Page 48 of Undercover Savior

“Thank you, your?—”

I leveled a glare at her.

“Ash.”

“That’s better.” I stalked off toward the bridge, but before I’d managed to get across, I heard Ambrose shouting my name.

“David, a word?” he hollered.

“Not fucking now, Brose,” I muttered, not loud enough for him to hear me. Instead, I waited for him to meet me where I stood.

“Hello, Uncle. I didn’t expect you.”

He opened his mouth, then shut it, then opened it again. “I’ll remind you that Ashcroft is my home as much as it is yours,” he sputtered.

While I wanted to inform him that it wasn’t and that I’d been generous in allowing him to come and go as he pleased, I had no time and even less inclination to get into an argument with him.

“I have an urgent matter to attend to and will speak with you once that’s taken care of. Goodbye, Ambrose.”

“But, but…” I heard him continue sputtering as I hurried off in the direction of Thistle Gate. As I rounded the front of the cottage, Con came out the front door.

“Hey, Ash. What happened with Periscope?”

“Before I answer that question, I have one for you.”

His brow furrowed at my tone. “Shall we go inside?”

“Let’s take a walk instead.”

Not far from the cottage, outside my estate’s perimeter, there was an old pier. While I didn’t doubt there was surveillance of some kind picking up our activity, I hoped that what the two of us said to one another wasn’t.

“Ash? What’s going on?”

“What do you know about Tower-Meridian’s business?”

He sat on one of the pilings. “Why don’t you cut to the chase and ask me what you really want to know?”

“Very well. How is it one of the world’s preeminent cyber experts was unaware of the true nature of his business?”

Con looked out at the loch. “Until you asked me to look into Weber, he wasn’t on my radar, Ash. He wasn’t on anyone’s, as far as I knew.”

I studied him. Would I know if he was lying? Did I truly know him as well as I believed? Or had I turned such a blind eye to the activities he engaged in that it had gotten to the point where I ignored the possibility that, like Periscope, he could very well be a traitor?

When he got to his feet and stepped closer to where I stood near the end of the pier, my hackles raised.

“Ashcroft.”

I faced him. “Blackmoor.”

“I will forgive you this as it’s my fault you’re doubting me in the first place. However, I swear on my mother’s soul that I would never betray you or the Crown. Now, what’s going on? Just be straight with me, for fuck’s sake.”

Con didn’t waver nor did he step away. He had every right to punch me in the face and knock me into the loch. And yet, he stood toe-to-toe with me, barely blinking, let alone looking away.

“Periscope.”

“I figured that much. What did she say?”

I motioned to the pilings. “A lot of rambling, but she mentioned two names—Janus and Chimera.”

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