Page 40 of Corrupted

"Several," Parker replied. "Nothing that stands out."

"Anything near Demons’ Arena?" I asked.

"A couple of them," Parker said. "By the way, no luck on tracing Kurt's phone number." He pulled my phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. "He's a slippery motherfucker."

"Yes, he is." That wasn't news to any of us.

I put my phone away and waved toward the laptop. "Any indication of a connection between Kurt and those addresses?"

"Those addresses being on here suggests there's a connection," Parker said. "There's nothing concrete. Nothing is labelled 'Kurt's main residence,' or 'Kurt's place of business.' You think they would have tried to be more helpful, but apparently not." He flipped the laptop off.

"Send them to me," Damon said. "I'll see what our people can find out."

"Tell them to be on their guard," Reuben said. "There's a good chance Kurt will expect us to check out each location for ourselves. Which is why we won't. We won't walk into any traps."

"Kurt probably gave those addresses to Leon, knowing we might find them," I said.

Reuben was right, that was a trap waiting to happen. And probably the exact reason why Kurt mentioned watching me throw the knife at Carlos. He was hoping to draw us to him. We needed to find a way to turn that back on him.

"He really screwed Leon over," Gianni remarked. He didn't look even slightly sympathetic. "He used him to try to lure Mina, knowing if we got to him first, he could turn it to his advantage. I'd be impressed, if he wasn't such a complete and utter prick."

"Kurt or Leon?" Hunter asked.

"Yes," Gianni replied with a smile.

Hunter grinned. "Both sounds about right."

While Parker continued to go through the laptop, I stepped over to Damon. "Any luck on finding Jason Andrews, or Wade?"

He rolled his lips. "We've discovered Jason Andrews is a very common name, as is Wade. I have my contacts looking for brothers called Jason and Wade, who might work for Kurt. Or be an old friend of his. If they even exist, they'll be found."

"They exist," I said. "Or, they used to."

I'd thought about them often, but I still couldn't clearly picture their faces. Just vague details about their build and hair colour. Their voices were more vivid than their appearances. But I knew if I met them again, I'd know them immediately.

"Either way, we'll find out." He put a reassuring arm around me, his large hand squeezing my shoulder. "We're closer than we were when we just had the nickname, Hammer."

"Yeah, I know we are," I said.

We weren't close enough, but Damon was doing the best he could.

I knew I wasn't alone in my frustration. Kurt had been playing games with us for weeks, and it was getting exhausting. Every time we seemed to be getting somewhere, we took a step back. Or several.

I pictured him laughing at us as he toyed with our strings, like we were his puppets. Tweaking and making us dance to his tunes.

Fuckhead.

I wanted to punch the smug smile off his smug, asshole face. Right before I sliced of his cock and balls and made him eat them. And then?—

"Bingo, motherfucker," Parker said suddenly.

"What is it?" Reuben leaned over his shoulder.

"It's an encrypted conversation between Leon and Kurt," Parker said. "Kurt telling Leon when to arrive in Dusk Bay and where to go. It goes back a lot further than that. There are details of meetings between them, including addresses of the places they met up. Kurt telling Leon who to speak to. A number where he can be reached."

My heart started racing. "Any chance you can trace that number?"

"There's every chance I'm going to try," he agreed. "In the meantime, I'll send all of this to Damon. This could help narrow things down."

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