Page 23 of Velvet Vaughn

“He’s right.”

“About what?”

“Not to go to the cops or the feds until we know what we’re looking at. But the part that matters most in this note is the phrase ‘your own people.’ He’s not telling you to distrust strangers, Leo. He’s telling you someone you know is part of this.”

Leo scrubbed both hands down his face. “I was hoping you’d tell me I was overreacting.”

“If I thought you were, I’d still be in Indiana, sitting around a campfire and drinking a bottle of Hoosier Gameday Lager.”

Silence lived between them for a breath. Outside the windows, the city glittered in all its lit-up glory. Inside, the only sound was the low hum of the refrigerator.

Anja picked up her phone. “I’m calling Tyler Redmond. He runs our cyber unit.”

“I’ve spent some time with him. The guy’s a freaking genius.”

“That he is,” she agreed. “He can crack that drive without leaving a paper trail.”

“Off the books?”

“For tonight. Depending on what’s on it, we might not be able to keep it that way past tomorrow, and I won’t try. I’ll have to loop my bosses in.”

“I trust you, so whatever you say.”

That innocent sentence shouldn’t have made her heart skip. It did anyway.

Ignoring her body’s reaction, she pressed Tyler’s contact button and activated the speaker.

Tyler’s sleepy voice picked up on the second ring. “Valkyrie? What’s up? Wi-Fi down in your apartment?”

“I’m in St. Louis, Tyler, and I need your help.”

Tyler’s tone shifted immediately into business mode. “Talk to me.”

Anja’s gaze passed from Leo to Vic Shaw’s note lying between them.

“I’ve got a handwritten letter from a dead sports agent, an encrypted thumb drive, a burner phone, and a warning not to trust anyone inside the firm where my client works. We’re running this on the down low, and we’re running it fast.”

“Got you. Give me five minutes to get to my office, then let’s go ruin someone’s evening.”

Preferably not ours, Anja hoped.