed. It couldn’t be an easy admission.
When she and Jason dated before, family dynamics hadn’t been a regular topic of conversation, but clearly there was some complicated history on his side. She could only imagine what he was going through right now.
“I’m sorry.” She stuck her arm backward between the front seats and held out her hand, palm up. After a brief hesitation, Jason curled his fingers in hers, squeezing lightly as he shifted to rest their intertwined hands on his knee.
Some of the tightness in her chest eased.
“What do you want to do now?” Todd asked.
“Fuck if I know.” Jason tugged absently at his hair. “Go back to the Turaco and hope the spyware gives us what we need to stop them, I guess.”
She’d agreed to help him confront Byron if he allowed her to install a program on Byron’s phone using NFC—near-field communication—the same technology used to pay by phone at the grocery checkout. He’d raised an eyebrow at her having access to that kind of thing, or being willing to use it as a legitimate journalist, but she’d explained that the spyware was commonly used against reporters. This time, they’d be flipping the script, and given the danger, she felt justified.
She didn’t reveal that her team routinely used the illegal software on their targets. The results couldn’t be used as evidence, but it often led them to people who could provide it, or opportunities to gather it in a legal way. The Night Herons had tried everything to get one of Warner’s entourage to fall for a phishing scheme, but his inner circle were all too smart to click even the most well-crafted link.
Jason could’ve sent one to his brother, but the timing would have looked suspicious, so they did it the hard way.
Using NFC required the phones to be right next to each other, and she’d also had to surreptitiously tap on a warning that was displayed on Byron’s phone while he was distracted by Jason’s questions.
Emma tightened her grip briefly and then released Jason’s hand. As much as she wanted to keep in contact, her shoulder had begun complaining about the odd angle. “I know you want to do the right thing, but he’s still your brother. You shouldn’t have to take part in his downfall.”
“The fact that he’s my brother makes it evenmoreimportant that I help.”
“He’s not your responsibility,” she argued, shifting sideways in her seat to look at him. “And you should think hard about whether you’ll be able to forgive yourself once it’s over. I know you don’t get along—”
Jason scoffed. “Understatement of the century.”
“Regardless, he’s still family.” As much as she welcomed his help with the plan to give Warner his comeuppance, she didn’tneedJason to make it happen, and she didn’t want it to devastate him in the process. “Will you be able to face your parents if you’re involved? Will you be able to assure them—and yourself—that there was nothing personal in the decision to essentially demolish his life and everything he’s built?”
As they entered the urban center, Jason stared out the window at a peach-colored apartment building with a bakery on the ground floor, his expression grim. “It’s the right thing to do.”
“Of course it is,” Emma said. “And if I have my way, it’s going to happen. But justice doesn’t have to come at the cost of your most important relationships. Letmetake him down.”
“How exactly?” he asked, finally meeting her gaze, his dark eyes troubled. “Your organization is probably compromised, and you don’t know who all the players are. You can’t do this alone.”
Unfortunately, he wasn’t wrong. “Then lend me whatever resources you want, but I think you should take a backseat on this.”
They stared at each other across the console until he squared his shoulders, firmed his jaw, and said, “Not happening.”
Welp, she’d tried.
Todd dropped them off down the street from the Hotel Turaco and went to park the car at his hotel while Emma and Jason took separate routes to their room. She arrived first, sticking her key in the slot just inside the door that enabled the electricity. When he entered the living room a minute later, she walked straight to him and slid her arms around his waist.
He stiffened for a second, and then finally relaxed into her embrace, his strong arms wrapping around her shoulders as she rubbed his back.
“I hope like hell this works,” he said after a minute, pulling away to look down at her. “Now that he’s on notice, it just got a lot riskier for all of us.”
She pushed onto her toes and gave Jason a quick kiss, her lips tingling from the too-brief contact. “But now that they’re on the defensive they’re more likely to inadvertently give us what we need.”
He nodded as her phone vibrated. She tapped on the screen to follow a text stream between Byron and Renfro Warner. They were meeting in five minutes.
Her heart galloped. Everything hinged on the men giving her and Jason something damning. They desperately needed a win.
She looked up at Jason. “Show time.”
Jason sat on the couch in the hotel room, chest being squeezed by an invisible fist as he stared at the phone on the table. It was set to speaker so he, Todd, and Emma could listen to Byron’s meeting with Warner. She had assured them that the conversation was being recorded.
“Did you kill Viktor?” Byron asked, getting right to the heart of it.
