Page 7 of Hacker Auction

“Fuck you! I didn’t say a word to him.” I drank a bottle of scotch and spent the night throwing up, and the following day I felt like crap.

“Oh, is this because the auction girl turned down the date?” Patty’s full attention was on me. I would never live down the fact a woman paid two million dollars for a date with me and then decided, nope. And why did she have to be so sexy? My dick went hard the second I thought about how soft her skin was when I guided my hand across it.

“Yes!” Brock answered. “He’s even worked his way onto her father’s case we are working on. I think he’s trying to figure out a way to see her again.”

“I can speak for myself. You guys all think I’m heartbroken. I’m not. The auction was for one date. Not sure why all you guys thought it would turn into something more, especially when from day one, I’ve said I have a one date rule. The only reason I offered to help with the case was the fucker accosted her outside of the event. Calvin’s hiding something.”

Patty’s lip twitched. “You’re going to fall hard.” Then she stuck her bottom lip out and pouted. “This means I won’t get to see it happen, and even worse, you won’t come back here.”

Sam rubbed his hand over Patty’s stomach. “I’m sure our friends will keep us up to date with the juicy details. We already figured he wouldn’t come back.”

“Wait? What? You guys don’t want me back?”

The guy I’d come to really like and spend time with shook his head. “No, we both had a feeling you needed something else. You did your job here, but I could tell it’s not where you wanted to be. Blackwood Security seems like a good fit for you. Don’t get me wrong, you are always welcome here as my second in command, but we want what’s best for you.”

Brock pulled the piece of licorice candy from his mouth. “Already have the paperwork done.”

“Let me think about it.” I ran my hand through my blond hair and wondered for a second if this was what I was looking for. No matter how much I tried, something inside of me kept me on edge. “Was this call all set up to discuss me, or do we actually have work to talk about?”

“The Zarus church popped up a location in London. The man you put me in contact with joined the team. He’s going to go undercover into the church to see what he can find.”

Gabriel Bouck and I crossed paths a few months before I decided to get out of the MI6. The man could change identities at the drop of a hat. If he didn’t want to be found, he was next to impossible to get. Over the years, we stayed in touch. MI6 used him for all the off-the-book jobs because he could blend in any situation. With each case, I could hear the strain in his voice. He happened to reach out around the same time I came to America. I gave Sam his information. For a second, I worried about him going under again. “I talked to you about why he’s leaving MI6. You think this is the best decision?”

Sam leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t. Gabriel is holding some shit inside. In time, that’s all going to come out and could really fuck up a case. For the past two weeks, he’s assisted while getting everything in order. Last night the team found the info. Gabriel must have checked in on the case because an hour ago when I was talking to him, he told me he had already got an invitation. I told him he didn’t have to do this. But he said it would be quicker, and I couldn’t argue that with him. It will be.”

I sighed. The longer we took to gain access to the inner circle of the cult church, the more time Zarus Church had to move the women around, including the girls’ mom. Sex traffickers had a well-established network they could move people through, which made it hard to locate someone, especially since a month passed since the kidnapping in the market. The probability of finding her would be slim.

The traffickers would also pump the women with drugs, making it so they couldn’t fight back as they waited for someone else to buy the women. A lot of times, they would give the woman too much heroin, or the woman would inject too much because they wouldn’t want to deal with the crap going on.

“So this was an update meeting,” Brock asked as he ate the last piece of his candy. “Because you could have sent this in an email, and I wouldn’t have had to hear the damn music.”

I groaned, not wanting to hear how my boss didn’t get laid this morning again.

“No.” Patty tapped the keyboard, and a medical record popped up on the screen. “Neal built code which hypothetically if applied to a police server, would scan all recent cases or complaints coming through. Even pick up the ones which magically disappear.”

I knew this wasn’t the hypothetical they were discussing. What I did wonder was how many laws they broke to get the code onto the server. “So you have a lead?”

Sam nodded. “Yes, a woman came into the station late last night. Complained about Senator Smith. From what we can piece together–Patty hasn’t pulled the camera footage yet—someone deleted the record this morning The man who broke into her place roughed her up pretty badly. I’m sure the intruder didn’t know she had a large German Shepard. A neighbor called an ambulance and the cops. She’s at Alexander General and the dog was taken to the pound. I talked to the lead investigator, and asked for the 911 recording, but it magically disappeared. We need someone to head to the hospital and talk this woman.”

I jumped up from the chair.

“I’ll head down there now.” In a few hours, I had a meeting with Rachelle’s dad, Dr. Triston Carlton to go over a few of the doctors he had Blackwell looking into. I hoped Dr. Carlton could help me get into the woman’s room.

I said goodbye to my sister and Sam. When the screen went black I grabbed my things off the table. Brock mumbled something undistinguishable as I walked out the door and down the stairs. Mia was at the front desk since Daisy was still in Shialia. She was cleaning her gun as I walked by.

The keys to Brock’s bike spun in my hand as I swung the door open and groaned. Damn, Florida weather seemed to rain every day at noon lately. Brock said the rain used to come at three every day, but somehow, it changed. I stepped back into the building and grabbed the keys to the company’s SUV.

The drive to the hospital wasn’t far. I parked the SUV and ran across the parking lot. When I stepped inside, I wiped the rain from my eyes, but I had to be seeing things because my ex, Elise was in the middle of the lobby area talking to a group of people filming. I glanced over her shoulder to see security escorting Rachelle. Not even hearing Rachelle’s side, I knew Elise was up to something.

I pushed my way through the crowd and listened to how Elise explained Rachelle must have snuck past security to harass Dr. Cobb. Then she talked about how he was going to be nominated for a groundbreaking procedure and, if they wanted to know more, to make sure to follow her TikTok. My blood boiled as I pushed my way through the crowd. Elise’s eyes widened when she saw me. I turned to the crowd of people who were still filming. One thing I couldn’t understand about social media was how everybody filmed a scene, but nobody stepped in and helped.

“I advise anyone who recorded inside the lobby to delete the footage now.” Elise pushed at my side, but I continued. “There are signs posted out front. Nobody is allowed to film inside the hospital lobby. I can guarantee the hospital will take action against any person who publishes the video they have taken. The woman who was escorted back was falsely accused by this person.”

“That’s not true.” Elise’s voice pierced my ears.

I ignored her and continued. “I work for the owner of this hospital, and the woman she accused is his daughter. If anyone wants to tempt the power of the company I work for while I track you down for posting, go for it. But this is a warning we will come for you.”

A man in the back shouted a question, but I turned and headed for the door I watched the security guard push Rachelle through. Elise grabbed my arm, but I shook her off.

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