“He contacted you?”
“Yeah. He overnighted me a throwaway phone with some encrypted chat app to speak with him. He knew all about this case. He didn’t want to talk to me. He wanted to talk toyou. That’s why we’re here.”
Cash was astounded, suddenly understanding why the young agent looked so damn nervous.
Standish reached out and gripped her wrist. “He was adamant this was the only way he would communicate with us, andonlywith you. Didn’t want you in the office. He picked this bar. I know it’s outside of protocol, but it’s not like we can subpoena his testimony—we’d never find him anyway.”
Standish slid a phone from his pocket—some off-brand device with Cyrillic writing on it.
She hesitated and then took it. “Right now?”
“Yes. Now. Look, this guy is good. I think he might have hacked into my laptop.”
“How do you know?” Cash asked.
“Battery drained faster than usual, altered code. I think he got spooked when I got close to finding out where he was.” Standish must have realized he was gripping her wrist, and he let her go. He leaned back in his chair, cool again.
Cash nodded, feeling uneasy, and opened the phone. There was a single application on the screen—an app icon of a bird mid-flight. She clicked it, and a black screen with a messaging bar popped up. She typed into it.
Guest:This is Agent Cash
A couple of seconds later, and there was an answer.
Host:hello frankie. i see ur following my instructions.
Before Cash could even reply, a screenshot from a security camera in the bar popped onto the screen. It showed Standish and Cash, sitting across from each other—taken a couple of seconds ago. Cash turned the screen so Standish could see.
“How in the fuck…?” Standish murmured.
Guest:Let’s talk on the phone.
Host:fuck no. don’t ask again.
Guest:You went to a lot of trouble to reach me. So tell me what you want.
Host:javi castillo was murdered and dismembered. who did it?
Guest:We don’t know.
Host:theyre stalking and killing us cash. they killed castillo. they disappeared my partner. everyone in our organization is vulnerable. you’re leading the investigation. what the actual fuck are you doing about this besides sending your script kiddie to insert his nose into my ass
“Script kiddie?” Standish said over her shoulder, annoyed.
Guest:Who’s “they”? And who’s this partner?
Host:we’ve had run-ins with these people before. look into a group called devotio. thats all ill say. my partner silva helped castillo steal the relic.
Devotio, Cash thought. Now she was getting somewhere.
Guest:What’s your connection to Castillo?
Host:he’s the front man of our organization paradox
Guest:What is Paradox really?
Host:we collect data on uaps
Guest:Why all the shell companies? The secrecy?
