Page 26 of Wizard

Thea had been packing up her bag, but she stopped to stare up at me. “You’re going to put my finger and retina in your system so I can open the door without you here?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed, puzzled at her reaction.

“How many other people can access this room without you?”

“King and Blaze.”

“And now me.”

“What’s tripping you up about that, baby?”

“Well…it’s just…in reality, we barely know each other.”

My heated gaze scanned her from head to toe. “Beg to differ, baby.”

Thea blushed hard and giggled. “The biblical sense doesn’t count when it comes to trusting someone with access to everything you own. Particularly a fortune in equipment that I’m sure includes stuff I could be hauled away by the FBI, or whoever, just for knowing about.”

“I can’t give you access to the skiff room,” I told her with a shrug.

“The what?”

“Skiff or S-C-I-F—a secure room or data center that protects sensitive security information from surveillance and leaks. Prez had it installed when he took over, and we started hiring out our…unique skills. It also doubles as a safe for other things we need to protect.”

“Unique skills?” Her baffled expression reminded me that we hadn’t discussed the workings of the club, particularly our main income source.

“Conversation for another day, baby. I need to get to my meeting.”

“But you still haven’t told me why you’re giving me access to this room without you.”

“Because you’re mine.”

Ash,Echo, and Ace were waiting with Blaze when I arrived, and I lifted my chin at them in greeting.

“King is on his way. From what he said and the sound of Stella laughing hysterically in the background, I gathered there was a diaper situation with Cadell.” Blaze winced. “As in, I think it ended up all over him.”

Echo guffawed loudly, and Blaze turned his gaze to the road captain and muttered, “Laugh it up, Echo. That’s gonna be you soon enough.”

That shut him up real fast since they’d just found out that Violet was pregnant a few days ago.

We talked about some other club business for a few minutes until King, Kevlar, and Cross strolled in.

Blaze’s office was set up much like King’s, but the conference table was a little smaller. We scattered around, sitting at the table, the couch, or other chairs in the room.

King looked at me, but I shook my head. “Might be onto something, but I want to know what Ash found first.”

Ash sat across from me at the table, and he slid back the manila envelope he’d taken the day before. “Nothing,” he stated grimly.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered. No prints left us with very little to go on.

King stood from the couch and moved over to sit next to me, then held out his hand for the envelope, which I passed along. He opened it and removed one of the letters, scanning it closely.

“I’ll take a look at the ink,” he offered. “There’s a very slim chance that it could lead us to the printer that uses it. If I can figure out how old it is, and you can give us some kindof geographical lead, maybe we can match the printer to the buyer.”

King had many talents, but his expertise was in forgery. He was also a former CIA agent. If anyone could pick up information out of ink and paper, it would be him.

I pulled out the map I’d drawn and spread it out on the table. “As a matter of fact, I think I can narrow down our search parameters to a town where the stalker either lives or works.”

I explained my method for the findings, and we agreed that it made logical sense. It was at least a place to start.

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