Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Eli set down his pen and spun in his chair, a smile lighting his face as he spotted us. “Good news?” he asked.
“Very good news,” I said. “I talked to the credit card companies and the bank. All the flags have been removed. They’re issuing new cards. I should be good to go—assuming whoever froze the accounts in the first place doesn’t decide to do it again.”
“Unlikely,” Maddox rumbled, coming around the corner, Wren on his heels, paper cups in both of their hands.
“But possible,” Eli said. “We’ll deal with that if it happens. But hey—forward progress is good, right?”
I tried not to smile back at him, ever conscious of keeping a distance between us in the middle of all of these very observant eyeballs.
“I found something,” Emmett said. He flashed a glance at me. “A few things, actually. But this one is developed enough to move on.” He held up the file he’d carried with him. Setting it down on the table between all of us, he opened it.
Sheet after sheet of letter-sized paper covered in lines of numbers, letters, symbols. I wished, not for the first time, that I understood something about programming. Because maybe that was computer code. Or a code, like a cypher. Or maybe it was just random shit printed on endless pieces of paper.
Emmett ran his finger along a line on one of the pages like it meant something. Maybe it did to him. “I got into Emily Shaw’s phone and traced communications going from her to a data broker sometimes based in Atlanta. I don’t know if whatever she was working on was bringing her here or—” He paused and stared at Eli for a weirdly long moment before he said, “Or if there’s another connection that was bringing her this way. But it’s possible she went to see this data broker when she came to Atlanta to meet with someone at Sinclair Security.”
“Maybe the data broker is the reason she never made it here,” Wren said.
I looked to the woman standing beside Maddox, curious. Except for Maddox, I’d only met Eli’s team in passing, but I knew Wren was about my age, maybe a little older. She appeared completely unassuming—shorter than me, slight of build, her blonde hair pulled back in a stubby ponytail, no jewelry or makeup, wearing a fairly androgynous T-shirt and jeans.
I had the sense she could disappear in any environment she found herself in. I thought of the wardrobe selection I’d picked up when we went shopping—how, with a couple of changes, I could go from professional to casual. And I thought that if Wren had that wardrobe, she could be anything. Because beneath the unassuming exterior, I was pretty sure she was as tough as they came. There was a stillness in her, a quiet watchfulness that spoke of patience and strength—not the fragility she projected.
“Do you have a name for the data broker?” Wren asked.
“Not really,” Emmett said. “Aliases. Janus Vault and Glass Spire. He uses both. There may be others I haven’t found.”
Wren shook her head slowly. “Don’t know him.”
“Do you have an address?” Eli asked. “Is he close?”
“Close enough,” Emmett said. “Outside the city, but not far. Office park out past Buford.”
“Send me the address,” Eli said. “I’ll go check it out.”
“You mean we’ll go check it out?” I asked, straightening.
“No,” Eli said. “Absolutely not.” He shifted to face me, crossing his arms over his chest, as if his authoritative stance would make me give in without an argument.
“What do you mean, absolutely not?” I crossed my own arms over my chest. Two could play that game.
“We have no idea what we’re walking into.”
“We didn’t the other times I went with you,” I reminded him. “Those worked out.”
Eli’s jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing. “You almost blew up at that storage facility. Did you forget about that?”
I lifted my chin. “I got the phone.”
“Not the point,” Eli grumbled.
“Exactly the point,” I muttered back.
“Take Sylvie with you,” Emmett said. “It’s safe enough. It’s an office park in the suburbs, not midnight down by the docks.”
“They don’t have docks in Atlanta,” Wren said. “You know, because we’re inland.” She rolled her eyes at Emmett.
The side of Maddox’s mouth curled in a grin, but no one responded. Eli and I were still locked in a stare-off.
“You’re not leaving me here,” I said.
“You two are wasting time,” Emmett said. He shoved a piece of paper in my hand. “Here. Now Sylvie has the address. Go.”
“You’re not lead on this,” Eli said from behind me.
“I’m the one who knows where we’re going,” I said, picking up the pace before he could catch up and grab the paper from my hand.
From behind me, I heard Wren laughing. In an exaggeration of an adolescent whine, she added, “You’re not the boss of me.”