Page 13 of Duplicity

Simon rode his motorcycle into the parking lot of the hotel where he was currently staying at a little after six. Dinner was the fast-food sub sandwich in his backpack, which he’d bought after a long ride to clear his head.

He hadn’t seen the School Resource Officer except across the schoolyard today. Not Cat. Not even Officer Alvarez. She was only the SRO. Otherwise, this thing where he was thinking about her way too much would get even worse. She could genuinely mess up his plan at the school.

It was far better all around to steer clear of her.

Keep his head down.

Get the job done.

Sweat lined the inside of his riding jacket, but he wouldn’t go without it. He unzipped it now. Sandwich. Shower.

He sent Talia a text that he would be thirty minutes tops. They would both log in, and he’d have someone else to ensure he didn’t miss anything while he worked through the system.

An unease crept up his back, some instinct flared to life, but he didn’t look up from the phone at first. He stowed it in his back pocket and only then took a second to glance around under the guise of gathering his things from the bike and securing it.

Maybe he should’ve paid attention when his twin tried to teach him those operator skills. Situational awareness. They had buzzwords for everything. When the team from Last Chance County—Chevalier Protection something—had visited, it had been like listening to another language.

A few months ago, he’d been hit over the head and tied up. Kidnapped. Forced to ride around in the back of an SUV while a criminal kingpin explained that Simon worked for him now. That he would be moved from place to place, forced to work on whatever tech thing they needed, and probably sold to someone else. Traded around until he killed himself or was killed.

The ordeal had ended in a vehicle crash where the SUV flipped, and Peter dragged him to safety.

Things didn’t end that well every time. Like seven years ago, when he’d first been forced to create the program for the phone system. Even if Peter saved him just a few months ago, he wouldn’t always be able to do it.

Sometimes, Simon had to save himself.

His goals might not matter if someone moved in with ideas of their own about what he should be doing. And right now, he was tired of it all. Tired of fearing things he couldn’t control, always looking over his shoulder, wondering when the next bad guy would show up with a gun. He had to take the system down, kill the whole communication network, and show anyone who cared to look into him what he could do.

He jogged up the stairs to four, then down the hall to his room. The key card was on an app on his phone, so Simon held it up to the reader and pushed into the room. Nicer than anyplace he’d ever lived if he was willing to admit?—

Someone was inside the room.

Simon dropped his backpack, probably squashing the sandwich. His helmet bounced on the floor in a way that didn’tsound good. He crouched and came back up with his knife out at the same second the door clicked closed.

“Whoa. Easy.” Jasper Hollingsworth sat in the armchair in the corner. “I’m glad that isn’t a gun.”

“Because I might have already shot you?” Maybe he should get one, but that meant learning how to use it, and guns freaked him out. Stabbing someone was a bit grizzly, which just made it a good threat. “What do you want, Jasper?”

He wore a suit, the way he had during his time as a police detective. But now Jasper was transitioning into the role of Vanguard CEO. Otherwise known as Simon’s new boss.

“Silas Norris? Clever. Actually, the entire ID is airtight. I never would have found you.”

So how had he?

“That’s the idea.” Simon set his backpack on the bed, the damp shirt clinging to his upper body. He would unlace his boots and take them off, but the smell would permeate the room. He’d rather do that with the window cracked. “It’s supposed to make it so no one finds me. That way I get actual peace and quiet.”

“It’s not a Vanguard ID. And yet, you’re on a Vanguard job?” Jasper kept his feelings about it under wraps, giving nothing away in his expression. “Except I have nothing open on my desk with your name on it, and Peter thinks you’re backpacking in Wyoming. He showed me a picture just this morning.”

They both knew Peter wasn’t a hundred percent fooled. He just wasn’t pressing it. He would let Simon do what he needed to and probably figured Simon would call when he needed to.

Simon’s smartwatch vibrated on his wrist. He turned it to see what the alert was for—his computer had connected to the internet here at the hotel and the worm’s progress into the communication network had been completed.

“I have work to do.” His way of asking Jasper to get out.

“Not for me you don’t,” Jasper said. “You’re moonlighting?”

Simon shook his head.

“So Romeo was right. There’s a Vanguard operation going on at the school where his sister is the SRO.”

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