“I know how easy it is to get trapped into doing shit, and it can be hard to break the cycle. I also think I’m a good judge of character. I know you’re good men, and Rick is a good friend of Kyler’s. We stand by our friends, especially in times of need.”
“We appreciate it.”
Keven cocks his head to one side. “I heard an interesting rumor. That you have left Techxet and you’re setting up a private consultancy?” His gaze drifts between us.
“We are,” Xavier says, arching an eyebrow. “Are you interested in joining us?”
My eyes pop wide. Keven has mad technical skills, and the three of us working together would be a dream team.
“Not now. I like my work with the FBI. Maybe in the future.” Keven shoves his hands into the pockets of his pants. “Would you guys be open to working with us, on special projects, from time to time?”
I try to temper my excitement.
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” Xavier says, and I roll my eyes.
“What my partner means is we would be open to exploring opportunities to work with the FBI.”
“Cool. I’ll let my boss know. We’re pretty understaffed most of the time, and occasionally we hire outside tech help. It would be good to have you guys to call on.”
“Whatever you need, we’re here,” Xavier says, and I nod.
“One last thing before I go,” Keven says, walking toward the door. “Where’d you get all that intel on Hamilton?”
“We don’t know,” Xavier says. “Someone left it with my stuff at Techxet.”
“Well, whoever it was, he or she did all of us a huge favor. The intel is solid, and there’s no way Hamilton is wriggling out of this. He’s going down for good.”
“That is the best news I’ve heard in ages,” Xavier says.
“Take care, and thanks again for bringing this to us. We appreciate it,” I add.
We say goodbye and let Keven go.
“I want to know who gave us that intel,” Xavier says, reading my mind.
“We need to hack into the camera feeds at Techxet. I want to see who placed it in your box.”
“You call Anderson and Lauder while I get working on that.”
I grin. “Bet Dad didn’t think about that when he was firing you.” Xavier came up with the new security system, and we both know how to get into the system undetected because he created the new security firewalls. And that’s if they are even installed yet.
“Best thing your dad ever did for me,” Xavier says, pecking my lips as he grabs his Mac and heads to the island unit, hauling his ass up on a stool.
“Truth.” We are living our best lives now, and the last layer of stress is now lifted.
I move into the living room to call our friends and their wives from my burner cell, giving them the good news.
“Hunt. Get over here stat. You need to see this,” Xavier shouts as I end my call. I stalk to the kitchen and lean over his shoulder. “Is that who I think it is?” my boyfriend asks. He has the screen frozen on an image of a guy with cropped blond hair. He’s turned around from the reception area, staring straight into the camera with a savage grin on his face.
Shock splays across my face. “Argon put the file there?”
Xavier nods as I absently run my fingers up and down his arms. “He waited for the receptionist to take a bathroom break, and he snuck in and placed the file in my box. We dropped the ball with this guy.”
“Who the hell is he, and why was he interning at Techxet?”
“He’s only a kid,” Xavier says, enlarging the screen a bit more.
“Hang on a sec,” I say as all the blood drains from my face. “He had blue eyes and glasses on when we met him. Now he’s got brown eyes and no glasses.”
“Contacts?” Xavier muses.
I stare at him, that sixth sense I had about him still lifting the fine hairs on the back of my neck. And then it hits me. “No fucking way.”
“What?” Xavier turns to me as I race to my messenger bag, pulling out a notepad and pen.
I climb up on the stool beside my boyfriend. “Put his image into Photoshop and change his hair to dark brown,” I say as I write his name down on the notepad.
ARGON SANDERON.
“Holy. Fuck.” Xavier’s spine stiffens as we both stare at the image of the dark-haired intern. “How did we not see this before?”
“Because he disguised himself and kept out of our way on purpose. Look at his name. Tell me what you see.”
Xavier’s eyes pop wide as he stares at me. “We need to go to Rydeville.”
“Right now,” I agree because this cannot wait.
30
Sawyer
“What the fuck is going on?” Kai asks, looking part perplexed, part scared, and part pissed, as he answers the door to us at two a.m.
“We discovered something,” Xavier says, pushing past him. He glances down at his sleep pants. They are black with red lips patterned all over them. “Cute PJs.” He smirks.
Anderson flips him the bird. “My wife bought these for me. I wear them to please her.”
“Pussy.” My lips twitch as I step into his house.
“You dare to throw shade at me, General?”
I roll my eyes. “Guess I asked for that one.” We turned up to the restaurant in Rydeville on Saturday night to find all my friends and their significant others wearing T-shirts with an image of me dressed as Captain America on the front, and on the back, the shirts read “I love you, Bright One.” They also had a full-length roll-up banner on display at the table, which was a smaller version of my banner.
Fucking assholes.
They are never going to let me forget this. But I’ll handle it. Because I got the guy. And that’s all that matters.
“What’s happened?” Abby asks, rubbing sleepy eyes as she emerges in a red knee-length silk robe.
“They have something to tell us,” Anderson says, slinging his arm around his wife’s waist. “Apparently, it couldn’t wait until morning.”
“It can’t,” I say, following Xavier into the living room. Kai flips the switch on the wall, and the room is bathed in light. We sit down at the dining table and Xavier powers on his Mac.
“You should call Rick,” I suggest. “He’ll want to hear this.”
Anderson frowns, taking my cell and placing the call to his brother without questioning me.
By the time we have a sleepy Rick staring at us through FaceTime, Xavier has the screenshot loaded on his Mac.
“This guy is Argon Sanderon,” I explain, showing them the image of the blond-haired student. “He was interning at Techxet over the summer.”
“I remember you mentioned him at the hotel,” Anderson says. “He was the one Jamison let into the apartment.”
“Correct,” Xavier says. “He’s also the one who gave us the file on Hamilton.”
“What the fuck?” Rick says, sounding more alert. “Why would a kid have that kind of information? And if he was working with Jamison, which is the implication, why would he squeal on Hamilton?”