Page 55 of Ordinary Girl

“But not Renard himself?”

“Seems like he wants to keep a low profile.”

“So, do we think it was him who hacked our account?”

Skip reaches for a pile of papers behind him and hands them to me. I look at them closely, frowning.

“Hang on… are you telling me itwasthe Blackhawks?” I meet Skip’s gaze.

“That’s what it looks like.”

“It’s not their style.”

“It’s fucked up, that’s what it is. And this Renard, he’s got something to do with it. We just don’t know why the fuck he’d want to target us. But the fact he could be working with the Hawks, that’s shit we need to deal with.”

Not having any control over a situation, we’re not used to that. And I’m getting a bad feeling about all of this.

I glance back down at the papers Skip gave me, flicking through a handful of photographs showing the same man talking to the Blackhawks’ president: going in and out of the compound on several occasions.

“I’d put money on this being Renard’s lieutenant,” I say, showing Skip the photographs.

“If he is, then that’s proof Renard’s working with them: that the Balke family could also be working with them. I’ll talk to Rik.”

I watch Skip closely, watch his body language, he’s all over the place. It might not be obvious to anyone else, but I know this man. I know when something’s wrong. “Everything okay, Skip?”

He keeps his eyes out front. “Everything’s just fine, Joel.”

I don’t miss the hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Anything you want to talk about?”

When he looks at me, his eyes are dark. Cold. “I said, everything’s fine, Joel.”

I shrug, but I’m not buying his shit. I just don’t have the energy to argue with him. “Okay, well, I’ll check back in later.”

I start to walk away, and then I hear Skip sigh. “Joel. Hold up.”

I turn back around. “Yeah?”

“I’m changing tack, with the Hawks.”

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“We should hit them, when they least expect it.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve let them get away with it for too long. We’ve stood back and done nothing, for too long. What they did to Sofia… it’s like we’ve just let those fuckers walk away, and that’s on me, I get that. But I can’t stand by and let that happen any longer. I can’t do that anymore.”

“Okay, and, what about Ana? Do you still think they’re coming for her?”

“We were never one hundred per cent sure they were going to come for her, we just assumed they might. Assumed they’d want some kind of revenge because we took out two of their men, but there’s been no sign of that happening. And she deserves justice for her mother just as much as I do. It’s fucking personal, Joel. And I’ve taken too many steps back from that, but now we need to seek the retribution we should’ve gone looking for long before now, because I’m not gonna settle until we do that. I need payback.”

“What about Renard?”

“What about him? Maybe he’s got some connection to the Hawks…” Skip waves his hand around, like he’s just dismissing this man and what he could mean for us.

“Exactly!Someconnection, and we have no idea what that connection is, exactly, or why he’s suddenly aligned himself with the Hawks, but what we do know is that those fuckers, they haven’t got the intelligence to hack bank accounts.”

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