Page 143 of Hard Heart

“Funny, that was my reaction too.”

They all began talking at once.

“How do you know it was him?”

“Did he speak to you?”

“How did he get there?”

“Wait, I thought he was dead…probably.”

“Uh, why?”

“So it turns out he’s been working under deep cover my entire life, and he ended up chauffeuring Serafina’s sister after she was kidnapped at the airport.” Jez recounted the events as she remembered them, although the drugs made those memories hazy. “I have no idea whose side he’s on. Yes, he helped me when my life was on the line, but he also left Levi in prison with some bullshit excuse. He said he evacced Tina, but she jumped off a bridge, and he knew Fisk was a murderous thug and did nothing to stop it for at least a decade. He’s my father, and I can’t decide whether to love him or hate him.”

Tulsa summed things up. “Wow.”

“And…and he knows about the point teams. Which means someone connected with the point teams knows about him. Every time I asked questions, I got vague answers or nothing at all. He said this was work. Who the hell is running him? Does Priest know? Does Demelza?” She took a deep breath and regretted it when her ribs screamed. “Do you?”

Jeremy Pope. That was the only name she had, but it wasn’t the name he’d been born with. Echo had dug deep, and there was no birth certificate, no medical records, no high-school transcript. But somebody must have that information. He didn’t arrive fully formed at the Army recruiting office. Jez wanted to trust her team, but like her, they could lie convincingly. They just weren’t supposed to lie to each other.

One by one, they all shook their heads.

“He gave me the names—Grafton Fisk and Renée McColl.” Of note: McColl had dark roots, so it was possible she was also the bottle blonde who’d hooked up with Justin. “Fisk was already on the shortlist, but who the hell is McColl? And he said the group behind this is called Compass, but it isn’t a group; it’s more of an alliance.”

On screen, Sin waved a hand. “I’ve heard of Compass.”

“You have?”

“And you didn’t think to mention it?” Dice asked.

“They’re in my database of fringe groups. I remember the name, that’s all.”

“They’re hardly fringe—Dad said they’re backing Dax Prescott for president.”

Ari’s brows knitted. “Like a PAC?”

“Hold on…” Sin was finding her notes. “The name Compass is associated with an alliance of the rich and powerful. No definitive proof that it exists. Senator Alan Nicholl mentioned the name in his online suicide note—he said the CSAM on his computer had been ‘planted by Compass.’ General Óscar Tovar, he of the failed coup in Venezuela, blamed the whole thing on Compass before he died in prison. A prolific burglar in Massachusetts said he worked for Compass and wanted to make a deal. He escaped from custody and remains uncaught.”

“The CSAM thing… That was files, right?”

“I guess.”

“Dad said Ruby was killed because she and Tina stole files from Compass. What if that’s the kind of thing they took?”

“Fake CSAM?”

“Real CSAM. The dead guy said ‘planted,’ not ‘fake.’ They want to remove an obstacle, so they plant evidence and tip off the cops. Where have we seen that before?”

“Justin,” Echo said, at the same time as Coyote said, “Amie Carlson.”

“Was that senator anti-Dax Prescott?”

Tulsa scrunched her lips to one side. “Hmm.”

Had they accidentally stumbled into something much bigger than the murder of a college girl? A political scandal that reached deep into the seat of power, not just in the US but across the world? A hidden system of coercion and control that shaped the lives of every fucking citizen. It seemed almost impossible to believe, and yet…

“How the hell did Ruby get involved with these people?” Echo asked.