Page 125 of Creed

“Yourpoint, Len.”

“We can help each other out.”

“The MC isn’t involved,” Army lies somewhat. “But Creed Santoro isn’t the threat to Sophie.”

“I need to get a message to Creed. Or… should I just say hello, Creed?” Len pauses. I stay silent, trying to decide how to play this. “We can help each other. Besides getting Sophie back for her family, I need to know why a Garcia Cartel lieutenant was found on the cameras we planted going into Sophie’s dorm building tonight.”

“Oh my god,” Sophie whispers. Her eyes dart to mine, filled with fear and worry. “Ollie.”

I’m about to reveal myself to Len, but Ash is close enough to hear Sophie. He motions for me to stay quiet and mouths ‘Ollie’ to Army.

Army’s frown deepens. “Sophie has a roommate, yes? If you saw a cartel member going in—”

“Ollie was attacked and is holding on by a thread,” Len says grimly.

Sophie chokes and stands, her eyes filling with tears, but I stop her from speaking. Her eyes plead with me.

I come closer to Army and the phone, bringing Sophie with me, who’s shaking violently. “What do you need, Len?”

“Creed… I need Sophie.”

“She’s with me. Where she’s safe.”

“Her family wants her back.”

“I’m not trying to keep Sophie from her family.” I ignore Len’s snort and continue, “Men came for Sophie, and she’s safe here.”

“Men came for her because of you—”

“No,” I say sharply. Gritting my teeth, I calm the raging storm inside of me.

Sophie makes to defend me, but I shake my head and whisper in her ear, “Let’s see how this plays out.”

Army said Len is an analyzer; she’s also a longtime CIA agent and knows how to use a situation to her advantage. I’m not revealing my full hand without getting something from her in return.

Vito comes closer, squeezing Sophie’s shoulder, and speaks into Army’s phone. “The Garcia Cartel lieutenant wasn’t picked up on the campus’s security feed.”

“Who is this?” Len demands.

“Vito Santoro.”

Len sucks in slowly. “We had our own cameras,” she finally responds, repeating what she shared earlier.

“We’ve been monitoring multiple systems for our targets. None of them, including Pastor Salome,” Vito drops the name on purpose, giving Len something, “popped up on the campus’ cameras. Which means—”

“There's two options. Either the cameras were expertly hacked because the hack is nearly undetectable,” Len offers in return. “Or someone on the inside at the university is helping them. We've confirmed it was a hack.”

“Your tech person must have some insane skills.” I frown, wondering exactly how much of a threat Len and her team could be to us. “Because when Sophie ran from the campus, none of our people detected the hack. The feed looked seamless and unaltered. There wasn’t any sign of it being tampered with, even though we knew it had to be because we knew what happened to Sophie, and none of that was on the feeds.”

“I’d say our tech genius is the best out there,” Len says.

My unease increases that Len and her team could become major threats to both the Santoro family and the MC if they decide to turn their attention to our operations.

Vito unclenches his fists. “The men involved don’t have the hacker expertise this is showing, so we’re assuming there’s another unidentified party. Either one with the hacker on their payroll or who has the means to convince this good of a hacker to take on this contract.”

Len doesn’t respond to that but offers something in return. “Since you’re so full of sharesies, here’s one from me. My tech genius reversed engineered—or some shit—to trace the hack of when Sophie disappeared.”

We knew the campus security system had to be hacked, but it was indiscernible, like Len had said. But if their tech person found the hack and could trace it back to the hacker… they could know who we’re dealing with.

---