Page 70 of Hide and Seek
“So if the Kings weren’t involved in the hit on Felix, that means that the threats against Felix are officially over.”
“Yup.” Jace nods. “But wait, there’s more,” he says like an infomercial host.
“Of course there is.” I shake my head. “Hit me with it.”
“Once Carter was able to verify that Jacob was Jensen and tie him to the mastermind behind all this shit, he poked around in the Kings’ system.”
I sit up straighter. “And he found something?”
Jace grins. “Oh yeah. A direct link to the closed server Jensen used and stored his most incriminating files in. We’re talking years of proof and documents that tie him to crimes all over the country.” He shakes his head. “I have no idea who built his system, but it was insane. Carter literally had to throw everything he had at it just to break in.”
“So you don’t think he was working with the Kings at all?”
“Nope, he just piggybacked off their system and used them as cover.”
“Did Carter find anything in those files that can help us with what’s going on now?”
Jace nods grimly. “He had proof that Myles was involved in that hack job that took down that fake charity. At first we thought that’s what he was blackmailing Myles with, because that info would definitely put a target on his back if it ever got out.”
“But you found something else?” My stomach clenches at Jace’s expression. He looks like he’s about to be sick, but there’s a rage under his disgust that tells me whatever it is, it’s worse than anything I could imagine.
He nods. “Someone made some very realistic deepfakes of Myles and his younger siblings doing things that no siblingsshould ever do. And the even more fucked up part is they aged them down so they were all kids, likeyoungkids.”
“Jesus,” I mutter as my stomach goes sour. Out of all of the things I could have guessed, that wouldn’t have been on my radar. No wonder Myles helped Jensen if that’s what was being held over his head.
“From the email chains we found, it looks like Jensen threatened to release them and tell the world that his parents are the ones who filmed them and made them do all that nasty stuff. His plan was to kill Myles after he was done with Felix to eliminate any witnesses.” He shakes his head. “I’ve seen some fucked-up shit in my life, but those were some of the worst. I really wish I’d gotten a chance at that asshole before he was taken care of. Anyone who’d do that to kids, real or fake, doesn’t deserve a quick end. He should have suffered a hell of a lot more than getting two slugs in the belly.”
Bile and rage rise in my throat, and my knuckles crack from how hard I’m squeezing my hands.
Like Jace, I don’t have a lot of hard lines when it comes to dealing with people and getting what we want out of them, but targeting kids is never okay. It doesn’t matter what their parents are involved in. Kids are off limits, and anyone who targets or hurts them is fair game.
“Tell me you or Carter was able to delete them and those videos aren’t still out there,” I say, my voice shaking with the anger I’m barely managing to keep from exploding out of me.
Even if they never get publicly released, I know exactly what would happen if those videos ended up on the dark web and how quickly they’d be passed around the thousands of pedophile networks embedded into social media and the internet. Once they’re out there and shared, it would be impossible to get rid of them.
“We think so,” he says carefully, obviously seeing how close I am to snapping and losing my shit. “We got the original and all the traceable ones, which was only three copies, thank fuck. Carter’s scouring the dark web and other places for them, and I’ve got programs searching for them right now. It’ll take time, but we’ll find any copies that may be out there and make sure they’re destroyed.”
I blow out a breath. “So Myles really isn’t a threat to anyone here. Not the Rebels, not Felix.”
Jace shakes his head. “Nope. The only threats left are whatever the fuck is going on with the Kings and those videos. And the whole hacking the charities thing,” he adds grimly. “The proof Jensen had came from the asshat who orchestrated this whole thing, but he’s not the original source. Other people could know, which means he still has to worry about the wrong people finding out.”
I nod, my mind spinning with all the information I just learned.
“What are you thinking?” Jace asks, giving me a scrutinizing look. “You’ve got that look that says your brain is doing zoomies.”
I lift my eyes to meet his. “That I’m not going to rest until this is over and he’s safe.”
He nods. “Yeah, I figured you’d say that.”
“You’re not going to say anything about it?” I ask.
“What am I supposed to say?” He gives me a confused look.
“That this isn’t our problem, and now that we know for sure he isn’t a threat to us or Felix, it’s time to let him handle things himself?”
“I could say that,” Jace agrees. “But you made it our problem when you got attached to him. I know you sure as fuck aren’t going to just walk away and wait for someone to put one between his eyes, so neither am I.”
“Even if you think I’m an idiot and this is stupid?”
