Page 14 of Hacker Beloved

"I do," Zayla said, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"How about we take one day at a time and get to know each other while we solve this case?" I asked, willing my voice to stay steady.

"Okay," Zayla said slowly, setting down her fork as she pushed her food around her plate for a moment. "What did you find out?"

"I spoke with the lead detective and explained what happened," I said, grateful for the distraction from our earlier conversation. "He's going to want to speak to you as well. For now, he took my statement, and after a while, he agreed to share what they have with us."

She nodded, but sadness still lingered behind her eyes. "When he’d said punishment, I never expected him to kill someone." She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and determination shone in her eyes. "After I finish eating, I need to work on the podcast he wants me to post."

The fact that we were about to do what the killer demanded didn't sit well with me. "We will help you research whatever case he wants you to target," I said firmly. My gut told me it would be something that would benefit the killer in some way.

For the rest of the meal, Zayla asked more questions about AA Security and what Kat does. When we finished eating, Zayla grabbed her laptop from the Xavier’s office and met us in the living room. CJ cleaned off the Spytrap before he let her connect to the internet.

I hovered over her shoulder as she pulled up her email. She had a hundred emails from fans, but one stuck out. The subject line, ‘Time is ticking for you to push this story.’

Her fingers trembled as she clicked on the email which contained instructions to investigate a string of disappearances in Ft. Lauderdale. Seven names were listed at the bottom of the email. That would make searching a hell of a lot easier with our entire team based out of Ft. Lauderdale.

"How about we get Kat and Antonio on a conference call? I know we planned one later today, but I think they could assist us."

CJ moved quickly, connecting a camera to the big flat-screen TV with practiced ease. He clicked open the White Hat Meeting software, developed by him and Bridget, that made eavesdropping virtually impossible.

Antonio and Kat's faces filled the screen. They were in their home office. Antonio sat in his desk chair with Kat perched on his lap. "Hey, everyone!" she said cheerfully, waving her hand at us.

"Hi!" Zayla said back.

Kat leaned forward, her nose filling up much of the screen. "Are they treating you okay? If not, I can be up there in a few hours. Hell, even if they are, I can still come."

Zayla chuckled, "Asher and CJ have been nothing but helpful."

Antonio wrapped his arm around Kat's waist and pulled her back. "What's going on?"

CJ tapped on the keyboard and displayed the email on the screen.

"The killer wants Zayla to investigate these strings of disappearances in Ft. Lauderdale. I was wondering if you could reach out to our contacts at the Police station. My guess, this was something he did."

"No problem," Antonio said.

"Honey," Kat paused. "I don't think we should reach out to the police."

Antonio groaned, and I immediately knew this was about to get complicated as shit.

"Can someone explain?" Zayla asked.

CJ pinched his brow as he said, "If I had to guess, these disappearances have one thing in common, and it's Kat.

Kat put her hands on her hips and glared at the screen. "Each one of those fuckers abused their wives or girlfriends. The police did jack shit. Hold for a second." Kat disappeared from the screen to return a moment later with a yellow folder and pulled out a piece of paper. "Ryan Wetly, the leader of the Scarlet Scorpions. He killed two of his previous girlfriends, and that doesn't count the other reports I found on him. Derek Patel, his second in command—"

"Stop," Antonio's sighed, "Kitty Kat, you promised."

"And I stopped. Those names are from years ago," Kat replied like that made it so much better.

Zayla tapped my leg. "Wait…You're saying Kat killed someone?"

"Nobody is saying that," Antonio cut in.

CJ tapped his fingers on the keyboard. "I assume this fucker knows about Kat since he was monitoring Zayla's computer. What I can't figure out is how he knows these disappearances are tied to her." CJ paused and stared at the screen. "If hypothetically you did take out a gang, how far back are we talking?"

Zayla raised her hand, "I have a question."

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