Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 108988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
“Right,” I said, dryly.
“Well, I was working on it last night. Or early this morning, depending on your definition—”
“Gus, get to the point,” Lassiter snapped.
He was quiet, which didn’t last. “Lassie? You’re there? Awesome. That’ll help, but okay, yeah. Getting to the point. So, anyways, like I said, I was working on the program, and I intercepted some communication about the program. I didn’t want to miss anything, so I wrote a program to automatically scan for anything relating to it. I got an alert around four this morning. The communication itself was earlier between the guy in charge of the whole thing and another person. It took a little bit to identify the other person because he had all sorts of IP addresses to hide his identity, but I found him. The conversation was mostly asking questions about the program, what territories it’ll patrol. Things like that.”
“Gus!” I barked.
“Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Right. Okay. The other person was Spence Calloway.”
Lassiter’s head jerked to me, growing eerily still.
“I know that he works for Cole Mauricio, so I was thinking maybe he was asking of behalf of Mauricio—”
“No.” I shut that down. It was a waste of time. “You said there was an alert as of four this morning?”
He coughed. “Uh. Yeah. Calloway reached out to ask if the program was up and running, and he asked for a certain location too.” He cleared his throat before speaking again, picking up speed, “The guy never responded, but the program isn’t up and running. It’s not set to start until next month. I got curious anyway and pulled up any security cameras in the area Calloway was asking about . . . Well. I checked your phones. It’s more out of habit than anything. You, Lassie, and Levi were all in Octavia last night. Blake too. Then your phone and Blake’s phones left. Lassie’s left after a bit. Levi’s stayed.”
My phone buzzed. So did Lassiter’s.
Gustav’s voice got dramatically quieter, “You need to see what I found.”
Lassiter said, “It’s a video.”
“A few different cameras, but I put the footage together.”
I pulled it up and hit play.
Two vehicles pulled up to the back of Octavia. Their rear brake lights lit up as they reversed to get as close to the door as possible. The back door of the club opened. Spence stepped out, giving the vehicles a motioning wave before disappearing inside. The two guys both got out of the vehicles and disappeared inside the club.
I cursed at the sight of them.
“Who are those two?”
My voice grated over my throat. “Crispin and Penn Worthing. Two more of my cousins.”
Lassiter’s gaze went to me.
I cut my eyes to him. “You don’t have to say it.”
“You decided to let them live when you purged your family. What was your reason again?”
I gave him a look. “I thought they were useless. I’m guessing they aren’t . . .” My words died as my cousins emerged from the club, each carrying a body over their shoulders.
“Fuck,” Lassiter’s curse was swift and quiet.
The first body was Palma. Over Penn’s shoulder.
The second was Heath. Over Crispin’s shoulder.
Both were placed in the back of the vehicles. Crispin and Penn disappeared inside again, coming back out, carrying Finch together. Crispin had him under his shoulders. Penn had his legs. They repeated, and the next time they appeared, they were carrying Levi’s giant body. Spence Calloway was helping.
I hadn’t seen this one coming. I expected this from West or Walden, not a club manager for Cole Mauricio.
“Find Blake’s whereabouts,” I clipped out to Gus.
Hearing his fingers typing, he said, “Already on it. I can’t get a hold of Scooter. He’s supposed to be watching her. His phone says he’s outside her place. He’s not picking up. But . . . Oh, fuck.”
Lassiter lowered his phone, only focused on mine now. He migrated over.
“Boss . . .”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Gustav. Say it Now!”
Another button was pressed.
My phone buzzed, just mine.
It was a second video. For a moment, one split second, I didn’t want to hit the button.
As I did, it began to play out as Gus filled in the blanks, “While you were catching up on that earlier footage, I was already looking for Blake’s phone. She got a text from Spence. I can send that to you, if you want, but I fast-tracked until her phone was turned off at this location. That’s the video you’re seeing.”
The video showed a car turning down an alley, slowing down, and parking at the edge of the camera’s lens. There was no movement for a bit, then the car shut off. The driver’s door opened, and Spence Calloway got out, dragging Blake with him.
He kicked the door shut, then they were out of eyesight.
Lassiter’s phone beeped.
I wasn’t paying him attention. Blake was in danger.
I was about to tear the world apart.