Page 17 of Night Justice

“You have an indecent amount of money as it is. And as for my dick, I want to keep that marvel of nature secret. If too many people knew about it, I’d have to constantly fight off hordes of horny people following me around.”

Devin snickered. “That’ssonot happening.” He immediately sobered. “I haven’t told Lance or any of the others what happened, and I’m not going to mention how bad that decision was, but what’s is done is done. What are you going to do now?”

“There is no change to the mission. That was a one-time thing, nothing else.”

Devin didn’t seem convinced, but Sam was grateful he let it go. “Any improvement in Lance’s condition? Did he come down today?”

“Yeah. I didn’t see him, but Melina went to check on him after finishing at the clinic and doing some training. I chatted with her a bit, and she was satisfied with his progress. But he came close to dying. I’m trying to improve his suit, all of them for that matter, to make sure the next sicko using a Rambo blade on you doesn’t have it that easy. We prepared for explosions and bombs, various types of bullets, but it seems that blades are an issue. I checked Lance’s suit, and it penetrated one of the seams of the body armor that hadn’t been reinforced. My bad.”

It was clear Devin felt responsible for Lance’s injury. Not only was he the computer magician of the group, but Devin had also helped design each of their suits, and it wasn’t an easy task. They needed to allow mobility, be combat-ready, blend into the darkness, and not give off noise. Sam knew body armor wasn’t infallible and they were always revaluating their protection as well as their weapons and techniques. If they failed, it wasn’t any individual’s fault.

“Stop beating yourself up. What we do is dangerous. You helped design the best protection available. Hell, if the cops knew what we had, they’d want it too. A serrated blade in close-combat situation can’t really be stopped unless we wear chain mail and you know we can’t do that. It was bad luck Lance had been stabbed, but he survived and will go into the field again. Nobody here, especially not Lance, blames you for what happened.”

It was clear the hacker wasn’t convinced, but Sam couldn’t do anything about that. Knowing Devin, he was already at the drawing board, reworking every suit, re-evaluating each of them with ideas and innovations for improvement. Between running his own business and the work he did at the lair, Sam wondered when the man slept.

“On another note, I’m working on a tracking dot that will have sound. It’s still too big, but once I reduce it to the same size as the others, we’ll be able to use it.”

Sam gestured to the screens. “Good news. It would’ve been handy to know what Orla and Evans discussed this morning.”

Devin rolled his eyes and gestured at him to give him his seat at the command center. “Yeah, as if that wouldn’t have stopped you from sneaking into her apartment.”

Sam complied and put his hands in his pockets, fiddling with the pendant. “I sneak when it’s necessary. And as I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t have other options.”

Stretching his arms and shoulders, Devin’s sarcastic smirk returned with a vengeance. “It’s because you forget you have the best computer hacker on the face of the earth in your team. There’s not much I can’t hack into, except maybe a human brain, but I’m working on that.”

Not certain if he was joking or not, Sam decided not to dignify that with an answer, even though he found the possibility frightening.

“While you were grabbing a couple of ‘zees’, as military men say, I started looking into our new friend, president of the MC Storm Wayfarers, Mr. Damon Evans. Quite an achiever for someone so young, and well respected too, from what I could find. He kills with one hand and funds an organization for single mothers with the other. I think it’s probably a way to deal with his guilt or past wounds. His gang is growing at a steady pace and had some interesting money stashed, mostly invested, which is a good move. Frequents both ladies and gentlemen but has been celibate for quite some time. Maybe he thinks your Orla would be a good match.”

Sam almost reacted to that, but it would’ve only given Devin something to pull on. Forcing his clenched jaw to relax, he reminded himself he wouldn’t be the journalist’s last fuck, and she could have whoever she wanted in her bed. It wasn’t any of his business who she fucked after him.

“But what might interest you even more, is what he’s done in the past few hours. When he left Orla, he made some calls. The first one was to a private number. I’ve been digging into it, and it wasn’t easy, which made me even more curious. I wanted a name, but I got a company. The number is for the Maximon Entertainment Group. Interesting fact, Maximon is a Mayan trickster god, a womanizer, and a drunk. A real party guy, but very loyal to his people. It’s an interesting symbol for a company.”

“Sounds like a Chicago mafia guy. If they have a corporate name, it’s an official company.”

Devin hesitated a second. “You could say that. They legally own casinos, two web channels, and have branched out into every area of the entertainment industry.”

Sam processed the information. “Not a giant step to think they have other, less shiny branches too.”

“Yeah. I’ll need a bit more time to dig that information up. As usual, following the money will probably get us more answers.”

“Who are the owners?”

“So far, I’ve found two names. Mr. White and Mr. Black. No first names, no information about them apart from that they have been partners for quite some time, at least from what the documents state. They may be pseudonyms, that needs to be verified. And if it’s the case, they aren’t very imaginative with their names. Until I can confirm and have more data, I strongly suggest we don’t take action. For now, at least. No need to let them know we’re on them.”

That meant they were at a standstill until they could confirm a few things. “I’m no good at waiting. And you were right, I’ll have to go and annoy Orla some more. There is a possibility she’s found more information.”

Devin swirled his chair into a complete circle and repeated the move with a knowing smirk on his face. “I might have a better idea. Evans’ first call wasn’t the last. He made one to his lieutenants, and then called a dress shop. A very fancy one that provides evening gowns.”

This time, Sam couldn’t help but frown. “A dress. Not a coincidence after he’d had breakfast with Orla.”

“I agree with you, friend. Something is planned for tonight, and I have confirmation. His last call was to a limo company, and it took me exactly two seconds to hack into their reservation system and find out two things. One, the limo is indeed reserved for tonight. Two, it’s making three stops, one at Evans’, one at Orla’s, and the last at the Theater on the Lake.”

Same knew the place located in Lincoln Park, right on the shore of Lake Michigan. “Let me guess, Maximon Entertainment Group is planning something there tonight?”

“You’re smart. It seems they’re celebrating the launch of a video game to a very selected crowd of people without any journalists or media invited. I’m thinking it’s a cover for another kind of celebration.”

“The launch of Phantom. Security will be tight. I’ll need backup on this one.”

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