Page 46 of His Reluctant Savior

“I’ll take that,” I chuckled.

Sid pulled away, stretched, and yawned loudly. “We’ve got to talk to my guy today.”

As soon as he said that, Sid’s phone buzzed.

He sat up and quickly answered it.

“You got something?” he asked.

I couldn’t hear what was on the other line, but Sid turned to look at me.

“Can you talk to him? You two need to talk.”

There was some yelling on the other line, which grew louder as soon as Sid hit the speaker button.

“He can hear you, Veil,” I said.

“Goddammit! I didn’t give you fucking permission. You know I don’t trust the Feds! I don’t like being fucked up the ass like you do, Virgil! Asshole.”

“You can trust me, Veil.”

He scoffed on the other end. “Please, none of you can be trusted. I’ve seen who’s after you, buddy.”

I looked at Sid as my gut twisted.

“I swear you can trust me. You’ve gone out of your way to help me through Sid. I’m not about to do anything to you. I’m fucking grateful. Please…”

“I swear to fucking god, Sid, you owe me like ten million favors.”

Sid chuckled. “You got it.”

“First, after some digging, the ones who tried to kill you yesterday morning at Sid’s place are the fucking Bratva. These people who are after you aren’t messing around. They’re fucking stupid, too. Desperate. Desperation creates mistakes. Not only did they hire Sid’s organization, but the Bratva, along with a smaller assassin syndicate. There are a couple of others I’m digging into, but I can’t tell who yet. They’re much better at covering their tracks. I onlyknow about yours, Sid, because you told me. Anyway, too many people are involved. Something’s going to slip.”

“And people are going to die. Do you have any names?” I asked.

“Jesus… What did I get myself into? Or better question, what the fuck did you get me into, Virgil?” He sighed over the phone and his computer keyboard clicked away. “Yeah, I’ve got names… this is all fucked up. I’m going to shoot you everything I’ve found. After some deep diving, I discovered the person who sent you the video and warnings… I think. Do you know Evelyn Vega?”

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. “Shit, yeah. We went to grad school together over at Georgetown University. She’s the Chief of Staff to Congressman Henry Fines.”

“Yeah? Well, she’s dead as of two days ago. They must have found out she was the one who sent you everything.”

“Fuck me,” I said. My stomach twisted and my hands shook. Sid looked at me with sympathy before standing up from the bed and headed toward the kitchenette to make us coffee. “God, poor Evelyn. We remained friends after graduating. She went on to work over at the Capitol before moving up to become Chief of Staff about five years ago.”

Veil continued with his report. “The police found her in her tub, bleeding out from slit wrists and a suicide note, but it smells fishy to me. I found out about the suicide, which seemed too coincidental and too closely tied to the time you ran, especially for someone high up on the political chain. So, I traced threads and leads until I found the hit put out on her after hacking into her boss’s computer, taking evidence that didn’t belong to her. Not only did I find the hit, but she had sent evidence to someone theywere hunting. The video and you are assumptions on my part, but there are way too many coincidences. You’re the only one being hunted as of right now, so I put two and two together. But now that I’m sure you know her, I’m convinced I’m right.”

“You must have been the only one she could trust,” Sid said as he dumped coffee grounds into the coffee maker. “Just as I suspected.”

“Well, her congressman was definitely involved that night. She must have been there or found out about it,” Veil explained.

I thought about what he was saying. It was a possibility. But it could’ve been anyone who snagged the video. They could’ve sent it on to the Congressman or Evelyn. “Maybe, but I don’t see her going there and pretending to stay silent. She would’ve fought hard. No, someone must have sent the video to her, or…”

Sid walked over to the bed and handed me a steaming cup of coffee with a teaspoon of sugar, the way I liked it. I took a sip as he said, “Maybe, but if she was there, they killed that girl, and they tried to cover it up… I doubt she would’ve been that vocal. Evelyn would’ve been terrified. It’s more likely someone sent it to her. Or perhaps she caught her boss watching it? Or found it on his computer? He could be involved.”

I shook my head. “It’s all speculation at this point, and we may never know for sure unless she left behind some sort of other evidence in case she died. But what we do know is she sent me a copy of that video and warned me to run. Now, she’s dead for it.”

“A lot of money has been secretly trading hands for silence. She’s the first person to die, and you’re on the hit list, but that’s all I can find. I’m assuming because it’s only you two who know aboutwhat went down that night and pose the biggest threat, beyond those directly involved,” Veil said.

I looked at the phone resting on the bed, holding the steaming mug to warm my cold hands. “Do you think you could find any other hits?”

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