Page 6 of Hacker Auction

“She’s lying. Come on, Gary, you need to call the cops or Dr. Cobb is going to be upset, and it will be your job.”

I tugged my wrist a second time. “You don’t want to do this.”

The second officer grabbed my other hand and put my arm behind my back. I let out a scream as he pushed me toward the office.

I could hear the woman’s whiney voice telling people I was a baby killer, and they were all videoing her. I’d seen enough TikTok videos go viral to know my public image was getting tarnished with each word she spewed. My hopes of coming back to the hospital all went out the door a second time. Dad couldn’t have me here if people thought I killed someone.

CHAPTER3

Wes

My eyes glazedover as I stared down at the report Brock handed me an hour ago. The boss had just gotten back from a private BDSM island where he helped Jared Black hunt down Kaylene, one of the women in the auction. Turned out Jared’s longtime friend had pushed Kaylene and Jared together. Boss spent the weekend on the beach, but it didn’t stop him from shooting me emails each day with information on the Zarus Church. Only problem was none of it linked back to Senator Ricker Smith. For the past month my mind kept going back to Rachelle and the fact she hadn’t called once.

I’d taken over the conference room within the building. Brock had offered me an office, but the conference room had everything Brock and his team could find on the Zarus Church along with the intel I brought from Shialia.

My laptop booted up, and I tapped on the VPN connection to get into the servers at Shialia. I’d thought I would miss living on the small island more, but it was nice to focus on the case and not have to worry about every political thing the news might run. Or the threats against my sister and her husband. None of the issues went away, but my team was taking care of them which gave me time to concentrate on other things.

I opened my email to hundreds of unread messages from over the weekend, but I scrolled past the top ten emails and clicked on the one from my sister. Patty sent me an email with a photo of Kinley covered in paint. She was on Neal’s lap. Next to her was the little girl Patty rescued from the market. The Zarus church kidnapped her mother from the market and left the little girl. Patty and I had formed a connection. I worried she would not accept me as her brother, but she treated me like everyone else close to her.

After my mother died I started to wonder about my father. Mom had mentioned his name to me on her death bed. She apologized for not telling me sooner but didn’t want to lose me to William Beckett. Even with the name of my father I waited a year before I looked him up. We met a few times and he told me about my sister and how she was going to run Shialia one day. I wanted to meet her, but also knew from the newspaper they hadn’t had luck with siblings. Patty’s twin and my other sister Jessica was kidnapped not once, but twice by our brothers and almost killed.

William and I decided he would recommend me for a job working with Sam. The position was to be Sam’s right hand man. I filled the position for five years. Learned everything possible about Shialia and spent tons of time with my sister. It wasn’t until Dad planned to hand the crown over that I told my sister who I was. Luckily she wasn’t pissed at me.

Guilt washed over me as I thought about extending my stay in the states. Her longtime friend Neal, his partner, and his wife were over there and hadn’t set a date to come back. The case wasn’t even close to being cracked, and I had to make the call to say I planned to stay longer. Part of me wondered if I would ever go back. I liked it at Blackwood Security.

The doors to the conference room opened, and Brock walked in, licorice hanging from his mouth and a bottle of Mt. Dew in his hand. I wasn’t sure how the man’s body survived on sugar alone. I barely saw him eat anything healthy. The only time I saw him drink water was in the morning when we passed each other in the fitness room.

Brock sat down and grabbed the secondary laptop on the table. His fingers tapped on the keyboard. “Your sister and Sam want a meeting. Not sure when I started taking orders from Patty, but it seems she thinks we should all jump when she demands, or she causes me issues.”

I winced, knowing my sister’s hacking skills were some of the best in the world. Brock would never admit Patty was better than him, but I’d heard a few of the other hackers around mention Patty and how they were trying to figure out some of her code.

“I prefer to keep access to my bank account and stay off the no-fly list.”

Brock turned the projector on before he turned back to me. “No-fly list is easy to get around. Have you forgotten who you are and the money you have access to? I know your sister set you up. She might be a good hacker, but I’m better at the financial side of all of this.”

I shook my head and thought back to the finance meeting I sat through. Patty insisted on handing me a huge chunk of money. Then Brock moved it around, talking about different investments. When he mentioned money markets, my eyes glazed over. I’d worked with Sam and Patty for a few years, and it was still hard for me to adjust to flying private.

Before I could respond, the feed from Sam’s office was on the screen. Patty was on Sam’s lap, and he had a protective arm around my sister. “Hey, bro.” Patty waved. Sam gave me a nod.

Brock took a swig of his sugar liquid before he spoke. “What’s so urgent you set all the Alexa devices in my house to play Baby Shark. You know how long it takes to get that song out of my head. Furthermore, I texted you I would get back to you within the hour. I was…”

Patty rolled her eyes. “If I had to guess, you were fucking your wife. She wasn’t answering my calls either. Which means I’m calling her next. Nobody filled me in on the Jared and Kaylene news yet.”

Brock winced. “Jared fucked up and Kaylene went back to Houston last I heard. Jessica is talking with Kaylene so if something changes she would know.” Brock shifted in his chair. “Payback is a bitch, Sam. Just wait until this weekend when I change the music at the dungeon. Hell, I think I even have a recording of you singing N’SYNC one night when you got drunk.”

Sam shook his head. “Not sure why I’m getting punished for the things my wife does.”

“Because you’re the only one who can control her.”

I winced, knowing Brock used the wrong words.

“Nobody controls me.” Sam leaned forward, whispered in her ear, and her face went deep red. Her lips pressed together. It seemed my brother-in-law could control Patty a little. My eyes went down to where he had his hands around her belly. She had a slight bump. Soon she would have a son of her own.

“Can we get on with the meeting?” I asked.

Patty tilted her head to the side. “I thought you would be happier. Since you worked your way through every woman here, you would have a new set in Ft. Lauderdale, or have you worked your way through all the single ones there too?”

Patty was the last woman I wanted to talk about my sex life with. I was about to respond, but unfortunately, Brock opened his mouth. “First few weeks, he made it through a few subs, but for the last month he’s sat at the bar and moped. I swear Matt looked lost trying to help Wes through his poor me problems.”

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