Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
“We got enough to start connecting the dots to everyone who works for them?” King finally asked.
Wizard pursed his lips, then nodded. “Probably. Got some solid threads. I’ve isolated a few names. Ace is tracing them back through financial channels while I go through communication logs and such. A couple of the players are already looking familiar.”
King nodded and turned his attention to Rebel. “Work with Wizard. See what else you can pull up on their movements and connections around town. I want a clearer picture of exactly who we’re dealing with, and what they’re capable of.”
Wizard huffed, his way of complaining about being forced to endure a group project. Rebel was a security expert and had great tech skills, but Wizard was in a league of his own. Having them both working on a problem usually made things move faster, but Wizard wasn’t a fan of accepting help when it came to his domain.
Rebel gave a firm chin lift, his expression dark and determined.
“I’ll talk with the auto shop crew,” Cross offered. “See if anyone has noticed any unusual faces or cars coming and going around town.” Then he cocked his head to another brother. “Echo already put eyes and ears in the office building. I’m thinking maybe he should get some on the one where Poppy works.”
Echo grunted an agreement.
“Good,” King murmured, shifting his gaze to Ash. “Reach out to our contacts in the legal circles—courthouse, county records, whoever you can quietly tap. Any unusual filings, leases, or permits might give us more pieces to put together. If they’re laying groundwork for something bigger, we need to know.”
Ash nodded in acknowledgment, his posture relaxed but his eyes deadly serious. “I’ll handle it.”
No one doubted for a second that he would.
Finally, King’s gaze landed back on me. “Keep Poppy close. She’s already been approached once. BAM may try again, and this time, they’ll be ready to do more than threaten.”
My jaw clenched, but I managed a curt nod. He was right. Protecting Poppy wasn’t something King had to ask of me—it was a fucking given. But I understood his reasoning for saying it out loud. “Already ahead of you, Prez.”
A glint of approval appeared in his eyes, though his scowl stayed firmly in place. “I never doubted that.” Then his face was back to being unreadable. “Gonna be smart about this. If they make another move, we need to be ready to hit back hard, but until we have everything we need to go after them, we keep it low-key. We’re close to unraveling this, but let’s make sure we have all the pieces first.”
The underlying tension in the room made his words hang heavily in the air.
We were still deep in the middle of the discussion when a sharp vibration on my wrist drew my attention. I frowned automatically, assuming it was just another probe hitting one of our outer accounts. But when I glanced down at the notification, the message flashing across the screen was different this time.
“What the fuck?” The shift in my tone was enough to kill the conversation instantly. Chairs creaked as every head in the room turned toward me.
I’d left my tablet and laptop back in my office when the meeting started, so instead of explaining anything yet, I stalked across the room toward the couch where Wizard was sprawled with his computer balanced on his legs. I reached down and swiftly yanked the laptop off his lap, pulling it cleanly out of his startled grasp.
Wizard’s head snapped up, his face twisting with immediate outrage as his hands grabbed at empty air where the laptop had been. “You son of a—”
“Oh shit,” Echo muttered, leaning back casually in his chair, fighting a grin. “Here we go again.”
I ignored him—and Wizard’s angry hiss of protest—as the fingers of one hand flew across the keyboard. I’d figured out how to work and hold a hand of cards decades ago.
“You motherfucker—” Wizard tried again, lunging forward to reclaim his precious computer, but I sidestepped smoothly out of his reach, focused entirely on the screen as I accessed the necessary pages to track the source of the alert.
Taking Wizard’s computer or tablet was damn near treason in his eyes. He was probably mentally picking out the knife he’d stab me with before he dropped my ass in a shallow grave.
The corner of Cross’s mouth curved with amusement as he drawled lazily, “My money’s on Ace this time. Lucky bastard talked his way out of a beating the last two times he touched Wizard’s sacred tech.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Ash smirked.
King leaned back in his chair and chuckled, pulling my attention from the screen just long enough to see a glint of humor flash across his normally severe face. Cerberus nudged his leg, and he immediately stroked his palm down his back.