Or maybe you know how he performs when he’s working a job,when the act itself is slightly distasteful because the woman he really loves is waiting for him.
She was not listening to that annoying voice. There was something wrong with that video. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.
“I’ll kill him and I’ll make sure that bitch doesn’t come back from the dead again,” Kala announced. Her twin would fasten straight onto rage because it was far easier than the anxiety she had to be feeling about Lou in Huisman’s clutches.
The video had been graphic. It was Ben balls deep in his ex-fiancée before some nasty pillow talk about how stupid Kenzie was and how Deanna was his only love.
He told her he loved her. He’d laid with his head on her breasts and said he loved her and always would, promised as soon as he’d taken down the dumb bitch—she assumed he was speaking of her—and her family, they could be together when Kenzie was dead and Manny’s revenge was complete.
How many times had Manny watched it? Had he gotten off? Or was he jealous?
Yep, she was going to have to shut that voice down.
“TJ and Coop are here.” Kala started for the door.
“We’re ready to go. Hail a cab for us,” Aidan said, wrapping an arm around Tim and helping him up.
Kala nodded and ran out the door.
“I’ll come,” Tris offered.
Aidan shook his head. “Nope. You stay and figure out how to track Lou down. Cooper can go with us if we need a guard. He can escort us, and then you can send someone else.”
“I’ll call Robert and Ari,” Kenzie promised with a massive sigh of relief.
In moments she was alone with Tristan. She quickly brought him up to date on everything, including the video she’d received.
“I downloaded it on my laptop,” she explained as Tristan sat down at the desk she’d been using. The one closest to Ben, where he could look up and wink at her or gesture for her to join him, and then he would kiss her senseless.
Tris’s eyes were on the screen as he started the video. “Why not leave it on your phone?”
“Because I switched it with Kala’s a few minutes ago.” Whenshe’d hugged her sister, she’d slipped her cell in Kala’s pocket and taken hers. They were on work cells for the time being, so they looked exactly the same. Same screen. Same passwords. Two different numbers, but they were programmed so they would look the same. It would take Kala time to figure out it wasn’t hers.
Hopefully long enough for what Kenzie was absolutely certain was coming.
It wasn’t merely Lou Huisman wanted. He wanted her sister, and she wasn’t about to allow it.
Tris hit a button and the video paused. “Shit, Kenz. You watched this? Who is the woman? The time stamp is a couple of weeks ago. Right after the Nepal mission. Do we know where Ben went?”
“Supposedly back to Toronto.” She was pleased with how even her voice was. She stared at that still shot. It showed Ben’s back as he worked over Deanna’s body, her legs wound around his waist. “Can you tell if it’s a fake? I don’t know what was on the picture Ben was upset about, but I know he wanted to see if it was AI.”
“AI is so good now,” Tris said, his hands on the keys. He pulled out his phone and connected the two systems. “I have some protocols that can tell quickly if it’s AI.” His eyes closed as he looked down at the screen. “Uhm, Kenz, I’m sorry. According to my software, it’s likely not AI. It’s not showing any markers.”
Something eased in her chest as she realized what was missing.
“You’re sure the time stamp is after Nepal?”
Tris nodded. “About a week.”
So where the hell had the wound gone? His back was perfectly smooth. “He took a little fire on his way out of the complex. There was a lot of confusion, and some of the mercenaries were firing at anything that moved. Ben took a bullet to his left shoulder, right above the scapula.” She pointed to where it should be onscreen. “It’s healed now, but there’s a visible scar.”
Tris stared like he was trying to figure something out. “Maybe it’s from earlier.”
“It’s a fake.” She was certain now, and more certain than ever that she was going to need to find a way out of here. “He’s got more advanced AI than we can imagine. Ben is an idiot who doesn’t love me, but he wouldn’t betray me like this, and he wouldn’t work for Huisman, which is what Huisman wants me to think. This is a play. It’s his go-to.”
“Chaos.”
Kenzie nodded. “He wants us chasing so many leads, dealing with so many problems, that we won’t notice when my sister slips away and goes wherever he’s going to tell her to go or he’ll hurt Lou.”
