Page 52 of Heathen

"What? No," he says, as if what I've asked is completely asinine. "The system is working through all the information. I have a program that breaks it down and categorizes it for me so I don't have to wade through all of the minutia."

"That makes more sense," I mutter.

"But I did write the program that does that for me, so I guess that's still awesome."

"Incredibly," I agree.

I'm not an idiot online, but I can't get you to the dark web or do much past a basic search with the use of a search engine. I don't really have the patience for any of it, and it makes me even more grateful that Kincaid saw fit to have Rooster here with us instead of us having to depend on one of the other guys. Not only would it delay response time, but I think it would also keep us from asking all the things we wanted to know in fear that we were bothering them with stuff we didn't need to ask them.

"Have you found out much more?"

"He's a very smart criminal," Rooster mutters. "I've found some minor violations, but nothing big enough yet for the SWAT team to raid his warehouse."

"I still can't believe he hasn't thrown up a red flag for how many times he's been listed as a witness to marriages."

"That's not exactly weird in Vegas," Rooster counters. "Think of all the chapels around town. They all have the same witnesses. That little chapel down on the strip has two employees who have been listed as witnesses to three times as many marriages as DimaTkachenko."

"That's insane."

"That's Vegas."

"I feel like we're pouring buckets of water on a forest fire," I confess.

"Doing nothing would be worse. Imagine how bad things would be if there weren't people like us. The lawlessness would be out of control."

"I guess that's true," I quickly agree.

If there was no threat of punishment for certain activities, and people knew they could operate with impunity, then society would be in utter chaos.

"I guess it's good that the criminal knows there might be someone out there watching."

He grunts a quick approval.

"Speaking of watching, I think I need to remind you that there are cameras in all of the common areas of the property."

I chew the inside of my cheek, knowing that he's referring to the hot tub.

"Okay," I say, fighting the urge to ask him for a copy of the video of what happened between Kaylee and me.

"I'll let you know if I find anything onTkachenko," he says, easily dismissing me.

I stand and roll the chair back to the conference table.

"Thanks, man," I say, before leaving the room.

I figuratively pat myself on the back as I climb the stairs for not actually asking for a copy of the video, but I know the question isn't completely off the table just yet.

I swear if I concentrate long and hard enough, I can still feel the warmth of her body against mine which was somehow warmer than the heat of the water.

I have to clear my throat twice in order to get myself under control before I get to my bedroom door, not having any clue what I'm going to be met with on the other side.

I pull in a deep breath before turning the handle, praying she's fast asleep so I can just grab a quick shower and get into bed without any further interaction.

I find that I'm not that lucky when I open the door and find her sitting on the bed with her phone in her hands.

She doesn't bother to look up from the screen as I enter and close the door behind me.

I grab some clothes from the dresser and head straight into the bathroom, feeling like an utter failure when it becomes impossible to be so close to her and not be able to touch her.

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