Page 88 of Dangerous Rhythm

He kissed her softly on the lips. “Never forget that.”

With a nod, Lina said, “Let’s get going.”

After cleaning up the apartment, Lina and Curtis headed out to the agreed meeting place. There weren’t many businesses open during the first three days of the Lunar New Year, but Ed always knew the right places to go.

“Here they are.” Ed gestured them over to a small table brimming withyeun yeung—a mix of coffee and Hong Kong-style milk tea—and several sweet breakfast selections.

“Come. Have some breakfast,” Ed told Curtis and Lina.

Lina eyed the selection. “Those are diabetes waiting to happen, Uncle.”

A bald man sitting across from her uncle grinned as he licked his fingers. “But they’re fucking delicious.”

“Hi, Ken.” Lina dropped next to her boss. “Thanks for getting here so fast.”

“I was nearby.”

“Curtis, you haven’t met Ken, have you?” Lina asked. “He’s Marcus’ partner.”

“No.” Curtis shook hands with Ken. “Good to meet you. You didn’t come from the U.S.?”

“I was on a job in Papua New Guinea,” Ken answered vaguely.

“I didn’t know we have a client in PNG,” Lina said.

“We didn’t. They requested us for an emergency.”

Ken Yesuda headed the cybersecurity unit of B&Y, so whatever he’d been doing in PNG must’ve involved the client’s network safety. And if Ken himself had gone there, there must’ve been a major breach that could cost a company a shitload of money.

“But that’s been taken care of.” Ken nodded. He pushed a plate to Curtis. “You should try this.”

“That’s a fried Kaya French toast filled with coconut egg custard,” Ed said. “The topping is condensed milk and butter. Not the best for your heart, but you only live once.”

“Sounds good to me.” Curtis laughed and took one of the quarter cuts.

Lina ordered some soft-boiled eggs to go along with the pineapple buns Ed had already ordered. The men might want to eat like they didn’t have internal organs to worry about. She, on the other hand, needed protein.

“I’ve been following your case,” Ken said to Curtis. “Their crowdsourcing ploy was pretty clever, given your celebrity status. My guys didn’t expect that, but they caught on in time.”

“I was surprised they were so advanced,” Lina said. “I thought the Stilettos were more into real estate, construction, contraband trafficking—and their territory was limited to the tristate area.”

“We’ve rarely paid this close attention to an organized crime family, but now we have. We’ve gained more intel on them,” Ken said. “From what my team could tell, they don’t have the cyber capacity a corporation might have, but they might have someone or a team with pretty impressive skills to infiltrate law enforcement networks.”

Ken glanced at Curtis before shifting his gaze back at Lina. “The team linked several incidents involving witnesses under WITSEC with undetected breaches in the U.S. Marshals’ network. But nothing concrete to connect it with the Stilettos.”

“You gotta be shitting me,” Lina muttered.

“It was smart to get off the grid,” Ken said. “As of this morning, they’re still chasing whatever decoy you let loose in Africa.”

“Good,” Lina said. “How did you get here?”

Ken smirked. “Don’t worry. They won’t know I’m here. Hell, to anyone except for present company, I’m not here.”

“How do you do that?” Curtis asked, fascinated.

“Well, Curtis, I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.” Ken winked at him. “Which wouldn’t bode well since you’re the client, and Lina here will have my head.”

“I learned not to ask,” Ed said to Curtis. “Just trust they know what they’re doing.”

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