Page 137 of Black to Light

Seconds later, another bright pink link flashed in a corner of my virtual screen.

I mentally clicked on it, a little apprehensively, then sighed in relief when a grid of regular ID photos showed up behind my eyes, not images of people ripped apart by shrapnel. I scanned through faces, my mouth pursed, until one face caught my notice.

“Wait…” I said, half in disbelief. “Is that––”

“Rick Silver.” Black sounded repulsed. “Jesus.”

I remembered the name.

“He and Rucker were tight,” Black went on in a blunt voice. “This definitely fits the pattern with Rucker, Frasier, and Ungerman. I had Michelle and a few others in the research arm looking into Silver as a potential source for Aura.”

Black gave me a look, hesitated, then seemed to change his mind.

“I thought he might know something,” he admitted, gruff, almost apologetic. “Ostensibly, he’s a direct competitor, or he was, back when I regularly took military contracts. Private Security. He started White Rock over a decade ago. His father’s a senator from Georgia and got him some fat jobs over the years. But, in addition to a bunch of other illegal shit, Silver Jr.’s long been rumored to be involved in trafficking, especially in war zones.”

I nodded slowly, turning this over.

“You thought Silver might know who sold Aura to Rucker,” I deduced.

Black gave me a reluctant and slightly exasperated look.

“Yes,” he said, exhaling. “I thought it was apossibility.The girl told you she’d only come to the United States a few months earlier, right?” He waited for my nod. “Well, Rucker primarily lived in Europe before he moved his main residence to San Francisco. He had other properties, too, of course, but I was still thinking Europe was likely, in terms of where he might have acquired Aura. Silver’s been rumored for years to traffic in human beings, specializing in European markets. Mostly from the Middle East, but also from Eastern Europe and Asia, and sometimes even from the U.K. and Western Europe.”

“You think Silverhimselffound Aura and sold her to Rucker?” I asked, piecing this together, too. “Knowing what she was?”

“I thought it was apossibility,doc––”

“Where did Rucker live before now?” I asked. “Where in Europe?”

Black gave me another frustrated look. He rested his hands on his hips and exhaled in a kind of defeat.

“On the coast,” he said, jerking his chin forward. “South of here.”

I frowned. “France?”

Black gave me a noncommittal kind of shrug. “Mostly Monaco.”

I thought about that. I could feel there was something there, something important, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Was it just a feeling? Something Aura said to me that I hadn’t tracked the way I should have?

I couldn’t decide.

Either way, if Jem was still taking out targets related to Aura, or related to seer trafficking more generally maybe, he could be heading to Rucker’s old stomping ground next.

We’d walked out of the clothing store by then, and I could feel Kiko and Jax listening intently to what we were saying.

“Should we go down there?” I asked Black next. “To Monaco?”

Black let out another annoyed exhale.

He didn’t have to ask me why I was asking.

“Probably,” he growled. “Although I’m not exactly sure where to go first. He spent a lot of time all along theCôte d’Azur,especially in Nice and the surrounding areas, and Saint-Tropez. But you’re right. We should probably start with the property in Monaco.”

We were halfway across the wide, tree-lined street by then.

I was about to answer him, when Alisha popped up in all of our headsets.

It was the first time she’d spoken to us directly since we left the other group.

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