TWO
KADE
“Sir, Mr. Ricci is on line two,” Christine, my assistant, paged into my office.
“Thank you, Christine,” I replied, rolling my eyes. I had no desire to speak to the man, which was why I had been ignoring his calls.
“Romano,” I said, hitting the speaker button and leaning back in my office chair.
“Care to share with me why it’s taking so fucking long for us to figure out who planned the attack on my warehouse?” Ricci boomed through the phone.
“Well, good morning to you, too,” I grumbled, knowing how this conversation would go.
“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit, Kade, we both know that the pleasantries are long gone. If your father was still alive...”
Before he could finish, I interrupted, “Well, he’s not, so I will have to do. Unless you want to find another security firm willing to deal with all facets of your business.” My tone was calm and straightforward.
I couldn’t stand the slimy scumbag, butmy father had brought Ricci in as a client with a hefty, impenetrable contract. I wasn’t going to tell him that I had a royal Phantom pain in my ass that I had a feeling was the one behind the attack. Phantom and I had been playing this dance for a couple of years now. We were sparing off against one another in the cyber world, trying to uncover each other's identity. It was like trying to find a specific needle in a stack of needles. And neither of us had succeeded so far.
“I have my best team on it, as you know, sir. We will do everything we can to determine who is responsible for this; however, if you keep calling me every hour, I can’t do my job. So please let me do what you hired me to do.”
“Fine,” he grumbled, and I ended the call.
I glanced at the stack of resumes on my desk. Why my assistant insisted on having paper copies was beyond me, but I knew that I needed to go through them for the interviews that we’d scheduled for the next couple of days. As I flipped through the first couple in the pile, one in particular caught my eye.
Evelyn Mowers has an Associate’s Degree in Computer Analytics and Cyber Security. She worked as Dominos Gym's Cyber Security and Operations Manager. The gym was widely known, with a mile-long waitlist. I had taken some jiu-jitsu classes there to see if it lived up to the hype. It did, especially for the Victoria's Secret bombshell that ran the class and kicked everyone’s asses. I hadn’t continued my membership as I had my gym in my penthouse, and my brute best friend was my sparring partner. I wondered if I would recognize Evelyn from there. I checked my calendar to see when she was coming in, and to my pleasant surprise, she was my first interview tomorrow morning.
Typically, candidates without a bachelor's degree were not selected; however, Dominos Gym was an elite establishmentwith its top-of-the-line application process and top-of-the-line equipment. They had some of the most exclusive clientele in the area. Stealing someone from their staff would be a gold mine, as they could help expand our relationships with businesses that we didn’t have contracts with yet due to the connections that they had within the gym.
After my morning meetings, I sat in front of my computer, sifting through data and codes to help me identify who had infiltrated Ricci’s warehouse. Hyperfocused on my computer screen, I didn’t hear my best friend and business partner, Evan “The Machine” Amaro, enter my office.
“I have news,” Evan said, making me nearly jump out of my office chair.
“Jesus Christ, Evan, you scared the shit out of me.” I took off my glasses and rubbed my eyes. The past twenty-four hours had been hell, and the lack of sleep was not helping.
Evan chuckled. “And you’re the Don of the Mafia, yet I’m the one who spooks you!”
I rolled my eyes and roamed my gaze over the behemoth of a man covered in tattoos, dark eyes, and scars that marred his exposed flesh and eyebrow. “Yeah, yeah, what’s the news?”
“I don’t know who tipped them off, but I can tell you that Phantom was definitely snooping and accessing the warehouse cameras when the feds infiltrated it. “
“Fuck…” I muttered, closing my eyes.
Evan placed a cup of coffee on my desk. “You look like shit, drink some fuel.”
I sighed, grabbing the mug. “Thanks,” I mumbled before taking a sip.
I wished I could put more on my team to help find theculprits; however, due to the sensitive nature of the bust, I did not want to compromise my valued employees. Some things were better off not being seen,and dead women and children who were supposed to be put in the skin trade fell under that category.
THREE
EVELYN
“Phantom, we need to discuss your next undercover assignment.” Chief motioned for me to sit across from him.
“Tomorrow, you will report to Romano Security Systems as a candidate for their Cyber Security Specialist position. Ricci is a huge client of Romano’s. This is the best opportunity for us to intercept information now that he’s covering his tracks even more because of the warehouse incident.”
We went through my cover story. I’d applied as Evelyn Mowers, using my mother’s maiden name. We’d kept everything as close to the truth as possible, so when Romano pulled up my information, there would be no way he could find discrepancies.
