Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “Not interested.”
I turned to walk away. I hadn’t even taken three steps when he spoke again. “Name your price.”
I pivoted, my heart racing. I had him. “What?”
“I’ll give you six million.”
“And what exactly do you want for six million, Orson?”
“A few months of your time. I want your continued enforcement and your expertise. No one will cross me with you on duty.”
“Are you still being crossed?” I asked, already knowing things were still happening he couldn’t explain. “You don’t think taking out the mole was enough?”
He drifted his fingers across the keyboard in front of him absently. “I don’t know. Things are occurring. I can’t explain them, Rex can’t help, and I still don’t know how White got in. Getting rid of him was probably enough, but I want to make sure. I want to send a message.”
“Which is?”
“You don’t fuck with me.”
It took everything in me not to laugh. I was so going to fuck with him, and the asshole was going to pay me to do it.
I paused, exhaling heavily, pretending to reconsider his proposal. “Twenty million.”
His eyebrows rose. “That’s a lot of money for a few months.”
“Not compared to what you’d lose if things keep ‘occurring.’”
“What’s my guarantee you won’t take the money and disappear?”
“My fucking word,” I spat back. “I’ll take half now—consider it a signing bonus—and we’ll revisit in a few months. See where things are at.” I flashed him my darkest smile. “Not that I’ll sign a fucking thing.”
Inside, I was gloating.
Not that you’ll be around in a few months either, asshole.
“Ten.”
I shrugged and turned away again.
“Fine. Twenty. Ten now.”
“I only want half of the first installment wired to the account I gave you before. The other half to a new one.”
“Give me your details, and I’ll make sure it’s done.”
I smirked. “The new one requires my password.”
“You’re trying my patience, Malone.”
“I don’t take orders from anyone. We need to be clear on that. I’ll work with you—not for you.”
“I want you here on these grounds.”
“I’ll stay here, but I need some private time. And Carlo is free to come and go. He needs to look after my business for me. If I have something to handle, I handle it, no questions asked.”
“I’ll give you a car.”
“Fine.”
“All your equipment will be provided.”
I knew what he was doing—he wanted to monitor my movements. Follow me. Little did he know, it would never work.
“Whatever. I can use any machine.”
“I want your loyalty.”
That I grimaced at. “The only thing I’m loyal to is money.”
He sighed and started typing on the keyboard, his annoyance showing in the way he pounded the keys. In a show of boredom, I sat down, sticking my hand in my pocket. Cautiously, I felt along the lining until my fingers found the minuscule piece of equipment Sean had given me, sliding it onto the tip of my finger. Thanks to Sean’s insistence on practicing the move, it was done quickly before any movement was even noticed by Orson.
“I need your information.”
I stood, moving behind him. “I need to be sitting.”
He stood and moved to the side. I sat down smoothly, making a show of pulling the laptop toward me. The tiny chip easily affixed itself to the bottom of the laptop, forming itself to the hard plastic instantly—just as Sean said it would. Then I held up a memory stick. “I need to use this,” I stated.
“What is it?”
“It interfaces with the new banking system I use. It only verifies my identity. You can watch.”
His eyes never left the screen as I plugged in the device. Exactly as I said, banking information filled the screen, hiding the memory stick’s true function. As I pulled out a piece of paper and entered the account number I had jotted down, then repeated the pattern with the number I had memorized for the other five million, it silently planted the software Sean would need to bring down Orson and his empire. I made as many errors as possible, muttering the whole time about how Carlo usually handled this shit, making sure the device was complete with its hidden function. Satisfied it was finished, I pulled out the drive. “Done.”
Orson shouted for Rex, and I stood and moved back to the chair, watching as he came back in. “Get Donald and check it,” Orson snapped.
A thin, nervous-looking Donald came in and sat down, not saying a word. His fingers flew over the keys, first typing in a set of test parameters, then passing a piece of equipment over the laptop. I picked up a bottle of water, breaking the seal and taking a drink, hiding my grin as Donald nodded at Orson.
“All clear.”
Of course it was. Neither the software nor the chip was activated, and both were undetectable and would remain so, even when Sean started them. They would begin working when I informed Sean they were in place. Once their jobs were done, they would once again be deactivated and undetectable. The chip would dissolve in forty-eight hours, and Sean would erase the program.