Page 471 of Dark Love

Big time.

“What am I going to see when I look at these papers?”

“A ton of money. Too much money for a small-time creep. This is organized, well-funded, and practically invisible.”

Don’t shoot Shock because he gave you news that you didn’t want to hear. Focus on Dahlia’s smile. Is she humming to herself as she’s rolling out the dough?

You do this, so women like her can sleep without knowing evil like this exists. “How well organized?”

“Like I’ve never seen before. This can’t just be happening here.”

No. No. No. I scan the pages, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see all the different accounts that have deposited money into offshore accounts for our friendly cop.

A headache is what this is. A massive headache that’s going to take me away from the cute woman sprinkling who knows what on top of the dough she just rolled out. “Can you get me more info?”

Shock dances around the room. He seems to have two speeds, complete stop or squirrel. We should cut down on the number of energy drinks that are stocked in the fridge to a reasonable number.

Knowing Shock, he’d just have them delivered.

“These people are bad news. Like obituaries that your family finds six months after you’ve been buried kind of news.”

And what else is new with my life? “So am I.” Shock hasn’t been involved in my escapades past a little bit of research, but he knows what I’m capable of.

“It’s going to take a while.”

Time that I don’t want to give it. “Fine.”

“I’m going to need some equipment.”

He always needs something new. “Order what you need.”

“That’s the thing. I can’t just order it.” Shock stops and taps one of the armchairs. “It isn’t available to the public.”

“What do you want me to do, steal it?” Focus on the happy face on the security footage, not the desire to whap one of the best hackers in the world upside the head.

Shock shrugs. “Maybe. But you might be able to ask for it first.”

Like some tech company is just going to hand me unleased technology.

“You're friends with Maximus Vincenti, right?”

No.

Couldn’t it be anyone else?

There’s no way he’s going to hand it over without explanations after I gave him two black eyes the other day. “Ask for something else.”

Shock stops. “It doesn’t work like that. Vincenti is rumored to have—"

I hold up a hand before Shock bores me to death with a seven-hour discussion of some tech specs that I don’t want to know in the first place. “The ‘only’ place I can get this is from Vincenti?”

Shock nods.

“Fine.” Now, I’m going to need to have to have two conversations that I don’t want to have. “Is that all?”

Shock puts a note on my desk with the tech he wants and starts pacing again.

“What’s wrong?”

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