Page 212 of Darling Wildfire
I pulled a few drones and sent them towards the house. Soon they were flying through the hallways. I pulled them up short in front of the men. I stalled, hoping they would move. Graham looked up at the drone warily while Lachlan watched the other end of the hallway.
“Shoot him,” Vetticus demanded.
“No,” I balked and tried to push away from the computer.
Vetticus slammed my head forward on the desk and pulled me back up. Blood poured from a cut on my nose.
“Do it, now!” He roared.
“I can’t—” I whimpered.
I could feel the anxiety creeping up. It became hard to breathe. My hands shook as I placed them on the keyboard.
“Do it now!” He pressed the gun to my head again. “Don’t overestimate what you’re worth to me.”
I typed in the code as slowly as I could.
“Now!” Vetticus demanded.
“Fuck…” I cursed quietly in frustration.
My finger hovered over the execute button and a sob escaped. I was full on crying now.
“Do it!” Vetticus shoved me forward again. My shoulders shook, the screen blurred.
I brought my finger down on the button, but before I could push it the door slammed open.
FLASHBACK
THERON
NEW YORK CITY
A few months after the Warren and the first raid with Deathwing, we were back in New York.
The investigation into Quarry had been a dead end and we weren’t any closer to finding Emersyn then we were before we raided the middleman’s operation. There was evidence she’d been with him but somehow Quarry had gotten spooked and disappeared before we got to him—taking all of his inventory with him.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay abroad any longer. I was needed back home—several aspects of my business could no longer be ignored—and so I begrudgingly flew back to the states. Deathwing promised he’d continue having eyes on the operations there and in the meantime, he told me it would be beneficial to work on getting close to Mahoney.
Greg and I had stayed in touch after the Warren and gotten together for drinks a few times. Before I left he’d told me he was due for a trip to New York and just this morning he’d called me saying he was in town. I hoped this would be when he extended the invitation to the Red Auction he’d promised me.
“Oh good you’re here,” West said.
I was in the kitchen at the house making coffee. I looked him over. He was brimming with excitement and anticipation.
“What is it?”
“You need to see what I found,” he said.
I poured another cup and handed it to him and we walked down the hallway towards his rooms. The minute I walked in, Kaelin’s picture was up on a monitor. Except, it wasn’t just any picture.
“Why is she on the cover of a tech magazine?” I asked.
The title wasCTO of Phox Enterprises Develops Latest in Military Drone Technology.
The date was from six years ago.
“Yeah, your girl is a techie,” West grinned. He clicked through some screens. “Kaelin Bennett. She has several patents, is an active philanthropist—” he pulled up a screen with several tech magazine articles. “And as you can see, she’s a world renown military tech developer and the CTO ofPhox.”
